This is the same mental process that happens with the drunk driver.  He can’t navigate, plan, record, or control the course or the position of their automobile because they drive according to where they are instead of where they wants to go.  It is like trying to run 50 miles an hour staring at your feet.  Drunks don’t look down the road they look over the hood.

Don’t be too quick to point fingers at drug addicts or alcoholics as the dregs of society.  According to Jesus in Luke 21:34-36, overeating and worry are just as addictive and equally as destructive.  People afflicted with these either don’t like where they are going or don’t know where they are going. In either case, it is an excuse to inebriate oneself instead of facing the fears of the future.  Overeating and worry are indulgences that lead to the same place of death as chemical dependence: doubt in oneself and unbelief in God.

I have been hearing a great deal of pessimism concerning America’s future – from Christians!

The economy is going south, the war is going to be our end, the market is going to collapse, our infrastructure is falling apart, life as we know it is going to end, nuclear war is eminent, we are doomed!  Worry replays scenarios of death and destruction over and over again until we are absolutely intoxicated.  According to Jesus, overweight and stressed out people are just as drunk as chemically dependent people.  The doomsday preachers and news commentators are either ignorant of what the Bible says or don’t believe it.  No different than any other addict, they are so intoxicated with the present they can’t see the future.

I have always found the advice in Eph 5:18-20 to be especially profound.  Get drunk in the Spirit and forget about everything else. That doesn’t mean be ignorant of the times or stupid when it comes to money management or financial security.  It means to be filled with the Word of God, dependent on Jesus and addicted to His presence.

Jesus clearly says that if we don’t overeat, drink or worry we will qualify to escape everything the end times can throw at us (Luke 21: 34-36)!  In every generation since the flood there as been a remnant that has survived to inherit the earth!  Put the odds in your favor!  Stay focused on your purpose; don’t break rank with the Holy Ghost.  Walk right though the middle of everybody else freaking out, drying up, going bankrupt, or diseased without a scratch (Psalms 91)!  You can walk though the fire of the end times and without smelling like smoke (Dan 3:27)!  The next time you hear bad news about the future laugh out loud and say, “Praise God I am a Holy vessel chosen to fulfill my destiny in Christ and no devil from hell can stop me!”  “I am increased in a time of decrease to be a light unto the world!”   Relax and enjoy the ride, you are going to make it to a victorious end!

Rocky J. Malloy

There was another great man in history that also had the audacity to enter into an overwhelming situation.  His name was Aaron, the brother of Moses.  After an extended ritual Aaron entered the Holy of Holies where he stood totally transparent in the presence of God!  He faced death dressed in a beautiful long robe with golden bells sown onto hem and a cord tied around his ankle.  The bells dragged along the floor signaling to those in the outer chamber that he was still alive; however if any sin was found in him he would have dropped dead.  The cord in that case would have been used to drag him out of the chamber.  To be sure, it was a brazen act of boldness much more daring than Frederick the Great to stand bare before your Creator.

It is all about a pure heart.  As the Creator, God knows how we work.  The reason we need a pure heart to approach God is not because He is ‘The Law’ but because He is The Father.  He is absolutely pure.  He is love.  He is forgiveness.  When we step into His presence without a pure heart He hears us alright and desires to give us our every desire but unfortunately we don’t believe it.  If we don’t believe it we can’t receive it.

Unanswered prayer gets down to mechanics.  The paradox is created when we come to God in need but don’t allow Him to help.  Like Adam we feel too guilty.  Sin creates the guilt.  We feel like we don’t merit help but that doesn’t stop us from asking.

The book of Revelations gives us a great picture.  Jesus is standing at the door of our heart knocking (Rev 3:20-4:1).  He wants to come in but we have the key.  We are calling for help but He can’t do anything unless we open the door.  But we don’t want to open the door because that would expose our messy little lives.

Unfortunately this door is the only way that help can come because it is the door to the things of the Spirit.  Every single thing that God gives to us must come though this door because God is Spirit.  Every thing begins in the Spirit, our healing, our joy and even that new car.  Spiritual things manifest themselves into the flesh.  That is how Jesus was born of Mary; the Spirit becoming flesh.

So we go though the vanity of asking God for stuff we don’t think we can receive.  We keep asking and asking, going through all kinds of formulas and gyrations but with the safety of having the door locked.  God gets a bad rap about not caring or being cruel when we are the ones at fault.

Aaron gave us a great example.  He cleaned up before an audience with the King.  He went through a complete cleansing, sanctification, purification process to insure that he was right with God which meant that he was right with himself.  This is what gave him the confidence to talk with God and the faith to receive.  Even though the tabernacle in the wilderness was under the law, it is a great way to rehearse what Jesus has provided for us in the Spirit.

Rocky J. Malloy

If you live in a world in which you experience misery more often than joy, adaptation is very beneficial.  It may be the only thing that gives you the strength and courage to get through the day.  But if you live in a world of plenty, in which sources of joy outnumber sources of misery, then adaptation defeats your attempts to enjoy your good fortune.

Whereas adaptation does nothing to negate improvements in our lives it does much to negate the satisfaction we derive from those improvements.  An example of hedonic adaptation would be walking into an air-conditioned building on a hot humid day.  At first the feeling of the cool dry air is very refreshing and pleasant but within a few moments we no longer notice it because we have adapted.

Pleasure derived from positive experiences does not last.  What’s worse, people seem unable to anticipate the process of adaptation.  The waning of pleasure or enjoyment over time always seems to come as an unpleasant surprise.  That high quality sound system, luxury car and the 10,000 square foot house will not provided the same level pleasure it gave when first experienced.  Once the excitement of the “new thing” wears off our happiness index falls back to where it was before we had the experience.

Faced with this inevitable disappointment, what do people do?  Some people wise up realizing that lasting pleasure is not derived from things.  However most are driven instead to pursue novelty, to seek out new commodities and experiences.  They are captivated by the “grass is greener somewhere else” syndrome.  In time, these new commodities lose their intensity.  Ignorant of adaptation, people get caught up in the chase, a process that has been labeled the “Hedonic Treadmill.”  What follows is a vicious cycle of materialism: obtaining more and more stuff while experiencing less and less joy with each acquisition.

Jesus called it the “deceitfulness of riches” (Matt 13:22).  King Solomon said, “He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase” (Eccl 5:10).

Being aware of adaptation makes us more prudent in our decision-making processes understanding that the “high” we get from new things will not last.  Many times we are still paying the note on things that no longer bring us joy.  That leads to buyer’s remorse: the guilt we experience for trying to find satisfaction in the accumulation of things.

The only antidote to the unconscious process of hedonic adaptation is gratitude!  Expressing gratitude makes us physically healthier, and more optimistic, alert, enthusiastic, and energetic.  Giving thanks makes us feel better about our lives and more likely to achieve personal goals.  By focusing on how much better our lives are now than what could have been, or how bless we really are we can defeat the adaptation process allowing us to truly enjoy life at levels no material increase can provide.

The Bible tells us to give thanks continually and express our gratitude praising God for all He has done for us.  As Americans I believe we should be doubly grateful for the freedoms we enjoy and the liberties we have.

Rocky J. Malloy

The Bible also has a name for the problem of immediate gratification and it is called the “Old Man” sometimes referred to as “the flesh” (Rom 6:6, Eph 4:22, Col 3:9).  Having dealt with the Old Man for many years I think the term PIG is just because it so well defines a creature that is totally self-centered and self-indulgent.  The PIG cares for no one but himself

Some incentives to maintain godliness such as physical health, professional success, or loving relationships may have giant rewards, but they do not always have a quick payoff.  In contrast the gratification produced by incentives such as drugs, alcohol, sex or food is immediate and for that reason exert an influence on our behavior that is completely out of proportion to reality.

I have found that at the moment of decision, to sin or not to sin, reality is bent in favor of sin.  At that moment we can not appreciate that what we are about to do is foolish, wrong or unhealthy – a perspective that would be obvious to an outsider.  The closer we get to temptation the more blind we become until a total eclipse of reason and righteousness transpires.  We actually believe that we are perceiving reality objectively but alas we are not, we are in the arms of sin.  The problem is once sin is sitting in your lap, it is hard to say no.

Conquering the PIG is more about distance than magnitude. Even though the gravity of the sun is millions of times more powerful than that of the earth’s we are more affected by earth’s gravity because we are closer to the earth.  In the same way the magnitude of eternal damnation seems so far away when compared to a crack pipe or another man’s wife.  Immediacy is the PIG’s pen!

We fail because we allow ourselves to get too close to temptation thinking we can handle it but we get sucked in as if we had just orbited too close to a black hole.  Perpetrating the sin is inevitable; escape is not even a consideration!  Immediacy to the ‘feel good’ accelerates the process.

After the fact, the guilt and all of the, “How could I have been so stupid” comments our actions seems foolish because we are farther away from the temptation.  The physical presence of crack exerts a tremendous influence on an addict’s behavior in a way he does not – and cannot – appreciate until he is removed from the temptation.  The same is true for all temptation.  Will power is only as powerful as the distance between you and sin in either a physical or a spiritual sense.

Controlling the PIG: First and foremost establish boundaries.  You know what your limits are so make them known to your friends and family so that they can help keep you off the ropes.  Finally, when you see sin coming – get out of the way.  The farther you are the easier it is to say NO!  Don’t trade today for eternity!

The pig is a disgusting creature used in the New Testament to portray life at its lowest ebb.  Don’t get caught living with a PIG.

Rocky J. Malloy

In a Munich taxicab experiment half of a fleet of cabs were equipped with an antilock braking system (ABS); the other half had standard brakes.  The accident rate for both types of cars (ABS and non-ABS) remained the same.  The drivers with ABS took more risks to compensate for the increased safety afforded by the superior braking system.  The “target level” of risk remained unchanged.

Similarly, in the late 1970s a province in western Canada undertook a massive anti-drunk driving campaign.  They succeeded in reducing the accident rate due to drunken driving by nearly 18%.  However, during the same period accidents caused by other factors increased by 19%.  People become more aware of the risks involved while driving under the influence but drove more dangerously at other times to compensate.

The same phenomenon appears in Christianity.  Many denominational beliefs have a powerful reciprocal action.  For example groups that believe “once saved always saved” seem to have a much higher propensity for sexual sin and perversion.  Pornography among these groups is very high.  The risk of losing salvation is eliminated so the odds go way up on other factors.  Why not if there is nothing to lose?

The primary reason most Christians don’t drink is not because they think it is a sin, but because they believe it is a bad witness.  The risk of alcoholism to either themselves or to those around them is just too high.  Correspondingly obesity among non-drinking Christians is significant.  The lower risk of accidents or death due to alcohol is offset by increased risk of stoke or heart attack due to fats and sugars.

Risk compensation helps explain why there is such a large turnover rate in churches.  Typically 50% or more of new converts drop out of church within the first year.  Risk thermostats set by the world are difficult to change.  People’s subconscious response to godliness is to automatically increase risk (otherwise known as desire) in other areas of life which challenges their new faith.

The new arenas of risk catch the newborn Christian completely off guard and many times cause them to fall or backslide!  The devil gets a lot of press for attacking the new guys but the truth be known it is our own internal mechanisms that are destroying us.  2 Peter 2:20 says so clearly, “after escaping the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.” A good question might be, “Do you have negative reciprocals?”

The greatest obstacle to change is the status quo as established in our own subconscious.  The Good News is we can be transformed into the image of Christ by the power of His word and our true desire to change.

Rocky J. Malloy

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

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

Jesus said in Luke 21:34-36 that we should be cautious or our lives would be destroyed by gluttony, drunkenness or the cares of this world.  Any doctor would tell you that these three things account for almost all known diseases.  Gluttony is more than being overweight.  It is a life style that is out of balance, out of harmony with the needs of our body.  Drunkenness is selfishness personified caused by a deficiency of the soul.  The cares of the world, or worry, are simply doubt and unbelief, which is sin.

Jesus outlined our destruction as a lack of knowledge concerning the proper care of our spirit, soul and body.  Our bodies need a balanced diet; our souls need giving and loving relationships and our spirit needs the word of God so that it may operate in faith.

Jesus told us that we could escape all the demonic plots of the devil if proper attention was given to the areas he outlined in Luke 21.

John said the devil could not even touch us if we could avoid sin (I Jn. 5:18) understanding that sin is doubt or unbelief in the word of God.

Hearing God will keep us from being in the wrong place at the wrong time, will keep us from making wrong or hasty decisions and will alert us to demonic traps (Jn. 10:4-10).

Look at what happened to Job.  His kids were drunken gluttons (Job 1:1-5).  Job was so ‘worried’ about them that he was constantly making sacrifices for them.  His greatest fear being that something would happen to them (Job 3:25).  So the devil told God that Job’s fear had broken down the hedge of protection that his prayers had made.  (Fear is of the devil and he uses it like God uses faith.  Worry is the result of fear and peace is the result of faith.)  The Bible calls fear a trap of the devil (Prov. 10:24).

God did not give the devil permission to harm Job but be could not deny that the actions of Job’s children had put them in harms way nor could He deny that Job’s worry had cancelled his faith.

After Job had repented for saying things like “the Lord gives and the Lord takes away”, for accusing God and for saying things he didn’t understand, he was able to defeat the devil (Job 42).  God was able to bless Job with twice as much as he had before he fell, once he got back in faith and put his trust in the Lord.

People use the book of Job out of context when trying to explain ‘the will of God’ and why bad things happen.  In doing so they put the blame on God, when we are the ones out of balance with nature, living selfishly without concern for others and in constant sin because we have little confidence in the word of God.

So ignorant saying like, “in every life a little rain must fall” or “God gives the devil permission to harm us” or “bad things happen to teach us or punish us” all sound religious but they are contrary to the word of God.  Bad things happen to ‘good’ people because they are ignorant of the word of God and fall prey to the devil.

If you want to enjoy a life that has a lot less demonic hassles: eat right, love your enemies, live in peace and don’t sin.  You can do that by reading your Bible, living generously and praying.

The just shall live by faith (Romans 1:17).

Rocky Malloy