Tyndale MomentumMany Christian publishers are now announcing that they have decided to pull the 2010 best-seller The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven: A Remarkable Account of Miracles, Angels, and Life Beyond This World, a "true story" about a young boy who claimed he experienced heaven while he lay in a coma after a car accident when he was 6 years old.
So why the sudden move? Well, because Alex Malarkey, now 16 years old, has admitted that he made the whole thing up.
Malarkey was left paralyzed after a horrible car wreck in 2004, but when he awoke, he shocked his parents and doctors with a story of how an angel had lifted him up to heaven where he met Jesus and Satan.
His story then became a published book, which was co-authored by his father Kevin.
However, in an open letter to Christian bookstores posted on the Pulpit and Pen website, Alex confesses that he made everything up to get attention and states, "I did not die. I did not go to Heaven."
He continued, "Please forgive the brevity, but because of my limitations I have to keep this short....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."
Maggie Rowe, senior publicist of Tyndale, released an updated statement Friday evening, saying: "It is because of this new information that we are taking the book out of print. For the past couple of years we have known that Beth Malarkey, Kevin's wife and Alex's mother, was unhappy with the book and believed it contained inaccuracies. On more than one occasion we asked for a meeting with Kevin, Beth, Alex and their agent to discuss and correct any inaccuracies, but Beth would not agree to such a meeting."
The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven has reportedly sold over a million copies.