90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death & Life
 | Average Customer Rating: Recommend More than 4 million copies sold! On the way home from a conference, Don Piper's car was crushed by a semi-truck that crossed into his lane. Medical personnel said he died instantly. While his body lay lifeless inside the ruins of his car, Piper experienced the glories of heaven, awed by its beauty and music. 90 minutes after the wreck, while a minister prayed for him, Piper miraculously returned to life on earth… Product details and pricing info |
|---|
578 Reviews for 90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death & Life
- A glympse at what God can do in a yielded life
-
I enjoyed this book and have passed it on to others. There are a lot of books written about visits to Heaven that I question the validity but after completing this "90 Minutes in Heaven", I am convinced his experience was real. What he allowed God to do with his life afterwards and as a result of his horrendous suffering, he answered God's call on his life. - 2010-02-06, 0 of 0 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- And You Thought YOU Had a Bad Day!
- And you thought YOU had a bad day. . . It is just unimaginable that someone could have been busted up so badly and live. Truly this life had a purpose, and it may have been to spread the word that Heaven exists. Don's story also speaks to the power of prayer and the power of God, and so much more. This 2004 edition, thirty-third printing of the New York Times Bestseller is reported as a true story of a man's death and life. He spends 90 minutes in heaven in between the two dimensions.
Don Piper, an ordained minister, was reroute to South Park Baptist Church in Alvin (Houston) Texas. Returning from a large Baptist Convention, he headed down a different route than normal, in his 1986 Ford Escort. The roads were wet from the off-and-on driving rain and it was a windy and miserable drive. Fortunately, Don buckled his seat belt. As Don approached an old, rusty, steel bridge (the kind with the overhead steel structure, the rain turned into a cloudburst.
Coming from the other direction was an 18-wheeler, driven by a trusty from the Texas Department of Corrections. Unlicensed to drive the truck, he had volunteered to pick up food items for the prison. The trusty weaved across the center line of the small roadway, hitting Don's Pinto head-on and sandwiching it between the truck and the bridge railing. Don's Pinto was smashed as the truck's wheels went on top of the Pinto. The truck side-swiped two other cars, then came to a stop.
Contacted by the guards following the trusty in another vehicle, medical backup arrived almost immediately. Finding no pulse for Don, he was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. For the next 90 minutes, he was in Heaven, where he was immersed in peace, love, and joy, as well as a brilliant warm light. He was greeted by many people he had known who had passed on. ". . .Their faces radiated a serenity I had never seen on earth. . ." He saw vivid, dazzling colors and everything was "like a first-class buffet for the senses." Don experienced heightened awareness and "felt so fully alive." He sensed that age and time had no meaning there and every feature on everyone was perfect and perfect love emanated from everyone. Don states, ". . .human words can't express the feelings of awe and wonder at what I beheld".
As Don listened to the brushing of the angels wings' and the most beautiful music he ever heard, he sensed being part of the music, as the most beautiful sounds he ever heard played through him as well as all around him. The music was a non-stop, intense praise of God, impossible to explain. ". . .My heart filled with the deepest joy I've ever experienced. . ." Thousands of songs praising God were being sung simultaneously, in an inexplicable harmony. Don really did not want to come back, but he did, and certainly in pain.
After the accident, Don spent 11 hours in surgery, then 12 days in ICU, 4 - 5 days in the hospital, 105 days in another hospital, 13 months in bed at home, endured 34 surgeries all together and had several infections and pneumonia. He suffered severe depression during the enormous time he was laid up. Because of the missing part of his femur, his options were to lose his left leg or to wear an Ilizarov frame (aka "fixator") and hope that they would be able to force the bones to grow to cover the missing section. The fixator, containing rods, wires, and at least 30 holes, took another 12 hours of surgery, was extremely painful, and held no guarantees that Don would still be able to keep the leg. Although Don suffered intense pain and uncertainty through the process, the fixator worked! As the use of this device has become more frequent, Don now visits with others who are wearing it and tries to help them get through the experience.
Those of you who have had a Near Death Experience (NDE) will likely have no problem believing this man's experience, as will those with a strong faith in God. For those who find it difficult, ask yourself this question: How can you have no pulse for 90 minutes and not have brain damage? Just about everything Don had was busted up bad, except for his right arm, head, and internal organs. Even part of the femur from his left leg was gone. They never found it. BTW, that's another question for you. When you read about how badly his body was crushed--how come no internal organs were damaged? You will also read about Don's remembrance of someone holding his hand while he was in the car, but it was no earthly presence.
This is a great book. Don talks about his 90 minutes in heaven in 2 chapters, followed by the tremendous ordeal of his recovery. After experiencing heaven, he asks himself why he had to return to such intense pain. No doubt, this is a test of faith that most of us would have. He wanted to go back to an existence that was so wonderful, it could not be expressed in words that would do it justice, but God said, "No, Don, not now." So Don had to begin to re-assess where his is now, let go of the past, and learn to look for what he COULD do, rather than focusing on what he could no longer do. (Is that not a lesson for us all?). He began to realize how telling others of his experiences could help them.
This book is about faith, healing, persistence, using your gifts in a positive way, helping others, accepting help from others, and much more. It is also about overcoming fear of death and knowing there is a heaven and God and angels waiting for you, with your loved ones, when you cross over. This book may be very useful for someone who is terminally ill or who is grieving a loss, as well as those of us who just want to know more.
(Note: my 40 year old brother had an NDE during a lung operation. He died, but not until 6 months later and not until he told me about his experience.)
God bless you all in your search for truth.
Namaste' - 2010-02-01, 0 of 0 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- This book is a crock!
- You might as well read The Celestine Prophecy as this joke of a book. Don Piper is NOT John Piper. John Piper gets it right...Don Piper does not. Don't waste your money on this book!!!
- 2010-02-01, 0 of 2 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Inspirational Story
- I am not a Christian or religious, but I believe there is an almighty God. I have read introductions about this book long time ago and thought this was probably a religious book because the author is a pastor and the book is about the heaven. The overall 4 star rating by 500+ people prompted me to eventually picked up the book and read it. As many people here, I had expected to read a lot more about heaven than about real life before I started. To my surprise, the main part of the story is about his real life recovery after the accident. And, it is his account of his agonizing and struggling long recovery road, especially how he defeated depression and found will and purpose to live, that consisted of what I liked most about this book. Such an extraordinary and inspirational story! I am convinced the story for most part is true. I agree that he survived because God has a purpose for him to live. However, I disagree with Pastor Piper's suggestion that you have to be a Christian to go to heaven. I believe as long as you are a good person, you will go to heaven no matter what religion(or no religion) you believe in.
- 2010-01-24, 1 of 1 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Riveting!
- 90 Minutes in Heaven will draw you into Don Piper's world... and his heaven. You will feel the searing pain of his injuries, smell the fresh paint in the ambulance, and hear the beautiful music and see the vibrant colors in heaven. You will experience his intense frustration and despair as he is bedridden, mourning the life he once had. As he begins to slowly heal you will appreciate his need to understand God's will - to make sense out of what happened to him and why he was spared. But more than anything, you will see the power of prayer and the miracles that brought Don Piper back from heaven and allowed him to share his amazing 90 minutes with us.
- 2010-01-22, 0 of 0 people found this review helpful, Rated:
