Appearance of Jesus

Akiane Kramarik, Colton Burpo

This page has become one of the most-viewed on this website. I'm not sure where all the hits are coming from, but many seem to be coming from people looking up this topic on search engines.

You may also be interested in this article by chrissythehyphenated on PoliNation blog, which includes a trailer the forthcoming film, Heaven is for Real, and compares the painting by Akiane with a nun's painting from the Shroud of Turin.

The painting of Jesus by Akiane was found hotlinked by a commenter at RealClearApologetics.com; the article addresses the question, "Were Jesus and Santa White?" with an illustration of a "Jewish-looking" Jesus.

Update 2014 Jun 29:
Back in April, Cuz BD pointed to this counterpoint, Heaven Is Real, but Heaven Is for Real Is Really Not, by Hank Hanegraaff at Christian Research Institute."

Comments will not be edited unless for some technical reason, but may be removed for inappropriate content.

[Adapted, with corrections, from a comment on PoliNation.]

Good day. I’m several days behind on my PoliNation reading. Again. I’ve been programming. It’s like going on vacation from time-consciousness. Without the going anywhere enjoyable.

I was inspired to pass something on to PoliNation. Hope you don’t mind. Hope I’m not repeating something touched on here before. Forgive the length.

First of all, you know the young girl, Akiane Kramarik, who says she paints what she sees in heaven? Video here. [Embedded below]

She painted this picture of Jesus, as she saw him.

Jesus by Akiane

Well, you may also know about the kid, Colton Burpo, who “died” and came back with stories of heaven? The Mindful Mrs is reading about him in “Heaven is for Real.” (Amazon link) Colton told his dad, he’d met the dad’s grandfather (“Pop”) in heaven. They showed him a picture of the grandfather, old, and the kid said, no, that’s not him. Then, they got a picture of him as a young man, and when the kid saw it, he said, “Where’d you get the picture of Pop?”

So, Part Two: The parents kept showing him paintings of “Jesus,” and he’d always say, no, no, that’s not him. Got to the point they’d ask him, not whether, but what was wrong with each picture. Then they showed him Kramarik’s painting, without any introduction except to ask what was wrong with this one.

The kid was quiet a while, then said, “Nothing.” Basically identified that as the appearance of Jesus he met in heaven.

It’s a nice face. Yet all my scam meters go off. It’s like UFOlogists who pick up on each other’s ideas like they were doing improv, “Oh, yeah, the Greens are out there, but the Grays are the dominant alien race who live at the center of the earth.” Or the Tyrant types who seem to automatically know each other’s latest memes, with or without Journolist. I wouldn’t suspect the kids, of course, but the possible “stage parents.” Still… Nice face. And the young girl is undeniably talented.

PS. For comparison, one of those restored-from-the-Shroud of Turin pictures of Jesus here.

Jesus from Shroud of Turin

PPS: “Jesus is the first person you meet in Heaven,” the little boy told a near-death old man one day. With all respect to the love of the Son, I would not have expected that, well, for the average survivor anyway. However, you might think this peculiar, but when Mrs read that to me, the concept reminded me of GW Bush’s quiet, personal meetings with wounded & returning vets of the wars he initiated. Since we go through this sin-torn world at His behest, as it were.

It is a nice face.


paintings transitionIn the animated image here, the faces were only adjusted in size so the eyes approximately coincide. (The Shroud face being a bit longer.) The Shroud of Turin painting was flipped horizontally.


Akiane Kramarik, Colton Burpo featured in Various Visions of Heaven video playlist: