Author and speaker By Warren B. Smith has released a new 18-page booklet titled, Heavenly Visions of Jesus Or “Lying Signs & Wonders” of a False New Age Christ?—Akiane Kramarik and Heaven is for Real, and he has kindly given permission for me to publish it here in its entirety. Warren has written a host of books about his previous deception in the New Age and how the Lord graciously opened his eyes to the wickedness of that movement, and his series including The Light That Was Dark: From the New Age to Amazing Grace, A Wonderful Deception: The Further New Age Implications of the Emerging Purpose Driven Movement, Deceived on Purpose: The New Age Implications of the Purpose Driven Church, False Christ Coming: Does Anybody Care? – What New Age leaders really have in store for America, the church, and the world, and, Another Jesus” Calling: How Sarah Young’s False Christ is Deceiving the Church, remain my favorites.
Check out my previous articles and video interviews from Smith here, and enjoy his latest:
Go, therefore, and teach ye all nations, spreading far and wide, The New Gospel: We Are All One.1
—False New Age “God” channeled by Neale Donald WalschWe are all One, no matter in what form, space or time. We are not the same, but we are all One split into many.2
—AkIane Kramarik, “Visionary” Artist
“We are all One” is the foundational bottom-line teaching of the New Age/New Gospel of the coming false Christ. Best-selling author and self-described psychic medium Neale Donald Walsch has been hailed by New Age influencer Oprah Winfrey as one of her “ten most memorable thinkers.”3 She has described his Conversations with God, Book 1, as her “favorite book.”4 Yet in Walsch’s CWG series, “God” tells him that the New Gospel of “Oneness”—God “in” everyone—will transition the world into a “golden” New Age. He writes:
Go, therefore, and teach ye all nations, spreading far and wide, The New Gospel: We Are All One.5
The twenty-first century will be the time of awakening, of meeting The Creator Within. Many beings will experience Oneness with God and with all of life. This will be the beginning of the golden age of the New Human, of which it has been written; the time of the universal human, which has been eloquently described by those with deep insight among you.
There are many such people in the world now—teachers and messengers, Masters and visionaries—who are placing this vision before humankind and offering tools with which to create it. These messengers and visionaries are the heralds of a New Age.6
Akiane Kramarik
One of the “messengers” and “visionaries” heralding this golden New Age is a thirty-one-year-old American artist named Akiane Kramarik, a former child prodigy who was receiving dreams and visions from “Jesus” and started drawing at age four. At the age of eight, she completed her now-famous Prince of Peace portrait of the “Jesus” she met and interacted with in her mystical mind. With the help of a mysterious seven-foot-tall model who suddenly showed up at her front door, her portrait is a stunning representation of the “Jesus” she saw in her dreams and visions.
Akiane and her paintings went instantly viral in 2003 after she appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show at the age of nine. For most of the millions watching, her paintings were an absolute wonder to behold. How could a young child produce such amazing artwork? And now, with her Prince of Peace portrait, did the world finally have a true picture of what Jesus actually looks like? Or was Akiane’s “Jesus” one of the false Christs the real Jesus Christ warned us about in Scripture?
For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. (Matthew 24:24)
And a Little Child Shall Mislead Them?
Some of the teachings that have emerged from Akiane’s interactions with “Jesus” are posted on her website. Akiane describes herself as a Christian and states that Jesus is her Lord—but what Jesus? Some of the teachings she has posted are not the true teachings of biblical Christianity. Instead, they present the New Age Gospel of “Oneness” that falsely proclaims, “We are all One” because we all share a capital “S” Self—a universal “Divine Self.” Akiane’s website states:
Relationship with our Selves is our relationship with our universe. . . .
This world rarely meets our expectations, and our forgetfulness of our Divine Self and purpose for us is a true mystery. . . .
Comprehending the significance of our living here forms peace and assurance of our oneness with everyone, the conviction that we are all part of that collective puzzle, part of one and the same Spirit, part of The Divinity, part of each and every one we will meet today on a train, in a bookstore, in a hospital or in a neighborhood park.
We are all One, no matter in what form, space or time. We are not the same, but we are all One split into many. And as One we can change the world in a ripple effect if we start changing just one single action. Just one single word or just one single thought.7 (emphasis added)
Contrary to what Akiane states, we are not “all One.” Humanity does not have a naturally indwelling “Divine Self.” God is not “in” everyone. These teachings are completely false and definitely New Age. In these few paragraphs alone, Akiane has publicly aligned herself with all the many occultists, theosophists, spiritists, psychics, and New Age channelers who have expressed these same unbiblical beliefs down through the years.
Given Akiane’s New Age beliefs, why would any biblical Christian believe that Akiane’s portrait of “Jesus” has anything to do with the real Jesus Christ? Yet there are church leaders, many in the Christian media, and countless day-to-day Christians who do believe that her portrait is an accurate picture of the true Jesus Christ. And one of the main reasons they believe this is because of a best-selling book by a Christian pastor titled Heaven is for Real. In it, Pastor Todd Burpo writes about his three-year-old son Colton’s alleged trip to “heaven” during an emergency medical procedure and how it was there in “heaven” that his son, like Akiane, met and interacted with “Jesus” face-to-face. But most significantly, he writes that the “Jesus” his son met and conversed with looks just like Akiane’s portrait of “Jesus.”8
Heaven is for Real and the Burpos
Heaven is for Real was published in 2010 and remains a very popular book today. It has sold millions of copies, and in 2014 it was made into a feature movie. Both the book and the movie of the young boy’s story make people think that Akiane’s “Jesus” is an accurate picture of the real Jesus. In fact, the film, Heaven is for Real, literally begins with Akiane starting to paint her now-famous work and dramatically ends with a zoomed-in close-up of her completed “Jesus” portrait filling the entire movie screen.
The Heaven is for Real story seems to gain credibility when Colton accurately describes what each of his parents were separately doing when he was being operated on for a burst appendix. Further credibility appears to be gained when he reportedly encounters a miscarried “sister” in “heaven”—a miscarriage that his parents had never told him about. His sudden knowledge of the miscarriage shocked his parents and seemed to offer them more proof that he had actually gone to “heaven.”
In addition, Colton said he saw his great-grandfather in “heaven”—a relative he had never met because the great-grandfather had died years before Colton was even born. Colton said that everyone in “heaven” was young, including his great-grandfather. When his father showed him a photograph of his great-grandfather as an older man, Colton didn’t recognize him. But when he was later shown a younger picture of this same great-grandfather, Colton recognized him right away. This amazed his parents and seemed to lend further credibility to Colton’s story.
However, the most convincing “evidence” that seemed to prove that Colton had indeed gone to “heaven” was when he recognized Akiane’s “Jesus.” He said the “Jesus” she painted from her heavenly dreams and visions was the same “Jesus” he had seen in his visit to “heaven.” Colton’s recognition of Akiane’s “Jesus” astounded his parents. Maybe their son really had gone to heaven!
The CNN Story
In Heaven is for Real, Colton’s father writes that his son first saw Akiane’s portrait of “Jesus” in a CNN piece about the young artist. A link to the CNN video had been forwarded to the Burpos by a friend because of some apparent parallels in Akiane and Colton’s experiences in “heaven.”
At one point, the CNN segment featured Akiane’s Prince of Peace portrait of “Jesus.”9 According to his father, Colton had seen “hundreds” of pictures of “Jesus.”10 However, none of them looked like the “Jesus” Colton had seen in “heaven.” His father paused the CNN clip showing Akiane’s painting of “Jesus.” He then called Colton over to take a look. Shocking his father, Colton said, “Dad, that one’s right.”11
After Colton’s recognition and affirmation of Akiane’s “Jesus,” his mother and father felt they had finally seen the actual face of Jesus Christ—or, at least, a near facsimile. Pastor Burpo wrote:
Knowing how many pictures Colton had rejected, Sonja and I finally felt that in Akiane’s portrait, we’d seen the face of Jesus. Or at least a startling likeness.12
Thus, readers of Heaven is for Real were being told by a Christian pastor that the “Jesus” his son met and conversed with in his trip to “heaven” was the same “Jesus” Akiane encountered in her visions of “heaven.” And while it apparently was the same “Jesus,” it was definitely not the true Jesus Christ. Based on things she was saying, Akiane had obviously learned the foundational teachings of the New Age/New Gospel from the many interactions she had with her “Jesus.” And now here was Colton seeming to authenticate and validate her New Age “Jesus?”
What becomes clear is that Akiane’s “Jesus” and the Bible’s Jesus Christ are two different Jesuses presenting two different gospels. The Bible warns us not to be deceived by those who come with “another Jesus,” “another spirit,” and “another gospel” that does not line up with the true gospel of the true Jesus Christ:
For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. (2 Corinthians 11:4)
New Age Deception
Most Christians don’t understand just how far our Spiritual Adversary will go in deceiving people—even little children. As former New Agers, my wife and I were deceived by a similar counterfeit “Jesus.”13 The following are just a few examples of what this false “Jesus” taught us about our supposed “Oneness” and our God “in” everyone “Divine Selves.” This “Jesus” states:
God’s Oneness and ours are not separate, because His Oneness encompasses ours.14
The recognition of God is the recognition of yourself. There is no separation of God and His creation.15
For Christ takes many forms with different names until their oneness can be recognized.16
The oneness of the Creator and the creation is your wholeness, your sanity and your limitless power.17
But then comes the real kicker—this false New Age “Jesus” told us that we save ourselves by awakening to our “Oneness” with God, by awakening to our “Divine Selves”—by awakening to the “God within.” He heretically and blasphemously told us:
A slain Christ has no meaning.18
The journey to the cross should be the last “useless journey.”19
Do not make the pathetic error of “clinging to the old rugged cross.”20
Because of our own deceptive mystical experiences, we had learned firsthand that this counterfeit “Jesus,” and his deceptive spirits, have many devious devices in their supernatural bag of tricks. This false Christ does not come with a pitchfork, a tail, and a set of horns. Rather he comes as an “angel of light,” often pretending to be Jesus Himself. And in this guise of “Jesus,” he can even appear as the Prince of Peace in a portrait painted by an eight-year-old child.
And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. (2 Corinthians 11:14)
And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. (Matthew 24:4-5)
We came to learn that our Spiritual Adversary will go to any lengths to further his evil agenda. For him, spiritually manipulating two little children with false dreams and visions and deceptive experiences is no big deal. In fact, deceiving them with his powerful “signs and lying wonders” is right up his supernatural alley:
Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. (2 Thessalonians 2:9).
Misleading Two Innocent Children
For our Adversary to deceive Akiane and Colton—two innocent and unsuspecting children—was both cruel and wickedly ingenious. In fact, it was spiritual child abuse of the highest order. How would young children know anything about “false Christs” (Matthew 24:24),“seducing spirits” (1 Timothy 4:1), and “the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders” (2 Thessalonians 2:9)? How would they know about spiritual deception and the need to test the spirits to see if what they were experiencing and being told is really from God (1 John 4:1-3)? No, they did what any child would do under these circumstances—they trusted what they were being shown and told. Then, speaking from their hearts, they simply reported what they experienced. However, the problem, I believe, is that what they experienced was not from God, and it was not what it seemed to be.
Deceived and Deceiving
Heaven is definitely real, but I believe the “heaven” Akiane and Colton experienced was not the real heaven. And while Jesus Christ is definitely real, the “Jesus” they met and interacted with was not the real Jesus Christ. The true Jesus Christ would never convey the “We are all One” New Age message of “Oneness.” They had been cleverly deceived by cunningly orchestrated false dreams (Jeremiah 23:32) and false visions (Ezekiel 13:7). But, again, how were two children supposed to know anything about the Bible and its warnings about spiritual deception without first being taught? Because Akiane’s parents were atheists, they were of no help when it came to spiritually discerning her visions of “heaven” and her encounters with “Jesus.” And while Colton’s parents were Christians, his father a pastor no less, they were apparently unaware of the warnings about deception in Scripture and just how far the spirit world would go in deceiving their son, themselves, and the millions of people who would read Heaven is for Real and watch the movie.
Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices. (2 Corinthians 2:11)
Again, just like Akiane and Colton, my wife and I really believed what we were experiencing and being taught by our false New Age “Jesus.” And like Akiane and Colton, we truly believed that we were following the true Jesus when we were actually following one of the false Christs the real Jesus Christ warns us about in the Bible. Yet we eventually came to see that our “Jesus” and his Doctrine of Oneness was not from God but from our Spiritual Adversary and his seducing spirits.
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils. (1 Timothy 4:1)
A Billion Views!
After Akiane’s “Jesus” was recognized and confirmed by Colton Burpo, his father had an immediate concern. What if other people who went to “heaven” and saw “Jesus” didn’t agree with Akiane and Colton? In a church interview posted on YouTube, Pastor Burpo said he wondered if those others would report seeing a different “Jesus” than the one seen by Akiane and Colton. But that didn’t happen. Colton’s father said that of the “thousands” of people who contacted him about their own near-death experiences and personal visions of “Jesus,” all of them said their “Jesus” looked “exactly” like Colton and Akiane’s “Jesus.” In fact, not one person reported otherwise. Pastor Burpo said:
I anticipated all kinds of people to contact me and say, well I saw Jesus, I went to heaven, and he didn’t look like that. I’ve had zero people do that. What, 13 million copies later, I’ve had thousands of people say that’s exactly what he looks like.21
Amazingly, almost unbelievably, Akiane’s website reports that over a billion people have viewed her online gallery that features her Prince of Peace portrait.22 And for over twenty years, traveling in over thirty countries, doing major television and media interviews almost everwhere she went, Akiane’s “Jesus” has been seen by millions upon millions of additional people. Because of this, Akiane’s “Jesus” is now the most globally accepted “go-to” picture of “Jesus.” Untold numbers of people around the world are now convinced they have seen the actual face of Jesus Christ. But what has gotten lost in all of this is that a false New Age Christ has not only made another entrance into the world, but thanks to Colton and Akiane, he has made a dramatic entrance into the church itself. Thus, the spiritual implications of Akiane’s portrait are enormous. People everywhere are coming to believe that Akiane’s portrait is a true and accurate representation of the Bible’s Jesus Christ.
Akiane and the “Heaven is Real” Conference
The Beloved Gallery in Marble Falls, Texas, is dedicated to promoting “faith through art.” It was founded after the $850,000 purchase of Akiane’s Prince of Peace portrait, where it is now housed with a number of her other paintings. Playing off of the Akiane and Heaven is for Real connection, the gallery’s 2024 conference was titled “Heaven Is Real.” One of the highlights of the conference was pastor and best-selling author John Burke’s interview with Akiane. During their discussion, Burke shared that of the many people he has had contact with about their own “heavenly” experiences, countless numbers of them reported that Akiane’s “Jesus” is the same “Jesus” they saw in “heaven.”23 As Akiane’s “Jesus” portrait was shown on an overhead screen, Pastor Burke suggested that Akiane must be telling the truth:
Well, and I think you know, the world recognized that you must be telling the truth because how can an eight-year-old paint that?24
But maybe an eight-year-old child didn’t paint that—at least not all by herself. Maybe she had some supernatural help. Many people are aware of an occult practice known as automatic writing, but very few are aware of the occult practice of automatic painting.
Automatic Writing
In The Titanic and Today’s Church, I wrote about a Titanic passenger named William Stead. This well-known British journalist died when the seemingly unsinkable Titanic sank on its maiden voyage in 1912. Stead, a professing Christian, was, in reality, a deceived spiritualist. Among other things, he believed in talking with the dead through an occult process known as “automatic writing.”25 In particular, he described receiving letters delivered from the “spirit” of a deceased friend named Julia Ames. Through the process of automatic writing, her alleged “spirit” would take control of Stead’s writing hand and produce letters that included messages from her spirit guides—and even “Jesus.”
In his book, After Death: Letters From Julia, Stead wrote of the time “Julia” had a secret message from “Jesus” that she wanted to pass on to Stead. The teaching was the same one that Akiane’s “Jesus” impressed upon her—“We are all One” but we have forgotten our “Divine Selves,” and now we have to remember our divinity and personally develop our “God within.” Writing through Stead, “Julia” elaborates on this message from “Jesus”:
The object of life is to evoke, to develop the God within.26
Thus, what Akiane was being taught was what Stead and other spiritualists, occultists, and New Agers have also been taught through the years—“We are all One” because we are all connected by the “Divine God within.”
It was also communicated through “Julia’s” automatic writing that a huge worldwide revival—“a great spiritual awakening among the nations”27—would be taking place in the future; and this “great” revival would gain huge momentum as humanity awakened to their “Divine Selves”—to the “God within.” But, biblically speaking, this would be a false revival because it would be fueled by the false “We are all One” teachings of the false New Age Christ. Thus, it would not be a “great” revival but rather a great deception—perhaps even the massive global deception prophesied in the Bible’s Book of Revelation (Revelation 18:23). And just as the spirit world had a literal “hand” in producing automatic writing, it also had a literal “hand” in the occult practice of automatic painting.
Automatic Painting
Automatic writing is a supernatural, mystical, occult process. And just as automatic writing is delivered from a deceptive spirit world, so is a similar phenomenon known as “automatic painting.” In an online article titled “Automatic Painting,” Dutch occultist Marinus Jan Marijs describes an automatic painter cited in Stanislav Grof’s book When the Impossible Happens.28 In his book, Grof writes about a Brazilian artist named Luiz Antonio Gasparetto. The artist openly states that he was channeling the “spirits” of famous dead painters as he produced a variety of paintings in each of the famous painter’s characteristic styles.
Grof, a residential psychologist at the New Age Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, writes of the time Gasparetto came to Esalen and performed before an audience that included Grof himself. With just a small red light in an otherwise darkened hall, Gasparetto and his dead painter “spirits” went to work painting. Grof explained:
Luiz started to paint and, with astonishing speed, he kept producing one remarkable painting after another, each in the style of a different famous painter—van Gogh, Picasso, Gauguin, Rembrandt, Monet and many others. He was using both of his hands, at times painting two pictures simultaneously, one with each hand. Much of the time, he was not looking at the paper at all; he kept closing his eyes and bending his head backwards or to the side. He actually painted a Manet* portrait upside down, under the table, and with his right foot, without looking at all. Luiz’s stunning performance lasted a little over an hour. When he stopped painting, the floor around him was covered with large paintings, twenty-six of them altogether. In spite of the red light in the room, all the paintings were painted in appropriate colors.29
Thus, the spirit world is not only capable of producing automatic writing but automatic painting as well. Ironically, the Grof book describing Gasparetto’s automatic painting is titled When the Impossible Happens, and Akiane’s online video describing how she painted the Prince of Peace is titled Painting the Impossible.
In Marijs article on automatic painting, he describes how the painting “spirits” work in a number of different ways with different automatic painters. Some painters work in a trance, while others are influenced in much more subtle and less noticeable ways.
Given what we have come to know about Akiane’s foundational New Age beliefs, it would not be overstepping the line to suggest that deceptive spirits had a definite role in producing her dreams and visions and, in particular, her interactions with “Jesus.” It would also be fair to suggest that unseen spirits may have had a literal hand—using Akiane’s own hand—in producing her paintings too. The spiritual influence is very apparent in the titles she has given to some of her paintings—New Age terms like Co-Creation, Light-Bearers, Follow Your Heart, Unity, Connectedness, Aura, Enlightenment, Spiritual Flow, and Dharma among others. But this unseen spiritual influence is perhaps most evident in a painting that she titled Quantum World.
Quantum Deception
Akiane describes how as a twelve-year-old girl, she had no idea what she was doing when she painted a mysterious picture she titled Quantum World. In various interviews, she said she felt a lot of “energy” painting Quantum World and how the painting almost seemed to paint itself. She also relates how a quantum physicist later visited her family home and told them that her Quantum World painting portrayed some important aspects of quantum physics.30
Not surprisingly, occult/New Age leaders have been trying for years to use quantum physics to prove that “We are all One” because, they say, divine quantum energy interpenetrates and interconnects all of creation. Professing Christian and prominent church leader, Leonard Sweet, has been trying to bring this quantum New Age physics into the church for several decades. In his 1991 book titled Quantum Spirituality, he praises New Age leaders like M. Scott Peck and Matthew Fox as two of his “personal role models” and “heroes.”31 He also describes “the father of the New Age movement,” Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, as “Twentieth-century Christianity’s major voice.”32 Sweet heretically writes that “God” is embodied “in” creation, and he actually calls this embodiment a “doctrine.” He also quotes Catholic mystic Thomas Merton to illustrate his “We are all One,” Quantum doctrine of Oneness worldview. Leonard Sweet writes:
Quantum spirituality bonds us to all creation. . . .This entails a radical doctrine of embodiment of God in the very substance of creation.33
We are already one. But we imagine that we are not. And what we have to recover is our original unity.34
The attempt by New Age sympathizers like Sweet to have the church make a quantum leap into a Quantum/New Age/New Gospel/New Spirituality should sound alarm bells throughout Christendom. God is not embodied in His creation, and we are not all spiritually “One.” In writing to Timothy, the apostle Paul warns of those “who have erred concerning the faith” as they opposed the truth with “science falsely so called”:
O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. (1Timothy 6:20-21)
What If?
What if a man looking exactly like Akiane and Colton’s “Jesus” were to suddenly appear on the world scene before a battery of microphones and television cameras? What if he introduces himself to the world as the Bible’s “Jesus?” What if the countless people seeing him on their various devices instantly recognize him as the “Jesus” from Akiane’s Prince of Peace portrait or from their own mystical experiences? What if he tells everyone that he has been greatly misunderstood for the last two thousand years? What if he says he has returned at this time to “set things right” by delivering the true Gospel, which in actuality will be the New Age/New Gospel/New Spirituality of Oneness?
Before these What if scenarios are too quickly dismissed, consider this. For untold millions of people—thanks to Akiane’s painting—this “Jesus” would seem to be stepping right out of her portrait and into their hearts and homes. Because of their familiarity with Akiane’s “Jesus” and being ignorant of the Bible’s warnings about a false Christ, much of the world could easily believe that this “Jesus” is the true Jesus and not the false Jesus he really is. And if the “Jesus” Akiane and Colton saw does someday appear, the deceptive visions and experiences the children were given will seem like small potatoes when fire is called down from heaven, and by supernatural sorcery all nations are deceived.
And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. (Revelation 13:13)
And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. (Revelation 18:23) (emphasis added)
The coming of the ultimate false Christ—Antichrist—is not some wild speculation. The Bible’s Book of Revelation is a description of the events that will definitely unfold some time in the future—perhaps much sooner than people might think. The coming of Antichrist is not a vague possibility—it is a prophetic certainty. And the prophecy is given to us by the real Jesus Christ Himself, who says:
Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. (Revelation 1:3)
Saved by Grace—Not Our “Divine Selves”
The Bible makes it clear that we are not all “One” and we do not have a “Divine Self.” However, we are all “one blood” because we come from an original set of parents—Adam and Eve (Acts 17:26). Also, God does not inherently dwell “in” everyone and everything. Rather, the Holy Spirit is sent to dwell in us when we place our faith and trust in the one true Jesus Christ and His one true Gospel. We are not saved by “remembering” our “Divine Selves” and “awakening” to our universal “Oneness.” We are saved by grace through the true Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9).
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (Romans 10:9)
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
My Unheavenly Reception
Soon after the movie version of Heaven is for Real came out in 2014, I was asked to give the Sunday message at a rural church outside of Winnipeg, Canada. In my talk, I focused on some of the deceptive “Christian” books that were primarily based on personal experiences rather than the Bible. One of the books I talked about was Heaven is for Real.
While not doubting what young Colton Burpo had experienced, I told the group I questioned what produced his experience, the truth of what he experienced, and the spiritual conclusions that were being drawn about “heaven” and “Jesus” based on his experience. I had a number of concerns, but I said my chief concern was Colton Burpo’s recognition of Akiane’s New Age “Jesus” and how the basic teachings of that “Jesus” were contrary to Scripture. It was a very sober message for an otherwise sunny Sunday morning.
After I concluded my talk, the pastor asked if I would greet people as they left the sanctuary. As I shook hands with people passing by, I noticed I was getting a very cool reception from some of them. One lady in particular gave me a dagger-like look that seemed to shoot right through me. After the church emptied, I told the pastor I had never received so many dirty looks after giving a message. With a slight, almost apologetic smile, he said if he knew I was going to talk about Heaven is for Real, he would have warned me. He said the Heaven is for Real movie was filmed around many of their farms and ranches and that some of them had grown very attached to the story that had been filmed in their midst. That certainly explained why I had received the less than enthusiastic response to my message!
Conclusion
Akiane and Colton’s publicly and commercially proclaimed experiences in “heaven” are a far cry from the apostle Paul’s silence regarding his experiences in heaven. Paul was specifically kept from talking about what he had seen and been told. Yet, in contrast, Akiane and Colton talk freely about their experiences in “heaven” and are usually exalted and treated like royalty. Quite a contrast to Paul. No public acclaim or worldly success. No best-selling books or high-priced paintings regarding his experience. Rather, because of his courageous stand on preaching the true Gospel and speaking truth, he was hunted, whipped, beaten, jailed, and constantly persecuted. His reward wasn’t selling a painting of Jesus for $850,000 or getting royalties from the sale of thirteen million books. His reward was “a thorn in the flesh” to keep him humble and from being “exalted above measure” (2 Corinthians 12:7).
For those who take exception to any criticism of Akiane and Colton’s “heavenly” visions—especially of their “Jesus”—they might consider doing what Joshua and the Israelites did not do when they were being deceived by the Gibeonites. After the fact, Joshua said they had been deceived because they “asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord” (Joshua 9:14). In short, they did not pray about what they were experiencing and being told.
Before we just jump on the bandwagon of people’s near-death experiences, trips to “heaven,” and meetings with “Jesus,” let us remember to be good Bereans by searching the Scriptures to see if what we are encountering is really “so” (Acts 17:11). Let us “watch and pray” so that we don’t enter into temptation (Matthew 26:41). And let us beware of “lying signs and wonders” that are not from God.
We have a Spiritual Adversary who has moved very rapidly into a very undiscerning church. The Bible warns us that his plan is to replace the true Jesus Christ with his Antichrist imposter and his antichrist system. What we are now witnessing is how this coming false Christ has intruded himself into almost every aspect of our lives in the most cunningly inventive supernatural ways. He is doing it through books, movies, games, television, social media, podcasts, friends, family, church leaders, and even through the lives of unsuspecting and innocent children—like Akiane Kramarik and Colton Burpo.
*Monet and Manet are two different artists.
Endnotes
- Neale Donald Walsch, Friendship with God: an Uncommon Dialogue (New York, NY: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1999), p. 375. Italicized words are all caps in original text.
- Akiane Gallery, section titled “Footsteps of Eternity” (https://akiane.com/product/footsteps-of-eternity).
- “Memorable Thinkers,” The Oprah Winfrey Show, January 2002.
- Reinventing Jesus Christ, Chapter 3 Update: “Walsch, Oprah, and the Press” (taken from official cassette recording from Humanity’s Team Leadership Gathering 2003, Portland, Oregon, “The Care and Feeding of the Press” session by Neale Donald Walsch (https://www.Newagetoamazinggrace.com under Articles).
- Neale Donald Walsch, Friendship with God, op. cit., p. 375. Italicized words are all caps in original text.
- Ibid., pp. 295-296.
- Akiane Gallery, section titled “Footsteps of Eternity,” op. cit.
- Todd Burpo, Heaven is for Real (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010), pp. 144-145.
- Ibid., pp. 141-145.
- Marilyn and Sarah; special guests: Todd and Colton Burpo, Part 2 (YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNOG3jISIzo), m.m. 17:50.
- Todd Burpo, Heaven is for Real, op. cit., p. 145.
- Ibid.
- For details, see The Light That Was Dark: From the New Age to Amazing Grace, written by Warren B. Smith.
- A Course in Miracles: Combined Volume (Glen Ellen, CA: Foundation for Inner Peace,1975,1992), (Text), p. 301.
- Ibid., (Text) p. 147.
- Ibid., (Manual) p. 88.
- Ibid., (Text) p. 125.
- Ibid. (Text) p. 425.
- Ibid., (Text) p. 52.
- Ibid.
- “Heaven is for Real,” Interview with Todd and Colton Burpo (YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyZbJi1ebnY), m.m. 16:30.
- Akiane Gallery (https://akiane.com/story-about-akiane).
- “A Conversation with Akiane Kramarik and John Burke” (YouTube, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGgjaYLkh2E), m.m. 10:29.
- Ibid., m.m. 22:20.
- Estelle Wilson Stead, My Father, Personal & Spiritual Reminiscences (London, England: William Heinemann, 1913), reprinted by Hard Press Publishing, p. 170.
- Ibid., p. 300.
- William Stead, After Death: Letters From Julia (Woodland, CA: Ancient Wisdom Communications, public domain, originally published 1905), p. 29.
- Marinus Jan Marijs, “Automatic Painting” (https://marinusjanmarijs.nl).
- Stanislav Grof, When the Impossible Happens: Adventures in Non-Ordinary Realities (Boulder, CO: Sounds True, Inc., 2006), p. 189.
- Glory Conference, June 12-15, 2008, Community Christian Center, “Interview with Akiane by Kari Browning,” Part One (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5k1HDxSNJc), m.m. 27:00.
- Leonard Sweet, Quantum Spirituality: A Postmodern Apologetic (Dayton, OH: Whaleprints for SpiritVenture Ministries, Inc. 1991,1994), p. viii.
- Ibid., p. 106.
- Ibid., p. 125.
- Ibid., p. 13.
- “Akiane Kramarik, The Childhood Artist Interview With Kris Vallotton” (Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQUkGpSrNxM), m.m. 15:45.
- Ibid., p. 13.
