She also began communicating with Phil Johnson, the executive director of John F. Beth Malarkey said Alex is still a quadriplegic and cannot legally receive any money from the book. On May 9, 2014, Beth Malarkey appeared on the Christian radio show, The Bible Answer Man, and said that the book is deceptive and embellishes the story of the accident. She expressed frustration with several people calling and visiting their home over the years, saying, " is just a boy not a statue to be worshipped or person with some supernatural gifts," and, "He does not go to Heaven, have conversations with supernatural beings, and whatever visions/experiences he has had or had not had, is up to him as to what he will do with those." Later that month, she claimed the book's account had been embellished, adding that, "The truth is getting twisted, distorted, and packaged to be sold to the highest bidder." Beth and Kevin Malarkey have become estranged since the book was published. In November 2012, Alex's mother, Beth Malarkey, wrote several blog posts saying that her family is not in agreement with the content of the book. In November 2011, Alex commented on a fanpage regarding the book that it was "1 of the most deceptive books ever." This comment was deleted by the page's moderators shortly afterwards and Alex was banned from the page. By sticking closely to a widely accepted interpretation of heaven, God and demons, Malarkey was assured that his story would meet his audience's expectations and be popular. Īccording to paranormal researcher Benjamin Radford, part of the reason that the story was so well-received and accepted among its American Christian audience is that it reinforced their existing narratives and beliefs. The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven sold 112,386 copies in the first year, and received a platinum award from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association in 2013 for over a million sales. The 2004 book 90 Minutes in Heaven spent over five years on the New York Times best-seller list and sold over six million copies, while the book Heaven Is for Real has sold over 10 million copies and the film adaptation earned $101 million at the box office. īooks about purported visits to Heaven make up a popular and highly lucrative genre of religious books in the United States. Kevin was the book's main promoter, giving many talks and interviews. A book deal was signed by the end of the year, which gave Kevin exclusive copyright. Publication and reception īeth Malarkey later stated that her husband Kevin got the idea for writing the book after the media attention received in 2009 regarding Alex's surgery and that she resisted him bringing literary agent Matt Jacobson to meet their son. Tyndale House promoted the book as "a supernatural encounter that will give you new insights on Heaven, angels, and hearing the voice of God". The book recounts several trips to heaven and back. The book says that soon after that he felt an angel take him through the gates of Heaven, which he describes as being "tall", to meet Jesus, who appears through a "hole in heaven".
These include an out-of-body experience where he saw his father being caught and carried to safety by an angel after flying out of the window of the car. The book describes supernatural visions and experiences that purportedly occurred to Alex immediately after the accident and during his recovery. Later in 2009, he was able to stand upright in a supporting frame and, with helpers moving his legs, to walk on a treadmill.
In 2009, Alex Malarkey, aged 10, became the youngest person to have the surgical procedure first carried out for Christopher Reeve to allow him to breathe on his own without a ventilator. During his recovery, Alex told his parents stories of visions of heaven that he had supposedly seen -the parents recounted some of these on a recovery blog but these did not attract significant media attention. He suffered various injuries in the accident, including a severe spinal injury, severe neck injuries, and brain trauma, was left a quadriplegic, and was in a coma for two months. On November 14, 2006, six-year old Alex Malarkey and his father Kevin were involved in a car accident on a highway near Rushsylvania, Ohio.
0 kommentar(er)
