“Heaven Tourism” is the genre of sub-Christian literature in which people recall their visits to Heaven, whether in the flesh or in visions. Until Alex Malarkey’s Open Letter to Lifeway (he was the boy who said he came back from Heaven but later repented and claimed it was all made up), Lifeway still peddled the garbage. Even with Thom Rainer no longer able to sell the spiritual crack at the Southern Baptist bookstore chain, there’s still a market for it, as Heaven is for Real can attest. Person after person have claimed to go to Heaven – or to have someone from Heaven come to them – and they all make for good selling books, but terrible theology.
Colton Burpo, Don Piper, Bill Wiese, Mary Neil and pretty much every member of the New Apostolic Reformation claims to have visited Heaven. Some are supposed “near death” experiences. Others claim to have visited only in the spirit. Many others claim that Heaven’s visitors came down to them. It’s nothing new. But this new charismatic fanciful tale may just take the cake.
Matthew Robert Payne is a self-professed charismatic prophet. Ironically, the tagline of his website reads, “In times past God spoke through holy men, the prophets…Today we cannot only hear God for ourself, but it is also possible to request a personal prophecy off of a prophet. I pray you are blessed by this site and my prophetic gift.”
The problem is, Payne quotes (in the first half of his tagline) Hebrews 1:1, which says, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.” He omits verse 2, which says, “But in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.” Instead of quoting verse 2, Payne only quotes verse 1 and then adds a sentence not in the Bible, and says that now everyone can hear a prophecy from God or request one from a prophet. That’s the opposite of the verse he quotes, which tells us that today God speaks to us through His Word.
Payne claims that he was raised a Baptist and “gave his life to Jesus” every single Sunday until he was 17 [insert sermon on why that’s not “a thing”]. Then he writes, “Matthew was introduced to a Pentecostal church and enjoyed the vibrant life he saw there. In a vision, Jesus instructed Matthew to be baptized in water and came out of the water baptized in the Holy Spirit. Within a week, while praying for his ex-wife, Matthew began to speak in tongues. However, Matthew had conversations with Jesus for years before he was baptized in the Holy Spirit.”
So…thank you Pentecostals for your garbage doctrine that brings what follows…
Payne has written a book about a special visitor who has come to visit him from Heaven and tell him all about it. No, not Jesus. No, not Paul. No, not Elijah or Enoch or Moses. It’s Michael Jackson. Yes, that Michael Jackson. You know, the one-gloved pedophile who gave kids sleep-sleep medicine at a place he called ‘Neverland.’ That Michael Jackson is supposedly visiting this Pentecostal Charismatic and he’s written a book about it.
The Amazon description says:
Did you know that it is possible to visit heaven and see who is living up there? Do you know that if you have a great relationship with Jesus, and if God has a purpose for it, that people who are living in heaven can come down to earth and visit you and spend time with you? One day, while Matthew watched a documentary called \”This Is It\” by Michael Jackson, Michael appeared to him. He proceeded to sing the songs on the film and dance in the room with Matthew. Soon, through multiple visits, Matthew grew to know Michael fairly well. In April 2016, Michael got Matthew out of bed and with the help of God’s Spirit, did a three-hour interview with Matthew. It was a divine revelation of heaven and more. Why don’t you read this message and spend some time to see what Michael has to say about: What heaven is like What he is doing up there What Jesus is really like The keys to a happy life and What true love looks like. Jesus wants you to read this message, and Michael wants to speak to you, so what are you waiting for?
How Michael got to Heaven, we are unsure. Why he has come back to Earth to dance with random people, we do not know. But if Michael Jackson appeared to me in my house late at night, I’d probably knock him over his pedophile head and go make sure my kids were okay. But not Payne. Payne danced and sang with him, and then did a Holy Spirit interview with him for three hours about what Heaven is like.
In case you are wondering, this is not a joke. This is real. This is charismaticism on display.
One reviewer said:
Matthew Has written/transcribed another wonderful book. I’ve bought all 33 so far and this is some GREAT revealed knowledge! By reading the negative reviews hear are the Christian’s again shooting their wounded! Yep what’s New? It is so easy for us as Christian’s to attack each other when Jesus said “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. Matthew 12:25 for all who attack but don’t follow the word.The devil has been using that against us Christian’s for thousands of years and still we fall for it when God does something to save souls. It NEVER passes our Legalistic religiosity and the Pharisee comes out and we attack it.
Another reviewer said:
Being a woman who believe’s in The Father “God” The Son “Jesus Christ” and The Holy Spirit “Our Spiritual Guardians” The ArchAngel’s and Angel’s I believe and have faith that I was reading the word’s of Michael Jackson through Matthew. I am so excited that Michael Jackson shared with us during his life and in his eternal life he is a believer in Jesus Christ and shared with us about Jesus and his on going conditional love for all us “Always” God unconditional love for all of us. I was also amazed and touched that Michael Jackson shared with us how much evil is controlling the Music Industry and the Entertainment Industry. I would like to tell Michael Jackson Thank You for sharing with us about Heaven, Jesus, and God plus sharing with Matthew and us.
Another reviewer said:
I was so touched & blessed by this book. I was a little hesitant to read it, but was lead by Holy Spirit to do so. I felt the anointing on this book as I read it. I have always been a fan of Michael & watched his life story on TV. I knew he had a sweet spirit. You will not be disappointed in this book. Thank you Matthew for writing this book.
Reportedly, Dr. Michael Brown can neither confirm nor deny the veracity of this book until he personally reads it or gets to know its author to determine whether or not he has a heart for Jesus.
[Contributed by JD Hall: That last line was purely sarcastic, but probably true. The rest of this article is very, very true. Follow the hyperlinks]
