James Maloney: AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL and PERSONAL ENCOUNTERS WITH GOD

His ministry spans 3 decades.

James Maloney assumes that people want to know why he is not famous if all these miraculous stories, which you will hear later, are true. His response to them is that God simply has not allowed him to advertise, (p. 20) and has told him to stay hidden.( p 125) . Only in the last few years (remember the copyright date is 2008) does God permit him to speak of his experiences at all.

So all these episodes have been covered up neatly all these years, by Mr. Maloney. But this begs the question, how were they covered up by the people who experienced them? He even says that he has seen thousands of miracles that no one knows about except the people and their families (p. 20).

With several strokes of his computer keyboard he has placed himself in the ranks of the most prolific of miracle workers in all history, and there's no way we can deny it, because God would not let him talk about it until now. Strange, yes?

The miracles that Jesus worked were strong events also. Even the ones that we know of were enough to get Him crucified, they were so powerful. And they advertised themselves! There is no way to keep some things secret.

Maloney has rightly suspected that people like me will be very curious and want to investigate him. He even claims on this same page 20 that his book opens him up to scrutiny and criticism. Jesus, the miracle worker, did not have to be scrutinized to discover whether He was working miracles. That was never His problem. His miracles were so powerful and real and obvious that He shook the religious world. And so hard, that it came crashing down on Him. With Maloney we have to start with assuming something miraculous happened. That is never a good starting point.

He says he tried not to embellish, that he is trying to be honest. Trying? Is this so difficult?

He then tells us that many of the miracles have written documentation and multiple eyewitness testimonies (p. 21). But he provides none. The reason: He does not want to open these people up to scoffing and crowds of people bothering them. All of them, he says, wanted to be referenced anonymously.

Herein is a marvelous thing. I did not have an arm. Now I do. But I don't want to tell anyone about it, nor do I want them to know how it happened. Keep this a secret.

Wasn't it Jesus who was always telling the healed to keep it under wraps? And did they not disobey often? They went everywhere telling what Jesus had done! They feared no criticism or embarrassment. How can I be embarrassed if my eye can see now, and before it could not? No, pure joy! Let me tell you about it!

He lets us know on page 21 that he tries to be a person of integrity. Well, that's good to know.

His story, as well as I could glean it from his book, goes like this:

He was born in the mid-50's. Strangely, he won't give the exact date. He was raised in the slums of Kansas City, Missouri. His birth mother was a German immigrant. His birth father spent time incarcerated. Mother has an affair with a preacher. James is the illegitimate fruit of their relationship.

His father comes home from jail and finds him there. An unwanted child if ever there was one. He proceeds to smash his boots in young James' face, break his nose, disfigure him. He picks him up by the ankles and slams him into a wall. (p 27 ff )

He was so abused at home that he didn't speak until he was four years old.( p 90) Mother tries to sell him.

Oddly, we are informed that he does not remember any of the beatings. All you have read above must have been related to him by someone later. He does seem to recall being locked in a closet for two days with only a bottle of water.

Eventually he is adopted by a caring family who knows of his situation. With them, he moves to southern California, (p 28) the town of Idyllwild. Idyllwild of the 60's was a stronghold for the metaphysical sciences, and the Hippies. Per James, one could see the white robed and the long -haired along with the Hell's Angel Bikers, New Agers, and more.

His new mom and dad were out a lot, and needed help in raising James. He tells of an older gent named "Harry" from p 67 ff . Harry was a friend of Dad. James claims that Harry was "born in the late 1800's" , and specifically notes that James was 9 when Harry was 79.

It is hard to come by dates and places in this book, but here is one. And it creates a problem. Harry died in 1977, says Maloney, at the age of 93. That would make Harry born in 1864. If James is 9 when Harry is 79, (which would have been 1943), then Maloney must have been born in 1934, not the mid 50's.

There's a clear contradiction there. Not overly important of course, but needing to be cleaned up a bit.

James Maloney became suicidal at 14. It all caught up with him. His parenting. His confusion. rejection. In 1970, on New Year's Eve, he reportedly said to God, "God, if you are real, reveal Yourself to me (p.29)." (In this passage we find him to be 14 in 1971 he , so we're back to a birth time of 1956 or 57, the mid-50's as claimed originally).

After that prayer, a light in his room awakens him. The light gets bigger and bigger. James begins to worship Whoever it is. In his words, "If it would have been Buddha," he would have worshiped him. Or anyone else. But he is sure it is Jesus.

A Voice says, "I have heard your cry for acceptance... I love you as you are." (p. 30)

Soon he buys a Bible and is given a Kathryn Kuhlman book. He is given also the plan of salvation.( p 30) A new life begins.

In August of 1973, (p 101) he is on his high school football team. He's a receiver. This is in Hemet, California, but the name of the High School is not given. He is now 17.

The story goes that he was so valuable to the game of football he received that year the coveted congressional appointment to attend none other than the Naval Academy in Annapolis, to play football for the U.S. Navy! 42 years have passed since this honor was (perhaps) given. Very hard to trace either in Annapolis or at one of Hemet's several High Schools. We keep being forced into believing stories.

But alas! before he can go to Annapolis, he is hit in a football maneuver by a defensive tackle from a rival high school (also not named). "If memory serves" (and we are dependent a lot on his "memory") his helmet flew off, he was hit so hard.

Maloney complains that the refs weren't calling penalties against this "animal" from the other school. Maybe they were scared, he opines. Picks him up in midair and slams him to the ground (seems to be the victim of a lot of violence), where a rock protruded. The rock penetrated his back, hit his spine. dislocated his shoulder, and messed up his ankles. He "suspected" he had fractured a vertebra.

A sister in the Lord tells James, now very depressed and very confused about his life, and obviously in need of a healing or two, about an up and coming evangelist named Brant Baker. He decides to give it a try, and attends one of Baker's evangelistic healing meetings. It is 1973.

Brant Baker has been Influenced by Kathryn Kuhlman in his ministry. Maloney calls her the "late" Kathryn Kuhlman. She actually died in 1976. We hope he means that she is "late" now, though we usually don't speak of people who have been deceased for nearly 40 years as "late". If she was already dead, and this incident occurred years later, it is a curiosity to me as to why he does not talk of the story he tells in public. He claims that his first personal encounter with people being slain in the Spirit, etc, was at a Kuhlman meeting . She reportedly danced by him on her flamboyant entrance, and knocked him out. He did not wake up until the end of the service, and therefore missed her entire ministry. I'd like to know what year that was...

As for Brant Baker, it will come out later that he is either a recovering or practicing homosexual at this time and until his death by AIDS in 1985. But Baker (p.103) "calls him out" in a service, tells of his injuries, and then speaks the healing word. Baker taps him on the head, he falls. He is healed. He awakes, gives his testimony, gets "tapped" again, and falls again. Life is now cool once more.