The following review was contrbuted by: PASCHAL EZE

Heaven made irresistible

While some people, among them Christians, wrongly see heaven as squarely synonymous with ethereal images and monotonous activities, a good number of people hold that it doesn't exist, and if it does, it only exists in the imagination of idlers, never-do-wells and religious bigots. Anthony Destefano, an avid pilot and recipient of several international awards, has an axe to grind with both viewpoints.

His 193-page book A Travel Guide To Heaven begins with an impressive position that heaven is not a mere mental abstraction but a physical place full of amazing action and inestimable enjoyment and a place to have a much fuller, richer and truer understanding of the impact we made in life (page 147). He goes on to tell his readers what to expect in heaven. According to him, they will have resurrected bodies similar to what they have now and such bodies would be ""acting like human bodies"" but will be indestructible and incorruptible; their pets would be very much around to keep them company (pp78 and 79); and they will see an exciting revelation of nature because God is the best artist of all and will never stop His work of creation. Heaven will be full of all kinds of animals, vegetation and breathtaking sights and sounds. It will be an endless vacation in God's super resort, as he puts it, and there will also be angels serving as tour guides and most importantly, people will see the Almighty God face-to-face.

Part of the activities there may include fishing with Ernest Hemingway, playing catch with Joe DiMaggio, discussing literature with Jane Austin, having Albert Einstein personally explain the workings of the universe, taking art lessons from Michelangelo or piano lessons from Mozart, enjoying cigar and brandy with Winston Churchill or playing golf with Bobby Jones.

Perhaps, to whet the readers' appetite for heaven and to console all those who have lost loved ones, Anthony suggests that everybody will go to heaven. As he put it in page 76, ""everybody you remember from your childhood will be there."" And perhaps to thrill and capture the imagination of those who define life along the lines of fame, Anthony says they will be able to ""meet all the famous people we've read about in history, who hopefully, are there: Socrates and Aristotle, Leonardo da Vinci and Columbus, Washington and Shakespeare, Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt, Martin Luther King Jr. and Mother Teresa.""

For those pondering whether there would be marital sex in heaven, Anthony's response is interesting: ""Either God will find a way for us to retain the pleasurable sensations and unitive qualities inherent in the act of lovemaking without the sinfulness that accompanies sex outside marriage on Earth-or He will substitute something better in its place.""

Worthy of note is the fact that though in page 165 he states that God is primarily concerned with one thing: ""whether or not we make it to heaven,"" he submits in page 37 that ""the physical location of heaven is earth."" Christian authors like Pastor Brad Sherman would maintain that the meek will inherit the earth and that Christ preached about the Kingdom of heaven coming on the earth. In Brad's book titled The War: Preparing The Earth To Receive Her King (ISBN 1-929958-00-5), he wondered why modern Christianity has focused on getting to heaven while biblical Christianity is focused on getting heaven here.

However, to get to heaven, Anthony explains in page 168 that his readers must make God the sovereign of their lives. Why not? Christ died for everybody!

I have read and reviewed many Christian books but none is as relaxing and fun-loaded as A Travel Guide To Heaven. One may not agree with all the things the author says but one cannot help commending him for painting such a captivating picture of heaven that could enrich the appreciation of heaven by Christians and make non-Christians desire to experience heaven through enthroning Christ as the TRUE Lord of their lives.

If a book should be judged by how well it accomplishes the task set by its author, A Travel Guide To Heaven, deserves an A because its author accomplished his self-set task of helping to change the perception of heaven as a potentially boring place replete with monotonous activities. And he did it in a lively, refreshing and inviting style that makes the reader's imagination run real wild; a style that is in tandem with the ideas he projected.