01 Sep Visit to heaven?

Q: Some claim that they visit heaven on and off and have met people over there. Is this claim true?
This claim is very unique and we do not have right to question anyone’s experiences. But spiritual experiences have to be checked for its accuracy with the touch stone, the Bible. Any claim of special revelation from God through angels or any other source than the written Word of God (e.g., meeting Biblical authors in Heaven) cannot be true. The possibility of visiting heaven is not explicitly mentioned in the Holy Scriptures.

Heb. 1:2b says, .God has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. The tense of “has spoken” indicates a full and final revelation. Everything we will know about heaven and hell during this life and in this age is contained in Scripture.
1 Corinthians 2:9 – But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

John 3:13 – And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, [even] the Son of man which is in heaven.

Heaven described as a great reward Mt 5:11; eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison 2 Cor. 4:17, 18; surpassing riches of His grace towards us Eph. 2:7; beyond all we could ask for or even think of Eph. 3:20. But it is unfortunate some men and women of God claim to have visited several times as they visit different parts of the world.

Mary Baxter claim to have visited both heaven and hell; She met all those who did not accept her teaching in the hell. (Mary Kathryn Baxter, A Divine Revelation of Hell) Even if the purpose of this book is to motivate us to repent, they do more harm than good in that they undermine the final and complete authority of Scripture.

Jesse Duplantis, (Heaven — Close Encounters of the God Kind) to support his prosperity teaching, claims that he met King David who apologized to Jesse and told, “I wish I had written more songs about God’s answers than about my problems.” Doesn’t he realize that this undermines the doctrine of the inspiration of all Scripture (1Timothy 3:16).

Recently I watched a video, where a man of God claims that he went to Heaven and met the boy who gave 5 loaves and 2 fish to the Lord’s disciples and he named him Reuben. He finally claims that when he meets Biblical characters, he gets more spiritual insights than that are recorded in the Scriptures.
Let us be careful in going beyond the written word of God.

T. Athma Soruban
The author is a UESI Staff Worker in charge of Networking Cell. He lives in Chennai with his wife Beulah and daughters Dibrizah and Clarizah.