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One Heartbeat Away: Your Journey into Eternity
The question of what happens to us after we die is on the minds of many? Can you prove to them that there is a God? What about evolution? Can the Bible be proven true? This book, which is inspired by conversations with lost people, is written specifically to those who have objections or are seeking answers for eternity, and guiding them to truth. Why have so many atheists, agnostics, Muslims, Catholics, prisoners, and soldiers become born again after reading One Heartbeat Away? As best-selling author Mark Cahill suggests, it's because once you know the truth about the Bible, creation vs. evolution, heaven and hell, sin, and the cross, there is only one logical decision to make. The truth does set you free! Get this book into the hands of family, friends, and strangers, and watch the Holy Spirit work wonders in their lives. It also appeals to Christians who want answers to the questions they get when witnessing. One Heartbeat Away promises to be as compelling as Mark Cahill's first book One Thing You Can't Do in Heaven. Both books have tremendous value in skillfully communicating the evidence for biblical truth and compelling the lost to come to Jesus Christ for salvation.
240 pages, Paperback
First published September 5, 2005
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January 21, 2013
Mark Cahill is a fundamentalist Christian who has written a book about why everyone should convert to Christianity. I have read a number of books by atheist and agnostic apologists, and wanted to give a Christian apologist a fair chance to present his case. I carefully read “One Heartbeat Away: Your Journey Into Eternity” from cover to cover. Here are some thoughts on the book.
First, in chapter one, Cahill starts by seeking to prove that God exists. His argument is that the universe is such a complex thing, that a complex creator must have made it. He looks at the beauty of mountains and trees, and assumes that they must have been designed by a God. He uses the example of can of Coke. He says that if a scientist said that this can of Coke developed all by itself, from nothing, that it would be absurd, because everything that is created and complex must have a creator. All well and good. But there is a huge, gaping hole in his logic. Quite frankly, I’m mystified by the fact that Cahill doesn’t see it. He says: 1. Everything that exists must have a beginning and a creator 2. Everything complex must have a beginning and a creator Yet he believes that God (1) exists and (2) is complex- he makes the point of God’s complexity and marvelous nature a number of times. So who created God? By his own logic, God must himself have a creator. Yet Cahill believes that God had no beginning, and always existed. The truth is, both Cahill and I agree that some things can exist without a creator. He believes God can. I believe the universe can. Where it the difference? We are each making the same assumption. Now onto Chapter 2: Here, Cahill tackles evolution. In a few pages, he tries to discredit everything that modern science has come up with in the past hundred years. Did I mention he is not a scientist himself, but instead has a business degree? Did he ever even take a college course in science? I would guess no, because he manages to completely misrepresent the theory of evolution. First off, Cahill divides evolution into two types - microevolution and macroevolution. Microevolution, he says, is the changes that can be observed within species, such as the differences in dog breeds which all descended from wolves. Macroevolution is the whole span of evolution, from single-celled organisms to primitive life forms to vertebrates,
etc. Actual scientists, however have different definitions of these terms. According to Mark Ridley, a man with actual science credentials: “Macroevolution means evolution on the grand scale, and it is mainly studied in the fossil record. It is contrasted with microevolution, the study of evolution over short time periods., such as that of a human lifetime or less. Microevolution therefore refers to changes in gene frequency within a population …. Macroevolutionary events are more likely to take millions, probably tens of millions of years. Macroevolution refers to things like the trends in horse evolution described by Simpson, and occurring over tens of millions of years, or the origin of major groups, or mass extinctions, or the Cambrian explosion described by Conway Morris. Speciation is the traditional dividing line between micro- and macroevolution.” Ridley, Mark (1997) in EVOLUTION, M. Ridley ed. Oxford University Press, Oxford UK. So when reputable scientists talk about microevolution vs, macroevolution, they are not referring to two completely different processes, as Cahill says, Rather, they are referring to the same process over either a short (observable) period of time or a long (unobservable) period of time. Saying that microevolution is true but macroevolution isn’t is like saying that one can walk across the street but can’t walk from New York to San Francisco, and then using that statement to disprove that one can travel by walking. In order to make himself sound like he knows what he is talking about, Cahill quotes a number of scientists. But he takes their quotes out of context. For example, he quotes Albert Einstein to prove the existence of the Christian God- Einstein was in no way a Christian. He quotes prominent evolutionary scientists selectively, using heavily edited quotes to show what he believes are the shortcomings of evolution. He fails to look at their writing as a whole. When this fails, he resorts to outright lies. He claims that it has been “proven” that the Neanderthal bones found were merely the bones of ordinary humans that were suffering from diseases. Not only has this not been “proven,” but any high school student who floated that theory in class would be laughed right out of the room by any teacher with the most rudimentary knowledge of human anatomy. Not one single reputable medical professional would ever say (or has ever said) that diseases could cause all the myriad of differences in skeletal structure and brain capacity between humans and Neanderthals. Cahill continues to lie when he states, over and over again, that no transitional forms of animals have been found. He shows either complete misrepresentation and dishonesty or appalling ignorance in making this claim. Thousands upon thousands of transitional fossils have been found. I could summarize some of them (such as the archaeopteryx, the first winged reptile) but I will leave it up to the expert
s. For a detailed list of the transitional fossils that have been found please read: “Ayala, F.J. (2004) “Design and Designer Darwin’s Greatest Discovery” in DEBATING DESIGN: FROM DARWIN TO DNA, W.A. Dembski and M. Ruse eds. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK Cain, A.J. (1964) The Perfection of Animals in VIEWPOINTS IN BIOLOGY vol. 3 J.D. Carthy and C.L. Duddington (eds.) (London: Butterworth Gould, S.J. (2002) THE STRUCTURE OF EVOLUTIONARY THEORY
Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA (USA) Hull, D.L. (1992) Individual in KEYWORDS IN EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
E.F. Keller and E.A. Lloyd eds. Harvard University Press Cambridge MA USA Hull, D.L. (1991) The God of the Galapogos a review of Darwin on Trial by Phillip E. Johnson. Nature 352:485-486. And I could go on. Any one of these works will refute Cahill in detail with a multitude of examples of transitional forms that have been discovered and verified. Another ludicrous example that Cahill gives is his belief that a giraffe could not have evolved a long neck. In his opinion, he states that a giraffe must have a powerful heart to propel blood up to its head, and yet must have a special mechanism for stopping the blood from rushing away from its brain too quickly so that it does not pass out when it stands up. He says that giraffes could not have evolved because any giraffe that stood up suddenly without this mechanism would pass out and die before passing on its genes. This only makes sense if an animal woke up one day with the long neck of a giraffe suddenly on its body! If the long neck evolved gradually over many years, there would be plenty of time for the heart to evolve with it. How stupid does Cahill think his readers are? Now on to chapter 3: In this chapter, Cahill makes the remarkable claim that the bible is true in every detail. He says: “The unity, harmony, and accuracy of the bible cannot be compared with that of any other book.” He quotes another author saying: “The writers wrote on the continents of Asia, Africa, and Europe in the languages of Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic. Yet [the bible] manages to [present] one unfolding drama of redemption. How is it possible that the Bible could have been written in the most complex and counterproductive way imaginable, and yet manage to fit together so accurately?” Let us look at how the bible “fits together accurately.” Let us look at how it has “unity and harmony.” GE 1:3-5 On the first day, God created light, then separated light and darkness.
GE 1:14-19 The sun (which separates night and day) wasn’t created until the fourth day. GE 1:11-12, 26-27 Trees were created before man was created.
GE 2:4-9 Man was created before trees were created. GE 1:20-21, 26-27 Birds were created before man was created.
GE 2:7, 19 Man was created before birds were created. GE 1:24-27 Animals were created before man was created.
GE 2:7, 19 Man was created before animals were created. GE 1:26-27 Man and woman were created at the same time.
GE 2:7, 21-22 Man was created first, woman sometime later. GE 1:28 God encourages reproduction.
LE 12:1-8 God requires purification rites following childbirth which, in effect, makes
childbirth a sin. (Note: The period for purification following the birth of a daughter is
twice that for a son.) GE 1:31 God was pleased with his creation.
GE 6:5-6 God was not pleased with his creation.
(Note: That God should be displeased is inconsistent with the concept of omniscience.) GE 2:15-17, 3:4-6 It is wrong to want to be able to tell good from evil.
HE 5:13-14 It is immature to be unable to tell good from evil. GE 4:4-5 God prefers Abel’s offering and has no regard for Cain’s.
2CH 19:7, AC 10:34, RO 2:11 God shows no partiality. He treats all alike.GE 4:15, DT 32:19-27, IS 34:8 God is a vengeful god. EX 15:3, IS 42:13, HE 12:29 God is a warrior. God is a consuming fire.
EX 20:5, 34:14, DT 4:24, 5:9, 6:15, 29:20, 32:21 God is a jealous god.
LE 26:7-8, NU 31:17-18, DT 20:16-17, JS 10:40, JG 14:19, EZ 9:5-7 The Spirit of God is (sometimes) murder and killing.
NU 25:3-4, DT 6:15, 9:7-8, 29:20, 32:21, PS 7:11, 78:49, JE 4:8, 17:4, 32:30-31, ZP 2:2 God is angry. His anger is sometimes fierce.
2SA 22:7-8 (KJV) “I called to the Lord; … he heard my voice; … The earth trembled and quaked, … because he was angry. Smoke came from his nostrils. Consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it.”
EZ 6:12, NA 1:2, 6 God is jealous and furious. He reserves wrath for, and takes revenge on, his enemies. “… who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and rocks are thrown down by him.”
2CO 13:11, 14, 1JN 4:8, 16 God is love.
GA 5:22-23 The fruit of the Spirit of God is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. GE 11:7-9 God sows discord. PR 6:16-19 God hates anyone who sows discord. GE 11:9 At Babel, the Lord confused the language of the whole world.
1CO 14:33 Paul says that God is not the author of confusion. GE 22:1-12, DT 8:2 God tempts (tests) Abraham and Moses.
JG 2:22 God himself says that he does test (tempt). 1CO 10:13 Paul says that God controls the extent of our temptations.
JA 1:13 God tests (tempts) no one. And there are many more http://www.infidels.org/library/moder... Cahill also says: “Some people claim that there are contradictions in the Bible, but when asked to identify one, they can’t.” Ok, Mr. Cahill. Here are a few more: GE 11:12 Arpachshad [Arphaxad] was the father of Shelah.
LK 3:35-36 Cainan was the father of Shelah. Arpachshad was the grandfather of Shelah. GE 11:26 Terah was 70 years old when his son Abram was born.
GE 11:32 Terah was 205 years old when he died (making Abram 135 at the time).
GE 12:4, AC 7:4 Abram was 75 when he left Haran. This was after Terah died. Thus, Terah could have been no more than 145 when he died; or Abram was only 75 years old after he had lived 135 years. GE 49:2-28 The fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel are: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Joseph, and Benjamin.
RE 7:4-8 (Leaves out the tribe of Dan, but adds Manasseh.) GE 50:13 Jacob was buried in a cave at Machpelah bought from Ephron the Hittite.
AC 7:15-16 He was buried in the sepulchre at Shechem, bought from the sons of Hamor. EX 3:1 Jethro was the father-in-law of Moses.
NU 10:29, JG 4:11 (KJV) Hobab was the father-in-law of Moses. EX 12:37, NU 1:45-46 The number of men of military age who take part in the Exodus is given as more than 600,000. Allowing for women, children, and older men would probably mean that a total of about 2,000,000 Israelites left Egypt.
1KI 20:15 All the Israelites, including children, number only 7000 at a later time. And there are only about 600 more. After telling us that the bible is perfect and flawless, Cahill goes on to talk about Messianic prophecy. This is the belief that prophecies in the Old Testmament were fulfllled by the life of Jesus. For example: “God said his Son would have an unusual manifestation of the Holy Spirit, and He did. “Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing….” (Isaiah 35) And then Cahill’s scripture that fulfills this: “And Jesus went about the cities and villages…healing every sickness and every disease among the people” (Matthew 9) What Cahill fails to realize is that the gospel he quote was written over 100 years AFTER the death of Jesus. The eariest gospel, Mark, was written 50 years after Christ’s death. The gospels are not first hand accounts, rather they are the result of what the writers considered the “oral tradition of Christianity. And THOSE WHO WROTE THE GOSPELS WERE OLD TESTAMENT SCHOLARS. This means that the writers of the Gospels knew the Old Testament scriptures in detail when they sat down to write their accounts of Christ’s life. They simple invented details that coincided with the old testament. Really, they took random passages out of the Old Testmanent which were never even indicated in the text that they were prophecies, claimed (in the face of no evidence whatsoever) that these passages WERE prophecies, and made up the accounts to coincide with what they said. This is why we get random things like “he will be the son of a virgin” taken from an old testament story of a baby who was born during a battle of Israel who the prophet said would turn two by the time the war ended (a story that in context has nothing to do with Christ) and not prophecies about, say, the fall of Jericho. I could just as easily say that Jesus FAILED to fulfil prophecy because he never knocked down a wall! Why is one random detail of a story taken as prophecy (with no evidence) and another random detail of another story is not? In the rest of the book, Cahill employs the only true weapons of Christianity. Guilt and fear. First he goes over all the ten commandments, telling the reader how much of a sinner they are if they ever lied, for example. Then he goes on to the “big stick” of Christianity- Hell. Cahill threatens his readers with eternal torture if they don’t accept his opinions on God. He uses this scare tactic to try and intimidate and browbeat us into accepting Jesus. Accept Jesus, or else! It is not surprising that Cahill uses the argument of brute force when his logic fails. Cahill seems to really believe that all who die without believing in Jesus will burn in agony for all eternity- that God, in his infinite wisdom and justice, took Jewish people from the fires of the furnaces of Hitler’s concentration camps (where they burned for a short time
) and threw them into the ETERNAL fires of hell (where they will burn from eternity.) And this is the God he expects us to love? Such a god would be worse than Hitler! Fortunately, we do not have to believe in such a God. The facts indicate that He does not exist.
First, in chapter one, Cahill starts by seeking to prove that God exists. His argument is that the universe is such a complex thing, that a complex creator must have made it. He looks at the beauty of mountains and trees, and assumes that they must have been designed by a God. He uses the example of can of Coke. He says that if a scientist said that this can of Coke developed all by itself, from nothing, that it would be absurd, because everything that is created and complex must have a creator. All well and good. But there is a huge, gaping hole in his logic. Quite frankly, I’m mystified by the fact that Cahill doesn’t see it. He says: 1. Everything that exists must have a beginning and a creator 2. Everything complex must have a beginning and a creator Yet he believes that God (1) exists and (2) is complex- he makes the point of God’s complexity and marvelous nature a number of times. So who created God? By his own logic, God must himself have a creator. Yet Cahill believes that God had no beginning, and always existed. The truth is, both Cahill and I agree that some things can exist without a creator. He believes God can. I believe the universe can. Where it the difference? We are each making the same assumption. Now onto Chapter 2: Here, Cahill tackles evolution. In a few pages, he tries to discredit everything that modern science has come up with in the past hundred years. Did I mention he is not a scientist himself, but instead has a business degree? Did he ever even take a college course in science? I would guess no, because he manages to completely misrepresent the theory of evolution. First off, Cahill divides evolution into two types - microevolution and macroevolution. Microevolution, he says, is the changes that can be observed within species, such as the differences in dog breeds which all descended from wolves. Macroevolution is the whole span of evolution, from single-celled organisms to primitive life forms to vertebrates,
etc. Actual scientists, however have different definitions of these terms. According to Mark Ridley, a man with actual science credentials: “Macroevolution means evolution on the grand scale, and it is mainly studied in the fossil record. It is contrasted with microevolution, the study of evolution over short time periods., such as that of a human lifetime or less. Microevolution therefore refers to changes in gene frequency within a population …. Macroevolutionary events are more likely to take millions, probably tens of millions of years. Macroevolution refers to things like the trends in horse evolution described by Simpson, and occurring over tens of millions of years, or the origin of major groups, or mass extinctions, or the Cambrian explosion described by Conway Morris. Speciation is the traditional dividing line between micro- and macroevolution.” Ridley, Mark (1997) in EVOLUTION, M. Ridley ed. Oxford University Press, Oxford UK. So when reputable scientists talk about microevolution vs, macroevolution, they are not referring to two completely different processes, as Cahill says, Rather, they are referring to the same process over either a short (observable) period of time or a long (unobservable) period of time. Saying that microevolution is true but macroevolution isn’t is like saying that one can walk across the street but can’t walk from New York to San Francisco, and then using that statement to disprove that one can travel by walking. In order to make himself sound like he knows what he is talking about, Cahill quotes a number of scientists. But he takes their quotes out of context. For example, he quotes Albert Einstein to prove the existence of the Christian God- Einstein was in no way a Christian. He quotes prominent evolutionary scientists selectively, using heavily edited quotes to show what he believes are the shortcomings of evolution. He fails to look at their writing as a whole. When this fails, he resorts to outright lies. He claims that it has been “proven” that the Neanderthal bones found were merely the bones of ordinary humans that were suffering from diseases. Not only has this not been “proven,” but any high school student who floated that theory in class would be laughed right out of the room by any teacher with the most rudimentary knowledge of human anatomy. Not one single reputable medical professional would ever say (or has ever said) that diseases could cause all the myriad of differences in skeletal structure and brain capacity between humans and Neanderthals. Cahill continues to lie when he states, over and over again, that no transitional forms of animals have been found. He shows either complete misrepresentation and dishonesty or appalling ignorance in making this claim. Thousands upon thousands of transitional fossils have been found. I could summarize some of them (such as the archaeopteryx, the first winged reptile) but I will leave it up to the expert
s. For a detailed list of the transitional fossils that have been found please read: “Ayala, F.J. (2004) “Design and Designer Darwin’s Greatest Discovery” in DEBATING DESIGN: FROM DARWIN TO DNA, W.A. Dembski and M. Ruse eds. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK Cain, A.J. (1964) The Perfection of Animals in VIEWPOINTS IN BIOLOGY vol. 3 J.D. Carthy and C.L. Duddington (eds.) (London: Butterworth Gould, S.J. (2002) THE STRUCTURE OF EVOLUTIONARY THEORY
Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA (USA) Hull, D.L. (1992) Individual in KEYWORDS IN EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
E.F. Keller and E.A. Lloyd eds. Harvard University Press Cambridge MA USA Hull, D.L. (1991) The God of the Galapogos a review of Darwin on Trial by Phillip E. Johnson. Nature 352:485-486. And I could go on. Any one of these works will refute Cahill in detail with a multitude of examples of transitional forms that have been discovered and verified. Another ludicrous example that Cahill gives is his belief that a giraffe could not have evolved a long neck. In his opinion, he states that a giraffe must have a powerful heart to propel blood up to its head, and yet must have a special mechanism for stopping the blood from rushing away from its brain too quickly so that it does not pass out when it stands up. He says that giraffes could not have evolved because any giraffe that stood up suddenly without this mechanism would pass out and die before passing on its genes. This only makes sense if an animal woke up one day with the long neck of a giraffe suddenly on its body! If the long neck evolved gradually over many years, there would be plenty of time for the heart to evolve with it. How stupid does Cahill think his readers are? Now on to chapter 3: In this chapter, Cahill makes the remarkable claim that the bible is true in every detail. He says: “The unity, harmony, and accuracy of the bible cannot be compared with that of any other book.” He quotes another author saying: “The writers wrote on the continents of Asia, Africa, and Europe in the languages of Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic. Yet [the bible] manages to [present] one unfolding drama of redemption. How is it possible that the Bible could have been written in the most complex and counterproductive way imaginable, and yet manage to fit together so accurately?” Let us look at how the bible “fits together accurately.” Let us look at how it has “unity and harmony.” GE 1:3-5 On the first day, God created light, then separated light and darkness.
GE 1:14-19 The sun (which separates night and day) wasn’t created until the fourth day. GE 1:11-12, 26-27 Trees were created before man was created.
GE 2:4-9 Man was created before trees were created. GE 1:20-21, 26-27 Birds were created before man was created.
GE 2:7, 19 Man was created before birds were created. GE 1:24-27 Animals were created before man was created.
GE 2:7, 19 Man was created before animals were created. GE 1:26-27 Man and woman were created at the same time.
GE 2:7, 21-22 Man was created first, woman sometime later. GE 1:28 God encourages reproduction.
LE 12:1-8 God requires purification rites following childbirth which, in effect, makes
childbirth a sin. (Note: The period for purification following the birth of a daughter is
twice that for a son.) GE 1:31 God was pleased with his creation.
GE 6:5-6 God was not pleased with his creation.
(Note: That God should be displeased is inconsistent with the concept of omniscience.) GE 2:15-17, 3:4-6 It is wrong to want to be able to tell good from evil.
HE 5:13-14 It is immature to be unable to tell good from evil. GE 4:4-5 God prefers Abel’s offering and has no regard for Cain’s.
2CH 19:7, AC 10:34, RO 2:11 God shows no partiality. He treats all alike.GE 4:15, DT 32:19-27, IS 34:8 God is a vengeful god. EX 15:3, IS 42:13, HE 12:29 God is a warrior. God is a consuming fire.
EX 20:5, 34:14, DT 4:24, 5:9, 6:15, 29:20, 32:21 God is a jealous god.
LE 26:7-8, NU 31:17-18, DT 20:16-17, JS 10:40, JG 14:19, EZ 9:5-7 The Spirit of God is (sometimes) murder and killing.
NU 25:3-4, DT 6:15, 9:7-8, 29:20, 32:21, PS 7:11, 78:49, JE 4:8, 17:4, 32:30-31, ZP 2:2 God is angry. His anger is sometimes fierce.
2SA 22:7-8 (KJV) “I called to the Lord; … he heard my voice; … The earth trembled and quaked, … because he was angry. Smoke came from his nostrils. Consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it.”
EZ 6:12, NA 1:2, 6 God is jealous and furious. He reserves wrath for, and takes revenge on, his enemies. “… who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and rocks are thrown down by him.”
2CO 13:11, 14, 1JN 4:8, 16 God is love.
GA 5:22-23 The fruit of the Spirit of God is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. GE 11:7-9 God sows discord. PR 6:16-19 God hates anyone who sows discord. GE 11:9 At Babel, the Lord confused the language of the whole world.
1CO 14:33 Paul says that God is not the author of confusion. GE 22:1-12, DT 8:2 God tempts (tests) Abraham and Moses.
JG 2:22 God himself says that he does test (tempt). 1CO 10:13 Paul says that God controls the extent of our temptations.
JA 1:13 God tests (tempts) no one. And there are many more http://www.infidels.org/library/moder... Cahill also says: “Some people claim that there are contradictions in the Bible, but when asked to identify one, they can’t.” Ok, Mr. Cahill. Here are a few more: GE 11:12 Arpachshad [Arphaxad] was the father of Shelah.
LK 3:35-36 Cainan was the father of Shelah. Arpachshad was the grandfather of Shelah. GE 11:26 Terah was 70 years old when his son Abram was born.
GE 11:32 Terah was 205 years old when he died (making Abram 135 at the time).
GE 12:4, AC 7:4 Abram was 75 when he left Haran. This was after Terah died. Thus, Terah could have been no more than 145 when he died; or Abram was only 75 years old after he had lived 135 years. GE 49:2-28 The fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel are: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Joseph, and Benjamin.
RE 7:4-8 (Leaves out the tribe of Dan, but adds Manasseh.) GE 50:13 Jacob was buried in a cave at Machpelah bought from Ephron the Hittite.
AC 7:15-16 He was buried in the sepulchre at Shechem, bought from the sons of Hamor. EX 3:1 Jethro was the father-in-law of Moses.
NU 10:29, JG 4:11 (KJV) Hobab was the father-in-law of Moses. EX 12:37, NU 1:45-46 The number of men of military age who take part in the Exodus is given as more than 600,000. Allowing for women, children, and older men would probably mean that a total of about 2,000,000 Israelites left Egypt.
1KI 20:15 All the Israelites, including children, number only 7000 at a later time. And there are only about 600 more. After telling us that the bible is perfect and flawless, Cahill goes on to talk about Messianic prophecy. This is the belief that prophecies in the Old Testmament were fulfllled by the life of Jesus. For example: “God said his Son would have an unusual manifestation of the Holy Spirit, and He did. “Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing….” (Isaiah 35) And then Cahill’s scripture that fulfills this: “And Jesus went about the cities and villages…healing every sickness and every disease among the people” (Matthew 9) What Cahill fails to realize is that the gospel he quote was written over 100 years AFTER the death of Jesus. The eariest gospel, Mark, was written 50 years after Christ’s death. The gospels are not first hand accounts, rather they are the result of what the writers considered the “oral tradition of Christianity. And THOSE WHO WROTE THE GOSPELS WERE OLD TESTAMENT SCHOLARS. This means that the writers of the Gospels knew the Old Testament scriptures in detail when they sat down to write their accounts of Christ’s life. They simple invented details that coincided with the old testament. Really, they took random passages out of the Old Testmanent which were never even indicated in the text that they were prophecies, claimed (in the face of no evidence whatsoever) that these passages WERE prophecies, and made up the accounts to coincide with what they said. This is why we get random things like “he will be the son of a virgin” taken from an old testament story of a baby who was born during a battle of Israel who the prophet said would turn two by the time the war ended (a story that in context has nothing to do with Christ) and not prophecies about, say, the fall of Jericho. I could just as easily say that Jesus FAILED to fulfil prophecy because he never knocked down a wall! Why is one random detail of a story taken as prophecy (with no evidence) and another random detail of another story is not? In the rest of the book, Cahill employs the only true weapons of Christianity. Guilt and fear. First he goes over all the ten commandments, telling the reader how much of a sinner they are if they ever lied, for example. Then he goes on to the “big stick” of Christianity- Hell. Cahill threatens his readers with eternal torture if they don’t accept his opinions on God. He uses this scare tactic to try and intimidate and browbeat us into accepting Jesus. Accept Jesus, or else! It is not surprising that Cahill uses the argument of brute force when his logic fails. Cahill seems to really believe that all who die without believing in Jesus will burn in agony for all eternity- that God, in his infinite wisdom and justice, took Jewish people from the fires of the furnaces of Hitler’s concentration camps (where they burned for a short time
) and threw them into the ETERNAL fires of hell (where they will burn from eternity.) And this is the God he expects us to love? Such a god would be worse than Hitler! Fortunately, we do not have to believe in such a God. The facts indicate that He does not exist.
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February 24, 2020I am not going to rate this book. My dad asked me to read it so I did and it was alright. I have always believed in Jesus Christ and that he died for my sins. However I do not agree with Mark about LGBTQIA+ people he has 3 stories in this and the first two dance around what he actually thinks about that until the very end and then basically makes it seem like he thinks the only reason people turn out to be gay is cause they must have been molested by someone or they have a crappy relationship with their parent. I am unbelievably angry that someone who seems from his writing to have such a open mind would even dare to suggest something so vile. I am a part of the LGBTQIA+ community and I am not ashamed of it nor do I believe that I am going to hell for it. Jesus taught love so there is no way he would ever send someone to hell for loving someone else.
February 9, 2022
One Heartbeat Away is a book I would recommend for almost anyone, Christians and non-Christians alike. I think all Christian young people (late teens on up because of some content) should read it. It really explains the basics of Christianity and has a good amount of apologetics in it.
For non-Christians, it gives a clear gospel presentation and clearly explains how Christianity is the only way to Heaven. It includes a lot of questions that really make you think, like "If you died tonight, are you 100% sure you would go to Heaven?" And it also challenges Christians to share their faith with the lost.
I've read several of Mr. Cahill's books, and this is another good one. I always enjoy the stories he shares from his personal life, from the many experiences he's had as an evangelist.
For non-Christians, it gives a clear gospel presentation and clearly explains how Christianity is the only way to Heaven. It includes a lot of questions that really make you think, like "If you died tonight, are you 100% sure you would go to Heaven?" And it also challenges Christians to share their faith with the lost.
I've read several of Mr. Cahill's books, and this is another good one. I always enjoy the stories he shares from his personal life, from the many experiences he's had as an evangelist.
June 15, 2016
I should have read some of this before buying it. The author is a joke just like this book. The introduction makes you think the author is going to look at different ideas and beliefs about the afterlife and do actual research about them. He even asks near the end if there is a god or not or an actual afterlife. Then at the beginning of chapter one he starts in on how there has to be god and how he tries converting athiests to believe. Based on that alone I realized with his bias views this book is not made to question the existence of an afterlife but a way for the author to push his ideas and beliefs.
February 14, 2020
This fundamentalist's belief has clearly made him stupid.
January 20, 2019
There are a few good ideas in here.
There are a lot more logical fallacies, unprovable anecdotes, 'proofs' against things that don't need to be disproved for Christianity to be true, and self-congratulations.
The one thing you'll definitely know after you read this book it that the author knows Charles Barkley.
There are a lot more logical fallacies, unprovable anecdotes, 'proofs' against things that don't need to be disproved for Christianity to be true, and self-congratulations.
The one thing you'll definitely know after you read this book it that the author knows Charles Barkley.
April 1, 2015
We all have a last heartbeat. What's on the other side? Mark Cahill addresses this question thoroughly, logically, and Biblically. Whether you're a Christian or not, this book is thought-provoking and well worth the read.
August 12, 2022
I guess this book works for what it stands for. Rather than being very good. It’s just a good book and dare you to look further than just believing. I guess the first two/three chapters don’t really work as it’s supposed to do. The goal of this book is explaining in an easy way why evolution doesn’t work. I mean, there are real scientists who are twisting the Big Bang and Evolution. Just the way the writer is explaining it and writing the narrative doesn’t work at all. Also the “is there a god” conversation is fundamentally strong. I like the architecture example, but I would prefer personal stories about own experiences with Him.
So it’s good, but there was more potential.
So it’s good, but there was more potential.
Read
August 9, 2024As a final review, I think this a really good book for someone that needs scientific and real proof that God is real. It gives more than enough evidence, but there was something that I was thinking while I was reading, and is that I think the author should’ve talked more about Jesus. Mark Cahill did a great job emphasizing the importance of eternity and accepting the gift of Jesus, but I think I would’ve appreciated it more if he had talked about Who is Jesus, and why should we trust Him. Other than that I think it is a great book that awakens the hunger for the lost that we should have, and also remembers the perspective of an unbeliever and knows how to approach that person.
June 22, 2018
While Cahill's first book (also fundamentally transformational) was aimed primarily at the church, this book is a conversion tool.
It is meant to be read by the individual who has no faith in any element of the spiritual world, the Gospel, or the Messiah. It carries this person along various proofs which are, in short:
1.) Evolution is unscientific, illogical, and unproven
2.) There is a Designer
3.) The Designer must be the biblical God
4.) The biblical God was manifested by Jesus
5.) Understanding that your sin utterly condemns you
6.) Understanding the resurrected Christ utterly redeems you
7.) Live for him!
Buy this book. Read it. Let it transform the way you live.
Witnessing is not a calling for a select, gifted few (like teaching, preaching, singleness/marriage, tentmaking are specific callings). It is a universal command. All believers are commissioned to witness the Gospel to the lost world.
Do it, and receive blessings beyond your dreams.
It is meant to be read by the individual who has no faith in any element of the spiritual world, the Gospel, or the Messiah. It carries this person along various proofs which are, in short:
1.) Evolution is unscientific, illogical, and unproven
2.) There is a Designer
3.) The Designer must be the biblical God
4.) The biblical God was manifested by Jesus
5.) Understanding that your sin utterly condemns you
6.) Understanding the resurrected Christ utterly redeems you
7.) Live for him!
Buy this book. Read it. Let it transform the way you live.
Witnessing is not a calling for a select, gifted few (like teaching, preaching, singleness/marriage, tentmaking are specific callings). It is a universal command. All believers are commissioned to witness the Gospel to the lost world.
Do it, and receive blessings beyond your dreams.
November 4, 2025
That’s on me for not reading what this book was really about before starting it. I thought this was going to be a Spiritualist adjacent reading, not a proselytizing evangelical narrative by an author that prays for the prosecution of America.
November 23, 2017
Excellent book to show your friends that they’re sinners and going to hell.
January 21, 2020
Meh. Would have given it one or two more stars if the author hadn't drawn on One Thing You Can't Do In Heaven for much of the book's source material.
April 21, 2020
Clear cut, precise, goes to the heart of things. If you are not sure of where you stand eternally or never thought of it, you will have better understanding when you read this book.
May 23, 2020
Airtight
It's an okay tire of book. Talks a lot about evolution. I know that God created the world and for me that's never going to change.
It's an okay tire of book. Talks a lot about evolution. I know that God created the world and for me that's never going to change.
August 9, 2021
Dice verdades que nunca se te llegan a ocurrir... pero siempre es bueno saberlas
June 25, 2022
Really makes you think about your future and your destiny.
January 2, 2023
Good Christian concepts but maybe not the best tact for reaching unbelievers.
July 31, 2024
A great book to start with, if someone is not a believer.
May 8, 2025
This is literally one of my favorite books! I’ve actually read it more than 4x, and every time I still enjoy it as much as i had the first time! Absolutely beautiful
December 19, 2025
Great summary of the christian faith. The first chapter reinforced my belief that evolution goes against the laws of entropy. The chance that life spontaneously began on it's own is not possible.
March 4, 2017
Please get this book. When I first learned about this book, I literally bought a case of them and used them as my way to witness. I emptied the box of books in less than a month. Mark does an amazing job discussing tough topics that tend to trip up nonbelievers and gives believers a fresh view on our beliefs. I just recently bought two copies for my girls to read now that they are old enough to understand. We are waiting each day for the package to arrive. I can't wait to discuss with them their thoughts as they read Mark Cahill's words.
February 16, 2012
My mother requested I read this book. Although I have been saved since I was 8 years old, so I am not really sure why. The book is a nice refresher on the basics of the Christian faith, scriptural background, proofs, and quite a few basic, rudimentary stories, testimonies, and analogies (somewhat far-fetched in my personal opinion) to back the author's opinions. This is a fundamentalist Christian's handbook to saving souls and securing your eternity into heaven. While I am a Christian and believe in Jesus Christ, the one and only Son on God, the Virgin Birth, the Crucifixion, Resurrection, Heaven, and Hell, Ten Commandments, and most of all, the Bible, I also believe in the personal relationship, the personal interpretation, the personal way this exhibits and plays out in each life throughout the world. I do not think this author knows any more than any other Christian about what lies in the after life. He claims to have the "secret" of Heaven. There is no secret. We really do not know what happens after we die no matter how close anyone comes. All we have is Faith. Of course, he is right in that's all we need.
February 18, 2011
If you died tonight, are you 100% sure you'd go to heaven? That's the general premise of the book. The author does a good job in the beginning of presenting a clear apologetic for the existence of God and the truth of the Bible. He outlines the Ten Commandments and leads the reader toward a personal decision to follow Jesus Christ who satisfied the commandments and paid the price for our sins. The latter portion of the book challenges the reader to share their new found faith in God - other's eternal lives are literally depending on it.
While the book is a good overview of the Christian message, I stumbled through it. The book is filled with facts, personal stories, illustrations and Scriptures which sometimes seemed loosely related and/or inserted at random. As a matter of personal preference, the Scripture references were all in King James Version which was a disappointment given the number of new and fresh translations available. There is plenty of good information there, I just think a re-organization might help the flow.
While the book is a good overview of the Christian message, I stumbled through it. The book is filled with facts, personal stories, illustrations and Scriptures which sometimes seemed loosely related and/or inserted at random. As a matter of personal preference, the Scripture references were all in King James Version which was a disappointment given the number of new and fresh translations available. There is plenty of good information there, I just think a re-organization might help the flow.
February 12, 2016
A great book, especially for those who are not yet believers of Christ and are asking questions about faith and the life after. The author has adequately provided the answers in a logical manner. This is a book that seeks to push that individual over the cliff, to make that concious decision to receive Christ in their lives.
A good book for those who are already in Christ as the writer seeks to challenge us to live out the lives that Christ called us to live; making disciples and sharing about our faith.
Points are clear, straight to the point and very practical...and from the numerous examples he has given, all we need to do is have the courage to start up a conversation with someone, a conversation about eternity. It starts with the why...and continues to tell us to the how.
At some point it felt like threatining way of sharing the Gospel, most people, I think, would be dismissive when you ask the question, 'are you 100% sure where you'll end up when you die?' But well, this question has to be asked.
And what was it with over quoting Spurgeon?
A good book for those who are already in Christ as the writer seeks to challenge us to live out the lives that Christ called us to live; making disciples and sharing about our faith.
Points are clear, straight to the point and very practical...and from the numerous examples he has given, all we need to do is have the courage to start up a conversation with someone, a conversation about eternity. It starts with the why...and continues to tell us to the how.
At some point it felt like threatining way of sharing the Gospel, most people, I think, would be dismissive when you ask the question, 'are you 100% sure where you'll end up when you die?' But well, this question has to be asked.
And what was it with over quoting Spurgeon?
October 30, 2013
I won this book in a giveaway and want to thank the author for sending it my way. When I entered the giveaway I had a different idea of what this book would be. Having experienced a few minutes of "death" myself I was looking for a book that told of other's experiences and had different theories of what happens when we die. However, this book was a Christian book and a type of study of what the Bible says happens when we die. There is even a chapter entitled "The Flames, The FLames" which I think you can figure out on your own. The book does not go with my belief in a God of Love and I have to admit that I did not fully read it. It will not go to waste however. I will be donating it to the public library in my town so that those who are interested in it and believe this way will be able to read it. My rating does not have to do with the quality of writing, merely my disagreement with most of the content.
November 24, 2013
While I didn't quite agree with everything in this book, I found it a very good read and it is one I would definately recommend for non-Christians wanting to know more about God. As a Christian, I found the last section on evangelism very challenging, may the Lord help me to be bolder in proclaiming His name and telling others about Him! The main area I would disagree on, however, is the emphasis the writer seems to place on near death experiences or death-to-life-again experiences. One must be wary in approaching those: I for one think it is more advisable to look to scripture rather than experiences like these which are more ambiguious. That said, there was much that challenged me in this book, and I am glad my friend recommended it, as I would recommend it to others too. :)
July 17, 2013
This is one of those eye-opening books that if you haven't thought about eternity before you will now. The book tells life's ultimate and important thought: If you at this moment died do you know where you are going?
This book might make take you to tough places as it did me. It made me remember a young person in my life who after seeing her one week had her life cut short by a car. It made me dwell on just how precious life really is as we never know (even though we will still claim) how long our life really is.
If this doesn't make you want to know the Lord, you will at least be thinking and pondering about what to do in this life before it's too late. A great, easy-to-read book.
This book might make take you to tough places as it did me. It made me remember a young person in my life who after seeing her one week had her life cut short by a car. It made me dwell on just how precious life really is as we never know (even though we will still claim) how long our life really is.
If this doesn't make you want to know the Lord, you will at least be thinking and pondering about what to do in this life before it's too late. A great, easy-to-read book.
May 25, 2013
This book had its moments, but in between those it was a real drag. The theory behind it was good, but I wish the author had chosen a Bible translation that used modern language, since the target audience is non-Christians who may be turned off by all of the thees, thous, and arts. I loved his first book (One Thing You Can't Do in Heaven) and was a bit disappointed in this one. I was hoping to be able to share it with non-believing friends as a conversation starter, but it took me 3 months to get through it...
June 3, 2010
Excellent book on creation and the fact that everyone knows and nobody especially likes: "10 out of 10 people die!" As some would say, "Everyone wants to go to Heaven but nobody wants to die." This book was given to me by my dentist. He repairs teeth and puts his Christianity into practice by offering Cahill's books, free of charge. He knows Mark Cahill and gets books to hand out in exchange for a donation. They are very interesting books, indeed.
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