I would truly appreciate it if you read this article with compassion, understanding that what I am about to say has been something on my heart for quite a while.

I was recently in the US for a time of ministry and vacation with the family.  Our last ministry stop was in Pigeon Forge, TN.  While pulling out of the pastor’s drive way I heard a scream coming from the backseat.  It was our youngest, Jerome.  I jumped up to see half of my son’s leg gone, meaning I couldn’t see it.  His older sister had folded the seat down on top of his leg and it was pinched between the two backseats.

Suffice to say that it looked a whole lot worse than it was.  After I flipped out I saw that we were talking ‘pinch’ not ‘amputation’.  After the seat was lifted off his leg he was fine.  As in almost every other incident involving our children I way over reacted.  I am in fact, in fear that something terrible is going to happen to one of my children.

I had fooled myself into thinking that my fear was normal because of where we live until a man in Pigeon Forge asked me why I was so over protective of our children?  When he innocently asked this question both Joske and I jumped forward to here what he had to say.  I was convicted! My irrational emotional exposition seeing son’s leg pinched in the seats only confirmed that fear.

Over the years I have had to fight huge anxiety concerning my children’s safety.  Every time the phone rings after hours and I am not with my children I automatically assume that it is bad news concerning one of them.  I am ashamed to tell you that it has almost become a phobia.  I believe it started when I lived in the jungles of eastern Honduras.  Every time I would get a radio call I would run across the village to the radio operators house almost in tears just knowing that it was my mom calling to tell me my father was dead.  My dad suffered for years before his death with numerous diseases.

When my father’s death did come it was almost a relief.  Now I have similar anxiety about my children.  It has gotten better but it is still a demonic stronghold in my life.  My fear has been compounded by living in the highest crime area in our city, having had two kidnapping attempts on my children and the fact that there are extremely poor medical facilities in Bolivia.  If anything were to happen care would be way below par.

All of these things are beside the point.  My confidence must come from God not from my neighborhood or a hospital.  I am writing this letter to you as an appeal for prayer. Not so much for the safety of my children but to lose the fear that something bad is going to happen to them.  I understand that fear draws the devil toward us to exploit our doubt and unbelief.

So I ask you to please pray against the fear I have in this area.  Would you confess that my children are supernaturally protected by the blood of Jesus and that they will never be involved in any kind accident or calamity according to Psalms 91 and that I, Rocky Malloy, would lose all fear concerning my children.

Thank you for your prayers and concern for my family.

Rocky J. Malloy

The deferred life plan means having to divide your life into two distinct parts:

Step one – Do what you have to do.

Then – eventually

Step Two – Do what you want to do.

We start hearing about this plan early in life with expressions like: Walk before you run, no peas no pie, and pay your dues.  All implying that what we must do is necessarily different from what we want to do.  Somehow we grow up believing that the must of life finance our wants.

In the deferred life plan the second step, the life we defer, cannot exist, does not deserve to exist, without first doing something unsatisfying.  We are trained from childhood that in order to get desert we must eat our vegetables.

The deferred life plan dictates that we divorce who we are and what we do in the first step to become who we really are and what we really want do in the second.  Fueled by ambition and greed, we hope that in the end we will be judged by our accomplishments and not by who we are.  Most people never become who they are because they are too busy being who they need to be because they are too worried about the money.  They go to the grave without ever having bloomed into their glory.

Why?  It all stems from the unrighteousness of sin conscious and is driven by fear and peer pressure.  Why not work hard because it is meaningful and fulfilling?  Why not live step two now instead of waiting until you retire?

The distinction between drive and passion is crucial.  Passion pulls you toward something you cannot resist.  Drive pushes you toward something you feel compelled or obligated to do.  If you know nothing about yourself or God you cannot tell the difference and you fall prey to emotional con games in and out of the church.

Knowing the difference between drive and passion is the difference between success and failure.  It is not about quotas or bonuses or cashing out.  That’s drive!  Passion is doing something you love to do.  True commitment can only come with passion.  That is why serving God can only come with passion and never obligation.

Deferred life dominates the lives of most of the people I know.  The vast majority of them are working so hard they don’t see the trap.  They have accepted must do as status quo never imaging that what they want to do can fund their needs.  The joy of doing what you want can bring with it great success.  But what if it doesn’t?  Would it be so bad living your life doing what you wanted to do instead of what you had to?

Those who get to step two many times find themselves aimless without direction.  Either they never really knew what they wanted or they spent so much time in step one they are completely lost without it.

In the deferred life plan, drive pushes you through the first step.  The second step, the deferred life itself, is the home of passion if we ever get there.  Don’t wait, step into your passion now and start doing what you want to do.  Don’t chase money chase God and your dream will chase you. That is what Jesus said in Matt 6:33 “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

One of the reasons I have such great passion for what I do and who I am is that I know I help other people enjoy who they are and what they do.  If all I did was work to pay my bills and buy toys I would be the most miserable man on earth.

I know that by giving to missions many people find meaning and greater fulfillment in their life.  They work with more purpose and joy knowing that they are helping others on a scale that would be impossible in America.

Have Fun – Serve God.

Rocky J. Malloy

I’m not talking about a dress size but a supernatural act of God.

Recently much information has come out about the biblical numerology and hidden codes.  Although I think much of this information is out of balance numbers are very important to God.  After all He named the fourth book of Bible Numbers.  God makes extensive use of numbers in order to be exact.

A single number defines absolutely, quantitatively and qualitatively like no other word can.  Anybody can observe if someone has hair or not but when Jesus said my Father knows the exact number of hairs, He got peoples attention.  Why?  There is great power in numbers.  It establishes an absolute truth.

Understanding the biblical use of numbers helps us delve deeper into the meaning of the Word of God.  If we are careful not to read in something where there is nothing we can observation how the use of numbers ads significantly to our understanding of the Bible.

A case in point:  The number Six denotes the number of man (Rev 13:18).  His creation fell on the sixth-day.  The first occurrence of the number makes it and all multiples of it the hallmark of all connected with man.  He works six days a week and the hours of his day are multiples of six.  This number emphatically marks the great men who have stood in defiance of God like Goliath and the Anti-Christ and others whose names add up to 6 or some multiple there of.  (In Hebrew and Greek the letters of their alphabet also represent numbers.  Imagine if in English ‘A’ meant 1 and ‘J’ meant 10 and ‘T’ meant 100.)

An interesting note is that the bricks used to construct the tower of Babel were all stamped 666.  Many of those Bricks are still around today.  Alexander the Great excavated the tower with the expectation of rebuilding it.  He died suddenly before construction could begin.  In Iraq there is a 120’ deep pit where the tower once stood.  Around which is a small community whose houses are constructed with the tower bricks; which still bear the seal.

Six did not start has a ‘bad’ number however it simply identified man.  When he fell he changed his sonship to Satan and six then identified him with rebellion and death.

Eight denotes resurrection, regeneration, a new beginning or commencement. The eighth really means a new first.  Hence the octave in music, color, days of the week etc.  Eight or its multiple is impressed on all that has to do with the Lord’s names, the Lord’s people and the Lord’s work.  The name of Jesus adds up to 888.  He rose on the eighth or the new first day.  Old Testament circumcision took place on the eighth day as a sign of His future resurrection.

Six hundred sixty six absolutely, quantitatively and qualitatively means dead in spirit, soul and body where as Eight hundred eighty eight means resurrected or regenerated in spirit, soul and body.  We have not just recovered what Adam lost when he sinned we have taken on even greater dimensions in Christ.  We have been promoted from a 6 to an 8.  Mathematically speaking an increase of two dimensions would be equal to infinity x 12 x 2.  Jesus walked through walls, on water and flew into the clouds.  I wonder if Adam could do all of that?  He was only a six.

Rocky J.  Malloy

This isn’t just a child’s question, even though it’s usually a child who ventures to ask it.   Almost without exception, when a child hears that God made everything they think, “Well then who made God?”

Children have an awareness of time.  They will later discover that the universe and everything in it is confined to a single, finite line of time that is moving forward and can never be reversed or stopped.  Grownups call this fourth dimension a time/space continuum or a time line.

Even the simple logic of a child understands there is cause and effect associated with time.  Parents use that understanding to explain to their children that if they do bad there is consequence and if they do good there is reward.  But when we tell them about God we break the chain of logic by saying, “He just was.”

It is easy to see why a child recognizes the ‘poor’ logic immediately.  And the old question arises, “If God (the cause) created the universe (the effect) what caused God to be effected?

The necessity of God having a beginning, however, would apply only if He, too, were confined to the same time dimension as we are.  But according to Titus 1:2 and the theory of general relativity, He is not.  (General relativity says that the space and time dimensions of the universe had the origins as matter and energy.)  Titus 1:2 says however that God existed before there was matter and therefore He existed before our time continuum.

Our time continuum is one of the four dimensions that we live in.  (The other three are height, width and depth.)  Time is the realm in which cause and effect rule.

Because God created the dimension of time that we live in, He must operate in a time dimension that is independent of us, one existing before the creation of the universe.

Scripture tells us that time, as we know it, has a beginning.  And that God operated in cause and effect before that time dimension began (Titus 1:2; 2 Timothy 1:9; Ephesians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:20).  Bible evidence backed up with general relativity revels that there must be at least one other time dimension in which God exist.

We also know that there must be at least one other time continuum for God because both science and mathematics teach us that anything on a single time continuum must have a starting point or a beginning, like our universe for instance.  And if there were only one time continuum that too would mean that God had a beginning, but he didn’t.

God operating in two or more dimensions of time has no need of a beginning.  Simply stated a duel-dimensional Being exists not on a time line but on a time plane where an infinite number of times lines running in an infinite number of directions would be possible.

God moves and operates along an infinite number of time lines independent of the time/space continuum of our universe.  He therefore has no beginning and will never have an end (John 1:3 and Colossians 1:16,17).  That is why He told Moses, “I Am that I Am” or “I am the cause that put all things into effect therefore I Be” (Ex. 3:14).

Anyway, that is why we just tell our children, “He was!”

Rocky J. Malloy

Recently I was in Southern California on a trip to Australia.  While scanning through the radio, on my way back to the airport, I picked up a secular station.  The host was talking about God.  His ignorance about the subject astounded me.  I was tempted to miss my flight just so I could pull over and call in.  It did make me realize that there are giant misconceptions about who God is and how He operates even among sincere Christians.

The greatest misconceptions seem to be over what is and what is not the Will of God. Historically there have been two points of view on the issue of God’s will, ‘election’ and ‘free will.’

There is so much ignorance about God because most people view Him through the lenses of  ‘election’ referred to as Calvinism or ‘free will’ referred to as Armenianism.  Churches tend to be in one camp or the other.  Churches aligned with denominations tend to be Calvinist in nature.  Independent churches tend to be Armenian in nature.

Calvinist believe that God ‘elects’ or predestines every minute detail of our life, good or bad, explaining everything that happens as preordained by God.  Each man’s destiny is in Gods hands.  Armenianism or ‘free will’ believes that man is in control of his own life and destiny.  God participates by providing a map through his word and direction though his Holy Spirit.

Without getting into a major exposition it will suffice to say that both camps need to move toward the middle, Calvinism more so than Armenianism, if we are to understand both the wisdom and grace of God toward his creation.

Election acknowledges the omni presence and power of God but goes too far by blaming God for man’s errors and rebellion, even going so far as to state that God planned sin to test man.

Free will, which acknowledges that man’s fall was a result of his rebellion, goes too far by limiting God’s participation in redemption.

People get trapped and ensnared by their opinions and doctrines of God.  They forget about the love of God.  Relationship is the path, not religion.  The only true perspective is to see the different doctrinal positions as complimenting each.  That is why I personally try to avoid being labeled and why I love Calvinist as much as I do Armenians.  I love people who love God no matter what their label.  I enjoy the freedom and liberty to work with anyone that confesses Jesus as Lord and Savior.

The Truth is more than just the facts; truth is Jesus.  The ‘Truth’ is constantly working on our behalf.  He wants the best for mankind.  Truth took on the form of a human so that is could suffer for all of man’s rebellion, making a way for man to restore his relationship to God.  When sin entered the world calamity became default.  Bad happens when man rejects God or rebels against his word.   Never distrust the goodness of God!

If in doubt, go to the beginning.  When Adam and Eve had the forbidden fruit in their hand God didn’t knock it out.  He gave them their own free will even though it had terrible consequences.  He limited himself in the affairs of man while at the same time taking an active role their restoration.

In an attempt to answer tough questions about the calamities of life we forget about relationship and fall into religion.  We say things that sound right but have no life.  When talking about God don’t blame him for bad things.  Man’s lack of relationship with God is our fault not His.  Remember love never fails and God is love.

Rocky J. Malloy