Dr. H.E. FreemanMy thoughts and feelings about Faith Assembly and Dr. Hobart Freeman
- Click here to go directly to FEEDBACK sectionI am collecting articles and emails on what happened 20+ years ago in a corn field near Wilmot and North Webster in Indiana and to the faith movement at Faith Assembly and those sitting under Dr. Freeman. Please email me or use my online form on how it affected you and those around you. At the bottom of this article you will find a link to some of the feedback I've received in posting my article.
While I do not profess to be an authority on Faith Assembly, I feel my thoughts might help those who were caught up in religious bondage and legalism resulting from the faith message. I trust you would respect my desire to help others and not convolute it to mean anything else. If anything, Dr. Freeman was like a father figure to me, so while I respected him, believed what I heard on the tapes, something did go amiss with this true movement of God.
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Inside Faith Assembly - like in my house, scriptures are put on walls
My thoughts and feelings about Faith Assembly &
Dr. Hobart Freeman
If I can have the freedom to put what I felt
happened via the "faith teachings" by Dr. Freeman at Faith Assembly (ex: Glory
Barn) and its influence on me is that I have had a lot of answered prayers and
questions done through his ministry and tapes.
© Copyright Tom McLaughlin
I felt he was as close to my heart as if he was my father. But he was human,
just like the rest of us. I have not met anyone in my life who has preached the
Word with conviction and truth like he did. And still feel this way almost 20
years after his passing away back in 1984.
But I am saddened to hear about what happened to people there or even to this
day how some cannot fellowship with other Christians or neglect personal hygiene
like brushing their teeth because they think it is sin to go to the dentist. -
heck I too thought that once.
I couldn't even talk to Baptists because they didn't believe in the Holy Spirit
and tongues. Now some of my best friends and neighbours are Baptists because I
had to humble myself and ask the Lord for forgiveness about being proud to the
fact I speak in tongues and they don't. This is all a result of spiritual pride
turned into bondage.
I can't make my convictions be your convictions, nor anyone else for that
matter.
Jesus said He didn't come to take us OUT of the world, but to make sure we are
not to become PART of the world, meaning we don't partake of sins like drunken
parties, reveling, and fornication. We are to interact with this world, to show
compassion to those who mourn, to those who are sick, poor, or needy, even to
visit people in jails.
But does this mean the faith message and Faith Assembly were a cult or false? I
don't believe so. While one can "justify" a cult mentality crept in, I believe
there was a divine happening going on where God was present at the meetings.
The problem I feel is we went too far with faith and didn't balance our walk
with Love and Grace. It wasn't in the message it was in the fact we as people put
Dr. Freeman on a pedestal and then everything became legalistic. If someone
stumbled and went to the doctor, we cast that person off as a sinner. I know
quite a few went off the deep end seeing Dr. Freeman not as a messenger from the
Lord but someone to worship. Christianity is the only army that shoots its
wounded.
I by no means will say he did things to gain notoriety or finances. Having been
down to Faith Assembly eight times and talking to a lot of people before and
after his death, I know from what I saw wasn't the man or his preaching that
caused this, but the lack of love from the followers.
You have to remember this faith walk/message came a time when there was a
spiritual vacuum in the 70's with Jesus' movement being all about love and
feeling good but offering no substance. Faith is not feeling, but results from a
deep love and trust in God.
When we, as followers started putting Freeman, or anyone else for that matter,
before the Word ("Brother Freeman said this" or "Doctor Freeman said that") then
I believe God in His grace had to remove Dr. Freeman from our midst as a wake up
call, and like the Bible says, "not to have no other god's before Me".
I wouldn't say he died because of sin, just God had to preserve His Word.
Dr. Freeman was a moral man and had a modest home; he did not live in mansions
such like some of today's preachers. I also have made great and close friends
who have been part of the movement and have seen the fruits in their lives grow
which shows the seed has taken root to follow God and not the messenger. Others
unfortunately have become bitter, closed in, and nothing close to what God wants
them to be, a light in this world.
So what would I do to tell someone locked in spiritual bondage? I'd tell them to
read this article, humble themselves and seek repentance. Or to put it in layman
terms - to loosen up a bit - not compromise per se - but to see that WE made
this a legality and not common sense walk with God.
So basically I ask, were you following a man or a crowd, or where you following Jesus? Keep your eyes on Jesus, men will come and go, but the Word of the Lord will always be around.
Have faith in Jesus, and remember to keep smiling :-) because God loves you!
cheers
Tom McLaughlin
Faith Assembly looking South East.
Click here for an updated view