Building a Reliable Library for the Discerning Christian Reader
If you have read this far in the book, you may be feeling a little nervous. We have spent many chapters teaching discernment by walking through the patterns of corruption, misinterpretation, and counterfeit that show up in the NDE literature. We have looked closely at where things go wrong. That work was necessary. But it can leave a thoughtful reader with the wrong impression — that all NDE books are a minefield, that every author is suspect, and that the safest course is to avoid the whole subject. That impression is wrong, and this chapter is here to correct it.
The truth is that a substantial body of NDE literature is trustworthy. Many faithful Christians have written about their NDEs in ways that align with Scripture and have borne real spiritual fruit in the lives of readers. Many serious researchers have studied the phenomenon with biblical seriousness and provided the church with valuable resources. Christians can read these authors with reasonable confidence, recommend them to others, and use them in evangelism and pastoral ministry. Not every NDE book is a hidden danger. Many are gifts of God to His church.
A meaningful body of NDE literature comes from committed Christians whose accounts align with biblical teaching, whose subsequent lives bear the fruit of genuine discipleship, and whose writings can be read by discerning Christians with reasonable confidence. This chapter surveys these authors, explains why they merit trust, and equips you to build a reliable NDE library of your own.
Before naming names, we need to be clear about the criteria we are using. Why do we trust some authors more than others? It comes down to a cluster of seven marks. None of them is enough by itself, but when most of them are present together, the resulting confidence is well-founded.
(1) Christ-centered content in the experience itself. The NDE features Jesus specifically, biblical cosmology, real moral seriousness, and a call to faith and repentance. The being encountered is identified in ways consistent with the biblical Christ — pierced hands, sacrificial love, holiness, divine authority — rather than as a generic luminous presence labeled "love" or "the Source."
(2) Christian theology in the interpretation. The author does not draw universalist, syncretistic, or occult conclusions from the experience. They affirm the uniqueness of Christ, the authority of Scripture, the reality of judgment, and the necessity of personal faith.
(3) Christian discipleship in the subsequent life. The author's life shows the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23): marriage fidelity, church involvement, ministry to others, humility, and ongoing spiritual growth — not only at first, but over years and decades.
(4) Scriptural engagement. The author reads, quotes, and submits to Scripture. They do not claim that their experience supersedes biblical teaching or fills gaps that the Bible left intentionally unfilled.
(5) Reasonable consistency. The author's account has been told the same way over years, without major revisions that change the substance of what happened.
(6) Theological humility. The author does not claim that their experience is universally normative or that their understanding is superior to ordinary Christian teaching. They present their testimony as one personal gift, not as binding revelation for the whole church.
(7) Ecclesiastical accountability. The author is part of a local church, has pastoral oversight or denominational connection, and is not operating as an independent spiritual authority answerable to no one.1
With these seven marks in mind, let's look at some of the authors who measure up well.
We begin with the researchers — the writers who study NDEs from outside as well as inside the experience. These authors give the church its best framework for thinking about the phenomenon as a whole.
Tabatt is the conversation partner closest to this book. A Christian publishing executive and longtime podcast host, he has interviewed hundreds of NDErs and seen the field from the inside. His NDE Conspiracy argues that the enemy of our souls works to "hijack" what God intends for good in NDEs — pulling some experiences toward universalism, others toward the occult, others toward fabrication — while many remain genuine encounters with Christ. The framework is biblical, the tone is warm, and the book is designed for ordinary Christian readers. It is essential reading for anyone serious about discernment in this area.2
If Tabatt's book is the discernment handbook, Miller's is the empirical foundation. A conservative evangelical and former missions teacher, Miller has spent more than a decade studying consecutively uploaded NDEs from the NDERF database and comparing them with biblical themes. His central findings — that Jesus shows up in NDEs far more often than secular researchers report, that anti-Christian elements are scarce, and that NDEs and DBEs broadly cohere with mainstream biblical teaching — anchor the positive case this book makes. Miller is also a careful and charitable engager of Christian critics. Highest recommendation.3
Sabom is one of the most important Christian voices in NDE research. A cardiologist and ordained elder in the Presbyterian Church in America (a conservative Reformed denomination), Sabom conducted "The Atlanta Study" — a careful prospective investigation of cardiac arrest patients with NDEs. His findings overturned the conventional wisdom that NDEs lead away from traditional Christianity. In Sabom's study, NDErs typically moved toward stronger intrinsic faith, increased prayer, and deeper Bible reading. Sabom is also unusually transparent about how studying NDEs deepened his own walk with Christ. The medical rigor and biblical commitment are rare and combined with admirable honesty about cases that don't fit easy categories.4
Burke, an evangelical pastor and former skeptic, has written perhaps the most widely read pastoral treatment of NDEs in light of biblical teaching. He compares hundreds of NDE accounts with Scripture and shows the remarkable convergence between what NDErs report and what the Bible says about heaven. His distinction between "what NDErs experience" and "what they interpret the experience to mean" is one of the book's most useful pastoral contributions and parallels the experience-interpretation framework we have used throughout this book.5 Endorsed by J. P. Moreland, Gary Habermas, and Lee Strobel, the book has helped many Christians engage NDE testimony confidently. One small caution: Burke is more willing than this book to treat certain popular NDE accounts as straightforwardly reliable. Read with appreciation, but apply the seven tests of Chapter 10 to specific cases as you go.
For the reader who wants the philosophical and apologetic framework, Habermas (Liberty University) and Moreland (Biola/Talbot) — both senior evangelical scholars and personal friends of the author — have produced a careful treatment of the evidence for life after death that includes substantial engagement with NDE research. Their work is rigorous, philosophically careful, and unmistakably evangelical. An ideal complement to Sabom's medical work and Miller's empirical studies.6
Rawlings, an evangelical cardiologist, was one of the first medical researchers to document distressing NDEs and Hades-like encounters at scale. Some of his specific arguments — particularly the claim that distressing NDEs are systematically suppressed in patients' memory unless interviewed immediately — have been challenged by later research. But the core observation that distressing NDEs exist and are theologically significant is well-grounded, and the books remain valuable for the reader who wants the full picture rather than only the bright NDE testimonies.7
Now to the experiencers themselves — those who came back from the doorway of death and wrote about what they saw.
A Baptist pastor pronounced dead at the scene of a 1989 car accident. For ninety minutes Piper was clinically dead. He experienced heaven with Jesus, angels, and reunion with deceased loved ones before being prayed back to life by another pastor. His account is consistent with biblical teaching, and his subsequent ministry has been Christ-centered and stable. Some critics have raised questions about specific details, and those concerns deserve a fair hearing. But the overall account is biblically coherent, the man's life since has shown ongoing discipleship, and many readers have been blessed and brought closer to Christ through it.8
Stung multiple times by box jellyfish off the coast of Mauritius in 1982 while traveling as a young backpacker, McCormack clinically died and met Jesus, who called him back to life with a new purpose. His testimony has been told consistently for over forty years. He has entered Christian ministry as an evangelist, has remained in clear submission to Scripture, and has not drifted into syncretism or self-promotion. Of all the trustworthy NDE testimonies, McCormack's is one of the cleanest and most pastorally useful. An excellent first book to recommend to a curious unbeliever.
A former atheist art professor whose distressing NDE in 1985 became a dramatic conversion when he called out to Jesus from a dark, demonic place. The original account is remarkably consistent with biblical Christianity — Storm was rescued by Christ, shown the love of God, and turned from his unbelief. He later pastored United Church of Christ congregations (a denomination whose theology varies widely, so denominational affiliation alone tells us little). Some of Storm's later teaching has drifted in a more universalist direction in places, and discerning readers will want to apply the seven tests carefully to those later writings. But the original NDE account is a powerful gospel testimony and has been used to bring many to Christ.9
An orthopedic surgeon who drowned in a kayaking accident in Chile in 1999. She describes encountering Jesus, being shown scenes from her life and what she perceived to be future events, and being sent back. Her theology is broadly Christian, with some areas where her language is more abstract than this book would prefer. Her overall trajectory — surgical practice, church involvement, faithful Christian writing — aligns with discipleship. Read with appreciative discernment.
A Pentecostal Christian who clinically died for over an hour during surgery and experienced heaven, Jesus, and the throne of God. Braxton's account is vividly charismatic in flavor; readers from non-charismatic traditions may find some of his descriptions unfamiliar, but the substance is biblically consistent. He has built a Christ-centered teaching ministry. A useful counterweight to the secular-toned NDE accounts that dominate the bestseller lists.
An evangelical Christian and businessman whose NDE included encounters with both hell (distressing) and heaven (Christ-centered). His teaching is biblical, and his account presents both sides of the eternal stakes in a way that mirrors the historic Christian witness. Endorsed by Tabatt and others within the discerning Christian NDE community.
A Canadian businessman and pilot whose dramatic 2006 NDE led him from nominal religion to deep Christian faith. Catholic-charismatic in background, Woodford's testimony has been told consistently and is solidly Christ-centered. He wrote the foreword to Tabatt's book — itself a marker of mutual recognition within trustworthy circles.
A former agnostic whose NDE during a medical crisis led to evangelical Christian faith. He wrote the introduction to Tabatt's book and now teaches and interviews other NDErs in a biblically grounded way. His ministry models the kind of careful, Christ-centered engagement with NDE testimony that this book commends.
A note about the Atlanta Study: not every trustworthy Christian NDEr has written a bestseller. Sabom's research documents many committed Christians whose NDEs deepened their faith, drew them more deeply into the church, and bore lasting fruit. These are not individual authors so much as a cohort of ordinary believers whose collective testimony — quietly catalogued in a serious medical study — provides some of the most reliable Christian NDE data we possess.
Heaven Is for Real (2010), the story of three-year-old Colton Burpo's NDE during emergency surgery, told through his pastor father Todd Burpo, has been one of the most influential evangelical NDE books of the twenty-first century. The content is broadly Christian — Jesus, angels, heaven, deceased relatives, including a sister Colton said he met whom his parents had never told him about (she died in miscarriage before he was born). Many Christian readers have been deeply blessed by it, and the gospel comes through clearly.
That said, an honest evaluation requires noting some cautions. Some critics — including evangelical critics — have asked how much of the published account reflects Colton's actual experience and how much reflects his father's theological shaping over the years between the NDE and the book. Children's NDEs in general are difficult to evaluate because young children lack the conceptual vocabulary to describe what they experienced and depend on adults to translate. None of this means the book is unreliable. It means the book should be read with appreciative care rather than as direct, unmediated revelation. Many of the strongest defenders of NDE testimony hold this view of Heaven Is for Real — that it is an encouraging and largely faithful account that nonetheless deserves the same critical eye we apply to any human testimony.10
None of these authors is perfect, and not one of them is a prophet. Every one of them, if pressed, would admit holding views on some point that other thoughtful Christians do not share. The point of this list is not to canonize anyone. It is to identify a body of writers whose overall profile — Christ-centered content, biblical interpretation, fruitful subsequent life, scriptural submission, theological humility, real accountability — gives the discerning reader good warrant to read with confidence rather than constant suspicion.
Even with the most trustworthy authors, Christian readers should not surrender the active mind and the open Bible. Five practices apply across the board.
Read with Scripture open. When an author describes heaven, compare with Revelation 21–22, Isaiah 60, and 2 Corinthians 12. When they describe Jesus, compare with the Gospels and Revelation 1 and 5. The Bereans were commended for testing even Paul's words against Scripture (Acts 17:11); we should do no less with our NDE authors.
Submit every claim to biblical testing. Apply the seven tests from Chapter 10 to whatever you read. Some claims will pass easily. Others will fall into a middle category where the Bible does not speak directly — hold those loosely. A few will, on testing, prove inconsistent with Scripture, and those you set aside without embarrassment. Even good authors are sometimes wrong.
Do not idolize the experiencer. Don Piper is a brother. Mary Neal is a sister. Ian McCormack is a brother. They are not prophets. They have not received binding revelation for the church. The vividness of an NDE account can pull a reader toward treating the experiencer as something more than a fellow disciple. That temptation should be resisted for the experiencer's spiritual health and for the reader's.
Recognize that even good authors can be wrong on specific points. Every author in this chapter has said something I would push back on. That is true of every theologian and pastor we love, too. A trustworthy author is one whose overall profile is healthy — not one who is infallible. Once you can hold that distinction, you will read more peacefully and more widely.
Maintain primary allegiance to Scripture. If a beloved NDE author and the Bible disagree on a point of substance, the Bible wins. Always. The hierarchy is not negotiable. Scripture is the rule of faith and life; testimonies — even moving ones — are below it. The apostolic instruction stands: "test everything; hold fast what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21, ESV).11 Holding that line consistently will protect you from a thousand small drifts.
If you are putting together a personal NDE library, here is a starter list.
For the framework first. Begin with Miller's Is Christianity Compatible? for the empirical foundation, and Tabatt's NDE Conspiracy for the discernment lens. Add Burke's Imagine Heaven for the pastoral overview and Sabom's Light and Death for the medical case. Those four together are sufficient for most readers.
For testimonies. Read Don Piper, Ian McCormack, Howard Storm (the original book), Dean Braxton, and Mary Neal. Do not start with all five at once — pace yourself, and let each one be tested by Scripture as you go.
For scholarly depth. Add Habermas and Moreland's Beyond Death, and Miller's Deathbed Experiences as Evidence for the Afterlife. These will give you the philosophical and DBE-specific framework that the testimonies alone cannot.
For the distressing-NDE perspective. Read Rawlings and Tuttle. Christians who only read the bright NDE accounts are getting half of the picture. The reality of judgment is woven into the literature for those willing to look.
· · ·
The authors surveyed in this chapter have been a real gift to the church. Their experiences, faithfully told and faithfully interpreted, have brought many to Christ, deepened the faith of countless believers, and provided a kind of empirical witness to the spiritual realm that complements Scripture rather than competing with it. As Sabom's Atlanta Study showed, NDEs can lead Christians to a deeper, more conservative, more biblical faith — not away from it. That fact alone refutes the wholesale dismissal of NDE testimony that some Christians have embraced.
Not every NDE book is corrupt. Many are gifts. The discernment we have learned in earlier chapters is not for the sake of suspicion; it is for the sake of receiving the gifts faithfully and rejecting the counterfeits clearly. A Christian who knows how to read NDE literature with both confidence and care has a real ministry tool — for evangelism with skeptics, for comfort to the grieving, and for deepening their own walk with the Christ who is, after all, "Lord both of the dead and of the living" (Romans 14:9, ESV).12
If a friend or family member has read one of the trustworthy authors above and has questions, your job is not to argue them out of every detail. Your job is to walk with them in Scripture, ask good questions, and point them to Christ. Many Christians have come to a deeper faith through reading Burke or Piper or Miller. The Holy Spirit uses good books in His own way. We get to assist, not control.
In the next chapter we will turn to the other side of the picture — NDE authors whose published teaching is at odds with biblical Christianity in serious ways. The contrast between this chapter and the next will sharpen the reader's discernment. But the order matters. We start here, with the gifts, because these authors are the larger story. The church has more to receive from this literature than to fear in it. Discernment is the way we receive it well.
Burke, John. Imagine Heaven: Near-Death Experiences, God's Promises, and the Exhilarating Future That Awaits You. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2015.
Burpo, Todd, with Lynn Vincent. Heaven Is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2010.
Habermas, Gary R., and J. P. Moreland. Beyond Death: Exploring the Evidence for Immortality. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1998.
Miller, J. Steve. Is Christianity Compatible with Deathbed and Near-Death Experiences? The Surprising Presence of Jesus, Scarcity of Anti-Christian Elements, and Compatibility with Historic Christian Teachings. Acworth, GA: Wisdom Creek Press, 2023.
Piper, Don, with Cecil Murphey. 90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death and Life. Grand Rapids, MI: Revell, 2004.
Rawlings, Maurice. Beyond Death's Door. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1978.
Rawlings, Maurice. To Hell and Back: Life After Death — Startling New Evidence. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1993.
Sabom, Michael. Light and Death: One Doctor's Fascinating Account of Near-Death Experiences. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1998.
Storm, Howard. My Descent into Death: A Second Chance at Life. New York: Doubleday, 2005.
Tabatt, Shaun. The NDE Conspiracy: Can We Trust Eyewitness Accounts of Heaven, Hell, and the Afterlife? Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image, 2025.