He's Studied 1,000+ Near-Death Experiences and Says This Is Why He Believes They Prove the Bible

John Burke, a pastor and author who has studied and examined over 1,000 accounts of near-death experiences, believes these reports provide faith-building evidence of God and the Bible. Burke, author of the new book "Imagine the God of Heaven: Near-Death Experiences, God’s Revelation, and the Love You’ve Always Wanted," told CBN News why he believes these experiences corroborate Scripture and detailed what a near-death experience entails. "It's when someone clinically dies ... their heart stops, they have no brain waves," Burke said. "And yet either modern medicine or miracle brings them back ... minutes later, sometimes it's hours." He continued, "And when they come back, they talk about experiencing the life to come, and they talk about how it's more real than anything they've ever experienced in this world." Burke said his latest book looks at scores of interviews with people from all over the world who've had these clinical near-death experiences. "They are seeing and experiencing the God of Scripture," he said. "And we're looking, not only at His love story told throughout history in the Bible, but also his heart and characteristics, the mystery, the majesty of God."  Burke, though, knows not everyone believes these heaven visitation stories, and explained exactly why he thinks there's so much skepticism. He said one factor is a failure to understand that "these are testimonies" that shed light on God's nature. Another is the complexities that come from trying to describe other-worldly experiences using human language.  -- Welcome to "The Newsmakers Podcast," a show where we go behind the headlines each day to bring you interviews with pastors, entertainers, politicians, and other notable figures. Based on the "Newsmakers" show on the CBN News Channel, this daily podcast featuring CBN's Billy Hallowell provides full interviews with one newsworthy person every weekday.