A researcher walks in as a skeptic. He leaves changed.
For thirty-five years, John Burke studied over a thousand near-death experiences. He documented what people said they encountered. What they saw. The patterns in their testimonies. As an agnostic looking for proof, he approached the work scientifically, methodically, without assuming anything about faith or the divine.
Then he stood in front of Prince of Peace.
What stopped him wasn’t an argument. It was recognition. Across more than a thousand accounts of people who claimed to meet Jesus in the presence of heaven, Akiane had captured something that transcended the painting itself. Not just the art, but the reality behind it. The love. The compassion. The human suffering. The divine light.
A researcher became a witness.
“I think people can come into this place and be surprised by experiencing an encounter with God.”
Watch John’s full story in the video above, and read his complete reflection in the transcript below.
I was an agnostic. I thought Jesus was probably just a legend. My dad was dying of cancer, and someone gave him the very first research on near-death experiences. I saw the book by his bedside table, picked it up, started thumbing through it, and I read it in one night.
I thought to myself, “Wow, this might be actual evidence that this God Jesus stuff is real.” These millions of near-death experiences—they overlap. They point to the God who’s revealed himself through scripture.
So for the past thirty-five years, I’ve studied well over a thousand of them.
I’d seen the Prince of Peace in books and other places, but it’s hard to express in words. I think Akiane captured what I’ve heard so many times from near-death experiencers who’ve claimed to be in his presence. She did an amazing job of blending the love, the kindness, and the compassion with also the reality of his humanity.
He experienced the evils of this world. The sufferings of this world. Yet he was from the light of heaven. He was fully human and yet fully God.
I believe God is giving increased testimony of his reality and his goodness. So I think people can come into this place and be surprised by experiencing an encounter with God and the presence of God. Not that he’s in the artwork, but he’s everywhere. He’s here with people as they come through.
This is a gift from God. God has given her a gift to share with the world because I think it tells of the reality and the hope of heaven. And we need hope.
