Glimpses of Heaven

Lonnie Honeycutt’s been to eternity and back

Lonnie Honeycutt is glad he didn’t read Don Piper’s 90 Minutes in Heaven until after his own near-death experience. What Piper wrote in his book about the things he saw in heaven closely paralleled what Honeycutt saw as well. “He and I come from totally different theological backgrounds, but his experience so mimicked mine I was weeping when I read his account,” says Honeycutt, whose visit to heaven occurred when he died in the hospital two years ago.

A charismatic pastor, Honeycutt was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2007. He was rushed to the emergency room on Feb. 16, 2008, and although doctors later told Honeycutt’s wife he was brain-dead, he insists he was very much alive—in heaven.

In the book he self-published last year, he tells of being escorted down a street of translucent gold by three angels. “While on this road I experienced something that I’ve rarely experienced here on Earth: peace,” Honeycutt says. “Peace that is literally beyond human comprehension.”

Among those he met was his mother-in-law, who had died more than 30 years before. She used a pet nickname for his wife, Dawn, and gave him a personal message for her. When he related it to Dawn, she burst into tears. He says he received other messages to deliver to people he had never met yet later encountered in different places. All six proved to be meaningful. “If you think it’s strange to tell people you died and went to heaven, imagine telling them you have a message for them from heaven,” he says.

Today the 44-year-old pastor says thoughts of returning to heaven keep him on the straight and narrow. He thinks of heaven daily and lives with a deep trust that God’s will is going to prevail.