The “boy who came back from heaven” has admitted this week that he made up the story co-authored by his father.
Alex Malarkey was six years old in 2004, when he was injured in a car accident with his father, Kevin Malarkey, a Christian therapist in Ohio. The accident left him paralyzed and in a coma for two weeks. When he woke up, he claimed he had been to heaven.
Alex and his father wrote “The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven,” a best-selling book that was later turned into a movie. The book claims to tell of his trips to heaven while he was in a coma.
Malarkey described heaven and detailed conversations he had with Jesus Christ and the devil. In an open letter published on The Pulpit & Pen website, Malarkey said the entire story was a lie, according to People.
[quote text_size=”small” author=”– Alex Malarkey” author_title=”Co-author of ‘The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven'”]
I did not die. I did not go to heaven. I said I went to heaven because I thought it would get me attention. When I made the claims I did, I had never read the Bible. People have profited from lies, and continue to. They should read the Bible, which is enough. The Bible is the only source of truth.
[/quote]
Tyndale House, the major Christian publisher for the book, announced it would stop selling “The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven” and all ancillary products.
Last month, Alex’s mother, Beth Malarkey, posted a blog objecting to the book, saying it is not “Biblically sound” and her son’s objections to the book have been repressed, according to the Washington Post. Beth and other critics of the book claimed that, despite proof that Alex did not stand behind the content, nobody in the industry wanted to kill a bestselling book.
Tyndale House only had a contract with Kevin Malarkey, not Alex. Kevin Malarkey has not publicly commented on his son’s statement, and his public Facebook page has not been updated in months, according to the Huffington Post.
