90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death and Life

And you thought YOU had a bad day. . . It is just unimaginable that someone could have been busted up so badly and live. Truly this life had a purpose, and it may have been to spread the word that Heaven exists. Don's story also speaks to the power of prayer and the power of God, and so much more. This 2004 edition, thirty-third printing of the New York Times Bestseller is reported as a true story of a man's death and life. He spends 90 minutes in heaven in between the two dimensions.Don Piper, an ordained minister, was reroute to South Park Baptist Church in Alvin (Houston) Texas. Returning from a large Baptist Convention, he headed down a different route than normal, in his 1986 Ford Escort. The roads were wet from the off-and-on driving rain and it was a windy and miserable drive. Fortunately, Don buckled his seat belt. As Don approached an old, rusty, steel bridge (the kind with the overhead steel structure, the rain turned into a cloudburst.Coming from the other direction was an 18-wheeler, driven by a trusty from the Texas Department of Corrections. Unlicensed to drive the truck, he had volunteered to pick up food items for the prison. The trusty weaved across the center line of the small roadway, hitting Don's Pinto head-on and sandwiching it between the truck and the bridge railing. Don's Pinto was smashed as the truck's wheels went on top of the Pinto. The truck side-swiped two other cars, then came to a stop.Contacted by the guards following the trusty in another vehicle, medical backup arrived almost immediately. Finding no pulse for Don, he was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. For the next 90 minutes, he was in Heaven, where he was immersed in peace, love, and joy, as well as a brilliant warm light. He was greeted by many people he had known who had passed on. ". . .Their faces radiated a serenity I had never seen on earth. . ." He saw vivid, dazzling colors and everything was "like a first-class buffet for the senses." Don experienced heightened awareness and "felt so fully alive." He sensed that age and time had no meaning there and every feature on everyone was perfect and perfect love emanated from everyone. Don states, ". . .human words can't express the feelings of awe and wonder at what I beheld".As Don listened to the brushing of the angels wings' and the most beautiful music he ever heard, he sensed being part of the music, as the most beautiful sounds he ever heard played through him as well as all around him. The music was a non-stop, intense praise of God, impossible to explain. ". . .My heart filled with the deepest joy I've ever experienced. . ." Thousands of songs praising God were being sung simultaneously, in an inexplicable harmony. Don really did not want to come back, but he did, and certainly in pain.After the accident, Don spent 11 hours in surgery, then 12 days in ICU, 4 - 5 days in the hospital, 105 days in another hospital, 13 months in bed at home, endured 34 surgeries all together and had several infections and pneumonia. He suffered severe depression during the enormous time he was laid up. Because of the missing part of his femur, his options were to lose his left leg or to wear an Ilizarov frame (aka "fixator") and hope that they would be able to force the bones to grow to cover the missing section. The fixator, containing rods, wires, and at least 30 holes, took another 12 hours of surgery, was extremely painful, and held no guarantees that Don would still be able to keep the leg. Although Don suffered intense pain and uncertainty through the process, the fixator worked! As the use of this device has become more frequent, Don now visits with others who are wearing it and tries to help them get through the experience.Those of you who have had a Near Death Experience (NDE) will likely have no problem believing this man's experience, as will those with a strong faith in God. For those who find it difficult, ask yourself this question: How can you have no pulse for 90 minutes and not have brain damage? Just about everything Don had was busted up bad, except for his right arm, head, and internal organs. Even part of the femur from his left leg was gone. They never found it. BTW, that's another question for you. When you read about how badly his body was crushed--how come no internal organs were damaged? You will also read about Don's remembrance of someone holding his hand while he was in the car, but it was no earthly presence.This is a great book. Don talks about his 90 minutes in heaven in 2 chapters, followed by the tremendous ordeal of his recovery. After experiencing heaven, he asks himself why he had to return to such intense pain. No doubt, this is a test of faith that most of us would have. He wanted to go back to an existence that was so wonderful, it could not be expressed in words that would do it justice, but God said, "No, Don, not now." So Don had to begin to re-assess where his is now, let go of the past, and learn to look for what he COULD do, rather than focusing on what he could no longer do. (Is that not a lesson for us all?). He began to realize how telling others of his experiences could help them.This book is about faith, healing, persistence, using your gifts in a positive way, helping others, accepting help from others, and much more. It is also about overcoming fear of death and knowing there is a heaven and God and angels waiting for you, with your loved ones, when you cross over. This book may be very useful for someone who is terminally ill or who is grieving a loss, as well as those of us who just want to know more.(Note: my 40 year old brother had an NDE during a lung operation. He died, but not until 6 months later and not until he told me about his experience.)God bless you all in your search for truth.Namaste'

We know of two people, from Scripture, who were privileged to see heaven. Both of these men, the Apostles Paul and John, were alive and well when they were given a glimpse of the wonders of heaven. Don Piper, a Baptist pastor, claims to be a third, though unlike the Apostles, he first had to die. Returning home from a conference, Piper's car was crushed under the wheels of a truck. Medical personnel declared him dead at the scene of the accident. But ninety minutes after this accident, a pastor, waiting at the scene, was told by God to pray for the dead man. He did so, and Piper immediately returned to life. For the 90 minutes that his body lay lifeless inside the car, Piper claims to have been in heaven. He now carries with him memories of paradise and in <em>90 Minutes in Heaven</em>, a book which has sold over 500,000 copies, he seeks to encourage other Christians with a description of our eternal home. "Because I was able to experience heaven," he says, "I was able to prepare [a friend] for it. And now I am preparing you."The title may be deceptive. One might assume, from the title, that a significant portion of the book is dedicated to describing heaven. The reality is that the author's time in heaven comprises only 15 pages of this 205-page book. A further seven pages, appended to the end of the book, engage very briefly and unsatisfactorily with the "why questions." The bulk of the book describes Piper's accident, rescue and convalescence with some attention to the ministry opportunities that have arisen since his time in heaven. The book is, in reality, a biographical sketch of Don Piper and a lengthy description of the trials he faced as he recovered from devastating bodily injuries. Following the description of heaven, there is little further reflection on paradise. There is little attempt to describe how the author's life and perspective on Scripture have changed because of his experience. There is little interaction with the Bible. There is no gospel.Piper's description of heaven left me cold. I was dismayed to find that his heaven seems largely man-centered. In fact, if you were to ask your unbelieving friends and neighbors to describe heaven, they would probably create a place very much like this. Piper did not see Jesus, nor did he see God, though, to be fair, he saw only the "outskirts" and did not pass through the gates. Despite this, he was exceedingly joyful and feels that he experienced the very joys of paradise. For ninety minutes he walked through heaven, greeted by those he knew in this life, all of whom were (quite conveniently), the same age they were when he had last known them. As I read this description of heaven I thought immediately of a quote from John Piper's book <em>God is the Gospel</em>. He asks:The critical question for our generation--and for every generation--is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever say, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there?From the descriptions in <em>90 Minutes in Heaven</em> we would would have to respond, "yes!" It seems that Don Piper's heaven is a heaven where we are fulfilled without Christ. Piper's heaven was a place of reunion with loved ones, a place of beautiful music and a place of literal pearl (or "pearlescent") gates and literal streets of gold. It is a heaven that can be so easily described to a human mind using mere human words, as if it had originated in a human mind. Piper is able to describe it in some detail, but what he presents is surely far too human to be heaven.A further troubling aspect of the book is a clear lack of theological precision. For example, Piper continually describes miracles that surrounded his rescue and recovery, yet these are often not the type of events that theologians would classify as being miraculous. They may have shown God's grace and power, but they were not, strictly speaking, miracles. He also uses his experience to minister to people who lack assurance of their faith. But what true, lasting assurance can we find in the dubious experiences of another mere human? Our assurance is to be in God and His promises through Scripture, not in man.I do believe Don Piper is a sincere man and one who loves God. He seems to sincerely believe that he experienced heaven and has been called by God to share his experience with others. But I do not believe that he did see heaven. I cannot say what his experience was, whether it was purely psychological or whether it was even some type of demonic deception. What I do know is that the Scriptures are wholly sufficient for believers. We do not need to see or experience heaven in this life. Nor should we desire Don Piper's heaven.I see no reason to believe that God wants us to know more about heaven than He has revealed to us in His Word. As the old hymn asks, "What more can he say than to you he has said?" God surely desires that we desire heaven, but only if we desire heaven primarily so we can be with the Savior. This is the heaven which we glimpse only dimly in Scripture, but which we await with eager expectation. It is most certainly not Piper's 90-minute heaven.

If you are interested in reading about a man's journey from being terribly badly injured back to health then this is the book for you. If you are interested in hearing about a journey to heaven then I wouldn't bother buying this as it is only mentioned for about five minutes throughout the whole of the 5 dics book. I also didn't like his fundamentalist aproach to Christianity as he obviously believes that only true believers go to heaven. That might or might not be the case but there was certainly no evidence in his heavenly journey to back up this theory. He went through a lot of pain and suffering for sure but the title of the book ought to have perhaps reflected the fact that the book was about his recovery from terrible injuries. If it had, I would not have bought it.

I really enjoyed this book. It is always fascinating to read stories of people who have experienced the gift of a glimpse into Heaven, and unlike some others, this one does not seem flaky or theologically questionable. Don Piper is very honest about his experience and the life-lessons he has learnt and writes in a very readable style. He has something to say about the perplexing events of life, because it is clear that he has siffered and still suffers. This book is well worth a read.

This book is very interesting in the beginning, the way heaven is described makes death a wonderful experience.The author goes into a bit of detail about his experience however the majority of this book is abouthis recovery and can be slightly boring, it left me wanting to learn more about his wonderful experience.The book is ok but I think there maybe better books out there about near death experiences...

Not enough information. Disappointing. I recommend Kat Kerr's Revealing Heaven books

There was one chapter in this book about the trip to heaven. The rest was about Don's car accident and how he can evangelise following this experience.The detail about heaven is a bit sketchy and is very much connected to Biblical accounts which is not the case with many NDE's. However as this man is a pastor it was to be expected. Not a bad read overall.