What does God say about life after death?

In the God conversations of the early church, we get a sneak peak... Two thousand years ago, the Apostle Paul, John the revelator and Stephen all saw a glimpse of the heavenly realms - as well as several of the Old Testament prophets. But it seems God still giving glimpses of heaven today!

In this episode of the God Conversations Podcast, Tania Harris talks with pastor and author John Burke, whose decades of research into near-death experiences (NDEs) reveal striking parallels with Scripture. Once a skeptic of spiritual realities, Burke now shares how stories of those who died and came back to life can strengthen our faith and expand our understanding of eternity. You’ll learn about:

1. John’s Story from Skeptic to Believer

John was once an agnostic engineer who doubted Jesus’ divinity. As his father lay dying, he explored NDEs and was struck by how many described encounters with a loving God. These stories set him on a journey from skeptic to pastor and lifelong NDE researcher.

2. How Near-Death Experiences Mirror the Experiences of Biblical Characters

After studying 1,500 NDEs over 35 years, Burke found remarkable consistency with the experiences of the biblical characters: people saw beauty, light, love, and a divine presence—many of which aligned with biblical descriptions of heaven. He says these experiences don’t replace Scripture but bring its truths to life in our time.

3. Consciousness Beyond the Brain

Many NDEs occur when patients have no heartbeat or brain activity, yet they later describe verifiable details of their surroundings. Burke cites these as evidence that consciousness continues after death, echoing the biblical view of life beyond the body.

4. The Presence and Love of Jesus

People from all backgrounds report encounters with a Being of radiant light—whom many identify as Jesus. They describe the love that emanates from him as overwhelming and unconditional. Blind individuals even describe “seeing” light shining from all creation!

5. Life’s True Purpose

Another consistent element is the “life review.” In their NDEs, people see their entire lives pass before them in detail: the good, bad and the ugly! They also relive their life through Jesus’ eyes and discover what matters most: how well they loved others. Many return from their experience deeply changed with more compassion and more focus on things of eternal value.

John believes these experiences are part of God’s invitation to see beyond the limits of this world. They remind us that eternity is real, that love is the one thing that endures, and that the hope of heaven is more vivid than we can ever imagine.

Next Steps

Join the journey to hearing God’s voice. Start your free 7-day ⁠⁠God Conversations devotional ⁠⁠today!

Pray, promote and give. God Conversations is donor-funded and made possible through the generosity of people like you! ⁠⁠Become a partner today⁠⁠.

Equip your church to hear God’s voice. ⁠⁠Join our community of ministry leaders⁠⁠ for monthly insights and a free preview of 50 Days of God Conversations resource.

If the Spirit sounds like Jesus, how do we make sense of Old Testament passages where God seems to command violence? In this episode, I sit down with theologian Greg Boyd to explore what it really means to hear God’s voice—and why the Spirit always sounds like Jesus. We talk about Greg’s personal journey, the ultimate test for discerning God’s voice, and how to read Scripture through the lens of the cross.

Full post here: https://www.godconversations.com/podcast/103/

Next Steps

Join the journey to hearing God’s voice. Start your free 7-day ⁠⁠God Conversations devotional ⁠⁠today!

Pray, promote and give. God Conversations is donor-funded and made possible through the generosity of people like you! ⁠⁠Become a partner today⁠⁠.

Equip your church to hear God’s voice. ⁠⁠Join our community of ministry leaders⁠⁠ for monthly insights and a free preview of 50 Days of God Conversations resource.

About Greg Boyd

Greg Boyd (reknew.org) is an internationally recognized theologian, preacher, teacher, apologist and author. Greg received his Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary, his M.Div. from Yale Divinity School and his B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Minnesota. He was a professor of theology for 16 years at Bethel University where he received the Teaching Excellence Award and Campus Leadership Award.

Greg is the co-founder of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, Minnesota where he serves as Senior Pastor, speaking to thousands each week.

Greg has authored or co-authored 22 books and numerous academic articles, including his best-selling and award-winning Letters From a Skeptic and his recent books Crucifixion of the Warrior God and Cross Vision. His apologetic writings and public debates on the historical Jesus and the problem of evil have helped many skeptics embrace faith, and his writings and seminars on spiritual transformation have had a revolutionary, freeing impact on thousands of believers.

We know that God speaks to his people, but does God speak to those who don’t even know his name? Evidence would suggest the answer is yes - both in biblical history and contemporary life! God speaks to those who are listening - even those who don’t believe in him!

On this episode, we are talking with Andy and Melanie Owen. Andy is the senior pastor of a thriving church in Lucern, Switzerland. You’ll love the wisdom and insights of Andy and Melanie’s journeys.

You’ll hear about:

• Andy’s journey into wholeness after a troubled and abusive upbringing. Andy shares how both counselling and deliverance worked together to heal his life and develop his relationship with God.

• Melanie’s breathtaking story of seeing a vision of Jesus the night her mother passed away. On the same night, her Aunt received the same message. Mel was not a Christian at the time and the experience marked a changing point in her life.

• Andy’s God conversations about his marriage to Melanie that deeply tested his heart for God. It was a difficult journey of learning to trust God with his whole heart.

• Biblical examples of those who heard God’s voice even when they worshipped different gods. Think of the Egyptian Pharaoh in Joseph’ time and Saul the terrorist who experienced a vision of Jesus on the Damascus Road. There is no barrier to divine communication!

• God Conversations beyond the church - Andy shows how these reflect the “Missio Dei” - the mission of God - whose heart is to “seek and save those who are lost” (Luke 19:10). This understanding further orientates the way we share our faith. Rather than trying to force a message no-one is listening to, we look for what the Spirit is already doing in someone’s life and then actively partner with God in their journey.
• The difference it makes when the “veil is lifted” and we see the character of God more clearly in Jesus.

• The difference between New Age and Christian spirituality. Melanie shares the story of their neighbour - a medium - who saw a large energy field around their lives but didn’t want to participate in it. The Spirit speaks to transform us from the inside out which means hearing God say things we don’t necessarily want to hear!

Next Steps

Join the journey to hearing God’s voice. Start your free 7-day ⁠God Conversations devotional ⁠today!

Pray, promote and give. God Conversations is donor-funded and made possible through the generosity of people like you! ⁠Become a partner today⁠.

Equip your church to hear God’s voice. ⁠Join our community of ministry leaders⁠ for monthly insights and a free preview of 50 Days of God Conversations resource.

About Andy and Melanie Owen

Andy Owen is a trained IT specialist who holds a Master of Science in Psychology from Lee University and a Bachelor of Arts in Practical Theology from the European Theological Seminary. He is an ordained pastor with the Swiss Pentecostal Mission (SPM) and has been leading Zollhaus Church in Lucerne, Switzerland since 2019. Andy is married to Melanie and together they have four children.

This podcast is one with a twist. Instead of the good stories of God speaking, we’re sharing the bad! We all love a good God conversation story. God is still speaking as powerfully and creatively as he did in Bible days. But the nature of our flawed humanity is that we can get it wrong. We can make mistakes. We can use the claim to hearing God’s voice to manipulate others. The result is real damage to people’s lives.

It’s important that we don’t overlook the bad stories or pretend they don’t exist. Instead they become a learning opportunity when we see where things went wrong.

That’s why on the show in this episode, we talk with long time pastor Paul Hudson from the Elim group of churches in the UK. As a pastor of pastors, he’s seen the worst (and the best!) of the prophetic world and has plenty of wisdom to share about how to avoid the pitfalls.

You’ll hear about:

• Paul’s story growing up in a Christian environment and how two simple words from the Holy Spirit completely changed his heart towards international mission. From there, God used him to establish a global network beyond his own nation.

• A tragic story of a young man and woman who believed God spoke to them about marriage. They married quickly without consultation from others and their marriage broke up within 6 months due to abuse. Here we learn how consultation in community – especially those who are willing to disagree – is crucial.

• Paul’s own story of God speaking to warn him and how he twisted it around because he didn’t like what he heard. Thankfully God gave him a further message that enabled him to redeem the situation.

• Reflections on the Apostle’s Paul experience when the disciples mis-interpreted the prophetic word they heard about Paul’s journey to Jerusalem (Acts 21).

Throughout the stories, you’ll hear some recurring themes! We share the bad stories so we don’t have to repeat them. Let’s be smart enough as well as humble enough to learn from the experiences of others!

Next Steps

Join the journey to hearing God’s voice. Start your free 7-day God Conversations devotional today!

Pray, promote and give. God Conversations is donor-funded and made possible through the generosity of people like you! Become a partner today.

Equip your church to hear God’s voice. Join our community of ministry leaders for monthly insights and a free preview of 50 Days of God Conversations resource.

About Paul Hudson

After planting a church in the Lake District of the UK for 4 years, Paul pastored a church in West Yorkshire for 17 years. During that time, Paul also became the International Missions Director for the Elim denomination and established the Elim Global Network which is now in over 60 nations of the world and made up of thousands of churches. Five years later, he holds a regional role, leading 105 churches in the UK and acting as the pastors’ pastor. He continues to serve as the General Secretary of the Elim Global Network.

Why Can’t I Hear God’s Voice?

It’s been said that “hearing God’s voice is as natural as breathing,” so why do we often find it a challenge? If we were created to be in relationship with God, why do we find it so hard to hear the Spirit speak?

On this episode, we explore this question at a deeper level with prophetic ministry leader and spiritual director, Christine Westhoff. Christine is the President of The MESH Objective, a collective of psychologists, social workers, spiritual directors, and coaches who work to support the mental, emotional and spiritual health of leaders across the world. She is also a prophetic minister and trains church leaders towards a healthier and biblically based understanding of the Spirit.

You’ll learn about:

• 
  
• • Christine’s spiritual journey and how she navigated the near loss of her son and grandson. Christine shares how pain can create distance between us and God.
  • Obstacles to hearing God – perhaps better expressed as “areas of resistance” we experience towards God. Christine highlights the challenge of vulnerability and shows that just like any human relationship, we need to open up the hidden areas of our heart in order to receive Spirit revelation.
  • The importance of framing our “hearing God” experiences in the context of relationship. Hearing God is not some sort of mechanical skill. This is why spiritual direction – learning to hear God’s voice with the support of another person – is so valuable. Having another person alongside helps us to identify any areas of resistance we have towards God and how to remove them.
  • Another obstacle to hearing God is a lack of understanding that we can receive God’s revelation through all of our senses.
  • Some simple spiritual exercises to help us know our own thoughts and sense God’s presence with us. Here we learn the priority of understanding being withGod even above hearing from God.

Next Steps

Join the journey to hearing God’s voice. Start your free 7-day ⁠God Conversations devotional ⁠today!

Pray, promote and give. God Conversations is donor-funded and made possible through the generosity of people like you! ⁠Become a partner today⁠.

Equip your church to hear God’s voice. ⁠Join our community of ministry leaders⁠ for monthly insights and a free preview of 50 Days of God Conversations resource.

About Christine Westhoff

Christine Westhoff is the author and developer of ReFraming the Prophetic (www.reframingtheprophetic.com), a biblical reflection book and online course that aims to anchor the gift of prophecy into its biblical framework and purpose. She is a trained spiritual director and the President of the MESH Objective (meshobjective.org), a collective of psychologists, social Workers, spiritual directors, and coaches working to support the mental, emotional, and spiritual health of leaders and missionaries globally.

When someone says the word prophet, what do you think of? The label conjures up all sorts of images – a robed figure gazing into a crystal ball or a wild man dressed in camel hair, eating wild insects and raving about the end of the world!

Prophets have always been around – in the biblical tradition and beyond it. Among the Hebrews, prophets played a key role in expressing God’s will for the nation, but something significant happened to their role after Jesus came. There’s still prophets in the Church today, but what do they do and how do we know who they are? How are they different from the prophets in Old Covenant or prophets outside the biblical tradition?

On this show, we’re talking about the prophet’s role in the contemporary church with a globally recognised prophet based out of South Africa: Andre Bronkhorst.

You’ll hear about:

• Andre’s surprising initial encounter with God’s voice as he was contemplating ending his life at age 16. God seemed to say the exact opposite of what Andre felt he deserved. The experience changed his life and set him on course to learn more about the voice of Holy Spirit.

• God’s redemptive approach to communication. God speaks to awake our potential and the fullness of who we were created to be. God sees in us what we can’t see in ourselves!

• Andre’s calling to be a prophet which was sparked by a divinely co-ordinated ministry appointment.

• How Andre has been used of God to minister in churches that have previously shut down prophetic ministry. Andre shares how God has used him to introduce an approach that promotes safety and maturity.

• Andre’s understanding of a prophet and how they function in the church today. The primary difference between the Old and New Covenant centres on the coming of Jesus. Jesus modelled prophetic ministry (Hebrews 1:1-3) and initiated an era where the main purpose of prophecy is to strengthen our relationship with God. The main task of the prophet then is to equip the saints to hear the voice of God and follow (rather than reflect on world events) (Ephesians 4:11,12).

In Jesus’ day, there was a lot of political events that took place, but Jesus never got involved with that. He never gave his opinion. That’s the model that we follow. There’s going to be wars and calamities. But our focus (as a prophet) is to get people back into God’s assignment. To help fix your eyes on Jesus.

• Specifically, Andre sees his purpose in helping people identify how God speaks to them and help them to walk in that. Andre tells of the danger of prophets who draw on Old Testament models so that people come to him to hear God for them:

I love to prophesy, but it’s far greater to train and equip people to hear God’s voice personally. I’m very careful not to become sort of mediator.

• The problem with the tendency of prophets to give a “word for the year.” Andre reflects on how this works if every church, community, nation is different.

• The false idea of the prophet’s role being to predict the future. Andre shows how God invites us to participate in his plan rather than speaking through fatalistic pronouncements.

As a New Testament prophet, we don’t give predictions – we give invitations.

• The model of the New Testament which points to the existence of prophets in every local church.

Next Steps

Join the journey to hearing God’s voice. Start your free 7-day ⁠God Conversations devotional ⁠today!

Pray, promote and give. God Conversations is donor-funded and made possible through the generosity of people like you! ⁠Become a partner today⁠.

Equip your church to hear God’s voice. ⁠Join our community of ministry leaders⁠ for monthly insights and a free preview of 50 Days of God Conversations resource.

Voices in the Muck: When the Spirit Won’t Stay Silent

When Don arrived to take up a leadership position at his new church, the Holy Spirit gave him a dream. He saw a group of men dressed in white hazmat suits. They were cleaning out piles of horrible muck from a culvert and moving it to the roadside nearby. Don woke up thinking how horrid it was that the muck was being exposed to all those driving by. Two days later, the nature and depth of the “muck” became clear as one by one, six different women came to Don to confess an affair with the former senior pastor.

This episode of the God Conversations podcast is a heavy but important one. Our guest is a pastor from New Zealand who has decades of experience in ministry but has also been privy to some God conversations he’d rather not have. Along with his wife Karen, he led Gateway Church in Hamilton, New Zealand for 20 years. During this season, they watched God restore a church that had been torn apart by the sexual failure of its senior leadership to become a thriving congregation of over 1200 people.

Don Barry is a gifted teacher whose ministry has been appreciated throughout New Zealand and many other nations. You’ll learn so much from his wisdom born of experience walking with the Spirit.

On the show you’ll hear about:

• Don’s spiritual journey and pathway into ministry leadership, beginning with a startling God conversation that led Don and Karen from their church in Cambridge to a church in Hamilton. Don reflects on how the Spirit used a feeling of being unsettled and then spoke through three different people to speak the same message. God may speak clearly but doesn’t always give the details!
• Don’s dream that God gave him twice when he arrived to take up a leadership position at his new church and the events that occurred almost immediately after, with six different people confessing affairs all independently of one another.
• A second vivid dream that showed how God was bringing sin to light so that it could be cleaned up. Instead Don faced pressure to cover it up.

“I knew it was the Lord and we needed to know it was the Lord because a couple of voices from our executive said to me that this is the devil’s attempt to destroy a good man’s ministry. You should keep this covered…”

• Don reflects on the reasons why sin cannot be hidden. The only way God can transform our hearts and set us free is to convict and expose our sin. Transformation requires truth – you cannot receive grace without first confronting truth, ugly as that may be.

Covering up is the worst thing we can do. There are rotten apples in any barrel. The test is what leadership do with them. The answer is not to put the lid on and hope they go away. People felt safe confessing it to you. Perhaps there was safety and integrity in your heart.

Uncovering sin is painful. There’s no such thing as “Dr Painless the dentist.” We must confront the ugliness of of our lives. It’s not to condemn but to deliver, but it does require the drill!

• The need for safe and trusted spaces so that sin can be exposed and people can be restored. Don reflects: “If could be our turn next week.”
• The role of conscience in relation to God’s voice. For Don, the longer we walk with Jesus, the more our conscience and God’s voice close ranks!
• God’s purpose in exposure is always redemption. There is no shame or condemnation.

God has incredible love for his church. If we don’t discipline our children, we hate them. Truth-telling is an act of love – not a thing to be feared, but to be welcomed.

Next Steps

Join the journey to hearing God’s voice. Start your free 7-day ⁠God Conversations devotional ⁠today!

Pray, promote and give. God Conversations is donor-funded and made possible through the generosity of people like you! ⁠Become a partner today⁠.

Equip your church to hear God’s voice. ⁠Join our community of ministry leaders⁠ for monthly insights and a free preview of 50 Days of God Conversations resource.

How Does God’s Audible Voice Really Sound? Insights from a Modern-Day Encounter

Some people talk about hearing the audible voice of God. What does that sound like? And should we expect to hear it?

On this episode of the God Conversations podcast, we’re talking about the “audible” voice of God, why God rarely speaks this way and what our expectations should be for how the Spirit speaks.

Our guest has heard the audible voice of God five times and has plenty of insights from his story. Patrick Hegarty is a pastor of a church in Brisbane, Australia but also heads up a a national church planting organisation. He’s also authored several books on spiritual formation and renewal.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

• Patrick’s back story, raised in an atheist environment and becoming a Christian at age 19. After 20 years of working in business and “avoiding God’s call,” Patrick changed careers and became a full time minister.

• Patrick’s experiences of God’s audible voice. Patrick describes it as feeling “almost normal,” since it involves the God you know in everyday life. When God speaks out loud, it is almost like the Spirit is shouting in the moment, but as you reflect, you realise no-one else heard it.

“God’s voice is normally very disruptive. I’ve never found God to speak at a convenient time!”

• The God conversation that inspired Patrick’s book on leadership and discipleship such that he finished 90,000 words in just three weeks.

• Patrick’s God conversation in Kenya. Patrick was on a ministry trip surrounded by poverty and devastation in the biggest slum in Africa when God spoke out loud: “I remember these people, I want you to remember them.” In Patrick’s words, it was like “listening to heaven while looking into hell.” As a result, Patrick started a charity in the area that continues to this day.

As I was looking down in the valley – the biggest slum in Africa – I saw toddlers looking in a stream of rubbish and sewage for food. I had my ears listening to heaven and my eyes looking into hell. Suddenly I heard the out loud voice of God. Everything else went quiet. “I remember these people, I want you to remember them.”

• The difference between God’s “quiet” voice and God’s “loud” voice. Patrick sees the audible voice as God’s way of making a point that would otherwise be difficult to make. At the same time, the out loud voice is not necessarily the preferred form, since God wants to speak in our everyday moments. The quieter voice also tends to call us to actively seek and listen to God. Like a game of spiritual hide and seek, it’s in the seeking that we build the spiritual muscles we need. The outside voice has to be the exception, while a quiet voice is a mark of intimacy.

We should always seek the person not the experience.

• Advice for hearing God’s voice. Patrick says with a smile, “buyer beware.” God’s voice calls for transformation and action!

Next Steps

Join the journey to hearing God’s voice. Start your free 7-day ⁠God Conversations devotional ⁠today!

Pray, promote and give. God Conversations is donor-funded and made possible through the generosity of people like you! ⁠Become a partner today⁠.

Equip your church to hear God’s voice. ⁠Join our community of ministry leaders⁠ for monthly insights and a free preview of 50 Days of God Conversations resource.

About Patrick Hegarty

Patrick has worked for over 20 years in a broad range of Christian movements. Having authored several books on formation and renewal, led and planted churches, and taken over 10,000 people through courses and spiritual retreats, he has seen God do many incredible things across the globe.

Patrick leads Kenmore Church in Brisbane, founded the Connexa development incubator, and is currently launching M4 Australia, a national church planting organisation. Find out about his work on spiritual formation at thegrowthtrack.com.au.