- 2 days ago
John and Chino examine the contradiction between Hobart Freeman’s radical teachings on divine healing and the reality of his untreated foot injury. Although Freeman claimed healing by faith and told others to throw away their medical aids, he secretly wore an orthopedic shoe for a leg damaged by polio. When his shoe supplier closed, he wore an ill-fitting substitute that caused an ulcer, which ultimately led to his death. The episode exposes how Freeman’s public teachings were at odds with his private actions and how this dissonance was hidden from his followers through visions, dreams, and declarations of healing.
They also explore the psychological and spiritual toll of living under rigid legalism and “faith formulas.” By dissecting Freeman’s messages and theology, John and Chino show how misplaced faith can become harmful when believers are told to deny reality in the name of belief. They introduce the concept of cognitive dissonance as a way to explain why followers defend ideas that consistently fail them, and how entire communities can police themselves to maintain the illusion. The result is a sobering reflection on the cost of loyalty to broken systems and a call for honesty, reason, and integrity.
00:00 Introduction
02:29 Irony of Freeman’s Injury and “Acting Your Faith”
05:06 Freeman’s Borrowed Teachings and the Faith Formula
08:01 Hypocrisy: Shoes in the Trunk and Forcing Others to Discard Aids
13:05 Justifying Delays with Visions and Dreams
16:14 “Healing at Calvary” and Freeman as a Spiritual Paradigm
22:10 Strategic Prophecies and Cult Tactics
25:18 The “Failure to Act Your Faith” Sermon
26:14 Shoe Company Closes, Improper Fit Causes Ulcer
29:05 Denial, Pain, and Manipulative Messaging
33:01 Concealing Illness in High-Control Faith Groups
40:43 Final Months and Descriptions of the Open Wound
42:33 Pretending Healing While Physically Declining
44:04 Coroner’s Report and Unhealed Leg
45:48 Practical Wisdom vs. Faith-Based Neglect
47:00 Misused Scripture and False Confessions
49:36 The Psychology of Cognitive Dissonance
53:36 Rationalizing Failed Predictions
57:14 Policing Doubt in the Group
58:53 Integrity as the Way Forward
______________________
Weaponized Religion: From Christian Identity to the NAR:
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1735160962
Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DCGGZX3K
______________________
– Support the channel: https://www.patreon.com/branham
– Subscribe to the channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBSpezVG15TVG-lOYMRXuyQ
– Visit the website: https://william-branham.org
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They also explore the psychological and spiritual toll of living under rigid legalism and “faith formulas.” By dissecting Freeman’s messages and theology, John and Chino show how misplaced faith can become harmful when believers are told to deny reality in the name of belief. They introduce the concept of cognitive dissonance as a way to explain why followers defend ideas that consistently fail them, and how entire communities can police themselves to maintain the illusion. The result is a sobering reflection on the cost of loyalty to broken systems and a call for honesty, reason, and integrity.
00:00 Introduction
02:29 Irony of Freeman’s Injury and “Acting Your Faith”
05:06 Freeman’s Borrowed Teachings and the Faith Formula
08:01 Hypocrisy: Shoes in the Trunk and Forcing Others to Discard Aids
13:05 Justifying Delays with Visions and Dreams
16:14 “Healing at Calvary” and Freeman as a Spiritual Paradigm
22:10 Strategic Prophecies and Cult Tactics
25:18 The “Failure to Act Your Faith” Sermon
26:14 Shoe Company Closes, Improper Fit Causes Ulcer
29:05 Denial, Pain, and Manipulative Messaging
33:01 Concealing Illness in High-Control Faith Groups
40:43 Final Months and Descriptions of the Open Wound
42:33 Pretending Healing While Physically Declining
44:04 Coroner’s Report and Unhealed Leg
45:48 Practical Wisdom vs. Faith-Based Neglect
47:00 Misused Scripture and False Confessions
49:36 The Psychology of Cognitive Dissonance
53:36 Rationalizing Failed Predictions
57:14 Policing Doubt in the Group
58:53 Integrity as the Way Forward
______________________
Weaponized Religion: From Christian Identity to the NAR:
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1735160962
Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DCGGZX3K
______________________
– Support the channel: https://www.patreon.com/branham
– Subscribe to the channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBSpezVG15TVG-lOYMRXuyQ
– Visit the website: https://william-branham.org
– Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WilliamBranhamOrg
– Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@william.m.branham
– Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/wmbhr
– Buy the books: https://william-branham.org/site/books
Category
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LearningTranscript
00:00:00Transcription by CastingWords
00:00:30Hello, and welcome to another episode of the William Branham Historical Research Podcast.
00:00:37I'm your host, John Collins, the author and founder of William Branham Historical Research at william-branham.org.
00:00:44And with me, I have my co-host, minister, and friend, Cheno Ross,
00:00:48pastor and the voice of the Understanding Scripture and Truth by Cheno D. Ross YouTube channel.
00:00:54Cheno, it's good to be back and to talk more about Hobart Freeman and his foot.
00:00:59I was looking through the list of podcasts we have.
00:01:02We've gone so many episodes about his foot, and we're building up to a climax here.
00:01:07So for people listening, there is a point to all of this.
00:01:09But as you're going through and you're thinking about this faith healer who's not able to heal himself,
00:01:15but telling everybody else how they can do it, it's just so ironic.
00:01:19Whenever you picture that, you know, some of the people who are sitting in the audience maybe had no idea.
00:01:26Maybe the lift in his shoe, he was able to successfully pull it off and fool a few people.
00:01:32But there had to be people who knew that he was, you know, struggling with this.
00:01:37And I look back at, like I said in a few episodes, my grandfather talking about William Branham
00:01:42and his healing the shortened leg trick, which we've talked about.
00:01:49These faith healers were doing it.
00:01:51Hobart Freeman had to have known this was also a gimmick.
00:01:54You know, him being in the situation and watching some of the people that he's around with,
00:02:01whenever these people hang together, they kind of see what's going on.
00:02:04You have to know that it's not really working, this faith healing trick for the leg.
00:02:10And I go back in the weird recesses of my brain.
00:02:15I try to figure out, was he mentally insane and that's why he continued?
00:02:20Did he really believe it and was just duped like the rest of the people?
00:02:24Or was there something more going on?
00:02:27Maybe this podcast, as we bring the foot to a climax, we can get into that a little bit more.
00:02:33And we don't always know, obviously, what's in another person's mind.
00:02:38But what I found ironic in this case with Dr. Freeman was the contradiction involved
00:02:45in his not, quote unquote, acting his faith.
00:02:49We played a couple of clips before, John, where he said that he was carrying a pair of new shoes
00:02:54for normal feet, normal length legs in the trunk of his Cadillac,
00:02:59just waiting for his healing to be manifested.
00:03:02I don't know that everybody who is following these podcasts understood or knew
00:03:07that Hobart had a certain faith formula theology.
00:03:12It worked in his mind for everything and especially for divine healing.
00:03:17None of this was original with Hobart.
00:03:19I know all of his followers thought that all of his teachings were original with him.
00:03:25All you have to do is a very small amount of digging and research.
00:03:30And you see right away that this is not original to him.
00:03:34He picked some of the faith elements of it from Hagen and Copeland and, you know, the faith
00:03:40teachers back then.
00:03:41And he picked some of the deliverance stuff from Don Basham and Derek Prince and Maxwell
00:03:48White.
00:03:48He picked some of the end time stuff from William Branham, interpretations of Revelation and
00:03:55so forth, the book of Revelation.
00:03:56But when it came to faith for healing or faith for anything, Dr. Freeman had written a little
00:04:03small book, basically a pamphlet that was entitled Faith.
00:04:10It was his little faith book.
00:04:13And, you know, when you look back on those days, all of these guys wrote their own little
00:04:17books.
00:04:17They had a little book on this, a little book on that.
00:04:20It was just much ado about nothing.
00:04:22It was just their own regurgitation of what someone else had taught.
00:04:27Now, Dr. Freeman did have one scholarly book.
00:04:30It was an introduction of the Old Testament prophets, but that was written in its original
00:04:35form back in the early 60s when he still had some scholarly inclinations to him.
00:04:43And it was published by Moody Press.
00:04:46But before it was published, he had gone through his experience with the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
00:04:52So had gone back to that book and he rewrote parts of it, like his chapter on Joel 2.
00:04:59To tie it into Acts 2 and the baptism of the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues and all
00:05:05of that.
00:05:06None of that was in the original edition.
00:05:08That book is okay.
00:05:09It's probably, I don't know if it's still in print, but it's probably available out there
00:05:13and people could find it.
00:05:15But these other little books, like his Faith for Healing, were really interesting because
00:05:20in this Faith for Healing book, Dr. Freeman had five chapters, which were his five principles
00:05:29principles for receiving anything from God.
00:05:32And they went like this.
00:05:34The first principle is you have to base your faith on the word of God.
00:05:38In other words, you have to find a promise in the Bible that will meet your need.
00:05:44Number two, you claim it.
00:05:46Number three, you confess it.
00:05:48Number four, you act on it.
00:05:49Number five, you endure to the end.
00:05:51And, you know, it's just faith formula theology is all it is.
00:05:57But I don't think any of the people recognize that back then because you can provide a text
00:06:04for all of those principles.
00:06:06You can provide several texts.
00:06:09And so it seems logical.
00:06:11It seems biblical to people.
00:06:14But you go to that very first principle, you have to base your faith on the word of God.
00:06:19We would all agree with that in principle.
00:06:23But the way he saw the word of God was basically like Baskin Robbins.
00:06:29You can just go and whatever flavor it is you need or like or want, you just, that's your basis for it.
00:06:40So whether it's healing or finances or deliverance or salvation of a loved one or protection when
00:06:49you're skidding on the ice, you know, it's just a Baskin Robbins.
00:06:53You find it and then you claim it.
00:06:57They were big on, you don't, you know, ask God, you don't pray, you name it and claim it.
00:07:03You claim it.
00:07:04This is your inheritance.
00:07:05This belongs to you, that you use commanding, decreeing faith.
00:07:11It's just a lot of pulpous nonsense.
00:07:15Then you confess it, hence the positive thinking and confession.
00:07:19And then the fourth condition, and this is the one we're getting to because of his shoe
00:07:25and foot situation.
00:07:26The fourth condition is you have to act upon it.
00:07:30And when we get to the end of this podcast, we're going to see where this part is, is,
00:07:37is what caused him his, his really big problem.
00:07:41And so on those clips, John, that we played earlier, he carried around a pair of shoes in
00:07:47the trunk of his car for whenever he was healed.
00:07:50So was he, by his own definition, acting his faith?
00:07:55Absolutely not.
00:07:57And what was so disappointing to me, and I evidently it wasn't to others, is that he required
00:08:03everyone else to discard their medicines, to discard crutches, to throw away eyeglasses.
00:08:11He would say, if you pray for your healing, you were healed.
00:08:15Mark 11, 24.
00:08:16At that moment, he got that from Kenneth Hagen.
00:08:18Again, you were healed at that moment.
00:08:22Now, since you are healed, you're no longer sick.
00:08:26Do you feel well?
00:08:27No, but feelings are lying symptoms.
00:08:29You are healed.
00:08:31Now you have to act accordingly.
00:08:33And so if you prayed for better vision, you have to throw away your glasses, throw away
00:08:39your contact lenses and so forth.
00:08:41And yet, right in the middle of this, Hobart, and he's not even trying to hide it, is telling
00:08:50everyone that he's carrying around in the trunk of his caddy or in the trunk of his Lincoln
00:08:56town car, depending on which year it was in his ministry, drove one or the other.
00:09:01Or he did have a big Olds 98, I think, back in the earlier day.
00:09:05And then he said he finally got to the level of Cadillac faith and then got to the level
00:09:09of Lincoln town car faith, that that requires different.
00:09:14But he literally taught that.
00:09:15He said, if you just have Oldsmobile faith, that's the only kind of faith you have, then
00:09:20God will meet you with Oldsmobile faith.
00:09:22It was just, I mean, when you look back on that and you think this guy used to be a seminary
00:09:29professor and he's just spouting nonsense like Oldsmobile faith or Ford or Plymouth faith
00:09:37versus Cadillac faith, you just really have to wonder what in the world happened in Hobart
00:09:43Freeman's mind.
00:09:45You know, there were times I think I might have had Ford Pinto faith or not even that.
00:09:49I couldn't afford a Ford Pinto.
00:09:52So maybe my faith was different than his.
00:09:54But, you know, what's really odd about all of this is all of the different elements of
00:10:00things that are just vastly wrong that all of this was built upon.
00:10:03You don't just come out and tell people all of this and then instantly believe it.
00:10:07You have to, it's like building a framework.
00:10:09You have to build the foundation first and then build on that.
00:10:12And it was largely built on the foundation of legalism.
00:10:15So you've got this religion of legalism and then you have the faith healing on top of that.
00:10:19Well, because of the foundation of legalism, they have to find a legalistic manner in which
00:10:26you can save yourself and heal yourself using these tactics.
00:10:30So here are the five rules you must follow in order to do this, which is absolutely absurd.
00:10:35I was thinking about this long ago, but Branham had, it wasn't so clearly defined as that,
00:10:42but he had similar things that he would talk about in his ministry.
00:10:45Well, what about Lazarus?
00:10:46Did he follow those rules, man, when he was dead?
00:10:49But, you know, if you go back to the Bible and you read, yes, maybe they did some of these things,
00:10:54but it wasn't as though that was required for God to heal them.
00:10:59The offer was free for everybody who was willing to accept God's healing.
00:11:03And there's just so much to it more than what these guys are presenting.
00:11:08But in the end, people of this mindset like the legalistic framework,
00:11:13because if they can create a set of rules that people can't find for themselves in the Bible,
00:11:19you're not just going to clearly open the Bible and find,
00:11:22well, here are the exact rules that I must use to heal myself.
00:11:25You've got to go to this guy to get it.
00:11:27And when you do, it makes them sound superior and like they have so much more knowledge than you.
00:11:33And so people just open up and listen.
00:11:36And what happens is, as a byproduct of this, they shut off all of their critical thinking.
00:11:41And so it is the perfect scenario for creating a destructive cult.
00:11:46Yeah.
00:11:47And you hit the nail on the head.
00:11:49My very first car, you didn't know this, Sean, I ever owned,
00:11:55that I ever actually had a title to, and my name was a Ford Pinto.
00:11:59Wow.
00:12:00That was the very first car I ever owned.
00:12:03Cost $450.
00:12:07And I was so happy to have it.
00:12:09I mean, it's better than walking.
00:12:10I was happy to have it.
00:12:13You know, Hobart didn't even hide the fact that he had those shoes.
00:12:16I think, and I wondered in my mind why he didn't try to hide it.
00:12:21And I think probably the reason he couldn't hide it is because, well, his wife knew,
00:12:25his kids knew, his sons-in-law knew.
00:12:28Enough people early in the church in the pre-charismatic days knew about his short leg and orthopedic shoe.
00:12:35So that's probably the reason that he had to go ahead and just announce that I am carrying these shoes around in my car because there were other people that knew the truth of that.
00:12:47And then the next step involved, which we just barely got into last time, that really caused me significant problems.
00:12:57You know, I am a young man, and I am listening to these stories, and I'm listening to his explanations, and I'm listening to his teachings,
00:13:04and I'm hearing his use of scripture, and I'm processing this, and originally agreeing with it.
00:13:13Later on, trying to continue to agree with it.
00:13:18Later on, realizing I can't remain sane and continue to agree with it.
00:13:24You know, you just go through these steps, as we all have, if you've ever been a part of anything like this,
00:13:30and you're working your way out.
00:13:32And it doesn't happen like you go into a phone booth and come out of Superman.
00:13:38You know, it is a process that happens.
00:13:40But the next step was, while he's waiting for his manifestation of his healing,
00:13:48while he's carrying these new shoes around in the trunk of his Cadillac,
00:13:52he is kind of what I call flaunting his superiority and his arrogance by saying that whenever his healing did finally come,
00:14:04then it was going to be special.
00:14:06And the way he would communicate that to people, and he did it on many tapes,
00:14:13he would share a vision or a dream or a word that someone in his church had had about him and his healing had given him,
00:14:25then he would relay this from the pulpit.
00:14:27So I think we gave one last time.
00:14:30We won't redo it, but it's on a message entitled Healing in the Atonement.
00:14:35From the 48 minute, 35 second mark to the 49 minute, 20 second mark, 26 second mark.
00:14:42Here's what he said.
00:14:43And so it is when Jesus bore my diseases and carried away my pains.
00:14:49It doesn't matter because someone sees me still limping.
00:14:55I was healed at Calvary.
00:14:58So this was done in 1974.
00:15:01It was a Sunday evening service.
00:15:05It was a communion service.
00:15:08I've said before, every time they had communion, he taught a healing message.
00:15:12This was a healing in the atonement.
00:15:14For anyone who wanted to know or who's curious, that morning, a Sunday morning, he taught message number 784.
00:15:23They were doing their little study in the book of Hebrews.
00:15:26But here he's saying, if you're still seeing me limp, because people would occasionally come up to him and say,
00:15:33don't you know God is growing legs out today?
00:15:36You must have missed that because God, if you'll just sit down, I'll pray for you and God will grow your legs out, your leg out.
00:15:42He had succumbed to that before early in his charismatic experience, but he didn't do it anymore.
00:15:49He simply told people, no, I'm healed at Calvary.
00:15:53And then he went on in this same clip to say, one sister had a vision.
00:15:59She said, I don't know what it means.
00:16:01Oh, there have been many visions of the manifestation of my healing.
00:16:06We have this unnamed anonymous sister.
00:16:09He goes on to say in other references to this, there have been 20 confirmations of my healing, you know, as though that's necessary or important.
00:16:23And I think what that does is it just encourages copycat visions and copycat dreams and copycat words.
00:16:36People, you know, this unnamed anonymous sister who had a vision, she got emotional sometime.
00:16:43I'm sorry.
00:16:44And I am going to say this because he died with a short leg.
00:16:47So there we go.
00:16:49Those are the facts of the matter.
00:16:51So did she have a vision of him getting healed?
00:16:53No, she didn't.
00:16:54It was a false vision.
00:16:56It was a false whatever because he died that way.
00:16:59People hate hearing that.
00:17:00But that is that is the proof.
00:17:03If something is predicted and doesn't come to pass, it's because it was false.
00:17:07And however you want to treat that, whether it was just indigestion or imagination or whatever, it was simply false.
00:17:18But whenever someone has a so-called vision, they're going to go share it with Dr. Freeman.
00:17:24And what does that do but put that person in his good graces?
00:17:29Because they're just confirming what he wants to believe all along.
00:17:33It gives him encouragement.
00:17:35When he is then standing in the pulpit and relaying these 20 or more dreams and visions and words of wisdom confirming his healing, guess what that does?
00:17:48That just gets people off his back.
00:17:51It tells people, hey, you know, if you don't believe this, the majority here do believe it because God is showing them by dream and vision.
00:18:00And the arrogance and superiority then comes in in the next part of what this lady says.
00:18:07But she said, when your healing was manifested, I saw the body of Christ entering into your manifestation.
00:18:17And so here is Hobart Freeman in his classic form, John, of paradigmatic Hobart Freeman.
00:18:26My life, my experiences, I am a paradigm for the body of Christ.
00:18:32He did this over and over with his teaching in the series on exhortations from Exodus.
00:18:38He would talk about Moses, was trained in all the wisdom of Egypt, and then God brought him out into the desert.
00:18:47Hobart was trained in all the wisdom of the Baptist seminaries.
00:18:51And then God separated him from that and brought him out.
00:18:55He saw himself as a paradigm, and I'm sorry, that's just an arrogance and an elitism that is really, it shouldn't be surprising, but it is surprising to see in a Christian leader.
00:19:12He really thought, and he loved hearing these visions and dreams, that when he got healed, he was such a special purpose or person, that when he got healed, other people are going to receive their healing at the same time.
00:19:31And, you know, the bizarre thing about that is all it was was a short leg.
00:19:36You can get by with that till the day you die, which he did.
00:19:39There were other people who had terminal illnesses.
00:19:44I would much rather when that person who has a terminal illness gets healed, then I can share in their healing and I can receive my healing too.
00:19:55Just you from your short leg, you are such an important person that from your little short leg.
00:20:02Now, and this said, you're going to get your manifestation, that new set of teeth.
00:20:08These people who have no teeth, God's going to create all new teeth in your mouth the same day Hobart gets his healing.
00:20:16Oh, my word.
00:20:18I mean, where have these people been?
00:20:20Where are these people that still support Hobart Freeman today?
00:20:23Now, you're talking about the person who allegedly prophesied, and that was confirmation.
00:20:29That was a strategy that was widely used by these people.
00:20:33Whenever anybody were to dream a dream or have a vision, whatever it was, whether it's true or false, if it in some way empowered the central figure, they would run with it.
00:20:44William Branham, he talked about this woman who apparently she was out of this Mormon sect.
00:20:50And in the Mormon sect, they had apparently prophesied the name William Branham for the Mormons.
00:20:57And he ran with that.
00:20:58So you're left with the question, wait a minute, is this a Mormon faith that I'm in or what is this?
00:21:03And there are all kinds of weird things like that.
00:21:06I had a clip, and I'm not going to mention where it came from.
00:21:10Actually, I will.
00:21:11Well, it came from faith assembly, not your faith assembly.
00:21:14It came from the faith assembly that apparently Hobart named his sect after, which maybe we'll get into that someday.
00:21:22But there was a person who was being publicly chastised for going on vacation.
00:21:29And I don't remember all the details of the story.
00:21:31This happened a while back, but some person stood up and started speaking in tongues about how wonderful this was that God was chastising this person and just ruining and destroying their lives right there in front of the people.
00:21:45Well, whenever somebody's speaking in tongues, and that's the interpretation, everybody who's in this type of movement, they think, well, that must be from God because God has clearly spoken.
00:21:55But the things that came out of her mouth weren't the kind of things that you hear from the Christian God.
00:22:00So now you're left with an even bigger problem.
00:22:03What God is it that these people are serving, right?
00:22:06And, you know, to Hobart's, you know, I hate to give the guy credit, but to his own credit, it was a brilliant strategy to do this.
00:22:18Because if you can find somebody who's in this type of movement who can prophesy or even claim and convince others that they can prophesy something about you, that binds the people together even stronger than anything that you could possibly say.
00:22:34So I suspect, and I'm not saying Hobart did this, but I suspect widely in the movement, you had people that were planted for that exact purpose.
00:22:43Because some of the guys just turned out to be outright scoundrels, and I don't think they believed half of what they said.
00:22:49So those guys probably planted people.
00:22:51And now Hobart, we're still going to raise the question.
00:22:53Was he honest?
00:22:54Was he not?
00:22:55I don't know.
00:22:55But I can see this being misused, and it's very powerful in its misuse.
00:23:01Even if he didn't plant, and I would assume that he didn't, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt there.
00:23:06Just by him talking about this stuff all the time, some woman or man is going to get emotional and think they have a vision and relate it.
00:23:14And, you know, what it does then, since now Hobart is the paradigm, when Hobart's leg is lengthened, the whole body of Christ is going to enter into it.
00:23:26What have you done but made your people dependent on you and your healing?
00:23:32And you created all of this false hope among those people.
00:23:36I mean, he had a short leg from 1922, when he was two years old, to 1984.
00:23:47He always had a short leg.
00:23:50And these other people, their healing has now been tied into his healing.
00:23:54He never got healed.
00:23:56Where does that leave these poor people?
00:23:57Hopefully people gave up these false ideas and visions that these people had.
00:24:04But as we said last time, here is the birth, you know, of what we might call the urban legend or the charismatic legend.
00:24:13You know, legs were being lengthened left and right back in the early 1970s.
00:24:18You know, oh, you got a short leg, sit down.
00:24:20God, don't you know God's growing legs out?
00:24:22And as I've said before, if your leg is a foot shorter, I'm willing to watch it grow out.
00:24:28And when it does, I'll be the first to praise God.
00:24:30But when it's a quarter inch shorter, no, I don't believe anything about that.
00:24:35But this is the birth of the urban legend.
00:24:39And as you just said, John, it becomes part of the lore and legend of the cult.
00:24:45It was often told from the pulpit.
00:24:48It was well remembered by the people.
00:24:50It was accepted as a fact that Hobart was going to be healed.
00:24:56And when he was healed of his short leg, that all the members in the body of Christ.
00:25:02And I don't know if that meant just faith assembly or if it meant everybody who was believing for healing.
00:25:09They were all going to enter into that.
00:25:11But, you know, of course, it's not true.
00:25:16So the big problem then is we come to Hobart has this teaching.
00:25:24You have to act your faith.
00:25:26Now we realize Hobart is not acting his faith.
00:25:29We gave a quote from one of his sermons in the last podcast.
00:25:33John, it was from L25 and listen to the title of the message where he talks about carrying a pair of shoes in his Cadillac.
00:25:43The name of the message was failure to act your faith.
00:25:48It is so ironic that he would include a clip of his failure, according to his doctrine, to act his faith on a message entitled failure to act your faith.
00:25:59I mean, that obviously went over his head.
00:26:03Had he seen the title and the example that he gave, he would have had to do some editing there.
00:26:10But he didn't.
00:26:11He just left it.
00:26:12But, but, but, here's the problem.
00:26:15The final problem is it did not work.
00:26:18He was never healed of his polio shortened leg.
00:26:23And here's the background to this story.
00:26:26And the way that the reason that we know he wasn't is the verdict of the coroner.
00:26:31And we will talk about that when we get to Dr. Freeman's death.
00:26:37But here is, here's what happened.
00:26:40Hobart for years had used a shoe company in Chicago, Illinois, to buy his special orthopedic shoes.
00:26:50The company went out of business in the early 1980s.
00:26:58Went out of business.
00:26:59This was the place that Hobart had always bought his orthopedic shoe.
00:27:03It's a special shoe with a special lip just to fit his foot.
00:27:08When you have the effects of polio in a shortened leg like that, it affects people differently.
00:27:15Your foot could be twisted a little one way or the other.
00:27:18It could be cocked to the side in, inwards or outwards.
00:27:23So you really, you need more than just a stack of napkins in the bottom of your shoe.
00:27:30You need a custom-made shoe that gives you not only the lift, but that will also give you the right form that will fit your polio-damaged foot.
00:27:41So the Chicago company has gone out of business.
00:27:45And guess what?
00:27:46Hobart still needs that shoe.
00:27:49And so he has to find another company to buy from.
00:27:53He did.
00:27:54He found another company.
00:27:55He bought a shoe.
00:27:56It was an improper fit, and he continued wearing it anyway.
00:28:02And what happened from that?
00:28:04It caused a blister, which caused a wound, which caused an ulcerated wound, which when we get to the details of the very, very end of Dr. Freeman's life,
00:28:21and we see what the coroner's verdict was, he died, among other things, of gangrene in his foot and ankle caused by an ulceration caused by an improper shoe fit.
00:28:40So let's go to a message entitled, Our One Remedy for Healing.
00:28:50This was done in 1980.
00:28:53This is several years before his death.
00:28:56Our One Remedy for Healing.
00:28:58I think his text might be Luke chapter 6, but the way Hobart did anything, Hobart always had an idea or had a title and then went and found the text to use to springboard into the message.
00:29:14Hobart was not an expositor.
00:29:15He did not actually start with the text and try to determine what does it say.
00:29:20He always had a thought in his mind.
00:29:22I want to talk about our One Remedy for Healing.
00:29:25And, you know, our One Remedy would obviously be prayer to God.
00:29:28No medicine, no going to doctors or the hospital.
00:29:32And this, our One Remedy for Healing, also, guess what?
00:29:36It was a communion service.
00:29:37You can listen to the beginning of it.
00:29:39I've said on dozens of messages when they are going to have a communion service, which is a celebration of the death of Jesus on the cross,
00:29:49a memorial of that, a looking back to that, as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11.
00:29:55Hobart never, that I'm aware of, if he announced we're going to do communion, he never talked about the glories of heaven or the eternal rewards of the believer or the new city of Jerusalem coming down and being established on the earth.
00:30:11And God dwelling with us and we with him and he would be among us and be our God and we would be his people and he would wipe away all tears from our eyes.
00:30:22None of this that a normal person would think of, the death of Jesus.
00:30:28I have been given the gift of eternal life.
00:30:32I have been, my sins are washed away.
00:30:34I am a new creation.
00:30:35I have been given the gift of salvation.
00:30:39To my knowledge, when it was a communion service, he always said, well, we want to talk about our full redemption.
00:30:46And he never would talk about our full.
00:30:48He'd only talk about the half that he wanted to talk about.
00:30:51And that was bodily healing.
00:30:52Well, I know what I'm talking about.
00:30:54I don't come here and tell you about my physical trials.
00:30:58I'll just tell you one to make my point.
00:30:59And I've got an ulcer right now on my ankle that's been there for two months.
00:31:05And it hurts.
00:31:07And it doesn't look a bit better.
00:31:09But praise God, it was healed at Calvary.
00:31:12And I practice what I preach.
00:31:15If God will heal your ulcer, he'll heal mine.
00:31:19Hallelujah.
00:31:20And I don't go by what I see or what I feel.
00:31:24I practice what I preach.
00:31:25And there are other things we could mention that's nobody's business.
00:31:29You have to walk out.
00:31:31For people that want to listen, you can listen all the way through to the 14 minute and 34 second mark.
00:31:38And you can hear even more commentary and, you know, more of a context of what he's having to say.
00:31:45But I'll just go over a few of the highlights that are seen in that very early part.
00:31:51So remember, he's got a short foot.
00:31:53But he's supposed to be believing by faith.
00:31:55But he's using a shoe with a lift in it rather than acting his faith.
00:32:02But the Chicago company's gone out of business.
00:32:05So now he can no longer get that perfect fit.
00:32:07Now he's had to go to another company with a substitute shoe.
00:32:11And here's what he says.
00:32:12He says, oh, I know what I'm talking about.
00:32:16Talking about walking by faith and acting your faith.
00:32:19Oh, I know what I'm talking about.
00:32:21I don't come here and tell you about my physical trials.
00:32:25And then he pauses and then he tells us about his physical trials.
00:32:29He was good on that.
00:32:30He was such a manipulator of the people.
00:32:33And I know that sounds really cruel to say, but it really was true.
00:32:37If you carefully listen to him, he did want sympathy.
00:32:41He did want people to know that he was suffering.
00:32:45But he didn't want to say much about it.
00:32:47He wanted to say just a little and then leave them hanging where they would think, oh, wow,
00:32:52what a great man of faith.
00:32:55You know, he's not just an armchair healing theologian.
00:32:58He actually is experiencing some of these things himself.
00:33:02And he is walking it out by faith.
00:33:04Of course, they're forgetting the key ingredient.
00:33:07He's not walking it out by faith.
00:33:09He has gone and gotten to shoot.
00:33:12Have you ever wondered how the Pentecostal movement started or how the progression of
00:33:16modern Pentecostalism transitioned through the latter reign, charismatic and other fringe
00:33:22movements into the new apostolic reformation?
00:33:25You can learn this and more on William Branham Historical Research's website,
00:33:30william-branham.org.
00:33:32On the books page of the website, you can find the compiled research of John Collins,
00:33:37Charles Paisley, Stephen Montgomery, John McKinnon, and others, with links to the paper, audio,
00:33:44and digital versions of each book.
00:33:47You can also find resources and documentation on various people and topics related to those
00:33:52movements.
00:33:53If you want to contribute to the cause, you can support the podcast by clicking the
00:33:58contribute button at the top.
00:33:59And as always, be sure to like and subscribe to the audio or video version that you're listening
00:34:05to or watching.
00:34:06On behalf of William Branham Historical Research, we want to thank you for your support.
00:34:10He said, I don't come and tell you about my physical trials.
00:34:15And then the next sentence, I'll just tell you one to make my point.
00:34:20I've got an ulcer right now on my ankle that's been there two months.
00:34:27And if you listen to the quote, then he hollers and it hurts.
00:34:31He yells and then he yells and it doesn't look a bit better.
00:34:36And then he yells, but praise God, it was healed at Calvary.
00:34:43And then you hear everybody rejoicing and clapping in the background.
00:34:47And then he said, and I practice what I preach.
00:34:52So, and I'll read one other sentence here in just a minute.
00:34:56So I listened to that, John, and I hear somebody who's obviously in pain.
00:35:00Um, I hear someone that I would say is, is probably angry.
00:35:06This isn't a, this is not a peaceful, thankful, um, calm, rejoicing confidence in God's faithfulness
00:35:18to heal.
00:35:19This seems to be anger.
00:35:21I don't know if it's directed at God that he's not healed.
00:35:25It could possibly be anger.
00:35:28I'll let everyone decide they can listen to it for themselves and decide anger addressed
00:35:34at people who are questioning him, challenging him, doubting him.
00:35:40If you listen to that clip, there's definitely, um, some anger being manifest.
00:35:48Um, there's some boasting involved when he said, and I practice what I preach.
00:35:53You know, if you, if you really have been healed, um, that's wonderful.
00:35:57That's great.
00:35:58You don't have to tell anybody about it.
00:36:00You don't have to stand up in the pulpit and announce that.
00:36:03And then the last sentence that he gives is this.
00:36:07And there are other things we could mention.
00:36:11That's nobody's business.
00:36:12And again, you know, I'm just a type of person, um, like you, John, I, I could never have been
00:36:20a psychologist, but I think about psychology and why people say what they say, why they
00:36:27do what they do.
00:36:28What are their ulterior motives?
00:36:30It's just, I hate it, but sometimes that's just the way my mind works.
00:36:34And when he says, and there are other things we could mention, that's nobody's business.
00:36:39I'm thinking, why did you even add that on there?
00:36:42To me, it almost sounds like he wants people to think that the situation in this area or
00:36:49in other areas is maybe more severe than he's letting on.
00:36:55But, you know, I'm just, because I have so much faith, you know, I don't need your sympathy.
00:37:00I don't need your prayers.
00:37:01I don't need your help because he has so much faith.
00:37:04Uh, it's not any of your business.
00:37:06Well, it's not any of our business.
00:37:07Why did you bring it up in the first place?
00:37:10Then to tell us it's none of our business.
00:37:12It's like you're drawing us on.
00:37:15Have you ever wondered how the Pentecostal movement started or how the progression of
00:37:20modern Pentecostalism transitioned through the latter reign, charismatic and other fringe
00:37:25movements into the new apostolic reformation?
00:37:28You can learn this and more on William Branham Historical Research's website,
00:37:33william-branham.org.
00:37:35On the books page of the website, you can find the compiled research of John Collins,
00:37:41Charles Paisley, Stephen Montgomery, John McKinnon, and others, with links to the paper,
00:37:47audio, and digital versions of each book.
00:37:49You can also find resources and documentation on various people and topics related to those
00:37:55movements.
00:37:56If you want to contribute to the cause, you can support the podcast by clicking the contribute
00:38:01button at the top.
00:38:03And as always, be sure to like and subscribe to the audio or video version that you're
00:38:08listening to or watching.
00:38:09On behalf of William Branham Historical Research, we want to thank you for your support.
00:38:16Now you've got me curious, you know, what are these other things?
00:38:19What else did he have that's not in the coroner's report?
00:38:23You know, I grew up in a family who was much in the same type of mentality.
00:38:29You did not let the public know what was wrong with you.
00:38:33It's so weird to think about.
00:38:34I've been to new churches, and when the pastor is sick or has a sick family member, it's all
00:38:40out in the open.
00:38:41They tell you exactly, I've got this thing that's wrong with me.
00:38:44I'm going to see a surgeon.
00:38:46I'm going to see a doctor this week.
00:38:48Please pray for me.
00:38:49Here's exactly what's going on.
00:38:51And in these divine healing families, especially when you get it to the upper tiers, they do not
00:38:58want people to know what's wrong with them.
00:39:00And they try to cover it up.
00:39:01But there comes a point when things get so bad, you can't cover it up.
00:39:07So they will make a partial announcement.
00:39:09I've got this thing wrong.
00:39:11Oh, you probably already know.
00:39:13It's really bad wrong with me.
00:39:15But we have more.
00:39:16There's much more to tell about, and I'm not going to tell those things.
00:39:21I grew up in a family that did this, and I can tell people who were involved in this
00:39:25kind of movement, especially if you're in the upper tiers.
00:39:28Once you get out from under that, it is so relieving to get rid of that pressure, because
00:39:36then you can go to people who are actually praying for whatever you need.
00:39:40You don't have to conceal and withhold and say, by faith, I've accepted it, and I'm not
00:39:44going to tell you what's wrong with me.
00:39:46Because if I do, I'm going to get it.
00:39:47Because I already have it, and I can name and claim it that I don't have it.
00:39:52I mean, even trying to think through that, my tang is getting tungled.
00:39:58It's just so wrong.
00:40:00And once you get out from under that pressure, now you can actually have a support group.
00:40:06I've got this thing I'm going through.
00:40:08It's very bad.
00:40:09I'm going to be open and honest with everybody.
00:40:11Please come pray for me.
00:40:13And oh, by the way, my wife is going through it too.
00:40:16Maybe she needs some meals.
00:40:17Maybe she needs some help around the house.
00:40:19That's the kind of thing that you see in a normal church.
00:40:22But in these faith-healing sects, it's not like this.
00:40:25No, and I just want people to see that he definitely had something wrong with his foot
00:40:32and ankle, and it was because of this improper shoe fit.
00:40:35So we have another clip, John.
00:40:37We're getting a lot closer to the time of his death.
00:40:40In the summer of 1984, he was teaching his little short series.
00:40:46I think there might have been eight or nine messages in it on exhortations from Exodus.
00:40:51The very last of those messages was entitled,
00:40:54The Night of the Lord, from the 10 minute and 40 second mark to 11 minute and one second mark.
00:41:03That hole in my foot that's healed by faith, that looked bigger today than it did six months ago.
00:41:09Dear friends, if you take thought, it begins to hurt.
00:41:14But when I don't take thought, I forget it's there, and I just go ahead and walk on it.
00:41:18So again, he references, as he did on other tapes, I'm just giving two or three examples,
00:41:26the hole that he has in his foot.
00:41:28You know, he's had this since that our One Remedy for Healing message back in 1980.
00:41:33He's got a, you know, a sore.
00:41:35Now, this quote says,
00:41:38That hole in my foot that's healed by faith, that looks bigger than it did six months ago.
00:41:46Wow.
00:41:47So this is a series.
00:41:49This is not just a blister.
00:41:51This is an ulceration, an ulcerated ankle or foot.
00:41:56I think it was actually on his ankle because he talks about you don't even have any flesh there.
00:42:02It's just a bone.
00:42:03And he said that hole, which is healed by faith, it's bigger than it was six months ago.
00:42:13If you take thought, it begins to hurt.
00:42:16But when I don't take thought and I forget it's there, then I just go ahead and walk on it.
00:42:23And then let's go to Comfort for Troubled Times, well-known part one and part two message.
00:42:30This was part one.
00:42:31This was the next to last message Hobart Freeman taught.
00:42:36Comfort for Troubled Times, part one, was taught on October the 17th of 1984.
00:42:42See, I don't stand here holding this pulpit because I'm nervous, but I have to keep off of that one foot with the hole in it as much as I can.
00:42:51I stand on the other leg in case you wondered if he's nervous or whatever.
00:42:55I was healed at Calvary for that.
00:42:58I got no problem.
00:42:59I was trying to make a point.
00:43:00And I like for people to hear that, you know, in Hobart's voice, I heard someone or I talked to someone.
00:43:06It was like an hour and a half conversation this weekend on Saturday with a man from a state out west.
00:43:13He said, I just can't stand when you guys are you and John are doing these podcasts and you have John play one of those clips of Freeman from early on.
00:43:23And I have to listen to his whiny voice.
00:43:26He said, I just can't stand listening to that man's whiny voice.
00:43:31So maybe if people plug their ears, I'll read it for you.
00:43:35Here's what he said.
00:43:36We're talking at the very end of his life.
00:43:38He is going to die within two months of this message.
00:43:42See, I don't stand here holding to this pulpit because I'm nervous.
00:43:47But I have to keep off of that one foot with the hole in it as much as I can.
00:43:53I stand on the other leg in case you're wondering, is he nervous or whatever?
00:43:59I was healed at Calvary for that.
00:44:01I got no problem.
00:44:03So there are other messages where he was actually they brought a chair up for Dr.
00:44:08Freeman to sit down in because, you know, he couldn't stand up.
00:44:11And he is, according to him, claiming, believing, acting his faith, confessing his faith, enduring.
00:44:20I mean, he did all the conditions that his own little orange faith book told him to do.
00:44:24But he died with a hole in his foot.
00:44:26And the hole in his foot was way worse, you know, according to the autopsy, obviously, when he died.
00:44:33Then when he first put on a shoe that did not fit properly, that he should have taken off.
00:44:39I mean, how foolish can a person be?
00:44:43But this is part of Dr. Freeman's mentality.
00:44:47You approach everything by faith.
00:44:50You don't approach it from just a normal, logical point of view.
00:44:55If, you know, the shirt's too tight, you know, you get a bigger shirt or you lose weight, one or the other.
00:45:00If the shoe doesn't fit, you buy a shoe that fits.
00:45:05No, he bought a shoe that did not fit.
00:45:07And we've all put on a pair of shoes that didn't fit.
00:45:10Man, it's rubbing our ankle.
00:45:12We get rid of those things yesterday because it hurts.
00:45:16You know, first of all, it starts off, what, a little red.
00:45:19And then it actually turns, you know, into like a little slight blister.
00:45:23And then what happens if you continue to wear that?
00:45:25That blister becomes big.
00:45:27And then it's going to pop and burst.
00:45:29And what happens if you just continue wearing an improper fit?
00:45:34You're wearing a hole right in your ankle or foot.
00:45:38And that's exactly what Dr. Freeman did.
00:45:41I'm sorry for the man because I'm sure that was really painful.
00:45:45But that was really foolish and really stupid to do.
00:45:49It's not biblical at all.
00:45:51The Bible is full of admonitions that God's people, Old and New Testament, just use practical wisdom in the way they go about handling themselves and their life.
00:46:02And so, John, this is a real extreme case with Dr. Freeman.
00:46:08But it's the same kind of thing that cost so many of these other people their lives that literally died.
00:46:16It's the same thing that calls Pamela Meany, the little 15-year-old young lady who died of the kidney problems, her life.
00:46:24It's the same thing that cost so many of these other people their life.
00:46:29They claimed their healing when they looked at their body.
00:46:35They didn't see any evidence of it.
00:46:37But they said, that doesn't matter.
00:46:40Those are lying symptoms.
00:46:42I'm just going to continue to persevere.
00:46:44I'm going to press forward.
00:46:46But what I would encourage people to do is to just forget about the stringing together of proof texts.
00:46:57Really just forget about anything or everything you've read in the Bible and deal with reality.
00:47:05The reality is you have a hole in your foot.
00:47:08The reality is not that you're healed.
00:47:10The reality is you have a hole in your foot.
00:47:13Now, look, there are passages that come to my mind because I know the way Hobart would proof text everything.
00:47:20There's a famous passage, John, he would use in Romans 4.
00:47:25It's the end of verse 17 where Paul is talking about the promise God gave to Abraham of a son Isaac.
00:47:32And for 25 years, Abraham doesn't see a son Isaac.
00:47:37And so, you know, he waits and endures.
00:47:40What these people do is they read back into that stuff.
00:47:45I don't see Abraham confessing.
00:47:47Hey, do you see my son right here?
00:47:49I know he's invisible, but he's here because God's promised him.
00:47:54And I believe that by faith.
00:47:55So can you see Isaac?
00:47:57No, but he's standing right here beside me.
00:48:00He's just invisible.
00:48:01That's no different for Abraham to have done that than what these people are doing today.
00:48:07No, we don't see it, but we believe it by faith.
00:48:09And so you have the end of verse 17 in Romans 4, where it says, calling those things which
00:48:16be not as though they were.
00:48:18Calling those things which be not as though they were.
00:48:22But if you read that verse, God is one who calls those things which be not as though they
00:48:30were because he's the almighty God and he can make miracles happen and he can create things
00:48:36and he can give birth when when Abraham is 100 years old to a miracle child.
00:48:44What these guys have done nowadays, they have taken that phrase, calling things that be
00:48:49not as though they were and think that's what we're supposed to do.
00:48:53So I'm calling this thing, which is not as though it were.
00:48:59And so there we go with those mind games.
00:49:01Well, I'm not healed, but I am healed because name it and claim it says I am healed.
00:49:06But if I look at myself, I'm not healed.
00:49:08But I am healed because Romans 4, 17.
00:49:11I'm going to call those things which be not as though they were.
00:49:13I'm just going to say, there we go again with a classic example of somebody who is lifting
00:49:20a text totally out of its context.
00:49:22And then I mean, anything to do with faith and healing doesn't even have to do with the
00:49:26person naming things that are not.
00:49:29It's actually God.
00:49:30And so if we could spend the last few minutes, John, talking about a favorite phrase of mine,
00:49:37you I'm sure you're well aware of it and you probably talked about it before.
00:49:41And maybe we need a definition of it or something, but it's called cognitive dissonance.
00:49:48It's a really interesting phrase that the psychiatrist and psychologist have come up with.
00:49:57And what it has to do with cognitive dissonance is when it happens to all of us human beings,
00:50:04when we have one belief in our mind, but our life doesn't reflect that.
00:50:14And so the cognitive dissonance speaks of the tension, the angst, the uncertainty that the
00:50:23person deals with knowing, well, I have this belief and yet I don't have that reality in
00:50:31my life.
00:50:32And an easy example would be someone who knows intellectually that to eat fast food
00:50:41seven days a week is unhealthy for you.
00:50:45And you can expect negative, unhealthy consequences from that.
00:50:49We all know that.
00:50:51That's that is common knowledge.
00:50:53That's a belief we all have.
00:50:54But there are people who, even though they have that belief, where do they eat seven days
00:51:01a week, fast food, they still go there.
00:51:05That's the cognitive dissonance.
00:51:07It actually was a phrase that was, I think, invented by a social psychologist named Leon
00:51:14Festinger.
00:51:15And he wrote a book.
00:51:16This is so interesting.
00:51:18It's almost a book that if people aren't familiar with, they should go read it.
00:51:22It was published back in 1956.
00:51:25It was entitled When Prophecy Fails.
00:51:29And so what Leon and some colleagues were doing before they wrote this book, they had
00:51:36done some research in religious groups of all things, in religious groups, hence the title
00:51:43When Prophecy Fails, of people who have these beliefs like we've talked about with William
00:51:50Branham, and like we've talked about with Hobart Freeman, who will make a prediction, as William
00:51:56Branham was prone to do.
00:51:58What happens when you make the prediction and it doesn't come to pass?
00:52:03So before they wrote this book, there was a group in Chicago.
00:52:08It was a religious group.
00:52:09Yeah, they were kind of whacked out.
00:52:11But a prophecy had been given in that group that there was going to be a cataclysmic flood,
00:52:19not worldwide like Noah's, but a devastating flood that was going to affect Canada and the
00:52:26United States and Central America and Europe.
00:52:30And it was going to happen, if I remember correctly, on December the 21st, you know,
00:52:40maybe in 1954 or 55, prior to them writing this book.
00:52:44They were already investigating this whole business of cognitive dissonance, how people
00:52:50handle that tension that they experience when they have a belief and reality doesn't fit it,
00:52:58like Hobart in his foot.
00:52:59He said, I'm healed.
00:53:00Well, he wasn't healed.
00:53:01Something has to give.
00:53:02You either have to change your belief or you have to justify why you don't have it.
00:53:09One or the other.
00:53:10Something has to give.
00:53:11So they actually infiltrated this group because they wanted to see, they knew that this prophecy
00:53:18wasn't going to happen, right?
00:53:20I mean, you would have known that.
00:53:22And I would have known that as soon as it was given that on the morning of December 21st,
00:53:26this flood is going to wipe out Canada and the United States, I would have told you a
00:53:30week before, that ain't happening.
00:53:32That's not going to happen.
00:53:33They knew it wasn't going to happen, but they said, let's get in the group.
00:53:37They infiltrated the group because they wanted to see the responses of the people.
00:53:42And of course, what they found there, John, is so fascinating.
00:53:45That's why this book is just, it was a classic book when it came out because you, we've seen
00:53:51it in the breakup or the aftermath of all of these religious groups.
00:53:57You have certain people who are such core believers that they simply find a way to justify
00:54:07or re-explain the prediction.
00:54:09No, California didn't fall into the sea, but really what he meant by that was, you know,
00:54:15X, Y, Z, no, his foot wasn't healed, but you know, how we interpret that is X, Y, Z.
00:54:21And then you have another group of people who are not as hardcore and they go, wait a minute,
00:54:27that didn't happen.
00:54:28Where does that leave me?
00:54:29And where does that leave us with everything else this person has said?
00:54:33So my concluding remarks on this case study of Dr. Freeman and his leg, his foot, his lack
00:54:42of healing is I think there's severe cognitive dissonance happening in the holdovers, the
00:54:50leftover remains of Dr. Freeman's group, rather than looking back and honestly saying these
00:54:55things didn't come to pass, rather than justifying the lack of experience, we need to go back and
00:55:01we need to correct our beliefs.
00:55:03I've been recommended that book.
00:55:04I've actually not yet read it, but I have heard about it.
00:55:07And you're right, we have often, very frequently talked about cognitive dissonance because that's
00:55:13essentially what keeps a person in a cult.
00:55:15They know something's wrong, and often they're presented with two very, very incompatible belief
00:55:23sets, some of which may come from inside, some of which may just simply be two conflicting
00:55:29doctrines in the cult itself.
00:55:30And they can't be reconciled.
00:55:32There is no reconciling the differences.
00:55:35And so they try, their mind tries to make both sound to be true.
00:55:41And one of the basic examples in this movement is just the, you know, the name it and claim
00:55:47it, the positive confession, however you want to call this, it's simply lying.
00:55:51And there are people whose morals can't cope with this.
00:55:54So whenever they say it deep inside, they know that they're lying to other people.
00:55:59And so they try to, through cognitive dissonance, they try to just suppress that, that internal
00:56:05feeling that, oh my gosh, I can't believe I just did that.
00:56:07They try to suppress it.
00:56:09And they try to find ways in which they can limit that feeling that they have deep inside.
00:56:15The brain does this automatically.
00:56:18They will automatically, I talked to a person who had left the cult, and I was trying to
00:56:24explain to him, William Branham had three different birth years that he claimed, two
00:56:29of which were tied to supernatural events or supernatural ministries.
00:56:34One of them is his Elijah ministry.
00:56:36One of them is his Moses ministry.
00:56:38And if you take away one year, you also take away that ministry.
00:56:41It can't be all three.
00:56:43A person can't be born all three.
00:56:45And I'll never forget this guy telling me that.
00:56:47He said, I don't care what you say, John.
00:56:49The prophet said it.
00:56:51I believe every word.
00:56:52I don't understand it, but I believe every word the prophet said.
00:56:56And I'm like, come on, man, there's no way you're born three different years.
00:57:01But that's how the brain just, you know, the brain tries to reconcile this.
00:57:05But where I wanted to go, just take it a step further.
00:57:07And it's actually, we could do a whole podcast on just cognitive dissonance.
00:57:12But what they explain in these books and these psychological studies happens internally
00:57:19in the person's head.
00:57:20They try to reconcile the differences.
00:57:23But in a cult, it goes one step further.
00:57:26They realize and recognize that other people are also having cognitive dissonance.
00:57:31So if somebody were to speak out about it, they must also lash out because their own
00:57:37cognitive dissonance won't let them sit still.
00:57:41And at the same time, if somebody else were to suddenly realize, wait a minute, this is
00:57:44all, I'm just lying whenever I do this positive confession thing.
00:57:48Well, they're breaking the doctrinal rules.
00:57:50So that cognitive dissonance tries to reconcile their own cognitive dissonance by lashing out
00:57:56at another person, which gets really, really interesting if you think about the cult dynamics,
00:58:01because now you've got people watching people and monitoring what they do and say because
00:58:06of their own cognitive dissonance.
00:58:08And it turns into this group mentality of control.
00:58:11So it isn't just the leader that's controlling.
00:58:14It's each individual in the group through cognitive dissonance, trying to eliminate their
00:58:18own cognitive dissonance.
00:58:20And that's a mouthful.
00:58:22And so we'll do that in another podcast.
00:58:25So thank you so much for doing this.
00:58:27Yeah, I think the full name or title of the book, John, is When Prophecy Fails, a social
00:58:33and psychological study of a modern group that predicted the destruction of the world.
00:58:40So it is right down the same path of all of these podcasts that you guys have been doing
00:58:47and some that you and I have been doing.
00:58:49And I think the basic answer to cognitive dissonance is just integrity and honesty and transparency
00:58:56and make sure that our life reflects what our belief system is.
00:59:01It's as simple as that.
00:59:02You just got to be honest.
00:59:03And if things don't square, you got something's got to give.
00:59:07You got to give up something.
00:59:08Absolutely.
00:59:09Something's got to give.
00:59:10We should have titled our podcast series.
00:59:12Something's got to give.
00:59:14Well, if you've enjoyed our show and you want more information, you can check us out on the
00:59:17web.
00:59:18You can find us at william-branham.org.
00:59:21For more about the dark side of the New Apostolic Reformation, you can read Weaponized Religion
00:59:25from Christian Identity to the NAR.
00:59:28Available on Amazon, Kindle, and Audible.
00:59:48You can find us at william-branham.org.
00:59:51You can find us at william-branham.org.
00:59:52You can find us at william-branham.org.
00:59:53You can find us at william-branham.org.
00:59:55You can find us at william-branham.org.
00:59:56You can find us at william-branham.org.
00:59:57You can find us at william-branham.org.
00:59:58You can find us at william-branham.org.
00:59:59You can find us at william-branham.org.
01:00:00You can find us at william-branham.org.
01:00:01You can find us at william-branham.org.
01:00:02You can find us at william-branham.org.
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