Welcome to OO: Introductions & General » A Different Perspective

Wed, 07 February 2007 03:59

psalm91
Messages: 24
Registered: February 2007

Junior Member

Hi to all
I'm new to this board and came across it when I was searching for the Faith Ministries site to order tapes. Since my experiences were different from most of yours, I'd like to present a different perspective. The Lord saved me when I was 22. At the time I was almost an alcoholic, or maybe I was one and just didn't realize it at the time. I was in the middle of a divorce which I did not want. I was a total mess. I had suffered years of abuse at the hands of my parents and had enough emotional problems to keep a shrink busy for a long time. And my best friend was getting heavily into the occult and except for the hand of the Lord I would have followed right along. Instead the Lord allowed things to fall apart in my life and I turned to Him. A month later some friends brought me the faith book and Why Speak in Tongues. I asked for and received the Holy Spirit and claimed restoration of my marriage. Since I was in another state many miles away from Faith Assembly there was no way to drive to the meetings so I got on the automatics. For many years I received the tapes and stayed at home listening to them. I visited Faith Assembly a few times over the years but for the most part I heard the word through the tapes. I don't understand the issues that people have with what was taught. As I heard the tapes, I went to the word and studied for myself. As I saw it in the word and applied it to my life, then change took place. And the times that I didn't want to change I was honest with the Lord and asked him to change my heart so that I would want to change in those areas. He was always faithful to do so. After reading the comments on this board and on Tom's board I have to wonder why my perception of the word is so different than theirs. Is it possible that the problems that people perceive happened because of the faith message might have been caused by some of those who heard the faith message and in their zeal, tried to make others conform to their interpretation of what it meant? I know that as I heard the word, there were times that I struggled with what I was hearing and what my flesh wanted to do. I wrestled a lot of things out before the Lord but he was always faithful to show me what I needed to do and where I needed to change. I've heard the stories about how some would hear the messages that came across the pulpit at Faith Assembly and then proceed to correct everyone who wasn't walking the way they thought they should. I know that if I had been under that kind of pressure, it would have caused me to conform but not to change. I spent some time talking with Mrs. Freeman after Br. Freeman died. One of the things that she told me was that Br. Freeman spent most of the time in his study. He had asked her to have his meals ready at a certain time so that he could come out and eat and then go back to his studies. She said that so many times when he came out to eat, he would sit down at the table and put his head down and just weep. He could not even eat. He had such a burden for the people. I don't believe that he knew that the Lord was going to call him home. But the Holy Spirit in him did. I believe there was an urgency to get the word out while there was time and that's why the messages became so intense towards the end. Another thing that Mrs. Freeman said was that people took what Br. Freeman taught and turned it into rules and laws and that he never intended that to happen. She said that an example was what he said about box cake mixes. It was a sin in the eyes of some to use a box cake mix. And yet she told me that Br. Freema's favotite cake was a lemon cake made from a box cake mix. He was trying to make a point but people turned it into a law. He taught principles from the word but some, through the hardness of their hearts, turned the principles that were intended to set us free, into laws to bring us under bondage. I just know that for me personally, the word that came through Br. Freeman changed my life. Words can't express my gratitude for the word of faith. God is so faithful.

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