Lifeway Pulls All Heaven Tourism Books

To Baptist Press, Lifeway yesterday announced that all heaven tourism books will no longer be sold in their stores.

 LifeWay Christian Resources has stopped selling all “experiential testimonies about heaven” following consideration of a 2014 Southern Baptist Convention resolution on “the sufficiency of Scripture regarding the afterlife.”

This snowball started rolling when Lifeway pulled the book The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven. When the subject of the book, Alex Malarkey, publicly retracted his story of being in heaven, Tyndale House also pulled the book from the shelves. The situation was noteworthy in that Tyndale House knew for at least two years that the child listed as a co-author and the boy’s mother did not have full confidence in the story. I covered this story extensively in January.
Don Piper’s 90 Minutes in Heaven is about to come out as a movie. The announcement from Lifeway was prompted by a question about Piper’s book.

Mark Driscoll's Books No Longer Offered By Lifeway Christian Stores

The day after Acts 29 Network dropped Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill Church from membership, I have learned that Lifeway Christian Stores are not selling Mark Driscoll’s books while Driscoll’s ministry is assessed. Acting on a tip, I contacted Lifeway media relations manager Marty King, who released this statement to me:

Lifeway Stores and Lifeway.com are not selling Mark Driscoll’s books while we assess the developments regarding his ministry. 

I also called two local Lifeway bookstores and was told that books are being pulled from the shelves and are not available to customers.  The books have already been removed from the online bookstore.  Before today, Lifeway offered most, if not all, of his books. Some books which have a chapter by Driscoll are still available.