Don Piper autographing books.

n a recent autumn evening, I sat among an audience of nearly a thousand Texans gathered at a church to hear Don Piper’s testimony and message. Many in the audience, including me, had read at least his first book, “90 Minutes in Heaven - A True Story of Death and Life” (Fleming H. Revell, 2004).” The other half had not read any of his three books. The man sitting next to me was typical of the group — people eager to hear a word of hope and yet somewhat skeptical of what they had heard about the man and his books.

With the pianist playing the great old hymn “When We All Get to Heaven” while we found our seats, the man next to me informed me, “I’m here to hear what heaven is like. This guy’s supposedly been there. But I don’t know why he would have something different to tell us than what God already revealed about heaven in the Bible.”

Piper spoke for more than an hour, but he spent a grand total of only eight minutes talking about his eyewitness account of heaven. Like the book, where he describes what he saw of heaven in just 16 of the book’s 203 pages, his message and mission are not about describing heaven. The man next to me was not disappointed; like many others, he leaned forward, on the edge of his seat for most of the hour, never distracted from Piper’s words. The story of the accident that caused his death for 90 minutes and the terrible suffering and pain as he recuperated afterward had people in the audience gasping.

We could have heard a pin drop that night as he delivered his primary message: “Heaven is real, but it won’t matter to you if you’re not going there” and then explained that Jesus is the only way to heaven.

The second part of his message was that we sometimes “have to go there to get here.” Our pain, suffering and troubles become new God-given opportunities to serve him by helping others. He explained that when we have been through the same thing as another person, we know how they feel and we can give them hope.

Piper told us that he learned two “remarkable” things through his accident and years of recovery. He said people talk to him all the time about their troubles and how hopeless they feel. “They tell me, ‘It would take a miracle to solve my problem.’ Well, I’m living proof that God still does miracles!”

The other remarkable thing he learned is that God answers prayer. He pointed out that we have not because we ask not (James 4:2, New King James Version). When I first read “90 Minutes in Heaven,” I was most struck by the dramatic passages of what happened when people prayed; indeed, the fact that Piper is alive today is due to prayer.

After his presentation that evening, hundreds of people stood in line for more than two hours for an opportunity to speak with him about their own struggles or questions about God and heaven as he autographed their books.

As he signed my book, I asked him why he thinks so many of us don’t pray for others (especially strangers) like we should — as described in the incidents in his book — sometimes even if we feel God tugging at our hearts to stop what we’re doing and pray for someone right then.

He told me, “So many people have relegated prayer to divine room service. ‘God, I’m in room 309, and here’s what I want you to bring me, and please bring it now;’ or ‘God, don’t disturb me now.’ That’s not what prayer is. Prayer is just communion with God. He wants us to talk to him, and he wants to reveal himself to us when we’re praying and through answered prayer.”

Whether you have an opportunity to hear Piper speak, talk with him in person or by e-mail, or read his books, don’t miss it. It will definitely impact your relationship with God and your understanding of God’s purpose in the things that happen in your life.

See related article: Book Review of Heaven is Real (December 2007)