Occasionally people email me asking for my opinion on various personal or church issues. I recently received the following question which I have reprinted below, followed by my response.

EMAILED QUESTION:

Bob, based on the passage in John 3:13 which  reads, “No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven- the Son of Man,” my opinion of the “Heaven is for Real” story is that the boy could not have gone to heaven and then come back to earth.   What are your thoughts on that story?

MY ANSWER:

The Apostle Paul was taken up into the third heaven and was shown things that he was not permitted to tell. (See 2 Cor. 12:1-4.) He’s an example of a man who saw heaven and returned to tell about it. I don’t consider John 3:13 as nullifying that possibility since Jesus was speaking of what had occurred prior to that time. No one had gone into heaven and returned as yet, but Jesus the Son of God would do it and prepare the way for others. I think such visions are very rare but I wouldn’t rule it out.

A good verse to consider is 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21: “Don’t put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good.”

It’s wise to be skeptical. It’s right to test claims of supernatural experiences by comparing the claims to the standard of the Bible. But if they don’t contradict Scripture we shouldn’t treat claims of prophecy or supernatural experiences with contempt either. The important thing is to use the Bible as the measure of all truth; otherwise we’re vulnerable to all kinds of false teaching.

When speaking about the end times Jesus cautioned His followers, “At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible even the elect” (Matthew 24:23-24).

– Bob

Follow @BobRussellKY on Twitter