Today, HarperCollins Christian Publishers released a marketing email for their heaven tourism book, Heaven Is for Real, in the face of the failure of Tyndale House’s book The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven. In short, HCC is standing behind the Colton and Todd Burpo’s story.
As it turns out, another one of HCC’s authors is Kevin Malarkey, the author of the now discredited The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven.
Marlarkey’s second book (with agent Matt Jacobson), titled Beautiful Defeat, is available now on the HCC website.
Alex Malarkey’s retraction undermined the credibility of the entire enterprise involving Kevin Malarkey and Matt Jacobson and so I wonder if the collapse of The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven presents any problems for HCC.
Month: January 2015
HarperCollins Christian Publishing Really Wants You to Know Their Heaven Story Is For Real
Publisher HarperCollins Christian want to make sure you believe their heaven story at same time Alex Malarkey has retracted his. In an email that was delivered today, HCC stands by the story in Heaven Is for Real.
I stand by my story found in my book Heaven is for Real. – Colton Burpo
The subject of heaven has been making headlines this month after teenager Alex Malarkey, who had claimed to have visited heaven when he was 6-years old and in a coma, and had a book based on his experience, revealed that he lied. In light of the recent press, Colton Burpo, the subject of the book-turned-movie Heaven is for Real (published by Thomas Nelson, owned by our same parent company), has come out with a statement that he stands by his story. “I know there has been a lot of talk about the truth of other Heaven stories in the past few days,” says Burpo. “I just wanted to take a second and let everyone know that I stand by my story found in my book ‘Heaven is for Real,'” Burpo says.We’ve published the full excerpt of Colton’s statement for you today, and to read more of Colton’s story, we have a free download of the first few chapters of the newly revised and updated, Heaven Changes Everything: The Rest of Our Story. Download this sampler today! What does the Bible say about Heaven? Jesus mentions Heaven about seventy times in the book of Matthew alone. It appears from the very first verse in Genesis- “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”- to the last reference found at the end of Revelation- “He showed me the great city… descending out of heaven from God” (Revelation 21:10 NKJV). In fact, there are Bible verses about heaven in fifty-four of the sixty-six books in the Bible. These Bible verses about Heaven are our only authoritative source of information about Heaven, and we can learn much from the Scriptures. The Bible says heaven is for real. We invite you to dive deeper into the topic of heaven by reading some of these recent FaithGateway blog posts and Bible studies:
Bible Verses about Heaven: What the Scriptures Say
Can We Be Sure We Are Going to Heaven? by Billy Graham
What Makes Heaven Heavenly? by Max Lucado
Bible Study: The Story of Heaven by Max Lucado and Randy Frazee
This went out in an email today to subscribers to the HarperCollins list. A free download of portions of the book is available.
Free Download
Get an exclusive download from Heaven Changes Everything: The Rest of Our Story
The following note has been referred to in other online publication but was sent out today from the publisher:
A Note from Colton Burpo
by Colton BurpoDear Friends,
I know there has been a lot of talk about the truth of other Heaven stories in the past few days. I just wanted to take a second and let everyone know that I stand by my story found in my book Heaven is for Real. I still remember my experience in Heaven. I want to keep telling people about my experience because it has given hope to so many people.
People may have their doubts about my story, but the thing is, I wasn’t coaxed into doing this. I wanted to tell people about my experience. In fact, I started sharing my story with my friends and people in our town way before there was a book called Heaven is for Real.
I hope that my story continues to point people to Jesus.
He really, really loves you.
HarperCollins has discounted the books and even has a new edition available with “the rest of the story.”
Save 40% off Heaven Changes Everything: The Rest of Our Story for one week only!
Regular Price: $15.99 Sale Price: $9.59
There’s so much more to the story.Todd and Sonja Burpo’s almost-four-year-old son Colton made an unforgettable trip to heaven and back during the darkest, most-stressed-out days of their lives. Times were tough, money was scarce and the bills, frustrations, and fears were piled high. The story of Colton’s visit to heaven changed their lives—and the book they wrote about it, Heaven Is for Real, gave new hope to millions of readers.In Heaven Changes Everything, the Burpos share details about their experience and about Colton’s visit to heaven that they weren’t able to include in the original story or in the Sony Pictures release of theHeaven Is for Real movie. Practical and inspiring, the short essays shed light on living with a miracle and the afterlife, each ending with a relevant scripture. Listen in as Todd, and for the first time ever Sonja, from her perspective as a mom, show you how believing heaven is for real helps us survive hardships here on earth, including the death of a loved one or the loss of a child through tragedy, miscarriage, or even abortion.
This newly revised edition offers bonus material including:
- New foreword
- Never-before-seen family photos
- Favorite scenes from the movie
- Q&A section
Come see how heaven can indeed touch earth and change everything.
Learn more about
Heaven Changes Everything: The Rest of the Story….
The marketing never ceases. At Heaven Is for Real Ministries, you can get the DVD signed by Todd and Colton Burpo.
For Real Yo.
President of Southern Baptist Convention Hosts David Barton at the Summit
This is a discouraging development; another indicator that evangelical ecclesiastical leaders are disconnected from the academics in their own tradition.
This week the Summit is pleased to welcome Historian and Author David Barton. Don’t miss Thursday’s Summit! http://t.co/iVmmJxD6uk
— The Summit (@nwaSummit) January 26, 2015
I hope actual historians at Southern Baptist Schools will take some time to alert Rev. Ronnie Floyd to the problem here.
I would think a person in his position would know the issues and realize that many historians who teach in Southern Baptist Convention schools have spoken out about the problems with Barton’s claims.
Last Friday, Barton plagiarized Eric Metaxas’ article on the fine-tuning of the universe.
Recently, I pointed out how evangelicals are aware of the problems with Barton’s claims but use him anyway. The cover up continues.
A Southern Baptist prof discusses Barton’s work here.
Gateway Church Pastor Robert Morris: Jesus is God's Tithe and You Might Need to Downsize to Tithe
The man God asks ‘would that be all right with you?’ (according to Jack Hayford), Robert Morris, is teaching on tithing right now at Gateway Church. In the most important message of The Blessed Life series (his words), Morris says Jesus is God’s tithe and invites his congregation to sell stuff to give to the church.
First Jesus is God’s Tithe.
Jesus gets demoted in this teaching. Instead of Jesus being the “fullness of the Godhead bodily,” (Col. 2:9), He is God’s ten percent offering. A question I have is: To whom is God giving His tithe?
Near the end of the sermon, Morris tells his flock that they may need to sell some things to get things right.
[dailymotion]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2fkftz_gateway-church-robert-morris-sell-assets-downsize-your-lifestyle-give-me-the-money_fun[/dailymotion]
“Maybe you need to make some lifestyle changes to do it, maybe you need to sell something to do it, or downsize to do it,” Morris pleads, “Bring it to the house of God.”
I don’t believe we are under the Old Testament law as Christians so I reject teaching on tithing as a legalistic commitment. Morris’ teaching elevates tithing to a requirement which triggers God’s hand. Tithe and you have the Blessed Life. According to Morris, tithing is so important that God used the atonement to teach that God wants your money.
I suspect it does cost a lot to keep up the Retreat Center at Possum Kingdom maintained by the Robert Morris Evangelistic Association.
Are Mars Hill Church's Kids Ashamed of the Parent Church?
Last week, I noticed something about the independent churches “birthed” by Mars Hill Church (see directory). Most don’t mention their parent church on their website.
To me this seems odd since the Mars Hill Church website says this:
If I had given birth to 11 kids, and they didn’t talk about me, I might be a little hurt.
I did a Google search of the new church websites and found that only Mars Hill Albuquerque (now North Church), described the link to the Mars Hill legacy. One church — Ed Choi’s Rainier Valley Church — acknowledged that Choi had been a pastor at Mars Hill, but there was no explanation of the relationship between the two churches. Two of the church website searches returned mentions of Mars Hill (Resurrection Church and Cross and Crown) but when I went to the page, the reference to Mars Hill had been deleted. Mars Hill West Seattle archived Daivd Farichild’s sermons as being preached at Mars Hill West Seattle but did not give an explanation. The rest had no mention of Mars Hill.
The presentation on these websites make it seem like the churches just emerged without history. In fact, Mars Hill hasn’t dissolved as a corporation and these churches are waiting for more money from the mothership.