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Spiritual Fiction Books – “my Time In Heaven”
“My Time In Heaven” is written by Richard Sigmund, a preacher, minister or pastor (I’m not sure of his title, or what he prefers to be addressed as) and it relates his experiences after he was killed in a car accident in 1974. Mr. Sigmund states that he was pronounced dead after the accident, and remained that way for over eight hours. He awoke as he was being wheeled to the morgue, sat up and said “I ain’t dead yet”. He writes in the introduction to his book “I could feel my bones knitting together. I could feel the scars healing while I sat up. And I breathed and spoke.” I have never met Richard Sigmund, and I have no reason to believe that he doesn’t believe what he says happened to him. There is no way for me, or anyone else, to prove or disprove his claims as to what he saw in Heaven while he was there. I am giving you my opinion of his book, plain and simple, and I will let you judge for yourself if you wish to read it. The impression I got when I read it was that anyone with a sufficient knowledge of the Bible could “experience” what Mr. Sigmund experienced. The book initially (very briefly) relates the accident that Mr. Sigmund was involved in. I have no doubt that he was in an accident and that he suffered extensive injuries, as this could easily be checked out (I took him at his word, and for that reason did not bother to check). One of my concerns is that this happened in 1974, yet his book wasn’t published (or at least copyrighted) until 2004. This means that 30 years have passed, and I would think that someone who had been dead for eight hours and then sat up would have garnered international attention immediately. There are also no collaborating statements from any doctors, nurses, hospital personnel or anyone else in the book to verify his claim. I admit that because of this, I was skeptical right from the beginning. As you continue to read, the book takes you immediately into his journey through Heaven. He describes meeting God and Jesus, castles, angels, roads, lakes, mountains, libraries, temples, trees, rivers, etc. and all manner of beautiful and wondrous creations and places. For practically every description, and at the beginning of each chapter, a scripture verse from the Bible is quoted to “authenticate” what he saw. Again, it would be fairly simple for someone who has knowledge of the Bible to “see” something that has already been described for them, and millions of others. Especially if you had 30 years to research it and get it right. After the description of Mr. Sigmund’s time in Heaven, he is back in the hospital. There are doctors and nurses around, and people are weeping. This takes less than half of a page in the book, and there are no doctors’ or nurses’ names given, the name of the hospital isn’t mentioned – nothing that you would expect after such a medical miracle. These are the actual quotes of who speaks in the book at this point – “I heard a voice say”, “Someone hollered”, “I remember a doctor coming in and saying”, “Other doctors and nurses came in”, “Doctors said”. If I wanted people to believe that I had just returned from Heaven, I think I would have recorded a few names over the next few days, especially if I wanted to prove that I had been dead, and was now alive. After the main story, there are stories and “Testimonies of Salvation, Healing and Deliverance through the Ministry of Richard Sigmund”. A few are from other ministers, although the majority of them are from regular lay people. Most of these people give their full name, although there are two that give a first name and initial only, one is only a first initial and one is anonymous. I have no comment on their validity, however I am truly glad that they have been helped through prayer and faith. If the author was able to help them in any way, God bless him. There are also almost thirty pages of “Select Scriptures” at the end of the book. It seems that their purpose is to support the author and to provide evidence that what he saw in Heaven was real. In my opinion, if I found something that was written hundreds of years ago, and then come to you and say I just saw that exact same thing, I would probably need to provide some proof to convince you. “I told you so” doesn’t cut it for me when you are writing “A True Story of Dying… And Coming Back”. These pages of scripture do make it appear that you are purchasing a larger book, which is the only purpose they serve. The only reason I would recommend this book would be if you have read similar books of “near death experiences” (even though this is a claim of “full death experienced”) and wanted to make a comparison. There are also recommendations in the book from other television evangelists and authors, and if you support that type of ministry, this book may appeal to you. My intention is not to discredit Mr. Sigmund, as I believe he believes that what he experienced was, in fact, reality. My assertion is that there is insufficient proof to validate his experience, and perhaps a second book with actual medical facts, records and testimony would remove some of the fiction from his spiritual book. Laughter and love, Rick Fess “My Time In Heaven – A True Story of Dying… And Coming Back” Author – Richard Sigmund Publisher - Whitaker House www.whitakerhouse.com Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com Rick Fess is a retired business man who is now focusing on his passion – spirituality and self-improvement through books, CDs, DVDs, movies and the internet. Please visit his website at www.spiritualfictionbooks.com to see some of his other articles or if you would like to know about his upcoming spiritual fiction book “Is There More?”. He currently lives near Port Dover, Ontario, Canada with his wife and two children. Thank you for your interest - you can also contact him with any comments or questions through his website. |
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