What's after Life?: Evidence from the New York Times Bestselling Book Imagine Heaven

By John Burke

The Gallup Poll reports that 1 in 25 people has had a near-death experience. Their heart stopped beating, their brain waves ceased, yet they claim they were more alive than ever. With improved medical resuscitation, more and more verifiable evidence indicates that life doesn't end with our last breath--it's just beginning.

Drawing out the similarities found by studying over 1,000 accounts of near-death experiences around the globe, John Burke unfolds a compelling and comforting vision of a world where

- we are free from pain
- we feel fully known and accepted
- we are greeted by loved ones
- we encounter indescribable beauty
- we discover a God of unconditional love

If you've lost a loved one, if you've received a frightening diagnosis, or if you're just curious about what happens after death, this concise look at the life to come will bring you hope and reassurance. Content derived from the New York Times bestseller Imagine Heaven.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
• Release date: Nov 5, 2019
• ISBN: 9781493419173

John Burke

John Burke and his wife, Kathy, founded Gateway Church in Austin, Texas, in 1998. Since then, Gateway has grown to over 3,000 people, 70 percent of whom are in their twenties and thirties, and consists mostly of unchurched people who began actively following Christ at Gateway. Burke is also the author of No Perfect People Allowed: Creating a Come-as-You-Are Culture in the Church.

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© 2019 by John Burke

Published by Baker Books

a division of Baker Publishing Group

PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.bakerbooks.com

Ebook edition created 2019

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

ISBN 978-1-4934-1917-3

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Scripture quotations labeled NLT are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations labeled NLV are from the New Life Version copyright © 1960 and 2003. Used by permission of Barbour Publishing, Inc., Uhrichsville, Ohio 44683. All rights reserved.

Portions of this text are taken from Imagine Heaven (2015).

Contents

Cover

Half Title Page

Title Page

Copyright Page

What’s after Life?

Notes

About the Author

Back Ad

Back Cover

What’s after Life?

A Global Phenomena

In London, England, a single mom was admitted to Memorial Hospital with severe bleeding.

As the blood drained from my body so did my will to live. I heard a pop sound and suddenly the pain stopped. . . . I had a very clear view of my body as they ferociously worked on me, hooking up a transfusion and other tubes. I recalled thinking that I just wished they would stop. I looked horrible and my color was very bad. . . . The fact that I was having these thoughts from within inches of the ceiling didn’t bother me or confuse me. . . . I was totally conscious even though I had heard a nurse, the only one in a blue smock, tell the doctors I had lost consciousness soon after entering the emergency room. I was very aware of every detail of the events and the room. I was aware of a tunnel which appeared suddenly, and I was being pulled into it. I was happy to be away from that tense scene below. I floated toward the tunnel and passed right through a ceiling fan and then the ceiling. The blackness of the tunnel was churning and I began to gather speed. I was curious about my present body or form and looked at my arms and hands. They seemed to be expanding and emitting a slight glow. I felt a rush of air and a low droning noise like a vibration as I gained speed heading for a bright light far in the distance. As I proceeded at a faster rate, I felt there was a presence with me that kept me calm and emitted both love and wisdom. I didn’t see anyone, but I felt the essence of my grandpa who had died when I was 13. . . . I finally came to the end and floated into a place which was overwhelmed by a radiant white light that seemed to embody all the concepts of love. A love which was unconditional and like a mother has for a child. . . . I left parochial school at 17, feeling that I had been released from an unyielding prison and was far from religious, but I knew in my heart that this was God. Words can’t describe my awe in this presence. . . . I could tell He knew my every thought and feeling. The next thing I knew I was seeing a sleeping baby I knew to be me. I watched with fascination as I saw the highlights of each stage of my life. . . . I felt every good or bad deed I had ever done and its consequences upon others. It was a difficult time for me, but I was supported by unconditional love and weathered the painful parts. I was asked telepathically about whether I wanted to stay or return. . . . Suddenly, I was popped back into my body and searing pain tore through my lower body. The same nurse in the blue smock was giving me a shot and telling me to relax that the pain medication would soon