The Burpo family captivated the world when father Todd Burpo published Heaven Is for Real back in 2010, a book that details his son Colton’s near-death experience that included a purported visit to heaven and a conversation with Jesus.
Now, Burpo, who is a pastor and firefighter, is back with a new book titled, God Is for Real: And He Longs to Answer Your Most Difficult Questions.
It’s a text that dives deep into the character of God, answering some of life’s most difficult and pressing questions about the presence of evil in light of the existence of the Almighty.
Listen to his amazing testimony—including what he learned from his son’s visit to heaven—in the podcast.
In addition to reflecting on the lessons about God that he learned after Colton’s heaven experience, Burpo offered up hope during a recent appearance on “The Billy Hallowell Podcast.”
“God is so big that His faithfulness does not depend upon our faithfulness,” he said. “That same Jesus that carried Colton to heaven wants to do the same thing for you.”
Burpo also addressed the age-old problem surrounding the presence of evil on Earth in light of the existence of a loving God, specifically when it comes to horrific events like the recent Las Vegas massacre.
“Every time evil happens, God gets the blame for it,” he said. “And we take no resposblity for it.”
In addition to human-induced evil, he said that there’s an important spiritual reality that too many people have come to overlook in our modern era.
“When you look at this world, there is a devil too. There is evil too and there’s a source for that evil,” Burpo said. “And people, they really don’t want to talk about it.”
He continued, “There was a force and there was an evil presence that caused these shooters to do what they did, but it was not God.”
Burpo said he believes that “the greatest lie” that Satan perpetuates is to blame tragedy on God, while also lamenting the fact that, over time, too many people have started to separate from biblical values.
“We have lived in darkness so long we don’t even know what light is anymore,” he said, citing the decrease of faith and church attendance. “It has become so dark.”
Burpo urged people to rediscover what “peace” really means, imploring listeners to realize that peace isn’t about an absence of pain or horrific events and is, instead, something much deeper.
“We don’t understand peace in the way Jesus wants you and [me] to experience peace,” he said. “The word for ‘peace’ in the Hebrew vernacular is shalom … the picture of peace is wholeness … God says, ‘You got hurt, you hurt others; right now your life is in so many pieces … If you really want to have peace, you bring Me into your life.'”
In the end, Burpo said that far too many people only want to have “a little bit of God,” while these same individuals overlook the fact that one needs “a lot of God” if he or she truly wants peace.
“The only people who can’t find God accessible are just the proud ones,” he said.
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This article originally appeared on Faithwire.
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