Reverend George Malkmus, Founder of Hallelujah Acres
News
Hallelujah Acres History — 2001-2012
Feb 4th
In this week’s Health Tip we will pick up where we left off last week and share what transpired regarding the growth of Hallelujah Acres from 2001 to the current day as we prepare to observe Hallelujah Acres 20th Anniversary on February 12, 2012.
2001 – Hallelujah Acres Purchases Shipping Building
By 2001, the original 23,500 square foot Hallelujah Acres ministry building we had moved into in 1997 was beginning to become too small. Do we need to relocate again or did God have something else planned for us? As God had done several times before, He was there once again to meet our needs so the ministry could continue to expand.
Right next door to Hallelujah Acres there was a printing/shipping business and there building was no longer adequate to meet their needs. They had built a new building in another location in town to house their business and their old building became available for a very attractive price.
This building had 23,000 square feet of space and was exactly what we needed to expand. It even had a docking station for 18-wheelers. It was almost too good to be true, but that’s God!
We purchased the building and moved our shipping and warehousing into that building in 2001. It has continued to provide Hallelujah Acres room to expand. It has been amazing how God has, ever since Hallelujah Acres had its beginning in 1992, always been there at just the right moment to meet our expansion needs as the need arose.
2002 – Hallelujah Acres Introduces BarleyMax
BarleyMax was the first product to carry the Hallelujah Acres label. For the previous 10 years, Hallelujah Acres had been marketing a barley powder product from another company.
Because here at Hallelujah Acres we had our own scientist and laboratory available, we tested some of the best barley grass powders on the market. We also tested some barley powder sent to us a year prior — which had been sitting in a plastic zipper lock bag under a desk for an entire year.
To our amazement, the barley powder that had been sitting for a year tested higher in nutrient values, enzymes, antioxidants, etc. than any of the others.
We were thrilled to have stumbled (or was it God?) on this incredible barley powder and began marketing it under the Hallelujah Acres label. This new barley product was grown organically and, because no heat was used in its processing, it had no need for stabilization with brown rice or maltodextrin as opposed to the product we had been marketing for the previous 10 years.
Because there was no need for a stabilizer in this new product, we were able to reduce serving size from a tablespoon to a teaspoon, thus substantially reducing the cost per serving. We named this new product “BarleyMax” and it became an instant hit! To this day, BarleyMax remains our flagship product and is shipped to some 139 countries.
BarleyMax is the most important nutrient Rhonda and I consume each day. Since the introduction of BarleyMax in 2002, Hallelujah Acres has developed BeetMax, CarrotJuiceMax, TrioMax, Survival Bars, Snack Bars, Kale Chips, Nourishing Soaps, and more!
2003 – First Hallelujah Acres Lifestyle Center
Bev and Chet Cook are a couple who had come through our first Health Minister training in 1994 and who had built a tremendously successful health ministry in Houston, Texas. They began receiving inquiries for a more hands-on way of learning The Hallelujah Diet apart from just listening to a CD or reading a book.
Bev and Chet rose to the challenge, bought a large home in Lake Lure, North Carolina, and opened the first Hallelujah Acres Lifestyle Center. It was an instant success as people from across America and even foreign countries began coming to spend a week or two to learn how to do The Hallelujah Diet with a “personal trainer.”
Soon its capacity of eight people became too small to handle the demand and a second Hallelujah Acres Lifestyle Center was opened in Plant City, Florida. Then as demand increased one opened in Branson, Missouri and last year in Parkersburg, West Virginia. These Lifestyle Centers have been extremely popular and several new locations are being planned.
2003 – Hallelujah Acres Cafe Opens Its Doors
The original building we moved into in 1997 had a large commercial kitchen. It sat idle for several years, but around the year 2000 we began to use it to prepare carrot juice and healthy meals for our staff. Talk about the Lord providing all things well!
We began providing two free 8-ounce glasses of organic carrot juice for each of our staff that year and this has continued to the current day.
Around the year 2003 we opened the doors to the public and began providing a tremendous all you can eat organic salad bar in a corner of the auditorium. The salad bar was later moved into a hallway and several classrooms converted into dining rooms. Then in 2010 (following a fire in the building in 2009), we converted two classrooms into a first-class dining hall and started serving gourmet meals.
In order to provide a faster lunch for customers on the go, we converted the sit-down restaurant into an “express” format. Today, the Hallelujah Acres Cafe Express offers a world-class vegan menu with daily specials, a juice and smoothie bar, as well as catering options.
The cafe is part of our large health food store, which carries a wide variety of health products as well as bulk foods and fresh, organic produce.
2007 – Hallelujah Acres Purchases 150 Acres Of Land
By 2007, Hallelujah Acres was once again on the hunt for a place to expand. And lo and behold, right across the street, a 150 acre tract of land became available.
It was bare land (a cow pasture) and we began to dream big dreams of how this land would be a great place to eventually move all Hallelujah Acres facilities. We also planned to build a motel, a larger health food store, a restaurant, and even a residential village. We dreamed some very big dreams for that land!
We purchased the land, began the process infrastructure, and the City of Shelby even agreed to bring sewage and water to the property.
What became known as “The Villages of Hallelujah Acres” was designed to contain 600 residences, including 190 condominiums. It was the first Christian Community in the world designed to promote healthy living! By 2010 the infrastructure and utilities were in place and we were ready to start selling lots — Rhonda and I were the first buyers and we live there today.
Today, sales at The Villages are increasing dramatically and we are currently building an average of one new home every month!
2009 — Fire In Hallelujah Acres Original Building
On May 2, 2009, following my “God’s Way to Ultimate Health” seminar, we closed the store and locked up the building around 4:00 p.m. About 6:00 p.m. that evening a staff member entered the building to find the entire structure engulfed in dense smoke and flames were shooting from a cabinet housing the security equipment.
The fire department soon arrived and thankfully the fire damage was limited to the cabinet, some furniture, and ceiling tiles. However, smoke damage was extensive — every ceiling tile, floor tile, and carpet need replacing, and every wall in the entire 23,500 square foot building had to be washed and repainted.
What initially looked like a tragedy turned out to be a blessing. The Lord had not only protected us from losing the building to the fire, but used the fire to bless us with a completely refurbished building.
Because of the fire, our entire staff was forced to vacate their offices in the main building and moved to hastily prepared offices in our shipping and warehousing building. We thought this would only be a temporary move, but God had other plans!
Placing all staff in a smaller area in the shipping building provided much better communication and less walking distance between departments than it had been in the main building where staff was scattered about. Today, most of our staff remain in the shipping and warehouse building that was intended as a temporary fix.
How good the Lord has been through these past 20 years, guiding, protecting, and providing, sometimes before we even realized there was a need! All I can say is: “To God be the glory, great things HE has done!”
2010 – Hallelujah Acres Television Has Its Beginning
In 2010 we hired a videographer. He had been working for many years with a Greenville, South Carolina television station and has two Emmy Awards to his credit! Since joining us he has been a very busy man producing videos for HATV, call letters for our very own “Hallelujah Acres Television” online TV station.
He has helped us create three internet-based, dietary coaching programs, each of which is FREE of cost: 60 Days to Reclaim Your Health; 60 Days To A Hallelujah Waistline; and Exercise Essentials With Paul and Ann.
We also have plans to go live with other online productions, including a live streaming version of my first-Saturday-of-the-month “God’s Way to Ultimate Health” seminars, and much more.
Future – A Number Of New Programs And Offerings Coming
With a current staff of 61 people, we are preparing to launch a number of new products and innovative programs.
With an emphasis on the internet, we see Hallelujah Acres positioning itself to go forward in a new and exciting way as we continue to take God’s health message to the world.
To God Be The Glory
As I have previously shared regarding what has transpired in the growth of Hallelujah Acres, the words of that great Christian hymn come to mind:
“To God be the glory, Great things He has done.”
Without God’s leading and provision, Hallelujah Acres would never have become a reality. Man can only do so much, but when God is in it, all things are possible.
Thank you for your past support and we would appreciate your prayers as we go forward.
Our goal is that someday, in some way, all Christians the world over will realize they don’t have to be sick! We want to provide them with the tools to make living sickness-free a reality in their lives. By the way, the information we share also works for non-Christians, but our desire is that all people the world over experience both physical and spiritual healing.
On February 4, 2012, at my first-Saturday-of-the-month “God’s Way to Ultimate Health” seminar here at Hallelujah Acres, will celebrate Hallelujah Acres’ 20th Anniversary. In addition to the seminar, many special things are planned for that day including a healthy birthday cake to be enjoyed by all who attend the seminar that day. Also, a free commemorative lapel pin will be provided each in attendance. Y’all come!
Next Week, the good Lord willing and if the creeks don’t rise too high, we will have another exciting Health Tip to share with you. Trust you will join us.
Rev. Malkmus’ 78th Birthday
Feb 4th
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 born.
I feel blessed to be celebrating my 78th birthday. Neither my mom nor dad lived past age 65. I have outlived them both by 13 years and am only four years from outliving the oldest family member on either mom’s or dad’s side.
Could The Hallelujah Diet have something to do with it?
Is longevity in the genes or could longevity possibly be in diet as well? Time will tell!
Mother died following a bout with colon cancer, and dad died after suffering numerous strokes and heart attacks.
So if genes have anything to do with what physical problems develop in a person’s lifetime, surely I was a prime candidate for both mom’s cancer and dad’s strokes. Sure enough, in 1976, at the age of 42, I was told I had colon cancer, and in 2001, at age 67, I suffered a hemorrhagic stroke.
In 1976, when I was told I had cancer, rather than going the medical route mom had gone before me for her colon cancer with horrible consequences, I opted for “The Genesis 1:29 Diet.”
Within weeks of making the diet change, my rectal bleeding stopped. Within one year of making the diet change, my baseball sized tumor was gone, and my cancer has remained gone for 36 years without any help from modern medicine.
Now about that stroke…
In 2001, I did a speaking tour in South Africa where I had delivered seven seminars in six days to an average crowd of 600. I was also in airplanes for 53 hours. Shortly thereafter, I returned home and, during a seminar at Hallelujah Acres in Shelby, lost my ability to speak coherently.
I was rushed to the Shelby hospital where I was diagnosed as having experienced a hemorrhagic stroke (a blood vessel had ruptured in my brain). Doctors blamed the stroke on the extended stress experienced during my South African speaking tour and 53 hours in flight.
Doctors immediately wanted to introduce intravenous drugs into my body and airlift me to Charlotte for surgery to cauterize the bleed, but they needed permission. I was in no mental condition to give permission and so they turned to Rhonda.
Rhonda knew that not a single drug had entered my body in the previous 25 years; she was concerned the drugs would kill me. So, she refused not only the drugs, but also refused the doctors permission to open up my brain to cauterize the bleed.
After Rhonda refused to give the doctors permission to treat me, the doctor told her that without treatment I would die. I was sent home by ambulance, placed in my bed, and Rhonda had to sign a paper saying I was still alive when I arrived home.
At home, Rhonda immediately started me on the Hallelujah Recovery Diet, which includes a fresh raw vegetable juice or a barley powder drink alternately every waking hour.
By the next morning my thinking abilities had begun to return and continued to improve day by day.
Within one week of the stroke, Rhonda took me to a neurologist who read my hospital record, talked to me, 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 none.
I am convinced that if I had not been on The Hallelujah Diet when I experienced that stroke in 2001, and if Rhonda had not refused medical treatments, and if she had not given me copious amounts of raw vegetable juices, I would not be celebrating my 78th birthday.
I am still very much alive and the stroke has left me with absolutely no known limitations.
In fact, as I prepare to celebrate my 78th birthday, I feel absolutely TERRIFIC! They call me Mr. “T” here at Hallelujah Acres. I still have incredible energy, endurance and stamina, (even more than I had before the cancer or stroke), along with a resting pulse in the 50s, and I still find life on planet earth a wonderful and exciting experience!
I am 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 – 6 mile power walks with muscle-building walking sticks, doing hard physical work, you name it.
I go to bed around 9:00 p.m. most evenings and then most mornings I am up at 3:00 a.m. where I work on my weekly Health Tips in my study till 6:00 a.m. Then I go back to bed from 6:00 till 7:00 for a power nap before rising for the day full of energy from the time my feet hit the floor until bedtime that evening.
And as for my energy level, you can come see me in action at one of my seminars. I do my seminars (3 hours) from memory and never miss a beat! I’m often called the “Hallelujah Energizer Bunny!”
Last February (2011), I told Rhonda that I was going to start slowing down by reducing the number of seminars that I was conducting and taking some time off to smell the roses, and that is what I have been doing for the past year.
Still, I conducted 25 seminars last year, reduced the number of television and radio interviews and stopped making those long speaking tours. But I continue to write these Health Tips and I am working on a new book due out soon! And I can still type over 50 words a minute with almost zero errors.
Rhonda and I are both active in our church. We both love gardening and grow much of our salad vegetables and fruit. And I still mow my own lawn behind a walk-behind mower for several hours at a clip, and take care of the landscaping.
Today, at the age of 78, 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.
My eyesight is such that I do not need glasses for distance or reading. In fact, three years ago, after having a “restriction” on my drivers license for corrective lenses for over 50 years, I passed my North Carolina driver’s license eye test without glasses! The restriction for corrective lenses was removed. A big hallelujah!
At age 78, my hearing and sense of smell are exceptionally keen; and I weigh the same as I did in high school, with a waist of 32 inches. And because I have been on a 100% plant-based, mostly raw diet for 36 years (with lots of daily vegetable juices), there is no indication of a protein, mineral, vitamin, or any other nutritional deficiency. (I haven’t eaten anything from an animal in 36-years – not even cheese.)
And 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 source protein in 36 years. The audience always gets a kick out of my beating my tummy and showing my muscles in my seminars.
I do not believe I have ever felt stronger in body or mind then I feel as I celebrate my 78th birthday.
To God be all the glory, because He created this physical body I possess, and he designed it to be exercised and nourished with exclusively garden foods so that I could experience health into my later years.
I believe the only reason I have reached the age of 78 in such a physical and mental state is because I listened and applied what my Creator communicated to me in His Word, the Bible, in Genesis 1:29 some 36 years ago and I became “not a forgetful hearer”…
“But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”
James 1:25
And let’s not forget what the Bible says in Galatians 6:7: “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Here we have an irreversible law that works both positively and negatively. Sow good diet and lifestyle and reap health and long life – sow unhealthy food and poor lifestyle and reap ill health and early death.
Isn’t it wonderful that God has given each of us the ability to CHOOSE a long and healthy life or a short and sickly one?
“I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore CHOOSE LIFE, that both thou and thy seed may live.”
Deuteronomy 30:19
Because 36 years ago I CHOSE LIFE, I still have the ability to deliver the first-Saturday-of-the-month seminar here at Hallelujah Acres, still drive my car to give seminars in the eastern U.S., still write the weekly Hallelujah Health Tip, and still have the ability of “smelling the roses” — all with a strong body and sound mind.
Many tell me that I have more fire in the delivery of my seminars than I had before the stroke, and I still deliver the three hour seminar without notes and then answer questions, while experiencing no fatigue.
Today, my passion and concern for others, especially God’s people who are sick and dying needlessly, has not slackened!
Thank you for your continued love, prayers, and support, and thank you for sending in those healing testimonies – nothing encourages and motivates me more than reading how the Hallelujah Diet has restored the health of God’s children and in some cases even saved their lives and extended their ministries.
And thank you especially for those who have stood with us, prayed for us, and encouraged us through the years. We love you and thank God for each of you!
Hallelujah Acres History — 1997-2001
Jan 31st
In previous Health Tips, I shared how God used a colon cancer diagnosis in 1976 to birth a health ministry called Hallelujah Acres, and how we struggled during its early years.
In this week’s Health Tip I want to pick up where we left off, sharing how Hallelujah Acres grew from 1997 to 2001.
To God Be The Glory
As I reflect on what has transpired, the words of that great Christian hymn come to mind: “To God be the glory, Great things He has done” I want to say right up front that without God’s leading and help, Hallelujah Acres would not have become a reality.
Man can only do so much, but when God is in it, all things are possible!
1997 – Hallelujah Acres Moves To North Carolina
The location of our ministry on a mountaintop in Tennessee was running out of room; we started a search for a new location. A business man from Shelby, North Carolina attended one of my seminars there in Tennessee and shared that he owned a building that would be perfect for our ministry.
The location was ideal – 45 minutes from the international airport in Charlotte, North Carolina and within an hour’s drive to four interstate highways. Shelby had a small enough population (20,000), to have the small town appeal, but large enough to provide all basic needs and less than an hour’s drive to Charlotte, the largest city in North Carolina.
The owner of this Shelby property knew that we didn’t have much financially to purchase the building so he allowed us to move into the building while he held the mortgage and allowed us to pay off the mortgage as finances allowed. We moved into our new facility on November 1, 1997.
1997 – Paul Malkmus Joins Hallelujah Acres
Early in 1997 Rhonda and I knew we needed someone to help us manage a ministry that was growing too big for ma and pa to keep track of and oversee. My thoughts turned to my son Paul who was a career man in the U.S. Air Force. Paul was just three years from achieving the 20 years needed for retirement when I contacted him.
I told him I needed help but he wasn’t interested as he was intent on securing his retirement and preparing for a business career thereafter. But he had enough curiosity to come and see what was going on at dad’s Hallelujah Acres.
He came for Health Minister training in 1997 and was blown away by the testimonies of healing and by the ministry potential of Hallelujah Acres.
He went back to where he was stationed in Florida and asked his general to release him early. The general told him “No way, you are committed for three more years.” No amount of petitioning appeared to change the general’s mind, but we were all praying the general would let him go.
Just a week before Hallelujah Acres was to move to North Carolina, the general called Paul into his office. He said, “I don’t know why I am doing this, but I am going to let you go.”
Paul asked the general why he had decided to let him go early and the reply was “I really don’t know, it just seemed the right thing to do.” The general may not have known, but we who were praying knew! God does hear and answer prayer!
Paul completed the paperwork and prepared to move to Shelby.
Many people do not know realize the sacrifice Paul made to come to Hallelujah Acres. By leaving the military early, he forfeited his retirement income that took 17 years to build. Until he left the Air Force he had been involved in intelligence and communications with higher security clearances than some of the generals at the pentagon he had briefed.
Paul arrived at Hallelujah Acres on November 1, 1997, the very day we moved into our new facility in Shelby, North Carolina. With Paul taking over the business end of things, I was able to concentrate on the ministry aspect of Hallelujah Acres.
Before moving from Tennessee to Shelby, Hallelujah Acres had 11 employees and only a few were able to make the move with us. Paul immediately had his work cut out for him! He hired new staff, learned the business part of the ministry, and refined its operations.
Today, Hallelujah Acres has a staff of almost 60 people, has a huge web presence, produces its own products, and ships products across North America and to 139 other countries.
Paul and his wife Ann are a tremendous duo! They are totally dedicated to helping to take God’s health message to the world.
I am thrilled that my son will be here when I graduate to heaven to carry on the ministry Rhonda and I began in that little store front in Rogersville, Tennessee 20 years ago.
1998 – Dr. Donaldson Joins Hallelujah Acres
In 1997 I received a letter from Michael Donaldson, a fine Christian young man, who was to soon graduate from Cornell University with a PhD in Chemical Engineering. He expressed interest in joining Hallelujah Acres as our research scientist since his wife was able to correct some serious pregnancy problems after adopting The Hallelujah Diet.
Most of those graduating from Cornell in Michael’s class were going into the drug industry but Michael wasn’t interested in going in that direction. So we asked him to come to Hallelujah Acres for an interview. Michael shared how he would like to scientifically validate the Hallelujah Diet and make sure it had no weaknesses.
We were so impressed that we invited Michael to join us and be a part of the Hallelujah Acres team. Michael has done an outstanding job these past 14 years constantly making sure that the Hallelujah Acres diet was the best it could be. Michael is still with us and has 12 children. All of his children were born at home.
1998 – Hallelujah Acres Canada Opens
Shangri-La Health Resort
Around 1978 while I was a lecturer at the Shangri-La Health Resort in Bonita Springs, Florida (which was closed for 18 years and is now open again), a Canadian couple was in one of my lectures. The reason they were there was because Bev Shouldice, a business man from Canada had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and the doctors had given him no hope of surviving. Bev and his wife were searching for an alternative way of dealing with the cancer — a way that would offer some hope.
Years later, I received a letter in which they told how, after hearing my lecture, Bev had adopted the diet I was advocating in my lectures at the Shangri-La, and Bev’s cancer had gone away as a result of the diet change. When they wrote me that letter they had just learned about Hallelujah Acres and were trained as Health Ministers.
It wasn’t long after that training that Bev contacted me. He wanted a Hallelujah Acres in Canada to bring God’s health message to Canadians. Bev offered their home in rural Shallow Lake to be the Headquarters of Hallelujah Acres. Bev and his wife Dot ran Hallelujah Acres until Bev’s death at age 91; some 30 years after Canadian doctors had pronounced his cancer death sentence.
Upon Bev’s passing, we moved Hallelujah Acres Canada to the city of Toronto where it continues to grow and help multitudes. Judy Fleming (who worked with Bev and Dot) now manages our Canadian operation and we now have hundreds of Hallelujah Acres trained Health Ministers scattered across the Canadian provinces.
Through the years I traveled extensively throughout Canada holding seminars in most of the Canadian provinces. I also conducted Health Minister training at the Hallelujah Acres Canadian headquarters in Shallow Lake for many years.
1998 – Rhonda’s Recipes For Life Recipe Book Is Published
When Rhonda adopted The Hallelujah Diet due to her debilitating arthritic condition in 1990 (of which she completely healed within a year) there were very few recipe books available that supported the primarily, raw plant-based diet Hallelujah Acres advocates.
So, Rhonda set out to write a recipe book. Rhonda, like me, had never written a book before, no less a recipe book. It took her two years to write the book and it turned out to be a tremendous success. The book has 358 pages, over 400 recipes that fit The Hallelujah Diet, and it has a spiral binding for ease of use.
Over a quarter million copies of this book are now in print and in 2011 it was the best selling book of all books Hallelujah Acres carries!
1999 – First Women’s Retreat
For years Rhonda had tried to get me to hold a Women’s Retreat at Hallelujah Acres. I told her that women wouldn’t travel across America by themselves to attend a seminar. Boy was I wrong! In 1999 when I finally said “ok” and that first Women’s Retreat, it was the biggest event we had ever held, and has continued to be the biggest event each year.
2000 – Rev. Malkmus Takes The Health Message To Australia
In the year 2000 I took the Hallelujah Acres health message to Australia’s six largest cities – Cairns, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, and Adelaide. The trip was a tremendous success with an average of 500 in each meeting. During that trip I personally trained some 50 Australia health ministers.
2001 – Rev. Malkmus Takes The Health Message To South Africa
In South Africa I delivered seven seminars in six days to an average crowd of 600. In Cape Town I had 600 in attendance at a Saturday morning seminar, and upon completion of that seminar there were 600 more waiting to hear God’s health message. I did back to back seminars that day. I was 68 years of age at the time.
I was in the air over 53 hours that week and not long after returning home, while lecturing, suffered a hemorrhagic stroke. I was rushed to the Shelby hospital where the doctors wanted to immediately airlift me to Charlotte for cauterization of the bleed and start me on intravenous drugs.
All medical treatments were refused, doctors ordered me out of the hospital and I was sent home by ambulance to die. Rhonda immediately started me on The Hallelujah Recovery Diet and within a week a neurologist could find no lingering physical or mental limitations. Doctors believe the stroke was caused by the stress experienced on that South Africa trip.
On February 4, 2012, at my First Saturday of the month, “God’s Way to Ultimate Health” seminar at Hallelujah Acres International Headquarters in Shelby, North Carolina, Hallelujah Acres will celebrate its 20th Anniversary. In addition to the seminar, many special things are planned for that day including a healthy birthday cake to be enjoyed by all who attend the seminar, plus each person will get a 20th Anniversary lapel pin. Y’all come!
Next Week, the good Lord willing and if the creeks don’t rise too high, we will pick up where we have left off here in 2001 and share how Hallelujah Acres has continued to grow to where it is today! I trust you will join us as we continue to share the rest of the story.
Hallelujah Acres History – 1992-1997
Jan 24th
In previous Health Tips, I have shared how God used what appeared to be a tragedy in my life – a colon cancer diagnosis in 1976 – to birth a ministry in 1992 known today as Hallelujah Acres.
In this week’s Health Tip I want to cover the history of Hallelujah Acres from 1992 until 1997, the year we moved the ministry from Tennessee to its current facility in Shelby, North Carolina.
To God Be The Glory
As I reflect on what has transpired during the past 20 years, the words of that great Christian hymn come to mind: “To God be the glory, great things He has done.”
I want to say that without God’s leading and help, Hallelujah Acres would not have become a reality. Man can only do so much, but when God is in it, all things are possible.
Reflecting on those challenges, and final triumph, reminds me of the words of another great gospel song, written by Kittie Suffield in 1924 titled:
Little Is Much When God Is In It
In the harvest field now ripened
There’s a work for all to do;
Hark the voice of God is calling,
To the harvest calling you.Refrain:
Little is much when God is in it!
Labor not for wealth or fame,
There’s a crown and you can win it,
If you go in Jesus’ Name!
1992 – Hallelujah Acres Has Its Beginning
Shortly after Christmas 1991, Rhonda came into the antique mall I was managing all excited to tell me of a tiny restaurant that was closing its doors down the street. She said if we could rent the space I would have a place to sell my health products and hold my seminars.
It sounded like a great idea… but neither of us had any money.
So I went to the president of the local bank with (whom I had developed a friendship because he too had an interest in health and healthy living) and I asked to borrow $1,000. Using my 1986 Mazda pick-up truck as security I was able to obtain a loan.
With that $1,000 we paid the first month’s rent of $50, purchased some tables, 16 chairs, some used kitchen equipment, some produce for the dining room and product for the shelves. We opened “Hallelujah Acres” in that storefront on February 12, 1992 selling carrot juice by the glass and offering a limited vegetarian menu.
DID YOU KNOW?
In those early days we lived on our tips of about $25.00 per week, while putting all profits back into paying off the loan and building inventory. To this day, we have never taken a salary, received a bonus, or been paid for a seminar or culinary class, yet God has met our needs and blessed us financially above anything we could ask or think.
In those early days few frequented our restaurant in that little town of Rogersville, Tennessee. The town had a population of only 5,000 people and there was little nutritional awareness. We were getting quite discouraged until we started holding a free “How to Eliminate Sickness” seminar on Saturday mornings in the restaurant.
People began coming to hear the health message, staying for lunch, and buying product. As people started applying what was being taught, testimonies started being shared with others and it wasn’t long before we had standing room only in the seminars!
Our restaurant was being frequented by local businesspersons, judges from the next door courthouse, and the president of the bank had a standing order for daily carrot juice.
Within a year of opening the doors of Hallelujah Acres we couldn’t contain everyone in that 16-seat restaurant. Plus, the basement of the restaurant was becoming too small to warehouse and ship the products we were now shipping across the country.
DID YOU KNOW?
In those early days our customer names and contact information were handwritten on 3×5 index cards and kept in a shoebox.
1993 – Hallelujah Acres Moves And Publishes A Magazine
In the spring of 1993 we moved down the street three doors to a 56-seat restaurant; the day we opened we had to turn people away! Soon our seminars filled the restaurant with people coming from across America and sometimes even another country.
During 1993 we also published the first issue our paper publication, “Back to the Garden“. The first issue was two colors, eight pages, and we had 3,000 copies printed. Today, this publication is called the “Hallelujah Acres Health News,” has 48 full color pages and is read by a half-million people bi-monthly.
This magazine has been a free publication ever since we started publishing it in 1993 — and it is still free to read online today from anywhere in the world! The paper version is also available to US and Canadian residents through an annual subscription.
1994 – Hallelujah Acres Moves Again
After two years ministering in Rogersville, we felt that closing the restaurant and going on the road would enable us to reach many more people with the message “You Don’t Have to be Sick!” So we moved Hallelujah Acres to our 50-acre farm where we were living on Clinch Mountain in Eidson, Tennessee.
There we built a building to house the ministry and I started doing seminars across America. No sooner had that first ministry building been completed then it was too small! We immediately started construction of a much larger second ministry building where we held our first Saturday-of-the-month “You Don’t Have to be Sick” seminars.
I was gone a great part of the time. Meanwhile, Rhonda was overseeing the ministry operation in Tennessee, which was growing in leaps and bounds necessitating hiring others to help handle the rapidly growing interest in the Health Message we were proclaiming.
Our Motto – That the Whole World Might Know – You Don’t Have to be Sick!
1994 – First Health Minister Training
People were adopting The Hallelujah Diet and becoming well from all kinds of physical problems. These people began asking us to teach them how to share God’s health message with others. As a result, in August 1994 we held our first Health Minister Training with 25 in attendance.
Our new ministry building was not completed as yet and not having sufficient finances to purchase chairs, that first group of Health Ministers sat on 2×10 wood planks resting on concrete blocks. We had no windows yet and the floor wasn’t even finished.
To say the least, it was a very humble beginning for a health ministry which today numbers over 10,000 trained Health Ministers located in every state in the U.S. and in 48 foreign lands.
Attending that first training was Olin Idol (PHOTO: upper left corner in plaid shirt) who joined me in 1995 as my personal assistant, and has been with Hallelujah Acres ever since.
Bev and Chet Cook (PHOTO: middle row, far right – Chet is wearing a black shirt) were also in that training. They later opened the first Hallelujah Acres first Lifestyle Center in Lake Lure, North Carolina and currently direct all four of our Lifestyle Centers. Dr. Rowen Pfeifer was also in that first training.
1995 – Rev. Malkmus Appears On 700 Club
By this time, Graeme Coad, who at the time was Chaplin of the 700 Club, had reversed his terminal prostate cancer on The Hallelujah Diet. Graeme was instrumental in getting me on the 700 Club for a nine-minute interview with Pat Robertson. That nine-minute interview generated more response than the 700 Club had ever had.
That television exposure caused a tremendous increase in interest in The Hallelujah Diet. Since then I have had opportunity to appear on ABC Nightline, all major TV networks, Trinity Broadcasting, The Food Network, Fox News (3 times) and the Jim Baker show.
1995 – “God’s Way To Ultimate Health” Published
My second book, “God’s Way to Ultimate Health” has everything a person needs to know about how to return to God’s original plan for nourishing the human body. The book contains 279 pages of vital information and real-life testimonies – a book that many people say saved their lives. (Over a quarter million copies of this book are now in print.)
Also in 1995, Destiny Image took over the printing and distribution of my first book “Why Christians Get Sick.” Over a million copies of this book are now in print and are available in several languages.
1996 – Rev. Malkmus Holds Seminars Across America
By 1996, so many churches across America were wanting the hear God’s health message that I traveled across America holding “How to Eliminate Sickness” seminars. Some of these seminars had attendances of over 1,000 people.
These seminars took me from Florida to Texas, up the west coast, across the fruited plains, the northern states from Wisconsin to New England, and down the eastern seaboard. I remember doing 17 seminars in 18 days in Texas on one of those speaking tours.
1997 – Hallelujah Acres Goes Online
Not many people had access to the internet as yet, but we realized it provided the potential for us to reach people around the world with the message “You Don’t Have to be Sick.”
What should our URL be? We thought of “HallelujahAcres.com” but knew if they had to spell “Hallelujah” they would never gain access. So we just used the letter “H” for “Hallelujah” and ended up with www.hacres.com. Today, this site averages over 90,000 hits per month.
1997 – The Very First Health Tip
About the same time we went on the internet, we began publishing a FREE weekly electronic Health Tip. There were not many subscribers in those early days, but as more and more people gained access to the internet subscriptions have steadily increased. Today this electronic Health Tip goes out to nearly 100,000 subscribers weekly.
I personally write these weekly electronic Health Tips between 3:00 and 6:00 a.m. most mornings. This issue is consecutive issue #740, and all previous issues are available in the archives (look for the “wall clock” icon on the right hand side).
1997 – Hallelujah Acres Moves To North Carolina
The location of our ministry — on a mountaintop in Tennessee, located on a dirt road, very difficult to find and far from an interstate or airport — was by now running out of room and there was no more buildable land on that mountaintop. So we started a search for a new location.
A businessman from Shelby, North Carolina attended one of my seminars in Tennessee and shared that he had a building in Shelby that he owned that would be perfect for our ministry. It had been built for a Christian school, which had closed its doors and become the campus of Ambassador College.
Ambassador College had outgrown the facility and it was available. Bud Mims, the owner, knew that we didn’t have much financially to purchase the building so he allowed us to move into the building while he held the mortgage and allowed us to pay off the mortgage as finances allowed.
The location was ideal! It was only 45 minutes from the Charlotte international airport and within an hour or less drive of four interstate highways. Shelby was small enough to have the small town appeal without a lot of traffic, but large enough to provide all basic needs and less than an hour away from Charlotte, the largest city in North Carolina.
We turned the gym into a 400-seat auditorium, the classrooms into offices for our rapidly expanding staff, the basement into warehousing of product and shipping, two of the offices into our call center, and the library into our store. We moved into our new facility on November 1, 1997.
On February 4, 2012, at my first-Saturday-of-the-month “God’s Way to Ultimate Health” seminar here at Hallelujah Acres, we will celebrate the ministry’s 20th Anniversary! In addition to the seminar, many special things are planned for that day including a healthy birthday cake for the enjoyment of all those at the seminar. Y’all come!
Next week, the good Lord willing and if the creeks don’t rise too high, we will pick up where we have left off here with our move to Shelby, North Carolina. We will share how Hallelujah Acres has grown in this new location (now 58 full time employees) and how we are building a village. I trust you will join us next week as we continue to share the rest of the story.
How Diet Affects ADHD Kids
Jan 21st
Fast foods, sodas, and ice cream may be American kids’ favorite food items, but they are also probably the worst for those children dealing with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), a new study reveals.
According to two researchers from the Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, a relatively simple diet low in fats and high in whole grains, fruits, and vegetables is one of the best alternatives to drug therapy for ADHD. Omega-3 fatty acid supplementation has also been shown to help in some controlled studies, they noted.
The researchers reviewed almost 70 publications on diet-based interventions in ADHD and found that diet is one established contributor to ADHD that parents can modify.
One of the most provocative findings in recent years came from the Australian Raine study, which followed children from birth to age 14.
That study found that development of ADHD was significantly associated with the Standard American Diet (rich in saturated fats and sugar) compared to a diet high in vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.
“A greater attention to the education of parents and children in a healthy dietary pattern, omitting items shown to predispose to ADHD, is perhaps the most promising and practical complementary or alternative treatment of ADHD,” the study said.
Editor’s Note:
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD or ADD) is a developmental disorder characterized by the co-existence of attention problems and hyperactivity. It is the most commonly studied and diagnosed psychiatric disorder in children, affecting an ever increasing number of children.
I personally believe the primary cause of ADD and ADHD is the vaccines children receive.
The medical community treats the symptoms of ADD and ADHD with some very toxic drugs such as Ritalin and various derivatives. Every one of these drugs is capable of creating additional problems in the child receiving them – even death. For a sad account of a parent who lost their child as a result of Ritalin, click here.
But, it’s not just children who are being diagnosed with ADD and ADHD. Following is a testimony from an adult who had been diagnosed with “adult ADD” and the results he obtained after adopting The Hallelujah Diet:
“My own health challenges have also disappeared. I had been diagnosed with an Adult Attention Deficit Disorder and had been on Ritalin for five years to help me concentrate – but once I got refined sugar out of my system I was able to concentrate and no longer needed the Ritalin. I have also lost 30 pounds. We have seen other less dramatic changes as well – no more body odor, our hair is healthier, my wife has fingernails for the first time in her life, and our skin is clearer. No more hemorrhoids, no more sore feet, and I could go on and on. Dr. Malkmus, I thank God for you and your ministry!”
The Birth Of Hallelujah Acres – The Rest Of The Story
Jan 17th
In last week’s Health Tip I shared how God used what appeared to be a tragedy in my life – a colon cancer diagnosis in 1976 – to birth a ministry known today as “Hallelujah Acres.”
The late Paul Harvey used to say: “Now for the rest of the story.” In this Health Tip I want to pick up where we left off last week with how God used a change in diet to eliminate my cancer and restore health to my body by sharing how additional events in my life ultimately led to the starting of a health ministry we today call Hallelujah Acres.
I want to begin by sharing another verse in the Bible that had great bearing in the development of the Hallelujah Acres ministry. This verse is found in Galatians 6:9:
“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if WE FAINT NOT.”
On July 4, 1976 the church I was pastoring held a huge 4th of July service in a downtown theater in Glens Falls, New York. It was attended by over 500 people.
Immediately after that service, I got in my car and drove to Blue Ridge, Georgia where for several weeks I sat under the teachings of Dr. Carry Rheams.
I was already on the Genesis 1:29 diet, had already learned a lot about the body and its ability to heal itself and had already experienced significant healing. But I had a hunger to learn more about diet and lifestyle. From Dr. Rheams I learned how to help detoxify the body with lemon juice, and rebuild the body with raw, green drinks.
By 1977 I was well and still pastor of the Greater Glens Falls Bible Baptist Church in Hudson Falls, New York.
It was around this time it dawned on me that the healing I had experienced by a simple diet and lifestyle change could also help other Christians recover from their physical problems. I wanted to share that information.
First On My List: Fellow Preachers
I started taking this healing knowledge to fellow preachers. To say the least, it was not received well!
In fact, fellow preachers didn’t receive what I had to share about a changed diet any better than they had received Evangelist Lester Roloff’s efforts to change their diets and lifestyles years earlier.
I started to get discouraged. I knew I had a health message based on God’s original diet as given by God Himself in Genesis 1:29. I knew that it could eliminate most sicknesses from the Christian community but no one would listen.
In 1978 I left the church I had established in 1970 and obtained a job as lecturer and head gardener at the Shangri La Health Resort in Bonita Springs, Florida where I remained until 1980. This was a Natural Hygiene Fasting Resort and while there I had opportunity to listen to many Natural Hygiene doctors and learned so much more about how diet affects our health.
The Health Insurance Salesman
By 1980 I was still drifting, didn’t have much financially, and didn’t know what God would have me to do with my life.
During my many years as a pastor I had never had an income greater than $150.00 a week plus housing and felt it was time to provide my family with some of the things I had been unable to provide them in previous years.
So in 1981 I responded to an ad to be an insurance agent for the National Association for the Self Employed (NASE) which promised a significant income. First I had to get my license to sell insurance which I obtained and for the next six years sold health insurance to small business owners throughout the state of Florida.
As an insurance agent, I learned a lot about health insurance and was able sell more policies than any of the other 1,200 NASE agents for a number of years. I was even featured on their recruiting videos.
The reason I was able to sell so many policies was because I was honest in the presentation. Rather than selling policies with high premiums, I showed business owners how they, by taking a higher deductible, could save enough in monthly premiums to more than make up the cost of a lower deductible in the event they became sick and needed to use the policy.
Another reason I believe I did so well selling health insurance was that I was more concerned about helping the small business owner save some money than selling a policy with a higher premium that would bring me greater financial reward.
In 1986 I came home one weekend to find the furniture had been moved out of the house and my wife Janet had filed for divorce. I had been on the road selling insurance from Monday to Saturday every week for six years and no doubt this helped bring about this devastating departure after 36 years of marriage. Janet went home to be with Jesus not many years later.
The Move To Tennessee
With no furniture, no place to live, and no reason to be on the road living in motels selling insurance anymore, I stopped selling insurance and moved to a 50-acre tract of land I had previously purchased in Eidson, Tennessee. I started out living in a tent and then graduated to a 8×32 trailer while building a home.
While building that house I began writing a book on a typewriter (computers were not in vogue as yet) and this was quite a challenge. But I still had a burning passion to get God’s Health Message out to the Christian Community, which was just as sick and the world’s community.
The title of the book: “Why Christians Get Sick.”
I had never written a book before and had a lot to learn. It took me several years to write the book and then I couldn’t find a publisher. So I ended up taking everything I had financially to self-publish the book at a local print shop. The owner of that print shop had defeated diabetes and prevented the amputation of his foot by adopting The Hallelujah Diet.
I thought for sure that once my book was in print, everyone would want to buy my book and learn how they too could improve their health through a simple diet and lifestyle change based on that Genesis 1:29 diet that had restored my health back in 1976.
But to my consternation, no one wanted to buy my book.
It was now 1989 and I had struck out once again. I still had a passion to get God’s health message out to the Christian community, and now 13 years later years later, after spending several years writing a book and all I had on its publishing, still no one wanted to receive God’s health message.
All through these years, from 1976 to 1989, God was allowing various circumstances in my life to bring me to that place I had been trying to get to for the previous 14 years; the acceptance of the Health Message God had laid on my heart in 1976.
But there was one more major setback necessary before I found some light at the end of the tunnel.
Then My House Burned Down
On Christmas Eve 1989, while away for the evening celebrating the birth of Jesus, my house burned to the ground along with all remaining copies of my book “Why Christians Get Sick.”
Where do I go, what do I do now?
I had lost my wife and now had lost my home, and almost all the copies of the book I had written. I guess I had a little inkling of how Job must have felt when all those bad things happened to him.
But I was about to enter the last chapter of the book of Job where God restored him and blessed him beyond measure.
A friend who owned an antique mall on Main Street in Rogersville, Tennessee offered me a job as manager, along with a room above the antique mall in which in which I could live without rent or paying utilities.
Another friend loaned me a bed, table, and chair, and I purchased a small refrigerator. The folks in the church I was attending at the time gave me some clothes. Fortunately, there was a bathroom and sink near that room above the antique mall where I was able to continue juicing my carrots and it was there I lived and worked.
Continuing my burden to get out God’s health message, I stocked a booth in the antique store with healthy offerings and nutritional books, including my book “Why Christians Get Sick,” which I had managed to get a new printing of. I also began counseling those who showed interest in improving their health.
“For In Due Season Thou Shall Reap If Thou Faint Not”
At the invitation of the owners of the Hales Spring Inn, just a few doors from the antique mall where I lived and worked, I started holding free “How to Eliminate Sickness” seminars in the lobby of that hotel.
If five people showed up I was excited. It was in one of those early seminars in 1991, before Hallelujah Acres had its beginning in 1992; that God brought a very special person into my life, a person who was going to help me fulfill the vision I had had since 1976 to get God’s health message out to the Christian community.
Rhonda was to be that very special person but I didn’t know it yet. And here she was in my seminar because she had a booth in the store in which I worked.
She came to the seminar because I had learned that she had debilitating rheumatoid arthritis (the result of being hit by a freight train in 1981) and I had invited her to the seminar.
To make a long story short, Rhonda took heed to what I was teaching, adopted God’s Genesis 1:29 diet, and within than a year her rheumatoid arthritis was gone, she had lost 85 pounds in weight, and she was well.
Her healing led to a casual relationship in the beginning. She worked directly across the street from the antique mall and would come over during her lunch break. I would fix her an organic tomato sandwich on whole grain bread, and over lunch we would talk about diet and health. Over time, these lunch dates started love bells ringing.
Together we started Hallelujah Acres on February 12, 1992 in an 11-foot wide store front located between the Hale Springs Inn and the antique mall. We put in tables and chairs for 16 people and started serving carrot juice by the glass, other vegetarian fare, and each Saturday morning I shared my health message, “You Don’t Have to be Sick.”
Two months after Hallelujah Acres was birthed in that 11-foot-wide store front, Rhonda and I were married on April 11, 1992 — and our life has been a whirlwind ever since!
We have seen Hallelujah Acres grow from a ma-and-pa operation in a store front in a little town in Tennessee in 1992 to a worldwide ministry 20 years later.
On February 12, 2012 Hallelujah Acres will celebrate its 20th birthday, and on April 11, 2012, Rhonda and I will celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. To God be the Glory, great things HE HAS DONE!
Today, I can truly say with the Scriptures:
“And we know that all good things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
And I can also agree with that other Scripture I shared at the beginning of this article:
“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
With all the roadblocks the devil put in my path between 1976 and 1992, it would have been so very easy to throw in the towel and lose the vision, but I thank God He never allowed me to do that.
As I write this, I find myself just two years from my 80th birthday. The vision and passion that the whole world might know ‘You Don’t Have to be Sick’ that I first had way back in 1976 is still alive and well in my heart and mind! I am thrilled that God has allowed it to become a reality in my lifetime.
If God has given you a vision of something that is good and positive and that can help your fellow man, don’t let the devil take that vision from you!
On February 4, 2012, at my First Saturday of the month, “God’s Way to Ultimate Health” seminar at Hallelujah Acres International Headquarters in Shelby, North Carolina, Hallelujah Acres will celebrate its 20th Anniversary. In addition to the seminar, many special things are planned for that day including a healthy birthday cake to be enjoyed by all who attend the seminar that day. Y’all come!
Next Week, the good Lord willing and if the creeks don’t rise too high, we will pick up where we have left off here with the opening of that store front in 1992 and share how Hallelujah Acres has grown in the past 20 years to the worldwide ministry it is today, helping millions around the world eliminate their physical problems. I trust you will join us as we continue to share the rest of the story.
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