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."
Well, his name is Malarkey....
And the Leftists will have a field day.
Also here at: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3247382/posts
:)
Four-year-old Jeremy Werdt says he went to heaven during emergency spleen surgery, and his testimony of seeing Jesus and deceased relatives thrilled his Christian family and landed him a book contract....“To have Jeremy back and talking about this amazing experience of being with the Lord was the most wonderful day of our lives,” says his mother, Brenda. “He named all the relatives he’d seen and we just sat there crying. Then, after a while, we realized he hadn’t said anything about my mom, Grandma Spencer....Every time we asked he just shrugged his shoulders and said, ‘Nope. Not there,’” says Brenda. “We suggested maybe he didn’t recognize her because she looked younger in heaven. He smiled and said, ‘Mom, you recognize everyone in heaven. Grandma wasn’t around.’”
-- from the thread ‘Grandma not in heaven’ boy reports
People even lie about heavenly things. Look at Joseph Smith.
Apples and oranges. There was a Sgt Malarkey in Band of Brothers’ so every Malarkey is scum?
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
I’m appalled at what many of us Christians will believe simply because it was said within the context of the Christian church. And the bible warns us of such things.
His story, although cute, always seemed hinky.
#1: Everything God wanted to reveal to us was taken care of in the Bible. People who claim to have special info are either lying or controlled by demonic forces.
#2: I’m as P.K., as he is and could’ve come up with the same story. Everything he said was stuff he’d picked up either in church and/or by listening to conversations.
#3: For any evangelicals or fundamentalists to have bought in to it was idiocy. SBC and LifeWay should be ashamed. (See #1.)
We probably need to ask Biden.....malarkey is a favorite word with him.
Only took one reply
Well, yes, he’s a certified idiot so his word is very valuable to a degree.
So the two books are different stories. The movie is based on the other kid and his family. I wonder if this woman is jealous of the success of the other family in telling their story.
I saw the movie in the library and checked it out. It didn't do anything for me one way or the other. It was just a simple story. Why is this woman so set against the other story that she has to come out against their story too?
Thank you...far too many just fall for anything...
Because the boy didn’t write about molesting his little sister and make false claims of rape by a republican?
He was a little kid that wanted attention.
What’s Lena dumb ass excuse?
“Malarkey” is defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary as “insincere or foolish talk.”
You just know there’s gonna be an episode where Bart Simpson does this next season...
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