The Wrong Messenger

 What I Learned, From listening to the Wrong Messenger: And the years that came after

His name was Hobart Freeman. Google his name and you will find a lot of information about who he was and how he died...even though he taught that God heals everyone and if he doesn't, it's because it's our fault for not having enough faith. 

However, God did not heal him. 

It makes me wonder where his eternity ended up. Because just before his death, he was charged with the death of a 15-year-old girl who had died of kidney failure. source:Hobart Freeman Dies; Indicted Head of a Sect - The New York Times

Sadly, I was told by my own sister that God took him out of the situation because he shouldn't have to face whatever was to come for him or some such nonsense. 

But that is what kind of stuff we were taught to cover up or make excuses for things we were "believing God for" that didn't materialize. 

And sadly, many bought it, and even after his death, many still followed his teachings as did my sister. At least she had for a few years. Eventually, she got more away from it and she and her husband met other people that weren't a part of Hobart's teachings but believed other crazy stuff, maybe even worse.

In my own family's case, it tore us apart. My parents never accepted her beliefs and she demanded they were true and tried very hard to convince them of it. She denied that the Baptist beliefs that we were brought up with were no longer good enough. When she visited my dad for the last time before his death, he asked her for one last favor. And that was to go with him to one last service at his church. 

She refused. It was a Baptist Church.

Two examples of my parent's feelings were this. My mother told me once that she would rather see us go to a Catholic church than to a church that listened to Freeman. And my father called it a "borderline cult."

That is how much they disapproved. The rift was strong between the two sides and became even more so when my sister told them at one time that when she came home during summer vacations (she had moved to Florida) she would go to the bathroom and "pray the demons out of the house."

 I hate to say this about her, but truly I came to believe that if there were demons in the house, it was she that brought them with her. 

That rift never really did go away. However, years later, the church in Florida that she, her husband, and some friends started in their homes with a teacher that learned from Freeman, did break up. And more and more she got away from it by eventually buying a tv, wearing forbidden culottes,  and I was told by some other family member that she even sort of started celebrating Christmas. Her husband wore glasses and went to have work done by the dentist. 

This past February, she passed away in a nursing home. She had lost everything she had believed God for in all those years, right down to her own husband. And she had dementia for several years prior to her death. Sad. But despite all, I really think that she loved God's land tried to do what she felt Freeman's teaching taught her. And I believe that about most of the people that attended these churches under Freeman. Good people wanting to do God's will. Just misled.

At the same time, pretty much looking to him, rather than what God's Word really teaches.

I could go on and on about what all this had done to our family. But the important thing is, we survived it. Eventually, God delivered my family of alcoholism, and as for myself, I have learned to at least try to be patient with people, and not to be judgemental with those that aren't what I think they should be. 

I also learned not to listen to the wrong messengers that are in our world and come to deceive us. In other words, I do my homework.

Mathew 7:15 tells us this: Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 

If we pay attention to what the Bible says and apply that to who we listen to, we can avoid so much heartache. 

This church perhaps was not a total fraud as some are. Like my dad called it, "borderline cult." They did preach Jesus and why He was sent here by God to save us from our sin. But they took their teachings too far and did not put up with people that could not follow them. 

Still we must be careful who we are listening to and make sure they line up with what the Bible says.

I learned forgiveness through this experience, as well. Which I have needed throughout my life even to this day when it is needed. 

I learned that in Jesus I was no longer weak. And I had His strength.

And I learned what I had needed to know when I took up this battle within my spirit. And of course, that was where I would end up at the end of my life.

Thankfully, it will be spending it with the Lord and all those that have gone on before. How good is the Lord!

I am not perfect, that is for sure. I still get upset, angry, and judgemental at times. But, I try always to seek God's forgiveness, sometimes many times a day. 

And I look forward to the hope in Him that I will one day see Him. 

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Hello, Friends. I apologize for my absence over the past few days. The weekend was especially different as we helped a member of our family with some situations that he is going through. God was with us and He is answering our prayers for his family. So I am thankful for His mercy. 

I hope my experiences in this church have been a blessing for you. I am not sure where we will go from here. But thank you for still coming when I have not been here! God bless you!