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Tyndale House Publishers has stopped production of the book and DVD of The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven after the book’s co-author and subject, Alex Malarkey, released a statement retracting the book’s contents.
In an open letter, the self-described “boy who did not come back from heaven” wrote:
Please forgive the brevity, but because of my limitations I have to keep this short.
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 that 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. Anything written by man cannot be infallible.
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. I want the whole world to know that the Bible is sufficient. Those who market these materials must be called to repent and hold the Bible as enough.
In Christ,
Alex Malarkey
Tyndale's publicity site for the book is down, as is the book's Facebook page.
Alex was 6 when he was paralyzed in a 2004 car accident and spent two months in a coma. After waking, he reported seeing angels that took him through the gates of heaven, hearing unearthly music, and meeting Jesus. The book, co-authored with his father, Kevin Malarkey, was released by Tyndale in March 2010, reached bestseller status, and spawned a documentary DVD and a Spanish-language edition.
In April 2014, Alex’s mom Beth, who has since divorced Kevin and is Alex’s primary caregiver, wrote a blog post claiming that Alex’s name and identity were being used against his wishes.
“It is both puzzling and painful to watch the book The Boy who Came Back from Heaven to not only continue to sell, but to continue, for the most part, to not be questioned,” she wrote. “I could post facts and try to dispel many of the things contained within the pages of that book (have done a bit of that), I could continue to try to point out how biblically off the book is (a few strategically placed scriptures does not make a book biblically sound) and how it leads people away from the Bible not to it.”
Alex has not received any money from the sales of the book, she said.
The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven was released six months before Heaven Is For Real by Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent, another book recounting the story of a child’s experience of heaven during a near-death experience. The book, which hit The New York Times bestseller list in its first three weeks, was turned into a major motion picture in April 2014. (CT’s review is here.)
Last summer, the Southern Baptist Convention passed a resolution declaring that many books on the afterlife “contain details that are antithetical to Scripture” and affirming “the sufficiency of biblical revelation over subjective experiential explanations to guide one’s understanding of the truth about heaven and hell.” LifeWay Christian Stores told CT it was "returning to the publisher the few copies we have in our stores" in the wake of Malarkey's retraction.
In 2012, CT’s Mark Galli wrote a cover story on what to make of heaven-visit stories. Leslie Leyland Fields discouraged replacing “scriptural narratives with our own ‘better stories.’” Last year, Kyle Rohane wrote about the history and use of books about ecstatic experiences.
In an open letter, the self-described “boy who did not come back from heaven” wrote:
Please forgive the brevity, but because of my limitations I have to keep this short.
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 that 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. Anything written by man cannot be infallible.
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. I want the whole world to know that the Bible is sufficient. Those who market these materials must be called to repent and hold the Bible as enough.
In Christ,
Alex Malarkey
Tyndale's publicity site for the book is down, as is the book's Facebook page.
Alex was 6 when he was paralyzed in a 2004 car accident and spent two months in a coma. After waking, he reported seeing angels that took him through the gates of heaven, hearing unearthly music, and meeting Jesus. The book, co-authored with his father, Kevin Malarkey, was released by Tyndale in March 2010, reached bestseller status, and spawned a documentary DVD and a Spanish-language edition.
In April 2014, Alex’s mom Beth, who has since divorced Kevin and is Alex’s primary caregiver, wrote a blog post claiming that Alex’s name and identity were being used against his wishes.
“It is both puzzling and painful to watch the book The Boy who Came Back from Heaven to not only continue to sell, but to continue, for the most part, to not be questioned,” she wrote. “I could post facts and try to dispel many of the things contained within the pages of that book (have done a bit of that), I could continue to try to point out how biblically off the book is (a few strategically placed scriptures does not make a book biblically sound) and how it leads people away from the Bible not to it.”
Alex has not received any money from the sales of the book, she said.
The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven was released six months before Heaven Is For Real by Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent, another book recounting the story of a child’s experience of heaven during a near-death experience. The book, which hit The New York Times bestseller list in its first three weeks, was turned into a major motion picture in April 2014. (CT’s review is here.)
Last summer, the Southern Baptist Convention passed a resolution declaring that many books on the afterlife “contain details that are antithetical to Scripture” and affirming “the sufficiency of biblical revelation over subjective experiential explanations to guide one’s understanding of the truth about heaven and hell.” LifeWay Christian Stores told CT it was "returning to the publisher the few copies we have in our stores" in the wake of Malarkey's retraction.
In 2012, CT’s Mark Galli wrote a cover story on what to make of heaven-visit stories. Leslie Leyland Fields discouraged replacing “scriptural narratives with our own ‘better stories.’” Last year, Kyle Rohane wrote about the history and use of books about ecstatic experiences.
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