Rehearsing for Heaven

Rehearsing For Heaven

Author: Mark B. Reed

Publisher: Createspace 2010

ISBN: 9781450597777

Pages: 447 Paperback

Genre: Non-Fiction

Reviewed by Pamela R. Jeffers

We live in a day and time where everyone is professing to have some sort of knowledge of God and what it means to be spiritual. There is a hunger in each of us to discover our purpose and live purposefully. But what about after we have lived this life? What’s next? Is there a Heaven that we should be aiming for and a Hell that we should escape? In his book, Rehearsing for Heaven, author, Mark B.Reed challenges the reader to hope and prepare for Heaven. He believes that throughout our life, God gives us glimpses of what Heaven is like; and it is our choice as to whether or not we go. We make this choice when we choose a relationship with God. While this is a fitting statement to make when writing a book of this nature, it conveys only a partial truth, which I will explain further later in this review.

The book is segmented as a play would be, with acts and scenes; however, the scripture references noted in the “Endnotes” felt text bookish. Personally, when reading a book that references scripture, I would rather have the scriptures noted in the text, so I can simultaneously refer to my Bible. As I referred to these scriptures, questions arose that were not quite answered by Rehearsing for Heaven. I won’t go into all of them but one crucial question was, “Who do you say Jesus is?” The author of course refers to Jesus a number of times, but quite often only in the manner of the lessons that He taught. If our entrance into Heaven is contingent on the truth that we must choose to be in a relationship with God then Jesus has to be a part of the equation...A crucial essential part! It is through one’s belief in Jesus as God, His shed blood on the Cross and His sacrificing His life for us that gives access to eternal life; Heaven.

Rehearsing for Heaven gives comfort that there is more to experience after this life. It assures that God has prepared a place for His people; a place of peace, rest and eternal worship of a God that wants us to spend an eternity in His presence. However, the vehicle of Jesus and the road map of the Cross that is required for our salvation and entrance into Heaven, Rehearsing for Heaven skims over and neglects to inform the reader of this complete and fundamental truth.