Imagine the nerve it takes to dupe a load of religious folk into believing your story so you stand to gain financially. I don’t know how this little man came up with such a novel concept, but someone will be getting a lump of coal in his stocking from Santa this Christmas.

You may have heard of the book The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven, which chronicles the amazing spiritual journey of then six-year-old Alex Malarkey (his real name, we kid you not). Alex spent two months in a coma and during that time claimed to have run-ins with Lucifer and other characters made popular by the best-seller The Bible.

This excerpt taken from the book describes Alex’s encounter with Voldemort the Devil:

The devil’s mouth is funny looking, with only a few moldy teeth. And I’ve never noticed any ears. His body has a human form, with two bony arms and two bony legs. He has no flesh on his body, only some moldy stuff. His robes are torn and dirty. I don’t know about the color of the skin or robes—it’s all just too scary to concentrate on these things!

Sounds like a riveting read. I especially like his attention to detail.

Now young Alex has admitted he made the whole story up, penning an open letter of apology:

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.

I guess no one told Alex religion frowns upon people who write elaborate and lengthy fictional stories, then punt them as the truth for personal gain.

[source:gawker]