The little boy who allegedly went to heaven and came back while he was in a deep coma in 2004 admitted to making the whole story up.
"I said I went to heaven because I thought it would get me attention," Alex Malarkey, who was 6 at the time of the lie, wrote in a letter to Pulpit and Pen. "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."
In 2004 Alex's dad, Kevin Malarkey, got into a car accident with his son in the car. The crash paralyzed Alex and put him in a coma. Doctors didn't think Alex would survive.
Within time, Alex amazingly awoke with an equally amazing story about how he went to heaven and came back. His story was so detailed and captivating that Mr. Malarkey and his son co-wrote a book titled "The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven" together about his tale.
In the book, Alex spoke first-handily "Of events at the accident scene and in the hospital while he was unconscious. Of the angels that took him through the gates of heaven itself. Of the unearthly music that sounded just 'terrible' to a six-year-old. And, most amazing of all . . . Of meeting and talking to Jesus."
LifeWay, a Christian store, was among the retailers selling the book falsely marketed as a true story. They have since pulled the book off the shelves.
"LifeWay was informed this week that Alex Malarkey 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," Martin King, Director of Communications at LifeWay, said in a statement.
Before the retraction of Alex's testimony the book sold more than one million copies, The Washington Post reported.
