Between Heaven and Hell

There was a man in the Bible who went to hell. He was in torment and asked Jesus to please send someone from the dead to warn his brothers.

Jesus said “If they do not believe Gods Word, given through the prophets, they won’t believe even if someone rose from the dead!”

Wow. Is that true?

It does seem that Jesus actually has allowed people to come back from the grave with tales of both heaven… and of hell.

One such man is named Howard Storm. Not unlike a lot of college professors, Howard Storm was an atheist. He was travelling in France when his stomache erupted. As he lay dieing in a hospital awaiting surgery, in tremendous pain, Storm suddenly was beside himself. Literally. He was standing next to his own lifeless body, wondering what was happening.

There was no bright light, no tunnel. Just Storm, curious about the strange image of himself he saw lieing on the hospital bed. Yet he said “I never felt more alive.”

Voices and shadowy figures beckoned to him from beyond the room, so storm decided to follow them. The voices promised to help him, to heal him. “Hurry, we’ve been waiting for you,” They cajoled him sweetly… at first. But soon the shadowy figures grew angry, sarcastic, and malevolent.  Soon they were attacking, jeering, and mocking him.

Howard Storm then did something only the most desperate of atheists would do: he cried out to God .

The rest of the story is a fascinating account of Howards experiences in the presence of Jesus and some angels. The book could possibly be called “Between Heaven and Hell,” because that is where Storm found himself. Somewhere between the two, spending time in Gods presence, learning about himself, and the meaning of life. Maybe we could even call it “When the Atheist met God.”

I read this story with rapt amazement. Here was an atheist, writing in a style I will have to call “non-christian-ese.” In fact, it borders a bit on “New age-ish,” which would normally scare a hard core Bible thumper like me away, but his story was… so true. True to the very Word of God. True to all I know and hold dear. True to what  we who are living can observe and say… that is so.  Yet it was a perspective I had never heard it from: a total unbeliever, unaffected by his church upbringing.

Storm asks the loving celestial being every question he could possibly think of to ask. The angels and the Lord, he says, answered every single one of them. He asks questions such as “Where did creation come from? Are we physical or Spirit? What is reality? Is Jesus the Son of God? Which religion is right? What about Atheism?” Each answer is written out concisely in his book. Christian or not, the answers will surprise you.

One thing I will say for sure… I closed that book realizing the importance of loving and appreciating whoever was next to me!

“Our perspective on life is wrong,” Storm claims,  We think life in this world is important. It is only important as preparation for our eternal life. The only importance of this life is the choice we make to love God or not…”

Just like Richard Sigmunds book, “A Place Called Heaven,”which I will review tomorrow, Storms book left me realizing that what I do today will continue on into heaven. Life continues in heaven. It ends unfinished here, and it is finished there. The hopes and dreams you think have died, may be resurrected beyond Heavens gates.

A man came back from the very portals of Hell. Will you believe?

For More on Heaven and Howard Storm :

What is Heaven Like?

Whatever You do… make it to Heaven