BOOK REVIEW: Appointments with Heaven

Heaven is closer than we think.

The book Appointments with Heaven, by Dr. Reggie Anderson, is a beautiful, simple collection of stories about the life of the author and the people he has watched go to heaven as their attending doctor. Born and raised in the simple country of the south, Dr Anderson is honest with us about the struggles of faith he had in his late teens and early 20s after a trauma in the family. When he returned to his faith, it is clear that God gave him an unusual ability to experience the spiritual realm in a way few of us do.

Dr. Anderson, in conversational and easy language, tells us of his experience with Jesus that transformed his life. He shares the special knowledge God has given him to know when someone is about to go to heaven and what it is like to sit with someone as they go. Although many in the world are afraid of death, Dr. Anderson's stories make it clear that, for those who belong to Jesus, there is no fear but only peace and joy. He says over and over through the book that heaven is closer than we think, and he tells about person after person for whom he saw Jesus "part the veil" to come and receive unto Himself.

The other side must be told as well, and so we do hear about an unrepentant man who refused the gospel to the end--and how Dr. Anderson was there in the room for the experience of his death, one very different than those for whom Jesus came. It is a reminder that just as heaven is real, so is hell.

This book is gentle and sweet. It is quietly persuasive. It would be a wonderful book to share with someone who needs extra reassurance of what awaits him at the end of life--or with someone who does not believe anything awaits him. The close relationships between Dr. Anderson's family and that of well known Christian singer Steven Curtis Chapman's family lend authenticity to his accounts, for those who may need that. The Chapman family has not been excluded from the grief of losing someone, and as their story is tenderly retold in this book it confirms all the rest of Dr. Anderson's experiences.

I was super blessed to receive a copy of this book for free from Tyndale House Publishers.

Here is a wonderful youtube video of Dr Anderson talking about the amazing opportunities God has given him to sense heaven close at hand.