Heaven is Real

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In researching the Heaven is for Real true story, we discovered that Cassie, Colton's older sister, did know about her mother's miscarried baby prior to Colton's ruptured appendix. Though Thomas Haden Church's character, Jay Wilkins, is largely fictional, he most closely resembles Todd's good friend Phil Harris in the book a loose connection at best. For the most part, no. Jay Wilkins Thomas Haden Church , who is Todd Burpo's close friend and a fellow volunteer firefighter in the movie, is not based on any one individual. There is no one named Jay Wilkins in the book.

The character is at best a loose composite of various friends and acquaintances in the real Todd Burpo's life. This includes fellow volunteer firefighters and pastoral acquaintances like the Burpos close friend Phil Harris, who along with his wife Betty Lou, are the district superintendents of the Wesleyan Church the movie depicts Thomas Haden's character as being a local bank president and a board member at the church. The Burpos stayed with Phil and Betty Lou for a night at their home in Greeley, Colorado, shortly after Colton's condition took a turn for the worse and prior to heading back to Imperial, Nebraska.

As evidenced by the book, Colton did not visit the bedside of a dying boy in order to give him comfort. He did accompany his father Todd to a nursing home to visit a dying man named Harold Greer and his family. However, in the movie, this visit takes place before the surgery, not after it like in the book. During the actual visit, Colton approached the man's bedside, much like he does the boy's in the movie, and told the man that everything was going to be okay and that the first person he'll see in Heaven is Jesus.

Todd states that it was at that point that he realized that his son had become a messenger. Actress Margo Martindale's character, Nancy Rawling, is fictitious and does not appear in the book. In the movie, the character finds hope through a Colton-inspired vision of her son in Heaven. Pastor Todd Burpo Greg Kinnear provides her comfort by explaining to her that if his son was welcomed into Heaven, then her son had to be in Heaven as well since God loves him just as much.

In the book, Todd instead offers this explanation to a woman whose daughter had been stillborn. Todd Burpo says that they spent three years showing Colton pictures of Jesus, and it wasn't until Colton saw Akiane Kramarik's painting of Jesus, titled Prince of Peace: The Resurrection pictured below , that Colton said, "This one's right.

Her work sells for thousands of dollars. She says that her inspiration comes from God and her visits to Heaven. Inspired by God and her visits to Heaven, Akiane Kramarik right painted this portrait of Jesus left when she was only 8-years-old.

Colton Burpo recognized it as the Jesus he too saw in Heaven. Colton's father, Todd Burpo, says that he asked his son this very question.

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In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network , Colton responded in his own words. The real Colton Burpo supposedly told his father that he was in Heaven for three minutes.

After hearing about everything his son had done in Heaven, Todd Burpo knew that such a short amount of time didn't make sense. As in the movie, he turned to the Bible for an answer and recalled that the Bible says that with the Lord, "a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. According to the real Todd Burpo, one such miracle unfolded in the months prior to Colton's trip to Heaven. Todd noticed a lump under the surface of his left nipple.

The doctor performed a biopsy and the results came back as hyperplasia, the precursor to breast cancer. A lumpectomy was performed. However, when the removed tissue was tested, it was discovered to be benign, no longer exhibiting hyperplasia.

Todd's doctor had no explanation for the sudden reversal. Many who have read the book have wondered if Colton's story would have been the same if his father was not a pastor and if his family were, for instance, atheists. Those who believe Colton Burpo is telling the truth counter by arguing that it was Colton's strong faith at such a young age that allowed God to let him visit Heaven. Some critics, including Pastor David Platt , have also pointed out that not only does Colton's story contradict certain elements of scripture, it is another addition to a flourishing genre of books that attempt to purport biographical tales of Heaven and the Afterlife, with the main problem being that many of these descriptions of Heaven often do not correlate with one another.

This leads one to ask the question, with numerous biographical stories of Heaven on bookstore shelves, how do we know which ones, if any, are based in truth? These same critics usually conclude by pointing out the high dollar amounts being made from such books by Christian publishers. Delving into the book as part of our examination into the true story behind the Heaven is for Real movie confirmed that the origin of the book's title dates back to It was then that the Burpos traveled to Dallas, Texas to meet with the book's editor at a Starbucks.

The editor asked Colton what he wanted people to know from his story.

Colton's response was, "I want them to know that Heaven is for real. Colton's father, Pastor Todd Burpo, began preaching about his son's incredible story. Word of the miracle spread and a pastor friend, Phil McCallum, offered to introduce Todd to certain individuals in the publishing world. The Nashville publishing house of Thomas Nelson, which specializes in Christian books and Bibles, eventually bought the rights.

Heaven is for Real True Story vs Movie - Real Colton Burpo, Todd Burpo

With the release of the movie, that sales figure is projected to rise significantly. During a January interview with Natalie Tizzel on the Canadian television show Huntley Street , the real Colton Burpo attempted to describe the Armageddon that he claims he got to see a preview of while he was in Heaven. By April , more than one million ebooks had been sold, [1] and more than 10 million copies had been sold by As time passed by, Colton continuously kept throwing up, which is when Todd and Sonja knew that he did not just have influenza. When Todd and Sonja went to a different emergency room with Colton, they were told that Colton had to have an emergency appendectomy as he could possibly die.

Colton began describing events and people that seemed impossible for him to have known about.

Heaven is for Real (2014)

Examples include knowledge of an unborn sister miscarried by his mother in and details of a great-grandfather who had died 30 years before Colton was born. Colton Burpo the three-year-old son at time of incident of Todd Burpo and Sonja Burpo, was the one who this happened to. At the time of the incident, was pastor at a Crossroads church in Nebraska. Sonja Burpo- The mother of Colton Burpo and wife of Todd Burpo, and at the time of the incident was a teacher at a local school. Within ten weeks of its November release, the book debuted at No. A variety of Christians have expressed criticism or concern about the book's content and message.

The Berean Call , a Christian ministry and newsletter, criticized the book for its "extra-biblical" and "problematic" claims, as well as the lack of any medical evidence that the boy was clinically dead during the surgery. In , Alex Malarkey publicly disavowed the book The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven , stating that his near-death experience described in that book was fictional, [15] and condemned Christian publishers and bookstores for selling popular "heaven tourism" books, which he said "profit from lies.

In less than just one year of being released, this book surpassed the 1 million sales and was awarded the Platinum sales Award. Then in after seeing 10 million copies, the book was then awarded the Diamond Sales Award [19]. When Todd is called by a radio station for an impromptu on-air interview, he invites them to attend his sermon the following Sunday.

At church, he preaches about his son's experiences and reveals his support for him. Following the events at the church, Todd is doing research on the Internet and finds a story about a Lithuanian girl who had a similar experience. Her recall of Jesus was identical to that of Colton. Todd tries to speak to Colton further about the experience but he is interrupted by his wife revealing that she is pregnant with another child.

Photos of Colton and his family are shown in the present day. It was announced that Joe Roth would be producing the film with T. On March 19, , it was announced that Greg Kinnear was in talks to star, and he later joined the cast. On July 17, it was reported that composer Nick Glennie-Smith would score the film, [11] and behind the scenes, the director of photography was Dean Semler. Shooting began in the last week of July in Selkirk , Manitoba. The film was released on April 16, and held a 3, theater count through its 4th week.

Heaven Is for Real received mixed reviews. The site's consensus states, " Heaven Is for Real boasts a well-written screenplay and a talented cast, but overextends itself with heavy-handed sequences depicting concepts it could have trusted the audience to take on faith.

Jeb Lund, a columnist for The Guardian , [18] expressed skepticism about the depiction of the story in the film. The red markers which Colton Burpo claims Jesus had on his hands and feet are well known.

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