Author of 'Heaven is for Real' Says Story Is True

A teenager whose father wrote a book about visiting heaven during a near-death experience has stood by the validity of the book, shortly after another author recanted his story of visiting heaven.

Colton Burpo's father wrote the book "Heaven is For Real" after the boy, at age four, underwent emergency appendix surgery in 2003. During his near-death experience, Burpo claims to have visited heaven, spoken with Jesus, as well as seen Mary and angels.

Burpo addressed the validity of his story after another boy, Alex Malarkey, recanted the claims he made in his own book, "The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven." In the book, Malarkey claims to have visited heaven while being in a month-long coma following a near-fatal car accident at the age of six.

"I know there has been a lot of talk about the truth of other Heaven stories in the past few days," Burpo recently wrote on his website.

"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 continued.

"People may have their doubts about my story, but the thing is, I wasn't coaxed into doing this," he adds. "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."

The now-teenager added that the purpose of his book is to point people in the direction of Jesus, adding that the son of God "really, really loves you."