The Invisible Father: Reversing the Curse of a Fatherless Generation

By Rick Wallace Ph.D, Psy.D.

Over the past 30 years this nation has witnessed a falling away in mammoth proportions. This falling away has been gradual but the repercussions have reverberated throughout the corridors of society and has rendered generation after generation progressively helpless and useless as it pertains to fulfilling their God ordained destinies. This falling away that I speak of is the falling away of men from their God ordained roles. Men that have been ordained by God to be leaders, protectors, coverings, and more have found it acceptable to procreate and then abandon their progeny.

Men have found it to be an acceptable course of action to submerse themselves in their selfish ambitions without the slightest hint as to the negative ramifications of their erroneous behavior. We are sitting dead in the middle of one of the worse scourges to befall the human race in recent history. I call this scourge IFS (The Invisible Father Syndrome). We are rapidly approaching a time when a visible father will be an anomaly rather than a normality. The Bible tells us that a man that does not honor his filial responsibilities is worse than an unbeliever. This speaks of more than financial support and touches the impactful issue of presence and connectivity.

Having dealt with this issue first hand; I was compelled to address the issue from a biblical perspective. The Invisible Father is a compilation of personal experience and biblical knowledge infused with the revelatory power of the Holy Spirit. I pray that this book will impact, empower, and encourage an entire generation that change is not only possible, but it is absolutely necessary.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rick Wallace Ph.D, Psy.D.
• Release date: Apr 19, 2011
• ISBN: 9781458010360

Rick Wallace Ph.D, Psy.D.

Born in the late 60's to a fifteen-year-old mother and an absent father, I was taken in at the age of nine months by my great grandparents. They adopted me when I was two. I was precocious as a child and I'm sure my grandmother would add, quite loquacious. My grandmother took advantage of my inherent ability to learn and my inexorable desire to talk. She sat me down at the age of two, switch in hand, and began to teach me the story of the creation as revealed in Geneses 1-3. Once I had it committed to memory, my grandmother taught me to recite it with passion. She then took me from church to church, put a microphone in my hand and made me recite it before the congregation. My grandmother said she was being obedient to the prompting of the Holy Spirit in teaching me the Bible, thank God she did. My grandfather was the one who taught me how to be a man. Born in 1909, he had to stop schooling in the second grade to help his parents who sharecropped. Because of this he stressed education and achievement. Though he passed away at the age of 83 in 1992, he is still very much with me. My grandmother passed recently, in March 2010 at the age of 92. I am a proud father of seven ranging in age from 2 to 31. I consider each one a blessing from God. You will be introduced to each one individually through my writings. My children are a constant reminder of how much God loves me. Thanks to my grandparents, I had a wonderful childhood. I was given an immense appreciation for scholarship and carried the natural gift of athleticism. Throughout school, I put both to use. I have been blessed both in athletic achievement and in the attainment of academic knowledge. Both have contributed to my advancement in life. I feel it necessary to give honorable mention to four people who had an enormous impact on my life. Ms. Geraldine François, my 4th-6th grade teacher. Ms. François was an accelerated learning teacher who saw something special in me and refused to accept anything less than my best. This included my handwriting. She said no one would ever discern the depth of my intelligence if they were not able to decipher my handwriting. To this day, my handwriting is identical to hers and most women find it humorously unbefitting a man. Mr. Brewer was my seventh grade history teacher. He instilled the intrinsic value of self-discipline. Mr. Brewer was a former college instructor who discovered that man...

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The Invisible Father: Reversing the Curse of a Fatherless Generation

by

Bishop Rick Wallace

Published by Rick Wallace at Smashwords

Copyright 2011 Rick Wallace

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements & Dedications

Introduction

Chapter 1: What's Wrong with this Picture

Chapter 2: Identity Crisis

Chapter3: The Source of Identity

Chapter 4: My Greatest Thought

Chapter 5: The Man in the Mirror

Chapter 6: I Don't Want to Cry

Chapter 7: The Disparity of a Lost Generation

Chapter 8: The Inevitability of Change

Change 9: Setting a new Standard

Chapter 10: Fulfilling Your Design

Chapter 11: Healing the Land

Chapter 12: Mama Don't Cry

Chapter 13: No More Dry Bones

Acknowledgements & Dedications

First and foremost, I must give all honor and glory to Jesus Christ who is Lord and Savior of my life. Without His sacrifice on Calvary, I would not be able to stand before you cleansed and set aside for this great work that I have been given. I pray that God will continue to strengthen me so that I can continue to honor Him in my work. May He always be the awesome force that moves me and may he always be the head of my life.

I want to take a brief moment to acknowledge the most important person in my life, Heaven Pinson (my soon to be wife). When God wanted to send me a sign that he loved me and had not forsaken me in my darkest of hours, He sent me Heaven, and she has been an immense blessing. As I fought to bring the publishing of this book to fruition, Heaven was their through every disappointment and triumph. I thank God for you my love and I look forward to writing many more books with you by my side. I love you.

Now for the joys of my life: Ushawnna, Rodrick Jr., Candric, Raven, Kayla, and Jayden. You guys have kept smiles on your father’s face for so long. I wish that I could have given you more as a father and will continue to strive to be what I was designed to be in your lives. I want each of you to know that I love you unconditionally.

I would like dedicate this book to the memory of my great-grandparents (adopted parents) C.D. and Ernest Lee Wallace. Without their love and nurturing and especially their direction in the Word of God, I would not be here today in this capacity and there is a possibility that I may not be here at all. Thanks Mom and Dad you are forever in my heart and mind.

Bishop Rick Wallace

Introduction

In 1985 my high school journalism instructor encouraged me to take the time to research the statistics and overall impact of absentee fatherhood. She knew that I had never met my father and that I was struggling to come to grips with the matter. She had a lot of faith in me as a young man who had the intelligence and drive to elevate himself in a manner that would afford him the opportunity to get out of a life of poverty and mediocrity, which was rapidly becoming the norm in my neighborhood. However, she knew that the impact of not knowing my father could easily derail me.

She felt that confronting the issue on my terms would give me the platform I needed to take control over the demons that were haunting me. She was also married to my football coach and the both of them understood my plight and took an interest in me that carried beyond the football field or the classroom. I am grateful to this day. To Coach and Mrs. Leonard, I say, Thank you!

Needless to say that I conducted the necessary research and subsequently wrote a full length article on the subject entitled The Invisible Father. The article was published in the school newspaper, several local publications and one national publication. Mrs. Leonard was correct; the effort placed into the writing of that article did a great deal in the way of allowing me to effectively deal with the issue. Based on the success of the article, I vowed to write a book on the topic someday.

Although I took quite some time to write this book, I feel that the timing is right. I don’t know if there has ever been a time that men have been so far offline with their destinies. I cannot recall at any time during my life or in recorded history in which an entire generation had been so negatively impacted by the wayward movement of the very ones entrusted with their care.

Men have come to a point in time in which they have found it an appropriate measure to procreate and abandon their progeny. Even Christian men have fallen away in the way of responsibility.

As a minister I felt compelled to address this epidemic of absentee fathers. The bible speaks clearly about a man that avoids honoring his filial responsibilities.

If anyone fails to provide for his relatives, and especially for those of his own family, he has disowned the faith [by failing to accompany it with fruits] and is worse than an unbeliever [who performs his obligation in these matters]. (1 Tim. 5:8 AMP)

Unfortunately, we as men have abdicated our God ordained positions as protectors, providers and leaders. We have become consumed in our selfishness. In the process, we have left an entire generation to fend for themselves without any manly guidance or supervision. To exacerbate the matter, we continue on claiming to be men of the faith without the slightest inkling that we are in our selfishness giving the faith a black eye.

I have dubbed this epidemic of fatherlessness IFS (The Invisible Father Syndrome). IFS is one of the most devastating forces present in today’s society. We are dealing with a generation of youth that are lost without identities and living in the absence of self-worth. If we don’t take action right now we will find that this nation will fade into the abyss of moral decay. This book is simply a contribution to the battle against IFS. I pray that it will ignite a movement in which men will assume their God ordained roles as leaders. I pray that this will be the beginning of something awesome and powerful. I invite each of you to join this movement and make an impact on IFS

Thank you,

Bishop Rick Wallace

Chapter 1: What’s Wrong With This Picture?

But if anyone does not provide for his own and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. 1 Tim 5: 8

Where is my father? Why isn’t he here? Does he love me? These are only a few of the questions that flowed constantly through my mind as a young child. See, I never knew my father; the first time I saw my father was at his funeral. I remember it as if it were yesterday. As the coffin descended into the ground, any possible chance of a long desired relationship with my father vanished before my eyes. I was fourteen then. For the majority of my life I have battled many demons in an attempt to come to grips with the fact that I have never and will never know my father. The finality of the moment engraved the pain into my heart.

After my father’s death, I convinced myself that I was fine. I told myself that I could do just fine without my father, but reality said different. Although I was reared by my great-grandparents and provided with a loving and nurturing environment, I could not shake the heartache of not knowing who my father was or better yet, not having an understanding of why my father chose not to be a part of my life. Although I was immensely precocious as a child, I still lacked the capacity to apprehend the circumstances that surrounded me. I searched in so many ways to gain an understanding of how a person could father a child and not have the slightest concern as to their wellbeing. Through my siblings and other family members, I have come to learn a great deal about my father which in many ways has served to baffle me even more. When you have dealt with that kind of pain, you develop a certain image of the person who is at the center of your pain. The problem is my father; by the account of others was not a bad person. This served to only further frustrate me because it left the same question as before. Why?

I mentioned the fact that I was reared by my great-grandparents, both of whom have since gone to be with the Lord; my grandfather in 1992 and my grandmother in 2010. As nurturing as my grandparents were, not even they were able to totally eradicate the pain I felt due to my father’s absence.

The one thing I am most grateful to my grandparents for is introducing me to Christ. Through the constant intake of Biblical Doctrine and consistent hands on teaching, I developed a personal relationship with Christ, which is the true foundation of Christianity. The Bible says, Train up a child in the way it should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. (Prov. 22:6). My grandparents lived and functioned daily under this principle.

My personal relationship with Christ has empowered me to move past the pain and difficulty of not knowing my earthly father; it has allowed me to have access to my heavenly Father, which provides me with the strength and stability to victoriously endure the vicissitudes of life.

Having said all this, I would like elucidate the fact that this book is not an autobiography on the life of Bishop Rick Wallace. I am giving you some background information to add lucidity to the perspective from which I write.

Unfortunately, my