Review of Snatched Up to Heaven!
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Matt Graves
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Review of Snatched Up to Heaven!
[Following is a volunteer review of "Snatched Up to Heaven!" by Jemima Paul and Arvind Paul.]
Snatched Up to Heaven! is basically a mother’s interpretation of her daughters’ dream visions of the afterlife, with her husband serving as co-author. Since this review is highly critical, I’d like to begin by explaining why I chose to read and review this book.
For one thing, I’ve always been intrigued by the mysteries of life, and that includes the question of what happens when we die. About a month before this book came to my attention, I caught COVID-19, which even though it did not put me in the hospital, caused me to reflect on my mortality. And at a recent holiday gathering, I was told the story of a girl in my extended family, brought up in an agnostic household, pointing to a picture of Jesus and telling her babysitter, “This is God. And when we’re there, we’re like blue balls of light. And they tell us everything we’ve ever done.”
While I found this story interesting, I also had some skepticism. It was awfully convenient that this girl told this woman exactly what she would have wanted to hear. Not only did this alleged comment line up perfectly with her beliefs, but this lady’s favorite color is blue.
It was with this mindset that I accepted the opportunity to review Snatched Up to Heaven! I hoped to keep a healthy skepticism but also an open mind.
As I read the description more clearly, I was dismayed to find that this was only an account from one specific family and that neither of the girls had an actual near-death experience. When I first glanced at the cover, I’d thought this might be broader in scope, a collection of such stories from several different people. Still, it seemed possibly worth reading.
After I started reading, it didn’t take me long to decide that the book was bogus. But I kept reading out of morbid curiosity and because the deadline for the review was a date that reminds me every year to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to outrageous stories. And I decided it was worth giving an honest review.
As mentioned above, the premise is based on some dreams that the authors’ daughters had when one girl was four years old and the other was two. At first, Dr. Jemima Paul (the primary author) did not pay much attention when the older of the two girls announced that she’d had a dream about heaven. It was her husband, Mr. Arvind Paul (who appears as more of a co-author), who wanted to hear more details. Dr. Paul mentions that her interest in stories of the afterlife had become something of an obsession during that time period, and that sometimes Mr. Paul gave her a hard time about it.
Throughout the book, Dr. Paul expresses surprise at many of the details that her daughters’ dreams contained, hints of theological concepts that they were too young to understand. But the old saying is true that “little pitchers have big ears.” This was clearly a household strongly steeped in the Christian religion. Mr. Paul even said prayers with the girls every night, asking for them to have dreams of God. So it is easy to see how these dreams could have come about in a mundane, rather than supernatural, way.
The dreams are comprised of the sorts of fantasies one would expect from children. The angels taking them to heaven (through outer space) are careful not to fly them too close to the sun. Then the girls are given colorful wings so they can fly on their own. Heaven is beautiful and comfortable in the way little girls would want it to be, even enclosed by a rainbow. Soon they are let into Jesus’s house, which is golden, with silver sparkles on the door. Outside the divine house, there are beautiful nature scenes to enjoy and plenty of animals to play with. The animals are all friendly, even the elephants and snakes, and do not bite anybody. There are fireworks in heaven, and the girls get to go fishing with Jesus, but spare the fish’s lives, since they are all baby fish anyway. Jesus is handsome, and the older of the two girls is allowed to take pictures of Jesus and God the Father sitting side by side. I could go on, but by now, it is clear that, as endearing as some of the details may be, these things would be expected from imaginative girls brought up in a strongly religious home.
The descriptions of hell might not strike everyone as so endearing, though I was able to find some humor in them. The path to hell is indicated by an arrow pointing downward. Along with the smell of burning, the place reeks of urine and sewage. The bad people in hell find themselves frightened by ghosts and monsters, and it is always Halloween down there. People have nothing to eat or drink, except when a witch forces them to ingest things like lemonade made from dead worms or juice made from dead spiders. The inmates of hell refuse most of the food they do get offered, which is understandable considering that the menu consists of such delicacies as rotten bananas and other spoiled fruits, worm cake, dead-ants cake, and slimy frog juice. The people, devils, ghosts, and monsters in hell are scared whenever they look up and see Jesus, who gives them a stern look. And in hell, the animals do bite people, including the crocodiles living in a hot lake. Naturally, the spiders, snakes, and worms do not take it any easier on the condemned.
The criticism I have for this book is not so much with the girls’ fantasies as with the adults’ interpretation of those fantasies. Some of these outlandish details should cause anyone to question how seriously to take such stories. For Christmas to be celebrated in heaven and every day in hell to be Halloween is about as stereotypical as it gets.
While explaining that these dreams caused the family to stop celebrating Halloween, Dr. Paul makes the comment: “Anton LaVey, who founded the Church of Satan, is attributed with the following quote: `I’m glad that Christian parents let their children worship the devil at least one night of the year.’” This was the part of the book that, more than any other, caused me to feel that a critical review was called for, to refute such nonsense. This is a false quote that has made the rounds on social media over the past few years. And even the most casual perusal of books (or online sources) by or about Anton LaVey makes it clear that this is far from an attitude he (or anyone following his religious philosophy) would have ever promoted. Perhaps this is a different animal than when I was offended by some Baptists at my high school trying to exclude the only Mormon among us from prayer meetings. But I don’t like to see any religion, however far outside the mainstream, being so flippantly misrepresented and used as a convenient scapegoat, an excuse to spread paranoia. The idea of having Halloween every day in hell is an absurd one, but it can’t be disproven. This made-up quote can be. And the willingness to include it in the book casts serious doubt on its overall credibility.
On the other hand, this book does have some points in its favor to balance out the drivel mentioned above. For one thing, it is well-written and well-edited. The writing is impressive for a couple of first-time authors, and especially for people writing in a language other than their native tongue. I also notice that the authors quote copiously from the Holy Bible. Something many authors in this genre have failed to do. The case of Alex Malarkey especially stands out in my mind. As a kid, he told the story of going to heaven while in a coma. Then later, as a young man, he admitted that the story was a bunch of malarkey, something he made up to get attention, then others exploited for big money. He said that people should read the Bible instead of the book that was written about an experience he fabricated before he had even read the Bible. And credit where it is due, Arvind and Jemima Paul’s book cannot be criticized on those grounds. Great pains were taken to show how the girls’ stories were consistent with scripture. I do respect their willingness to hold themselves to an objective standard.
And I don’t think this account was fabricated. But I do think it was embellished. Watching the YouTube videos referenced in the appendices, it doesn’t take much imagination to figure out that the parents recorded the parts of the children’s stories that they most wanted to hear and then blew them way out of proportion in the writing of this narrative.
Perhaps there is some value in letting those girls speak for themselves. They seemed to think everyone deserved to go to heaven except for people who were “mean to their brother, sister, and friends.” And they said that even the people in hell could have been saved if they had told those people they mistreated, and also told Jesus, that they were sorry, while they were still alive. I must admit that I find this simple theology a lot more sensible than a lot of modern religion, including some of the standards espoused elsewhere in this very book. Modern religion is more apt to condemn people for having the “wrong” beliefs than for their actual conduct. I also liked the fact that the girls (and their parents) expressed the belief that people of all races and cultures should be together in heaven, an attitude that is not to be taken for granted with modern religion, whose adherents often appear to be allergic to diversity even on the earthly plane.
All things considered, I give this book two out of five stars. It does have its moments; it is difficult not to smile when the girls describe people looking like princes and princesses in heaven, or angels trying out new dance moves. However, some charming stories and good (enough) intentions cannot overcome such a deeply flawed premise. It was not even clear to me how many times the girls had these dreams; the timelines got confusing. And they had forgotten about them by the time the book was written. One of the girls even told her mother that she would rather not have a book written about her. But according to Dr. Paul’s account, the Spirit of God spoke to her directly, telling her to write down everything her children had said as prophecy regarding the end times. And I simply do not buy it. Even if she believes it herself. The Biblical examples given of people who were caught up to heaven – Enoch, Elijah, and St. Paul – were not people who had dreams that they later forgot. Even Christian mystics who lived after Biblical times, such as Emanuel Swedenborg, were able to remember their experiences. If these girls had such profound spiritual visions, I don’t think they would have forgotten them so easily. Dreams, on the other hand, are easy enough to forget, along with the other fantasies that only the imagination of childhood can offer. When I see books like this being promoted as inspirational, absolute truth, it adds to my growing conviction that human beings in the modern world are devolving and losing their ability to use any common sense.
******
Snatched Up to Heaven!
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
Snatched Up to Heaven! is basically a mother’s interpretation of her daughters’ dream visions of the afterlife, with her husband serving as co-author. Since this review is highly critical, I’d like to begin by explaining why I chose to read and review this book.
For one thing, I’ve always been intrigued by the mysteries of life, and that includes the question of what happens when we die. About a month before this book came to my attention, I caught COVID-19, which even though it did not put me in the hospital, caused me to reflect on my mortality. And at a recent holiday gathering, I was told the story of a girl in my extended family, brought up in an agnostic household, pointing to a picture of Jesus and telling her babysitter, “This is God. And when we’re there, we’re like blue balls of light. And they tell us everything we’ve ever done.”
While I found this story interesting, I also had some skepticism. It was awfully convenient that this girl told this woman exactly what she would have wanted to hear. Not only did this alleged comment line up perfectly with her beliefs, but this lady’s favorite color is blue.
It was with this mindset that I accepted the opportunity to review Snatched Up to Heaven! I hoped to keep a healthy skepticism but also an open mind.
As I read the description more clearly, I was dismayed to find that this was only an account from one specific family and that neither of the girls had an actual near-death experience. When I first glanced at the cover, I’d thought this might be broader in scope, a collection of such stories from several different people. Still, it seemed possibly worth reading.
After I started reading, it didn’t take me long to decide that the book was bogus. But I kept reading out of morbid curiosity and because the deadline for the review was a date that reminds me every year to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to outrageous stories. And I decided it was worth giving an honest review.
As mentioned above, the premise is based on some dreams that the authors’ daughters had when one girl was four years old and the other was two. At first, Dr. Jemima Paul (the primary author) did not pay much attention when the older of the two girls announced that she’d had a dream about heaven. It was her husband, Mr. Arvind Paul (who appears as more of a co-author), who wanted to hear more details. Dr. Paul mentions that her interest in stories of the afterlife had become something of an obsession during that time period, and that sometimes Mr. Paul gave her a hard time about it.
Throughout the book, Dr. Paul expresses surprise at many of the details that her daughters’ dreams contained, hints of theological concepts that they were too young to understand. But the old saying is true that “little pitchers have big ears.” This was clearly a household strongly steeped in the Christian religion. Mr. Paul even said prayers with the girls every night, asking for them to have dreams of God. So it is easy to see how these dreams could have come about in a mundane, rather than supernatural, way.
The dreams are comprised of the sorts of fantasies one would expect from children. The angels taking them to heaven (through outer space) are careful not to fly them too close to the sun. Then the girls are given colorful wings so they can fly on their own. Heaven is beautiful and comfortable in the way little girls would want it to be, even enclosed by a rainbow. Soon they are let into Jesus’s house, which is golden, with silver sparkles on the door. Outside the divine house, there are beautiful nature scenes to enjoy and plenty of animals to play with. The animals are all friendly, even the elephants and snakes, and do not bite anybody. There are fireworks in heaven, and the girls get to go fishing with Jesus, but spare the fish’s lives, since they are all baby fish anyway. Jesus is handsome, and the older of the two girls is allowed to take pictures of Jesus and God the Father sitting side by side. I could go on, but by now, it is clear that, as endearing as some of the details may be, these things would be expected from imaginative girls brought up in a strongly religious home.
The descriptions of hell might not strike everyone as so endearing, though I was able to find some humor in them. The path to hell is indicated by an arrow pointing downward. Along with the smell of burning, the place reeks of urine and sewage. The bad people in hell find themselves frightened by ghosts and monsters, and it is always Halloween down there. People have nothing to eat or drink, except when a witch forces them to ingest things like lemonade made from dead worms or juice made from dead spiders. The inmates of hell refuse most of the food they do get offered, which is understandable considering that the menu consists of such delicacies as rotten bananas and other spoiled fruits, worm cake, dead-ants cake, and slimy frog juice. The people, devils, ghosts, and monsters in hell are scared whenever they look up and see Jesus, who gives them a stern look. And in hell, the animals do bite people, including the crocodiles living in a hot lake. Naturally, the spiders, snakes, and worms do not take it any easier on the condemned.
The criticism I have for this book is not so much with the girls’ fantasies as with the adults’ interpretation of those fantasies. Some of these outlandish details should cause anyone to question how seriously to take such stories. For Christmas to be celebrated in heaven and every day in hell to be Halloween is about as stereotypical as it gets.
While explaining that these dreams caused the family to stop celebrating Halloween, Dr. Paul makes the comment: “Anton LaVey, who founded the Church of Satan, is attributed with the following quote: `I’m glad that Christian parents let their children worship the devil at least one night of the year.’” This was the part of the book that, more than any other, caused me to feel that a critical review was called for, to refute such nonsense. This is a false quote that has made the rounds on social media over the past few years. And even the most casual perusal of books (or online sources) by or about Anton LaVey makes it clear that this is far from an attitude he (or anyone following his religious philosophy) would have ever promoted. Perhaps this is a different animal than when I was offended by some Baptists at my high school trying to exclude the only Mormon among us from prayer meetings. But I don’t like to see any religion, however far outside the mainstream, being so flippantly misrepresented and used as a convenient scapegoat, an excuse to spread paranoia. The idea of having Halloween every day in hell is an absurd one, but it can’t be disproven. This made-up quote can be. And the willingness to include it in the book casts serious doubt on its overall credibility.
On the other hand, this book does have some points in its favor to balance out the drivel mentioned above. For one thing, it is well-written and well-edited. The writing is impressive for a couple of first-time authors, and especially for people writing in a language other than their native tongue. I also notice that the authors quote copiously from the Holy Bible. Something many authors in this genre have failed to do. The case of Alex Malarkey especially stands out in my mind. As a kid, he told the story of going to heaven while in a coma. Then later, as a young man, he admitted that the story was a bunch of malarkey, something he made up to get attention, then others exploited for big money. He said that people should read the Bible instead of the book that was written about an experience he fabricated before he had even read the Bible. And credit where it is due, Arvind and Jemima Paul’s book cannot be criticized on those grounds. Great pains were taken to show how the girls’ stories were consistent with scripture. I do respect their willingness to hold themselves to an objective standard.
And I don’t think this account was fabricated. But I do think it was embellished. Watching the YouTube videos referenced in the appendices, it doesn’t take much imagination to figure out that the parents recorded the parts of the children’s stories that they most wanted to hear and then blew them way out of proportion in the writing of this narrative.
Perhaps there is some value in letting those girls speak for themselves. They seemed to think everyone deserved to go to heaven except for people who were “mean to their brother, sister, and friends.” And they said that even the people in hell could have been saved if they had told those people they mistreated, and also told Jesus, that they were sorry, while they were still alive. I must admit that I find this simple theology a lot more sensible than a lot of modern religion, including some of the standards espoused elsewhere in this very book. Modern religion is more apt to condemn people for having the “wrong” beliefs than for their actual conduct. I also liked the fact that the girls (and their parents) expressed the belief that people of all races and cultures should be together in heaven, an attitude that is not to be taken for granted with modern religion, whose adherents often appear to be allergic to diversity even on the earthly plane.
All things considered, I give this book two out of five stars. It does have its moments; it is difficult not to smile when the girls describe people looking like princes and princesses in heaven, or angels trying out new dance moves. However, some charming stories and good (enough) intentions cannot overcome such a deeply flawed premise. It was not even clear to me how many times the girls had these dreams; the timelines got confusing. And they had forgotten about them by the time the book was written. One of the girls even told her mother that she would rather not have a book written about her. But according to Dr. Paul’s account, the Spirit of God spoke to her directly, telling her to write down everything her children had said as prophecy regarding the end times. And I simply do not buy it. Even if she believes it herself. The Biblical examples given of people who were caught up to heaven – Enoch, Elijah, and St. Paul – were not people who had dreams that they later forgot. Even Christian mystics who lived after Biblical times, such as Emanuel Swedenborg, were able to remember their experiences. If these girls had such profound spiritual visions, I don’t think they would have forgotten them so easily. Dreams, on the other hand, are easy enough to forget, along with the other fantasies that only the imagination of childhood can offer. When I see books like this being promoted as inspirational, absolute truth, it adds to my growing conviction that human beings in the modern world are devolving and losing their ability to use any common sense.
******
Snatched Up to Heaven!
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
Latest Review: The Reverend Psychopath by Dr Andrew Rynne
