How They Found Christ: In Their Own Words [Paperback]

Extracts of autobiographical writings by notable Christians, with a focus on the moment of conversion in their lives. One would have to spend quite alot of money to assemble the original literature from which this was culled. An excellent digest, recommended for devout Christians and seekers.

Genealogy is a big interest in todays world. People love to find out about their ancestors. How They Found Christ in Their Own Words gives readers a wonderful chance to trace their Christian "family" ancestry. Ranging from Augustine through Madame Guyon to Andrew Murray and Watchman Nee, the autobiographies found in this book make absorbing reading. Using their own writings with a little touch of modern wording, the editor Bill Freeman gives us a glimpse into the intimate lives of 17 of the famous saints of Christianity. I enjoyed reading this book - no theology, no long words, just heart-born reminiscences leading to friendship and learning.

I cannot recommend any books or literature by the editor of this book. Once a new believer has found Christ, Bill Freeman has allowed his wife to confuse and mislead many young Christians in their congregation away from Christ.

Although Bill Freeman claims to be well versed in church history, he never mentioned that his wife, Pat, derived her foremost playbook practices from our country's colonial history. U.S. Historians tell us that the practice of slavery was abolished in 1865. But, human trafficking and slavery are flourishing today. It had been perpetuated by Egyptians, Arab Muslims, Israelites, and Roman Christians. Muslim slavery preceded Christian slavery. The term "lynch" was derived from Willie Lynch of the West Indies. He was a British slave owner. The slave owners in the colony of Virginia were having trouble controlling their slaves. So, in 1712 they sent for Mr. Lynch to teach them his methods. He, basically, advised the slave owners to stop hanging, or "lynching" their troublesome slaves, and instead, start the process of breaking them down. Break them down to the point where all they knew to do is work and work themselves to death for you.

Lynch's methods were very simple but they were diabolical: "Keep the slaves physically strong but psychologically weak and dependent upon the slave master. ... Keep the body, take the mind. In other words, break the will to resist. ... I use fear, distrust, and envy for control purposes. ... I shall assure you that distrust is stronger than trust and envy stronger than adulation, respect or admiration. Psychological and physical instruction of CONTAINMENT must be created..."--Willie Lynch Letter: Making of a Slave, 1712.

Lynch's control methods are included among Pat's playbook practices. She has employed versions of these as her basic template to retain loyal female followers for over 4 decades.

Christianity is not a weak and passive religion or merely a spectator sport. Jesus Christ came to set the captives free. According to history, most of the slave revolts were led by Christian ministers. John Newton penned the words to his Hymn, Amazing Grace, in his later life. In his early years, John had been pressed into the Royal Navy and served as a sailor in the slave trade. He later studied theology. Genuine Christian leaders should NEVER regress into making slaves out of their own congregations.

In American cultural history, the Sixties were all about freedom. That's when the Freemans had their start. But, the Freemans may have subtly taken away our freedom in Christ and turned it into slavery to themselves. They've coerced followers with false promises of a better life. Many former Freeman followers will confirm that their lives actually shrunk after becoming involved with Pat and Bill. If any of you are present Freeman followers and still consider yourselves to be "free," then why not step away from your involvement with Pat for a season? You owe it to yourself to see the big picture. The following was compiled from personal accounts of multiple people after decades of involvement with Pat and Bill Freeman.

A COMMON STORY--At an opportune time, often after one of us had been unrighteously treated by Patsy and we (perhaps mistakenly) opened our mouth to speak, Pat would viciously target one of us to make an example and provide a "teachable moment" to impress her followers (slaves) to yield, keep their mouths shut, and remain dependent upon her every word and direction. (Remember Mr. Lynch's letter: slaves were to be kept "psychologically weak and dependent on the slave master.")

No matter what we had done (or had not done), Pat took intentional steps to attack us and employed her loyal disciples to carry out her lynchings and bullwhippings. Sound familiar? Much like Pharaoh, she further hardened her heart: banning us from Bill's church meetings and alienating our many close friends from us.

What was this man's crime that his wife and children would be moved from their home under Pat's direct supervision? Was he a thief? Was he a killer, or just a husband and father? What was his crime?

Didn't he regularly attended their "church" meetings and volunteer his time? Didn't he donate money to Pat and Bill? Didn't he help construct Freeman "church" buildings and remodel their upscale homes? Didn't he help in the preparation and printing of Bill's books? Didn't he help lead their singing and compose many of their songs? Hadn't he been loyal to the Freemans? Wasn't he a good slave?

No matter what we did or didn't do, Pat and her mob were the criminals. Our only crime had been to allow our wives to get too close to Pat. Bill preached Biblical laws and principles that did nothing to protect us from Pat's attacks. They just left us wondering "Why?" Some say nothing that erodes the rule of law can be moral. But, there are simply no rules of law or moral restraints present among Pat's playbook practices. Entrusted to the Freemans, human salvation became twisted into human slavery.

So, who are we to sit and do nothing while Pat and her lies inflict further damage upon our friends and their marriages? Doing nothing is no longer an option.

Not when the institution of marriage is being interfered in, and broken. Not when the growing number of divorces attributed to Pat's meddlesome practices far outnumber the few intact marriage bonds remaining among Bill's present congregation. Not when she endorses and promotes the physical and emotional abuse of children among Christian households. Not when Pat had denied many of her own female followers the personal joys of marriage and bearing children, simply because their practical and financial usefulness to her would be diminished thereby. Not when we were forbidden from speaking up for ourselves in their "church" or speaking what we knew to be true about Pat and Bill. Not when dozens of other Christian friends have been shamed, shunned, and excommunicated for speaking the truth about the Freemans. And, not when other born-again believers in Bill's "congregation" are still being set up and targeted by Pat and her mob. I Tim 6:3-10.

OBEDIENCE VS SUBMISSION--Thoreau wrote that you serve your country poorly if you do so by suppressing your conscience in favor of the law because your country needs consciences more than it needs conscienceless robots. He argues that people should not permit governments to overrule or atrophy their consciences. Likewise, for us to serve God, we must not suppress our conscience in favor of the Freeman agenda. A genuine church needs a congregation full of people with consciences. Not conscienceless robots following the Freeman doctrine of submission to "delegated authorities."

Martin Luther King wrote: "I became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. No other person has been more eloquent and passionate in getting this idea across than Henry David Thoreau."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a brilliant German Lutheran pastor and theologian, participated in the German resistance movement against Nazism during WWII. He adds: "Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act." Luke 19:39-46

St. Augustine wrote that "an unjust law is no law at all." This means that we have a right, even a duty to resist the Freeman's present practice of psychological slavery. Their abusive and immoral practices are not rooted in eternal law or natural law. We should resist their unjust laws and code of ethics that are out of harmony with our present moral laws and God's laws, including the Ten Commandments. Resist with violence or resist with civil disobedience. You should pray that we continue to choose the latter.

What Pat has refused to acknowledge is that she could never break many of us. Yes, she has broken and destroyed many marriages. Yes, she has fooled many of her women followers. Yes, she has brought shame and misery upon her own extended family and her deceived disciples. And, yes, she is proud of what she has done. But, her efforts have only strengthened our resolve, making us stronger and firmer in our convictions. More recently, her skittish behavior and frequent travels, her use of unlisted phone numbers, and the multiple homes maintained for her as hideaways and safe houses all reflect her growing paranoia and fear. Pat has even directed the relocation of herself and her troops across state lines three times since 1998. Every five years she has intentionally moved to a different state, distancing herself and her remaining followers from growing opposition and renewed challenges from "former slaves."

BILL'S ROLE--Many of us have turned to Bill in anticipation of a righteous response. After all, Bill often boasted of being a "man of God." Was Bill part of the problem or part of the solution? But, instead of a righteous response, Bill's repeated strategy has been to take the Fifth. He has done nothing and said nothing to atone for Pat's actions and their aftermath. Even in 1999, when confronted during his last Scottsdale church meeting, Bill redirected blame back upon his former congregation for "giving Pat too much control," rather than acknowledge his own impotence. Hadn't he refused to respond to open letters from other churches in 1993 and again in 2004 denouncing Patsy's destructive actions? Hadn't Bill walked out on a 1986 Elder's Meeting that focused on Pat's destructive influence upon marriages within his Seattle congregation? Hadn't Pat and Bill removed themselves from the local churches shortly thereafter, rather than comply with local church leadership accountability? Bill's euphemisms and silence are both lies. The former is a lie of commission; the latter a lie of omission. Bill might be a man of many words, but he is certainly is not a "man of his word." Benjamin Franklin adds several appropriate quotes: "There is a difference between imitating a good man and counterfeiting him. Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God." 2 Tim 3:1-9, Matt 5:13-26

So, without a trial and without an opportunity to speak or tell all you fine people what Pat had done to us, Pat let fly rumors and lies to close your ears and turn you away from anything we might say. After our original epiphany and our painfully enlightening encounter with Pat's "lone wolf personality," our eyes were now opened to see that the Freemans were certainly not who they pretended to be. They were not sincere "church leaders" and certainly not members of "God's house," or even Bill's home grown version of "the pillar and base of the truth." Rather, our struggle was between a truth powerless to act and a power that has become the enemy of truth. Meanwhile, Pat busied herself further in her staged and closed courtroom as she selfishly controlled all outcomes while playing the role of our prosecuting attorney, judge, and jury. Do any consider this as appropriate behavior for a "pastor's wife?"

CONTROL VS COMMUNICATION--Would we be respectfully allowed to speak our mind? No. Would we be allowed to tell our "church friends" what Pat has done? No. She would simply pronounce us "guilty as charged," without allowing us to utter a single word in our own defense. Pat continued to "play church" and further her exploits into character assassination by spreading slanderous lies that each of us in exile had succumbed to human vices and were now all drug addicts, alcoholics, addicted to pornography, or homeless. All were lies. She may have even convinced herself that her words could seal our fate. But remember, each of us had not been the aggressor; each was merely a slave. A slave lynched and bullwhipped by Pat to teach her other followers (slaves) an important lesson to remain psychologically weak and dependent upon the slave master (Pat). Meanwhile, Pat continued to follow Lynch's letter to keep the body and take the mind of her remaining followers (slaves). 1 Tim 3:15

Presenting every man full-grown in Christ?--Since 1986, rather than training a young congregation of leaders to eventually shepherd other congregations and counsel other believers, Pat and Bill have intentionally clipped the wings of many believers within Bill's congregation. The Freemans' selfish quest has been to retain their own following as a source of free "slave labor" and, more importantly, to maintain a sizeable financial stream in support of their extravagant lifestyles. How else could Bill accumulate a closet packed with expensive suits and a library of 10,000 volumes? How else could Pat accumulate her millions? Thus, instead of properly focusing on training-up members of Bill's congregation to become well-grounded with a balanced knowledge of the Bible, the Freemans have focused selfishly on themselves and manipulating followers into serving them as slaves to remodel their upscale properties and donate money to fuel their inflated self images. Some among us even turned over their entire paychecks to Pat. Yet, none could become pastors in their own rite while remaining subservient to the Freemans. Only upon departure from their ingrown confines could we rediscover and regain the independent use of our right minds. Col 1:24-28

Some among us are gifted speakers and well-educated men skilled in counseling others. But, the Freemans had tried to selfishly bottle up all our potential energies. None of us fully realized who we could become until Jesus broke each and every psychological fetter that Pat had craftily constructed.

Mary Alice Chrnalogar adds "Abusive discipleship is a prison of the mind which can imprison the body to accept the will of the group."

But look, Jesus has set us free again! We're now employing our own talents in full measure. Many of our genuinely happy faces and restored relationships with friends and relatives can even be found on Facebook. The invisible psychological walls Pat imposed to imprison, confine and define us have come tumbling down. Enslaved and imprisoned are we no more. Wouldn't it be wonderful if all of us could have a new beginning? Matt 13:24-30, 37-42

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