The View From Heaven

Well, it's been awhile since I wrote anything here and I thought it was about time to do so. I noted recently that the Barre Memorial Auditorium was hosting someone named Don Piper with a presentation called "90 Minutes In Heaven". I was pretty sure that I'd heard of it somewhere before, and figured it was some New Age guy who channeled Moses or something. I DID know that he wrote a book about it. Being a little proactive, I though someone might want my opinion on him, so I went to the local library and sure enough found his book. Let me say right now, boy, was I wrong!

Don Piper, as it turns out, is an ordained minister in the Southern Baptist Convention. He had an experience in 1989 that changed his life; he died. On the way home from their annual state convention, Rev. Piper was hit by a tractor-trailer truck and was pronounced dead at the scene. He remained in his car while others were taken care of until another minister happened along. In the course of that minister praying for him (as it said, even the minister himself couldn't believe God was telling him...a good Baptist...to pray for a dead guy!), Rev. Piper was miraculously brought back to life after 90 minutes of being dead. The doctors simply had no explanation for what happened, his injuries were so severe. However, all of that is contained in only a very small portion of the book. The most important parts concern his recovery and subsequent ministry.

First, there is nothing I could find that is doctrinally incorrect. It adheres to the Bible.

Second, Rev. Piper is very honest in his assessment of his own reactions, questioning and search for purpose afterwards. His accounts of his recovery are heart-wrenching.

Third, he puts the focus where it needs to be, on the Glory and Majesty of God Almighty, and on the power of prayer.

In the very recent past our church has been called upon to pray for several people. The church has become a hub of prayer for our members, but these cases were something altogether on another level from our experience. They dealt with young people who were literally on their deathbeds. Within days of our prayers beginning for them, those same people were not only conscious and active, but either home or getting ready to go home! We had been party to some truly wonderful miracles.

It didn't end there, though. The Church itself has been infected with a knowledge that prayer does indeed work, and it is because we have a mighty God who cares for us personally, and to whom all the glory and honor should go.

Both Rev. Piper's book and our experiences with prayer have brought the church to a new level of understanding and power. In the words of the songwriter Aaron Shust...

"To God alone be the glory
To God alone be the praise
Everything I say and do
Let it be all for you"

AMEN!

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