While out promoting his new movie "90 Minutes in Heaven," which opens on Sept. 11 in US theatres, Pastor Don Piper once again recalled his time in heaven, saying it is just as wonderful as the Bible described it to be, and that nothing in this world could ever top its grandeur.
"The first astounding experience was these people I had loved and lost for a little while, they were there to greet me. I often say you don't sneak up on Heaven. Every one there knows who's coming so they were prepared for my arrival. Grandparents, friends, teachers, relatives, and I was greeted by them and they were literally in perfect condition," he told Breathe Cast. "Many of them had died in old age here but they were perfect and healthy there. So we're going to look good in Heaven, which is something to look forward to."
Piper "died" on Jan. 18, 1989 when a semi-tractor truck crushed his car. He was already declared dead by rescue responders, but Piper said God decided to bring him back to life. For a while, he questioned God's motives for bringing him back.
"You could imagine when I laid there in the hospital bed for all those months and I was asking the question 'Why did you send me back to this?'" he said. "I think it was in some part at least so that I can tell people it (heaven) is real and you have to be ready for it."
The Bible has several accounts of heaven, and Piper confirmed that those things are correct. "I was surrounded by a century explosion of things, the colours, the brilliance of it all, the street that was gold, the gate that was pearl. I did see thrones through the gate high and lifted up, I did see the river of life, I did see the tree of life, I did see all those things that you would expect to see," he said.
But the most vivid memory Piper had of heaven was the music, and it sounded so real and extraordinary that he can still hear the music in heaven up to this very day. He revealed that there were thousands of songs being played at the same time in heaven. Although it's supposed to sound like chaos, it sounded quite the opposite, he said.
"They were all glorying God of course, but there was no chaos amongst the songs even though they were all being offered at the same time. You could hear each one of the songs with your ears, heavenly ears. That music kind of penetrated me, it kind of invaded me to the point that I came back with it and I can still hear it today. It's the one portable thing that I returned with," he said.
"90 Minutes in Heaven" is presented by Giving Films and stars Hayden Christensen as Don Piper and Kate Bosworth as his wife Eva.
