Posted on 01/16/2015 7:31:42 AM PST by SeekAndFind
LifeWay Christian Stores has come under fire for selling a book based on a boy who claimed he visited heaven and who is now saying that the story is false.
The book, titled The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven, has been available since last year and tells the story of 6-year-old Alex Malarkey who suffered a horrific car accident in 2004. The crash paralyzed Alex and it was unlikely he'd survive after slipping into a coma. He awoke two months later and claimed that angels took him through the gates of heaven to meet Jesus.
Malarkey addressed the validity of the story in a letter titled "An Open Letter to LifeWay and Other Sellers, Buyers, and Marketers of Heaven Tourism, by the Boy Who Did Not Come Back From Heaven."
"I said I went to heaven because I thought it would get me attention. When I made the claims that I did, I had never read the Bible," he explained. "People have profited from lies, and continue to. They should read the Bible, which is enough. The Bible is the only source of truth."
He also laid out what he now believes is the clear path to salvation in the letter.
"It is only through repentance of your sins and a belief in Jesus as the Son of God, who died for your sins (even though he committed none of his own) so that you can be forgiven may you learn of Heaven outside of what is written in the Bible… not by reading a work of man," he stated.
LifeWay will take immediate action, according to Martin King, the company's director of communications.
"LifeWay was informed this week that Alex Marlarkey has retracted his testimony about visiting heaven as told in the book The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven. Therefore, we are returning to the publisher the few copies we have in our stores," said King to The Christian Post.
Malarkey's mother, Beth, addressed the matter last April in a blog, arguing that the book was not biblically sound and that it has hurt her son "tremendously." She also stressed that he has not made any money from book sales.
"Alex first tried to tell a 'pastor' how wrong the book was and how it needed stopped, Alex was told that the book was blessing people," she wrote. "I am trying to defend my son and truth," she stated. "Alex did not write the book and it is not blessing him!"
Some Southern Baptists had raised concerns about the more recent best-selling book Heaven Is for Real, which was made into a movie last year. The book and movie are based on a 4-year-old boy who had an emergency appendectomy and said he experienced heaven. Last summer, Southern Baptists adopted a resolution to "reaffirm the sufficiency of biblical revelation over subjective experiential explanations to guide one's understanding of the truth about heaven and hell."
.
>> “It is only through repentance of your sins and a belief in Jesus as the Son of God, who died for your sins (even though he committed none of his own) so that you can be forgiven may you learn of Heaven outside of what is written in the Bible… not by reading a work of man” <<
.
The churchians are not going to like this! - He forgot to add in “Going to church like a nice boy, and paying your tithe, and praying to the ‘Mary’ demon.”
.
.
Is this the same kid they made a movie about? He went on all the talk shows etc...?
Heaven is real, along with Jesus, angels and the souls of those who have died in Christ ... but the “stories” of some people going there and coming back here to “tell the tale” are not real.
If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules. "
~ Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals
The Left will use this in their ongoing campaign against the religious right, citing Scripture and using this to back up their claims of no God, religion is the opiate of the masses, magical jesus, and all the rest.
Sure as the sun sets on America, they will.
.
>> “Why is this woman so set against the other story that she has to come out against their story too?” <<
.
Because it is so contra-Biblical, and false?
Just a guess...
.
Vol 2 in Arabic
Evidently, they are two different book and two different kids. The movie is based on the Burpo family, not the Malarkey family.
I think this woman plans to make money by putting down all stories about seeing the afterlife. She is divorced and claims that her son is not getting any of the proceeds. I wonder if that is true. Is the father keeping everything?
Hence why, other than the Bible, I don’t read to much religious books that deal with “experiences”. I do read the occasion research or biography type.
Guess they forgot to tell him about..."liar, liar, pants on fire".
In other words....his Christian Family tried to get away with something. It's called fraud.
I'm glad he included the part of repentance; too many people leave that part out.
According to another thread, the book was co-authored with his father, Kevin Malarkey. Sounds like someone's not getting her alimony & child support payments.
BWAHahahahahahahahahahahaaha....
Now that right there is funny.
.
>> “ too many people leave that part out.” <<
.
The vast majority either never read far enough to find that part, or dismiss it as “impossible for us to bear.”
.
Lighten up, Francis
“Well, his name is Malarkey....”
That itself is almost too good to be true.
:: “It is only through repentance of your sins and a belief in Jesus as the Son of God ::
“and”?
I didn’t know there a 2-step process involved.
” so every Malarkey is scum?”
He doesn’t mean that at all- “malarkey” has long been slang meaning “nonsense”.
Bump
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.