February 12th is a very special day in my life — First, because it was on this date in 1934, at 8:20 a.m., that I physically entered this world, and secondly because it was on this same date in 1992, Hallelujah Acres was founded. Next week in Health Tip #900 I will write concerning Hallelujah Acres celebrating 23 years of ministry.
This week, I want to share that I feel extremely blessed to be celebrating my 81st birthday, because neither my mom nor dad lived past the age of 65, and I am only a few years from outliving the oldest recorded age of any family member on either my mom’s or dad’s side.
Strong genes were definitely not something I inherited!
Mother died at age 65 following a long, losing battle with colon cancer, and dad died at the same age of 65 after suffering numerous strokes and heart attacks. So if genes have anything to do with what physical problems develop in an offspring’s lifetime, surely I was a prime candidate for both mom's cancer and dad's stroke problems.
Rev. Malkmus Suffers Colon Cancer
And sure enough, in 1976, at the age of 42, I was told I had colon cancer. When I was told I had cancer, rather than going the medical route like mom had gone before me for her colon cancer with horrible consequences, I opted for God’s Genesis 1:29 diet and lots of vegetable juices. Within one year of making the diet change my cancer was gone and has remained gone for 39 years.... and Then A Stroke
In 2001, at the age of 67, after returning from a speaking tour in South Africa where I had delivered seven seminars in six day to an average crowd of 600, and was in the air 53 hours, upon returning home and while lecturing at Hallelujah Acres in Shelby, North Carolina I lost my ability to speak coherently as I kept repeating myself. I was rushed to the Shelby hospital where I was diagnosed as having experienced a hemorrhagic stroke (a blood vessel had ruptured in my head). Doctors blamed the stroke on the extended stress experienced during my South African speaking tour and 53 hours in flight crossing the Atlantic Ocean twice and hopping by plane all over South Africa to my various seminar locations. At the hospital, after diagnosis, doctors wanted to introduce intravenous drugs into my body and airlift me to Charlotte for surgery to cauterize the bleed. Rhonda was concerned about giving the doctors permission to do either, because not a single drug had entered my body in the previous 25 years and the drugs could kill me. She was also concerned about giving doctor's permission to open up my skull. After Rhonda refused to give doctors permission to treat me, the doctor told her without treatment I would die. After Rhonda’s final refusal of any medical treatment, I was ordered out of the hospital, by ambulance taken to my home, by stretcher placed in my bed, and Rhonda had to sign a paper saying I was still alive when they delivered me to my home. At home, Rhonda immediately started me on what we now call the Hallelujah Recovery Diet, which involves giving a fresh raw vegetable juice or a barley powder drink alternately every waking hour. By the next morning, I was still alive and my thinking abilities had begun to return. Within one week of the stroke, Rhonda took me to a neurologist who read my hospital records; asked me some questions, and exclaimed “You’re a miracle!” He went on to say that 50% of all who experience a hemorrhagic stroke die, and the remaining 50% are usually left with physical and/or mental limitations, yet just one week following the stroke I had no lingering effects. That stroke happened 14 years ago.Where Would I Have Been?
I am convinced that if I had not turned to a vegan diet after being diagnosed with colon cancer 39 years ago and if I had not been on the Hallelujah Diet when I experienced that stroke 14 years ago, and if Rhonda had not refused medical treatments, and if she had not given me copious amounts of raw vegetable juices and barley powder, I would not be celebrating my 81st birthday. And though many who experience colon cancer die, and though approximately 50% of those who suffer a hemorrhagic stroke die and most of those who do survive are left with permanent physical and/or mental limitations, the stroke has left me with absolutely no known limitations 14 years later. In fact, as I celebrate my 81st birthday, I feel absolutely TERRIFIC! They still call me Mr. “T” at Hallelujah Acres. I have incredible energy, endurance and stamina, (even more than I had before the cancer or the stroke), along with a resting pulse in the upper 50s, and I still find life on planet earth a wonderful, exciting, and blessed experience! But I am not only thrilled to reach the age of 81 with a sound mind and strong physical body, but also thrilled to still be able to do anything physically I desire, including daily vigorous aerobic workouts, stretching and weight resistance exercises, going on 2 - 4 mile power walks with walking sticks, doing hard physical work, you name it. I go to bed around 10:00 P.M. each evening and then most mornings am up by 7:00 A.M. when I work on my weekly Health Tips in my study till about noon. In the afternoon Rhonda and I do our 2-mile walks on the beach during nice weather or in a nearby shopping mall in bad weather, and in the evening we walk an additional 2-miles on the lighted sidewalks in our community. At the age of 81, I am also able to carry on a fairly vigorous schedule. And I can still type over 50 words a minute with almost zero errors. Rhonda and I are both active in our local church where I am an usher. We both love gardening and each year, during the growing season (which is almost year-round here in Florida), grow much of our salad vegetables and herbs, along with some organic fruits, and I take care of the landscaping. Here in Florida I am doing a lot of container gardening instead of raised bed gardening as I did in North Carolina.The Greatest Miracle of All
What I believe is possibly the greatest miracle of all my negative physical experiences is when in 2005, at the age of 71, I was standing on my tiptoes on the very top of a 6-foot ladder that was leaning against the side of our cabin. I was staining the side of our cabin and there was a spot I couldn’t quite reach with the staining brush when the ladder tipped out from under me. From where my head was when I began the fall until I landed on my face on a railroad tie was a distance of 16 feet. Why I didn’t break my neck or suffer a concussion only the Lord knows. My left eye immediately swelled shut, but there was no bleeding or pain (amazing). It was a Wednesday and I went to church that night with my left eye totally swollen shut. Rhonda immediately put me on the Hallelujah Recovery Diet which consists of a glass of raw vegetable juice or a Barley powder drink on alternating hours. She also gave me 5 Serrapeptase capsules per hour — a Hallelujah Acres product that's great for reducing inflammation. When we went to church Sunday, just four days later, my eye was no longer swollen and it was hard to tell I had fallen; and I didn't even go to a doctor.Excellent Health At 81
Today, at the age of 81, I have no sign of senility, Parkinson’s, arthritis, mental fog, liver spots on my hands, or a protruding tummy. I haven’t an ache or a pain in my body, and still have a full head of hair that continues to regain color after turning snow white following my stroke in 2001. My eyesight is such that I do not need glasses for distance or reading and eight years ago, after having a driver's license restriction for "corrective lenses" for more than 50 years, I passed my North Carolina driver’s license eye test without glasses and the restriction was removed. And I still have no need for glasses! When we moved to Florida, I had to take a new eye test to obtain a Florida drivers license. I was a little apprehensive about taking a new eye test at age 80, after passing the eye test 8 years ago. I questioned myself: “Had my eyesight deteriorated in the past 8 years? Could I still pass the drivers license eye test without glasses?” Results of the new Florida eye test – I passed it with flying colors! That’s a BIG HALLELUJAH, and I have no restrictions on my new Florida driver’s license which doesn’t expire until February 12, 2021, on my 87th birthday. At age 81, my hearing and smell are exceptionally keen; and I weigh the same as I did in high school, with a waist of 32”. And although I have been on a 100% plant based, mostly raw diet for almost 40 years, there is no indication of a protein, mineral, vitamin, or any other nutritional deficiency. And I haven’t eaten anything from an animal in almost 40 years – either flesh or dairy. For those who might be interested, my height is 5’ 9”; weight 145 pounds; and I have a lean, muscular body, with rock hard abs, calves, biceps/triceps, and I am still building muscle, without any animal sourced protein, after more than 39 years on a 100% plant based, mostly raw, vegan diet. The first Saturday of November 2014, I held my last seminar in Charlotte, North Carolina and the audience was still getting a kick out of my beating my tummy and showing off my muscles. I have continued to build my muscles since then, but there are no more seminars in which to show off my muscles. :) I do not believe I have ever felt stronger in body or mind then I feel as I celebrate my 81st birthday without an ache or pain. To God be all the glory, because He created this physical body I possess, and he designed it to be exercised daily and nourished exclusively with Genesis 1:29 foods which I have been faithfully doing for the past 39 years, so that I could still be experiencing excellent health in my senior years. I believe that the only reason I have reached age 81 in such a great physical and mental state is because I listened to and applied what my Creator communicated to me in His Word, the Bible, in Genesis 1:29, nearly 40 years ago.. And let’s not forget what the Bible says in Galatians 6:7:“Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”