90 Minutes in Heaven is an account written by Don Piper of his first-hand experience of dying instantly in a head on collision with a truck on a bridge. The paramedics pronounced him dead immediately as they arrived on the scene, covered his car up and began rescuing the other victims of the accident.
Don was dead for 90 minutes and then miraculously as someone prayed for him, he woke.
Interested yet? I was too... Don describes what happened as he saw the truck sliding towards him, and then instantly he was in heaven. I wont spoil the details for you, the first few chapters are worth a read if you are interested in the after life, but I had my reservations for the rest of the book.
After Dons sad return to Earth he uses the rest of the book (14 chapters) (only 3 are spent on his Heavenly time) to describe his horrible pain in healing, his depression, his doubts, slow recovery, struggles, and eventual ministry that I'm sure has afforded him a nice pay cheque.
The book actually upset me after a while, I grew weary of hearing about his infections, his trauma and anger at God. In fact, after a while I threw down the book and protested to myself that it was nothing more than his "pity party". After a week I picked it back up again and bravely continued on. I'm glad I did, because my favourite part came right at the very end. Pg 194 "Since my return to earth, I've been acutely aware that all of us are on a pilgrimage. At the end of this life, wherever we go - heaven or hell - life will be more real than this one we're now living. I never though of that before my accident, of course. Heaven was a concept, something I believed in, but I didn't think about it often."
To be honest, I know very little about the after life. The bible states (somewhere) that there is a glorious afterlife that Jesus has prepared for us, and honestly, that's enough information for me. Im satisfied (and excited) with that. I have no idea if Don's account is biblical at all, I even have a sneaking suspicion its not - Don talks of the glorious wonders of Heaven, but maybe only mentions God once, and instead focuses on all of the wonderful people around Him. Pardon me if i'm wrong, but I thought Heaven was all about God - not others. Isn't that why we aren't married in heaven?? I will be doing further reading into this.
If you are interested in a baptist pastors experiential account of heaven and his recovery and subsequent ministry, this book is for you. Otherwise, I wouldn't waste your money on it.
"90 Minutes in Heaven" By Don Piper with Cecil Murphey. 1996. www.revellbooks.com
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