“Write down,” the Holy Spirit said to me, “all that your children prophesy about the end times.”
Indian born authors Jemima and Arvind Paul began their careers in IT and have since devoted their lives to Christian education: Jemima has pursued theological education and holds a doctorate in Christian Education. They are evangelical Christians.
The Pauls offer the essence of this very short book in their synopsis – ‘“I had a dream about heaven!” exclaimed Priyanka. Running up to her mom one morning, four-year-old Priyanka nonchalantly mentioned that Jesus had taken her and her two-year-old sister Deepika to heaven during the previous night. In the days that followed, the sisters amazed their parents with their vivid descriptions of what they saw and experienced in heaven and hell over the course of several visits there. Within the constraints of their limited preschool vocabulary, the girls described deep theological truths about eternity that often belied their years, speaking with remarkable clarity and boldness. Their mom initially recorded their testimonies in a written journal as well as a video log. Now, for the first time, “Snatched Up to Heaven” documents their true accounts alongside the purifying lens of the Word of God.’
The book reads well – Jemima manages to transfer her children’s visions and conversations very well, avoiding the ‘sensational’ side of children’s language and opting for the inner truths they share. For example, ‘One night, as Priyanka and Deepika were sleeping, angels carried their souls to heaven. They flew up and went deep into the clouds. When they were going high, Priyanka looked down and saw houses getting tinier as they went up into the skies. They saw planets as they were flying. The angels took them around the sun but were careful not to go too close to it. The angels let them go, and suddenly a wind pushed them. Priyanka had purple wings, and Deepika had pink wings. They flew up in the sky with their wings. Priyanka yelled, “Five, four, three, two, one!” while Deepika shouted, “One, two, three, four, five!” and they were walking on grass in heaven. That was the greenest and the most well-watered grass they had ever seen. Jesus told them that they could stay in heaven for two days. While they were in Jesus’ house, God was in their house. After that, Jesus and the angels brought them home. As they were returning, they saw their bodies sleeping on earth where as they say, “Priyanka saw Priyanka,” and “Deepika saw Deepika.” Once home, the kids led the angels to their princess room. The angels told them that one of the lamps in our house looked very pretty. After they returned, they wanted to go back to heaven. Priyanka prayed very hard asking to be able to visit heaven again. The angels took her and her sister to see heaven again over the course of several more dreams.’
Each of the experiences of the children is presented with Bible references that share how the parents interpreted what they had heard from their children. We learn form the children what the trip to heaven was like, meeting Jesus, who is in heaven, Heaven’s rules and rewards, what their visit to Hell was like, and each shared experience is followed by the author’s interpretation of the significance and the relation to biblical references. Interesting thoughts and interesting reading.