Brother Freedom’s Life Story
Brother Freedom went to be with the Lord on Monday, December 14, 2015. He was 83 years of age. What a blessing his life has been to so many. We praise God for a life lived in the power of the Holy Ghost. -brother clint
Brother Freedom (on the left) at the Rescue Mission praying for a need. The Street People love to hear Freedom preach under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. After the message there were sometimes many seeking for special prayer. Following the service the presence of God was often very strong and lives were changed as God heard the prayer of HIS servant. [Click on picture to enlarge. More pictures can be found below.]
Becoming a Child of God
Brother Freedom gave his life to the Lord as a small boy, literally while drowning in a creek where he was swimming in 1942. As he went down for the last time he turned to the Lord. It was at that moment that an older boy pulled him from the waters. The next Sunday he committed his life to Jesus Christ at church. From then on he had a special desire for the things of the Lord.
Here is the story in Brother Freedom’s own words. “One night my brother and two other boys were walking down to the creek. And I was the last one. They had already gone clear across the creek. I was on the other side. I was always like the slowest. My brother was younger than I am, but yet he was always way out there. Here I start wading out and I hit in this hole of water. And I’m drowning. I went down and I still remember the Sun light was coming through the water. I could see, but yet I knew it was hopeless. It was all over. And about that time I felt this hand come down and got a hold of me and says, ‘Don’t resist me! Don’t fight! RELAX!! Don’t fight! Don’t fight!’ And it was this boy, Leonard B_____ who saved me, and spared my life. But then the next weekend I gave my heart to the Lord. How real God was, even back then. It was real! God was so SPECIAL! It was glorious, this relationship I had with the Lord. I could FEEL it!
About two weeks later I was in school. And [someone] kept saying, ‘You are a sissy! You can’t fight, because you’ve accepted Jesus!’ In my heart I just loved the Lord. I was on second base in May of 1942. There was a boy that came down there who was about 30 pounds heavier than myself. He pulled a knife on me. He said, ‘I’m going to kill you!’ And, oh, I was so frightened. I was just scared! I was only about 10 years old. It literally scared me to death! That knife was about four inches long, at least. He said, ‘I’m going to cut you apart!’
And it was like something come over me. And I didn’t know until later, but with one blow I hit his chin and knocked him out! I never fought before in my life! This was something new. I never did nothing like that. I’m a Christian. I was not supposed to do these kind of things. But yet, here I am a Christian and I just knocked this fellow out! And here comes the Principal. And I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, I’m really in trouble now. I will be expelled from school! And the principal comes over and says, ‘What’d you do?’ I was afraid! I says, ‘I guess I knocked him down.’ He says, ‘I think you knocked him out!’ ‘He said, ‘Don’t worry! Don’t you worry about it! This is what should have happened here a long, long time ago! This boy is a trouble maker. And don’t you worry anything about it. And if anyone says anything about it in this school or gives you any trouble you come and tell me. Cause I guarantee you I’ll take up for you!'”
Way back then the Lord had HIS mighty hand on Brother Freedom, helping him, protecting and guiding him. And God wants to look out for all who will come to HIM.
The Praying Mechanic
Brother Freedom is a very common man. For over 60 years his professional life was associated with heavy earth moving machinery. He also spent many years as a heavy equipment Caterpillar diesel mechanic. He operated and repaired dozers, loaders, trucks, tractors, graders and other equipment. God has now removed him from the back breaking Caterpillar work and operation. He is now retired from earth moving and spends his days looking to the Lord.
His customers knew that he had an amazing record of zeroing in on hidden problems. Some of them didn’t understand that it isn’t really him, but the Lord God who literally tells him what is wrong, or how to find out what is wrong. When in amazement they asked how he discovered the problem he would often say, “I was praying.” Most people just can’t believe that a lowly diesel mechanic can hear God Almighty speaking directly from the Throne Room. So he has to tell them as much as they can believe…for he has to pray to get the answers. He was known as “the praying mechanic” by some.
To help support his parents he was put on a Caterpillar tractor at the age of 10! He learned to rip the sod, level ground, till and keep that Caterpillar running 12 hours a day. Today child labor laws prevent such long hours. It was not an easy life. School was very difficult because his long hours in the fields kept him from spending much time studying.
One of the first gifts God gave him was a confidence to flow with the machine to accomplish the job. Somehow he knew that the machine could do the job if the operator did not fight the machine. Having so much contact with Caterpillars meant that service and repair began to be a part of his knowledge and background.
During the day, as a young teenager Brother Freedom ran a Caterpillar tractor with tracks, but from his earnings he bought himself his own tractor by which he began planting his own fields of grain. Here’s a shot of Brother Freedom at about age 14 on his own wheel tractor. Click on picture to enlarge.
As a young boy he felt the call of God upon his life. He thought he might someday be a pastor or an evangelist. He enrolled in a Bible school connected with the denomination of the church he attended. After arriving in Bible school they told him he was not cut out to be a man of the cloth. So, with a heavy heart he left and enlisted in the Army to serve his Country.
He found himself in Korea during the war in the early Fifties. The military soon discovered his heavy equipment abilities. He worked with the big dozers there too. Sometimes enemy bullets would be flying by as he did his job making roads.
While in Korea, with death all about, he determined to live a life above reproach. He longed to be an “overcomer.” This goal has always been a driving force in his life. Whereas most young men entering the military become less holy, this young man sought to please God. For he knew that there was a strong chance he was going to enter eternity from Korea. Many were dying all about and he wanted to be ready to meet God.
Click here to read Brother Freedom’s Miracle Korean War story which he shared in a powerful Sermon.
[Click on any picture below to enlarge to full-size. Then use your left mouse button to click your browser’s BACK Button in order to return HERE to continue reading Brother Freedom’s story.]
 Here Brother Freedom is cutting a road during the Korean War. It was not uncommon for in-coming enemy rounds to interrupt the work. God saved his life time and time again! Notice the blanket over the dozer’s radiator and the stocking cap on Freedom. Freedom has seven layers of clothing on. This was not warm, fuzzy work! It was life and death.  As time went on in Korea they discovered Brother Freedom’s ability to repair heavy equipment. While there the Lord helped him to resurrect dozens of pieces of earth moving equipment that had gone down or been damaged. He worked under an American officer who gave him wide ranging authority to manage how equipment was cared for and treated. Here he is testing a recently repaired dozer.  In this photo Brother Freedom is being floated on large pontoons on a heavy dozer across a large reservoir that he thinks was named Wanchoun Reservoir. The enemy forces are on the far side where you see the large mountains. He never knew if he was living his final day for the Lord or not. Notice the snow stuck on the dozer’s tracks.  This photo was taken in July of 1968 the first day that Brother Freedom was assigned as a resident Caterpillar Mechanic in the town where he lives even to this day. He is standing by one of his early service trucks. |
 In this snapshot from Korea Brother Freedom has a sober look on his face because just prior to this photo he had to run his cat through an enemy mine field. He prayed with all his might as the dozer snapped trip wires and deadly mines lay buried all around him. God didn’t allow even one of those devices to detonate! God spared his life! It was a mighty miracle. It made a safe path for others to get across that danger point. Praise the Lord!  Here’s a shot of Brother Freedom with his comrades in the Engineers in the Korean field shop area. These men kept the equipment running under all conditions and in adverse situations. No one knew if he was going to come back home alive or not.  Here’s Brother Freedom over a half century later. On a big machine, in a big field is Brother Freedom’s favorite place to commune with God. Out here alone on this Komatsu 155 he enjoys hours with the Holy Ghost. He truly treasures this special time of intimacy with God! It’s September 27th, 2005 and Freedom is 73!! He’s got his dust mask on because big dozers stir up the earth. On this project he’s turning large rice patties into an orchard, knocking down the burms, ripping and leveling in preparation for tree planting.  Here’s a shot of Brother Freedom up in the woods in his yellow Caterpillar service hat and a newer, bigger truck. The year is 1971. |
Freedom Seeks For the Fullness of the Holy Ghost
His boyhood church was not acquainted with the work of the Holy Spirit. As a result he knew little of the deeper life. It was not until after he had served in the Korean conflict and returned to the States that his spiritual life turned another amazing corner.
While stationed in Texas he met and married a pentecostal girl who invited him to her church. There he witnessed the power of God. He saw more conversions, miracles, healings and deliverances than he could imagine. He learned that this overflowing abundance of God’s glory resulted when the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit of God was allowed to have total control in the Church. Further he learned that the Holy Spirit desires to control each individual Christian’s life in the same total way. And, the doorway to entering this overflowing life is an experience called the Baptism in and of the Holy Ghost.
Brother Freedom became so hungry for this blessing to be released in his life that he began to be at the altar of that church seeking at every opportunity. He sought for a year “tarrying,” as the Bible calls it. His pastor must have grown weary of the young man who was so often at the altar crying out for the fullness of the presence of the Holy Ghost.
Some teach that we don’t need to “tarry” for the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. They say that the 120 in the Upper Room did that for us 2000 years ago. Some Christians testify that they received without waiting long before the Lord. But in Brother Freedom’s case the Lord required a period of seeking and preparation. And the results were well worth the wait.
In God’s perfect timing the Holy Ghost filled the young man so thoroughly that for two weeks he was drunk in the Spirit of God, almost continuously. There was joy overflowing. The purer presence of God is difficult for flesh and blood to handle. Brother Freedom did his work, but no one knew what to do with him. As he said it, “Even my dog knew something had changed in me!”
During those two weeks the Spirit of God directed him to read the Book of Revelation. That Book was opened to him with supernatural clarity. He understood nearly every detail. But, after those first two weeks, of overflowing anointing in the Spirit, much of Revelation was sealed again. It was too awesome for a mortal to totally contain. Only under the manifested anointing of the Spirit can the Book of Revelation be TOTALLY understood.
Adventure With the Holy Ghost
This baptism of the Spirit changed his life and started him on an adventure with many exciting turns. His new found fullness in the Spirit of God brought him under the full direction of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit assigned him to minister to prisoners. For over a decade Freedom ministered in county jails and work camps. Many men’s lives were changed for Christ. Services would begin with the men only present to get out of their cells, full of darkness. At the end of the service men would be on their knees with tears, receiving Jesus.
In one jail such revival broke out that the guards got jealous. It is hard to believe, but these guards did not want the inmates finding the joy of the Lord. It bothered the guards to see peace and healing running through the jail. Prisoners were praying for each other. Miracles were taking place amongst the prisoners themselves. The guards locked Brother Freedom in with the roughest men in the jail and left him. But God is faithful and after the lights went out and a riot started, the Holy Ghost spoke something out of Freedom’s mouth. The lights went back on. Blood was on the floor…but the service ended with men coming into the Kingdom of God.
Soon God raised up an inmate in that jail who became Freedom’s “sergeant at arms.” This husky man let the other inmates know that they would be courteous or else! This hardened man kissed Freedom’s hands. A mechanic’s hands are not pretty, but this inmate, as did many, respected this hard working Caterpillar mechanic who took time for forgotten men.
 About 1957 Bro. Freedom had a huge test. Here he is proving himself by prayer in the Operating Engineers. He was working for the hardest boss in the land. They called Bro. Freedom “The Kid.” But God helped Freedom prove the power of prayer. Read the story below. |
 53 years later Brother Freedom points out the very same road slope cut that he did in 1957. He shows Micah (our system administrator) that the slope is still there with the road he helped build more than half a century before. Read the story below. |
Bro. Freedom and his bride, Betty, were living in her native state of Texas. He had mustered out of the military and was working as a cat skinner. But the weather was bad, jobs were far and few between, they had a baby son and things were very, very tight. Betty said, “Better go to California and see if you can get a job out there.” Freedom hated to leave his family, but the need was very great. So he rode the Greyhound Bus to Northern California and walked into the Operating Engineers office.
The tough union agent twitched and chewed hard on his cigar as he eyed the kid before him. Unbeknown to Freedom the union agent’s secretary knew Freedom’s family. She recognized Freedom and remembered that he was honest and hardworking when he had been growing up in that area some years earlier. She pulled her boss aside and whispered, “I know that young man’s family. He’s okay.”
The hardened union agent glared at this kid and said he would send Freedom out to work for the roughest boss there was. The agent warned, “This boss fires workers at the drop of a hat. If you get fired don’t come back here!” It was truly a test of fire to earn his Operating Engineers union card. [Some of the audio sermons tell the details of this story better in Brother Freedom’s own words.]
Freedom got on the job and found that all the other men were twice his age. They put him on some equipment and boy he had to pray constantly. He never stopped praying. “Lord, just let me work another hour. Lord, help me make it through to quiting time. Help me make it another day. Help me get to Friday.” At first, some of the men made it hard on him. But Freedom just smiled and tried to comply with any demands, and he never let up the prayers.
The men soon found that “the Kid,” as they called him, really knew how to run a dozer and all the other equipment too. They found out that he took good care of equipment and new how to cut slope. The boss liked him; the supervisor liked him. And the men would drive him down the mountain stopping to buy him a soda.
Then the supervisor came and said, “Bring your wife out here! You’ve got a job with us!!”
God heard his prayers, weeks and weeks of eight hour a day prayers got through to Heaven and the roughest boss was really pleased with his work. He got his Operating Engineers union card. He was making good pay. Betty and the baby came to join him and a new day broke for him by the power of the Holy Ghost!
Freedom Sees He Needs More of God, Seeks for Seven Years!
Being filled with the Holy Spirit is only just the beginning of a glorious adventure. Freedom knew that there was much that needed to be done in his own being. For years he sought God for more. “I guess I’m just a pig for God,” he said. “I’m so hungry for more and more. God is glorious!”
Freedom’s service truck went over a damaged cattle guard, jamming his head up against the roof of the truck’s cab. For the next seven years he sought God for healing of constant neck pain that resulted from the accident. The doctor said he would have to quit working, but his family needed him to provide. Freedom worked on, praying and seeking for more of God and for a healing of his neck agony. God spoke to him telling him that he would be healed if he kept seeking. In the process of that healing miracle God called him to something he had never imagined, something beyond his expectations.
One day in 1976 he was in his Caterpillar service truck. On that day he was in two, different, major vehicular accidents. Each could have been fatal. But, his service truck didn’t even get a scratch on it!! And in each accident he was not at fault.
In the first accident an 18 wheeler came around a tight bend in a mountain road on Freedom’s side of the road! Freedom chose to go over the bank of a 250 foot cliff rather than to hit the semi head on. His Caterpillar Service Truck shot over the edge but then hung on a huge boulder. The next thing Freedom knew he was staring almost straight up into the sky, in the same position the astronauts launch into space from. He couldn’t even get out of the truck until help came. It was God’s hand that saved him!
In the second accident he was coming home late that night and his brakes were hot from coming down the mountain. A deer ran out in front of him. He hit the brakes and the service truck went into a spin. The truck was spinning one way and his heavy equipment lift boom was going the other. As the truck veered, seemingly out of control, tail end first, Freedom heard God speak, “You are going the wrong way.” The Lord has a sense of humor, and Freedom had to agree with God in more ways than one! God is always right. By the hand of God the heavy truck shot towards the trees. It came to a halt untouched and just between two trees, either of which could have erased him from the planet. Then God spoke again, “I have called you!” And Freedom wondered. All these years he had been seeking God, and he was amazed that God did more than show up. God called him to a work. Then the Lord asked him a question.
“What do you know,” God asked? Freedom replied, “A little of YOU and a little of Caterpillar.”
God said, “I’ll teach you right where you are!”
Suddenly each day became a spiritual adventure with Caterpillar equipment repairs opening whole vistas of spiritual understanding in types and shadows of Bible truths. In those days Freedom spent long hours in a Caterpillar Service Truck. As he drove two to four hours to a job site he would pray in the Spirit. Before he arrived the God of all creation had revealed what he was going to face and what the secret of that day’s work would be. Always a deep truth from God’s Word would be highlighted.
D8K Dozer In The Dump, Powerless
In a certain place Brother Freedom was busy finishing up a repair on a piece of equipment when a car pulled in. It was a businessman friend and the friend’s partner who had come for help. 250 miles South there was a very big Caterpillar tractor broken down in a smelly old dump. Bull dozers are essential to keeping a landfill legal.
A hand full of Caterpillar mechanics had repeatedly tried to fix that dozer. Even though the engine worked fine the dozer had little or no power to do it’s work. It was too weak to do anything. The mechanics had tried all they knew. It was then that Freedom’s friend remembered Freedom up North and spoke to his partner.
“I know a mechanic who prays! Let’s get him.” And they did. The situation was pressing. They put Brother Freedom in the back of a little Cessna airplane while the two business men road up front, flying South. There in the back seat, all alone, Brother Freedom began to call on God, praying in the Spirit. After two hours of prayer God spoke: “REMOVE THE HINDRANCE!”
That’s all the Lord gave Freedom. God is glorious! The Lord is constantly desiring to teach us more and more. When they landed and arrived in that stinky dump, there was that great big machine. God had only given Brother Freedom that one command, and he knew that unless he obeyed, all would be lost.
Looking at the big Cat he noticed that a truck tire had gotten stuck, pinched in one track of the machine. Apparently as the Cat had been riding over the garbage that big old 18 wheeler tire had wedged in the mechanism. But that’s no problem for a big dozer like that. That truck tire was not what was causing the Cat to have no power. Those Cats are so big and powerful that if a truck tire gets in the track it will just be pushed out or cut off.
Freedom looked at the wedged tire and said, “Pull that tire out of the track.” The group of men assembled to observe the new praying mechanic laughed, “Pull the tire?!” They couldn’t believe their ears. Here’s this so-called mechanic and he comes and asks them to do something stupid that appears to have no connection whatsoever to the problem. Freedom is nuts to them!! Nevertheless Freedom’s businessman friend, having been around Freedom before, tells those present, “HUMOR HIM!”
Well, it was a job to pull that tire. They had to get another dozer and a heavy chain, and they pulled that 18 wheeler tire out of the Cat’s track.
Now “the hindrance” had been removed. God had been obeyed! Freedom jumped up on the Caterpillar and looked just under where the tire had been. There was a filter on the machine there. When Freedom touched that filter the Spirit of God immediately, and supernaturally revealed to him that the left final drive of the machine, way around at the back, was full of corruption!
Freedom asked if anyone had a plug wrench available because he wanted to open a plug connected with the left final drive on the back of the machine. The men, who were gathered watching, made fun and laughed. They were sure that this mechanic was some kind of nut case and not the man for the job. No one would go get a wrench for Freedom. Brother Freedom did not bring his tools because he had been quickly flown to the job site in a small plane. They just laughed and made more fun of him filling the air with foul words.
He climbed down off the machine and walked around to the back of the D8K Caterpillar dozer. He put his hand on the plug and to his surprise it was loose enough for him to turn with his fingers! When the plug had been unscrewed the true problem of that big dozer was revealed. Filthy, foul smelling, polluted, black, sludge totally filled the final drive. The machine’s drive system was full of muddy-muck. Where there should have only been pure, clean, clear, fresh oil there was thick, dirty, garbage-sludge fouling up the final drive.
God spoke to Freedom and reminded him that we need the pure, fresh oil of the Holy Spirit of God renewed within us each day. Without that flow of the oil of the Spirit of God our “final drive” gets polluted in the dirt of a sinful world.
Those men were so moved and shaken by what they saw that day that they ordered that only Brother Freedom was to repair that machine. They loaded that huge Caterpillar on a big flatbed truck and hauled it 250 miles North to Brother Freedom’s shop. Praise God forevermore!
Eating The Word of God, Tithing His Time in the Word
One day while in the Service Truck Cathedral, on the way to a job, the Spirit of God said, “Turn off the [two-way] radio! I want you to tithe your time and eat my Word!” With that command Freedom began a series of years where he would arise at 3 A.M. each morning and read the Word of God for two and a half hours.
God told him to “EAT” the Word. He understood what studying the word meant. But he didn’t understand how to “EAT” the Word. He read how Jesus had said, “For my flesh is meat indeed…” [John 6:55a] He read Saint John’s inspired declaration: “…the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us…” [John 1:14]
The Spirit of God revealed to Freedom that eating and drinking the Holy Scriptures, in large doses, is a life changing, seed planting, dynamic process that has been mostly forgotten. Drinking and eating the Word of God is internalizing Jesus Christ, who is the Living Word of God. Somehow when massive amounts of the written Word from the Bible are mixed by and with the Holy Spirit, Jesus is manifested. The manifested Word of God produces overflowing life, growth, increase and cleansing.
In some glorious way the Word of God began to be internalized in Brother Freedom as he would read whole books of the Bible repeatedly, day after day. Perhaps for a year he read Romans and Ephesians completely everyday! It went into his spirit more than in his mind. After he would read a book so many times his mind would give up trying to analyze it. His mind would give up and get out of the way. When his mind stopped trying to filter the Word, the Word started pouring directly into his spirit.
Today, God’s Spirit lifts out certain Scriptures at certain times in mighty ways from Freedom’s inner most being. For example, when Freedom preaches the Spirit of God will suddenly manifest upon him. At that time Scriptures begin to roll out of him like a flash-flood. He doesn’t even know at times what is being said….but it is like huge battleship guns obliterating the Devil’s rationalizations, excuses and devices. The Holy Ghost takes control of those guns. A congregation’s whole outlook will change as the Holy Ghost manipulates the Word of God that has been drawn out for mighty purposes. The Spirit draws that Word from Freedom’s spirit, more than from his mind, because the Spirit of God is ONE with Freedom’s spirit, not with Freedom’s mind. [See 1st Corinthians 6:17]
God’s Word is made MORE for our spirit than it is made for our minds!! As good as it is for a mind it is infinitely more useful in the spirit of a person. God’s Word was made more for common folk than for Bible scholars. Why?? Because there are more common folk.
When you go to a restaurant and receive a meal you rarely quiz the chef and the waiter on what was put into the meal and how it was made. Most people are focused on the meal, not on the ingredients. They dive in and enjoy the taste, the smell and the aroma as they make the food disappear!! THAT IS WHAT THE BIBLE IS FOR. IT IS MORE FOR EATING THAN FOR STUDYING! IT IS MORE FOR THE SPIRIT THAN FOR THE MIND. Studying the Word is good. But eating the Word is better. Studying your food at the restaurant is fine…but you will starve if you don’t eat the food, and eat a sufficient quantity.
The secret Brother Freedom has been shown is to eat the Word of God in massive doses!! A starving man cannot gain wait by eating tiny portions and chewing each bite a hundred times. A weight lifter cannot make it on a “kid’s meal” no matter how long he chews it. If you want to get heavy in the things of God you must take in massive amounts of the Word of God everyday!! You can’t get too much Bible, but you can get too little!
Brother Freedom is so full of the Word of God that he has come to a place that if he doesn’t happen to have his Bible with him he can begin to quote the Word out of his inner most being. He has become a walking Bible.
If God Can Use Brother Freedom, God Can Use You!
It should give every believer great hope when you read how the Lord has taken this very ordinary man and done a glorious work. God is glorious in how HE can take something cast off and use it for mighty things. When Freedom entered Bible school and they heard his presentation, and saw that he was no silver-tongued orator they sent him home. “You have a wonderful spirit…but you’ll never make a preacher, they proclaimed” God Almighty has proved them wrong!! They were looking at the natural. God CAN use stammering lips!!
Brother Freedom has been called of God to pastor at least three or four fellowships. Lives were changed. God moved in glorious ways. People were saved, filled and healed. Even so, he has always been a common working man. Freedom has never left the side of those who labor with their hands in hard, physical, gritty work. I guess that’s why common folk love him so much.
Help For Preachers and Ministers Too
Freedom really has help for ministers. I know because I was in professional ministry for over twenty years. I received degrees in religion. I received a BA in religion from a Christian liberal arts college. I attended a great seminary and came away with a masters degree. I pastored several churches. I had much knowledge. But the deepest truths I never learned from the Doctors of Theology or the many books in the Seminary library. No, the deepest truths I heard from the lips of this diesel mechanic. He has been given secrets that they didn’t know in seminary and Bible college.
Not long after I met Freedom I accompanied he and another brother on a Sunday morning trip to a church 30 or so miles down the road. We entered a beautiful sanctuary with several hundred members. We took in the service and heard the pastor proclaim the Good News.
The pastor and his wife were pleased to see Brother Freedom again. They first met Freedom at a County Fair Booth where men of God had an outreach. That preacher was just a pagan back then who came by the booth and God spoke to Freedom. “I want you to pray for this man.” Freedom not only prayed but he took the man under his wing. That man went on into full-time ministry and became the pastor of the church we visited that day.
Tears filled my eyes as I sat in that congregation looking at the many lives that were now being touched because the Holy Ghost had put Freedom on the case of that young man who stumbled into a Jesus-booth at a County Fair years earlier. A whole town was touched by the grace of God because Freedom obeyed.
Miracle in the ICU
One day Freedom called me on the phone. “Can you come with me to the hospital? A young lady is in Intensive Care (ICU). I visited her yesterday. She took an overdose. The nurse says if she lives she will be in the ICU for maybe a week. It’s real serious. She’s in a coma. She’s all blue! When I prayed in the room I felt the Spirit of God move. Will you come with me on the next visit?”
“Sure! I’d be glad to join you!”
I always like to hang out with Brother Freedom. God seems to often be doing something wherever Brother Freedom is. When we arrived at ICU I grabbed the bright red phone receiver on the wall and asked if we could visit the young lady. The Nurse said, “She’s not here.”
I thought to myself, “did she die???”
After what seemed like an eternity the nurse added, “She went home this morning!”
We went to the young lady’s house. She answered the door in perfect health. The day before she had been near death, all blue, in a coma. Brother Freedom felt the Spirit of God move when he prayed in the Spirit by her nearly dead body. Now, 24 hours later the young lady who was to spend at least a week in ICU, if she didn’t die, was looking at us in perfect health. She didn’t even know that Brother Freedom had visited her bedside. Oh, the power of God Almighty!!! Praise God forevermore!
God Heals A Girl Who Crashes Into a Big Tree!
At another time Brother Freedom arose one morning and heard the Holy Spirit say that someone’s life would be on the line that day and that he was to pray for that certain someone. He prayed and started down the road in the Caterpillar Service Truck. As he progressed the Spirit of God spoke a second time. The Spirit implored him to pray again because whatever was about to happen was very eminent.
Moments later a Dodge pickup, going the opposite direction, ran off the road and crashed into a huge black walnut tree. The pickup was totaled! Brother Freedom pulled in behind the wreck and ran to assist. He recognized the injured young woman behind the wheel. The pickup was so mangled that it appeared that it might burst into flames. After getting the young woman’s permission he gently removed her from the drivers seat and carried her to the sanctified cab of the Caterpillar Service Truck. She was going into shock! Blood was pouring from her nose. She was seriously injured in ways that will never be known. Brother Freedom asked if he might pray for her. She responded in the affirmative. He laid his hand on her forehead and called on God. Instantly the blood stopped. She was totally healed and perked right up. A Highway Patrolman and a CalTrans road worker arrived, probably wondering what was going on.
“Would you pray again,” the young woman asked? “Pray that my parents won’t be mad at me.” Brother Freedom did pray again and sometime later those parents sought Freedom out. They weren’t mad. They were so glad that Jesus saved their precious daughter. Thank God for the work of the Holy Ghost. It was the Holy Ghost that put Brother Freedom on the case. It was the Holy Ghost who guided all those prayers. It was the Holy Ghost who orchestrated the whole miracle. Glory! God Almighty is the HERO, not Brother Freedom!
Kelowna, Canada Adventure
Brother Freedom flew with a business friend to Kelowna, Canada, and a salesman joined them. The men were there to look at two Caterpillars. Brother Freedom was on the trip because he was the mechanic who would analyze these used machines to see if they were worth buying and transporting back to the States. The salesman took them out on a cold morning to look at the machines.
Brother Freedom recalls: “The next morning we went out and I felt the Spirit of God saying, ‘NO!’ And there was a lot of money out for someone to say, ‘NO.’ And I said, ‘No, I don’t like what I see. I don’t like that you have drug your machine’s hoses out here in the mud. The mud was deep in Kelowna. These are no conditions to believe that there is not some mud in some of those engines, as much stuff as I see uncovered. Even as careful as you are I don’t see how these machines can work in those kind of conditions. And I just have to tell you what I believe.”
There was no deal. Brother Freedom’s business friend had seen before how Freedom could spot a lemon or a gold nugget. They didn’t understand how God did it, but they knew that Freedom had help from above. So, whatever Freedom said they went with it. They knew he had some kind of inside scoop on things. But really it wasn’t Freedom it was God and God alone!
And so the group found themselves going back to the airport to fly to Vancouver. The salesman said to Freedom’s friend, “What can we do to make him (referring to Brother Freedom) say, “yes?” And the associate said, “He isn’t going to say ‘yes.'” But the discussion just wouldn’t die. The salesman couldn’t fathom how a deal could evaporate right in front of his eyes based on something he couldn’t figure out.
They got back to Vancouver and the Spirit of God came upon Freedom in the airport and he began to tell those men of the goodness of God. An airline pilot was right there with them in the line and others as well. Many were listening in. And that whole line of people waiting for the plane changed as the Gospel was shared.
They asked Freedom why he had said “NO” concerning the purchase of those machines. Freedom said, “I rely on God for my help.” Freedom shared about how wonderful God was to come and just help him, a nobody, in understanding those wonderful things. Brother Freedom was given a whole audience of people right there in the airport. And Freedom’s associate added, “Well, he’s not going to change his mind. He gets it from somebody upstairs.” And it was this trip to Canada that opened the door for the trip to Haiti.
Freedom Helps a Business Man, God Responds
That same year a man came to Brother Freedom and said, “I’ve lost a final drive on a 46A. I have no money. Could you help me?” And Freedom’s heart went out to this man. Somehow he felt deep within that he was to help this man, he was to go to bat for this man. And so he did.
Freedom answered the man’s plea with, “Well, I guess so. I will have to call my employer and tell them I’m going to help you. It wouldn’t be fair to use their truck and their equipment without their permission, if I don’t charge you. I still have to consult with them and see if it is okay.”
Freedom’s employer gave him the okay, but of course they were not going to guarantee anything done, because this was a benevolent work. Freedom finished up that 46A on New Year’s Eve. It was a tough job. It left him tired and worn out. But he didn’t charge that man a penny.
After cleaning up he went to a Christian business men’s meeting. Everyone there was having such a good day. It was New Year’s Eve 1978. Everyone was off work and everyone was so up on the season of the year. But Brother Freedom didn’t feel that. He was very tired. His body was sore from the heavy lifting and strenuous work that goes into tearing down and re-assembling a Dozer. And the Spirit of God spoke to Freedom.
“You know, because you have gone the hard way today I’m going to bless you this year. You are going to be blessed this year above any year that you have had!”
And it came to pass just as the Holy Ghost predicted! That was a glorious year for Brother Freedom. He put more air miles on for the glory of God. God met Freedom’s every need gloriously, time and time again. And it happened because Freedom was obedient and gave of himself to help another person who was down.
Freedom literally gave that hurting business man, with the broken Caterpillar, thousands of dollars in labor. But God wanted Freedom to do that. Freedom was just obeying what the Holy Spirit was directing. That costly obedience touched the heart of God and the Lord did pour out blessing upon blessing for Freedom in return.
That business man that Freedom aided was blessed by God also. And later that very business man, who had the broken 46A that Freedom repaired was one of the business men who sent Freedom on a ministry trip to Haiti!! And that was part of the year of great blessings!
California, Illinois, Texas Miracle Adventure
Another part of the year of great blessings was Freedom’s trip to the Headquarters of Caterpillar in Peoria, Illinois. Freedom tells the story like this:
In July of 1979 the service manager, of the Caterpillar dealer where Brother Freedom was employed, asked if there was anything he could do for him. And Freedom said, “Yeah, I would like to go to school. I’d like to go to Peoria.” Peoria, Illinois is the World Headquarters of the Caterpillar Company. A week or so later the service manager came back and told Freedom, “You’re going to go to Peoria!” Brother Freedom was thrilled for this opportunity to learn more and be an even better mechanic.
Just after Labor Day weekend would be the time for the schooling in Peoria. And just prior to his school in Peoria there was going to be a Christian Business Men’s retreat down in Monterey, California. Freedom planned on taking both of these events in. But during the days just prior to departure he found himself backlogged with lots of repair work. It was a time of pressure. He was working on a Caterpillar 14A. Freedom didn’t know if he was going to get the job done in time or not. He just had to get it done before he could go.
It was Thursday afternoon just prior to the Monday School and the weekend was the retreat in Monterey. And he only had one more day to get that 14A done. Oh, the pressure was high. And the retreat started on Friday night. The man he was going with to the retreat was going to fly down to Monterey and Freedom was to join him.
Thankfully he finished up the 14A about 12 noon, and he had to join his friend flying down. They jumped into a car for the airport at about 1 P.M.
His wife had everything ready. This was going to be a long trip…if it all came off. He was going to go to Monterey, then San Francisco, then school for a week in Peoria, followed by the wedding of his Father-in-law in Texas. Unfortunately he was going to miss his own wedding anniversary. It was a ten day trip. His wife couldn’t go to any of these places with him. She had heavy commitments of her own. But God had promised the greatest year ever. And Freedom was going forward.
The spiritual retreat was a blessing. But as the weekend went on Freedom found out that some other friends who had said they would take him to San Francisco Airport had a schedule conflict. He was stuck in Monterey! Brother Freedom found someone who could take him to the Monterey Airport. There he was at this little airport, miles and miles south of San Francisco. It was Sunday and he was believing for some kind of a flight out. He left the retreat early Sunday morning. He couldn’t stay until the end that afternoon.
His ticket in his pocket said that he was to leave San Francisco at 12:45 P.M. And he had no way to Frisco. But Jesus IS the Way! If he missed that plane he was sunk because Peoria only had a smaller airport. There were few flights into Peoria. He had to get to Frisco!
He found a man at the Monterey airport. “Are there going to be any flights to San Francisco,” he asked” The man said, “We have one. But I don’t know how it is going to be. I’ll try to get you on it, IF POSSIBLE.” Freedom replied, “Well, I sure need to get on it! I’m going to be missing a flight if I’m not.”
At about 10:30 A.M. a 737 rolled in and God got Freedom on it. He flew into San Francisco. He only had 30 minutes to spare to meet his flight East. Thankfully he didn’t have to claim any luggage. He was traveling with only a “carry on.” So he walked quickly over to the other terminal to catch the plane to Denver. In Denver he caught an Ozark Airlines plane to Peoria. And by God’s grace Freedom made the connection! If it had been just a few minutes either way the whole trip would have gone down the drain!
Freedom arrived in Peoria and was put up at the Peoria Hilton Hotel.
Freedom is going to tell in his own words the miracle working of God in this Caterpillar school he attended.
“I found myself in Peoria, Illinois. And I went back to a Caterpillar School: Hydraulic Diagnostics Number Three, which is the top line in Caterpillar. Had all the big machines, 980s, 992s, motor graders, D10s and all, the hydraulic part is what it was [all about].
And the first Monday morning we all [gathered in class], there’s a lot to it. But, I believe God has us to be a spokesman for HIM. And sometimes we can miss it, if we don’t stay where we should be with God. That’s the key, staying available with God. It’s like the fireman WITH OUT the truck, WITH OUT the hose [when you’re not staying available with God]. That’s where we find ourselves “WITH OUT,” because we are not really hooked-up with God. We have to pray and we have to pray through, because the need is there, but we are insufficient for the need that is before us! And we need to be ashamed of ourselves because I believe as God has spoken to me, “WE ARE THE MAN or the WOMAN at that time. Many times we are the ONLY answer for that one [in need listening to us].
As this class started very wickedly: they had three or four men from Texas. And they spoke very wickedly these things. And God spoke to me by HIS Spirit and HE says, ‘My son, I want you to speak of ME this morning.’
And I said, ‘What shall I say?’
The Lord said, ‘You just open your mouth!’
[Each student was to say a few words of introduction, of getting to know each other.] So it come to me. And I never will forget it. The presence of God came upon me like I am [feeling it] here. And for a few moments I just said, quietly how good that God was. How that HE helped me to satisfy P__________ Tractor [Company back home] because of HIM. It wasn’t me. HE even helped me in my job! HE even helped me to know what was wrong. All the tribute went to God!
So anyway, the instructor’s face turned white. There’s a lot of little things that happened.”
“But, the next morning I went to breakfast at the Peoria Hilton Hotel. And three men come up to me and said, ‘We’re back sliders. We want you to pray for us. We want for the power of God.’ This one man said, ‘I’ve been AWAY from God! And this has been an ANSWER!’
It was only through three minutes of God [speaking through Brother Freedom].
And I’m not nothing! But I want you to know that God is EVERYTHING!!! I give God all the glory! But these three young men, they were younger than I was. And they received Jesus. And they received the power of forgiveness. They seen that strength that they needed!
And I just want to give this: I believe that we need to be at those places! We are the answer for that time.”
One evening when Freedom returned to his hotel he wanted to phone his wife. It was their anniversary. He had a very small room, just large enough for one person. He tried to call his wife. For some reason the phone in his room was not working properly. When repeated efforts to phone home failed Freedom went downstairs to the main desk of the Hotel seeking assistance. They sent him upstairs to try one more time. Still the phone was inoperative.
On his second visit to the main desk the receptionist said, “I’ll give you a key. You keep your key. I’m giving you a key to another room I’m putting you in. And you go up and move your things to this new room. Then bring me your old key.”
Freedom followed the instructions. Little did he know that when he entered the new room he had been given a multi-room suite! This was the best that the Peoria Hilton Hotel offered. As Freedom put it, “IT WAS SOMETHING! It was class ‘A,’ number one!” It had four big rooms including a kitchen and a living room, all the comforts of home!
Freedom got on his knees and began to say, “Thank you Lord!” He just began to rejoice in the Lord. And yes the phone in the suite worked perfectly. He called his wife and they celebrated their anniversary over the phone.
That suite provided the perfect environment for prayer. Each evening as he returned from class he fell on his knees and walked the large private area having a time with God in deep prayer. The other mechanics all went out to socialize. But Freedom got alone with God. And that time was important, for the Lord had big things yet to do and God needed HIS servant ready. The only way to get ready is to be in the magnificent and glorious presence of THE KING!
Whenever they had classes for mechanics Caterpillar would take the mechanics on a tour or two of the various facilities. As Freedom prayed he asked God if he could go on all the tours. But this had never happened. In the past students had to pick and choose. But the instructor, with great surprise, announced that this class of mechanics was going to go on ALL the tours. They didn’t have to choose one or the other. Freedom rejoiced as he saw the mighty hand of God come down and over rule in the traditions of men. The instructor was shocked to see this happen. But only Freedom knew it was God Almighty loving HIS servant.
While these mechanics were in school the outside World was going through problems which would change everything. Ozark Airlines, the only air carrier out of Peoria, had it’s employees about to go on strike. All flights out of Peoria were canceled! And Hurricane David was bearing down on the East coast, canceling many flights, and causing more repercussions for air travel all over the Country. David killed 1200 people and did a billion dollars in damage, as it swept through the islands and up the East coast. It clobbered airline schedules!
Freedom’s relatives had already been notified of his arrival time in Texas. But that information was now all wrong. And Freedom had no time to contact them. Friday morning as he came into class he felt in his spirit that God was going to do something mighty. He heard all the bad news about how it was going to be perhaps impossible to leave. It looked like the men would have to stay the weekend or longer in Peoria, not being able to go home. The men in the classes were frantically looking for ways out of Peoria. But the buses were all booked. The airport was empty. The rental car agencies had no more cars.
One of the men, who was from Kansas, who received the Lord one breakfast that week came and said to Freedom, “What are we going to do, because we are going to be here for a few days? There’s no flights. The buses are all booked!”
Freedom heard himself say, “God will provide.” Within a few moments after Freedom uttered those words a man walked straight up to Freedom and said, “I’m from Caterpillar. Do you need a car?”
Freedom answered, “Yes! We do!” The man answered, “Well, I’ve got one. I’ll give it to you. But I just felt directed to come in here and offer it. I’m just on route to turning it back in to the rental company. If you want it you can come with me and we can just have it changed over to you.”
When class was finished that Friday, Freedom and three other students filled the rental car and took off south toward St. Louis, Missouri. They went to the larger St. Louis airport where there were other airlines. They turned the car in, said “farewell” to each other and it was each man for himself. But there were no assurances of anything in the natural. It was going to take more miracle workings of God to get Freedom to Dallas, Texas!
Freedom felt impressed to walk up to this certain counter. It was an American Airlines counter. There was a person there. But Freedom wonders if it might have been an angel. The person said, “Do you need help?”
Brother Freedom answered, “Yes! I need to see if I can get a flight to Dallas, Texas. I have my wife’s family going to pick me up there. And I don’t know where they are going to be. And they don’t know where I am. They assume that I would be there through Ozark. But Ozark is now canceled out. I would like to get something to try and get in there as near as possible. I don’t even know how to get a hold of them!
The lady at the counter said, “Well, I’ll do what I can do.”
Then she said, “NO! You go down to Gate 19! Just walk down to Gate 19. Just go down there and get in as a stand-in.”
So, he walked down to Gate 19. And just about then the evil one came and brought discouragement on Freedom like he couldn’t explain! Freedom said, “It was like he put his heels on me!”
And at that moment Freedom said, “I rebuke this in the name of Jesus!! I rebuke all this unbelief! And I claim the promises of God! I claim the touch from Heaven! Lord, I know that YOU have a plan! Help me to walk in it! I come against this that I feel in my mind, in the Name of Jesus!”
So he walked down that long corridor to Gate 19. He walks up to this man, sitting there at a counter by himself.
The man says, “Could I help you?”
“Yes, I need a ticket to Dallas. And I understand that the plane from here will be going to Dallas, Texas. I would like to get a seat if possible.”
The man at the counter said, “I’m not going to promise anything. Go and sit down.”
Freedom sat down and began to pray in the Spirit of God. At this point in his story Freedom says, “The Bible says that when we don’t know what to do, just pray in the Spirit.”
It was over an hour before anything much happened at that Gate. Then a Boeing 737 pulled in to Gate 19. It was a beautiful American Airlines jet. He longed to board that plane. The room started filling up with travelers and loved ones in connection with this eminent flight out.
A voice came on the public address and says, “American Airlines Flight number [so and so] departing Gate 19 for Dallas. Those with tickets prepare to board. First we are going to take on-board those who are handicapped. Then we are going to board First Class.”
So they called the handicapped people. And then a voice came over the public address and called Brother Freedom by his full given name. They repeated it twice!
Freedom jumped up and walked to the counter. The man said “Here you go!” And handed him his boarding pass.
He got on the plane and the stewardess gave him a choice as to what seat he wanted! Stand-in riders take what they can get. But Freedom was treated like he was a full fledged top rank customer, not a stand-in. He was allowed to board way early in the process! Freedom said, “I want to sit right over the wing.” The stewardess pointing said, “There it is!”
As the plane sailed toward Dallas God came down on Freedom in a very special way. God takes good care of HIS kids!!!
As he sat in the plane and could hear others around him chatting amongst themselves, he marveled at the worthlessness of the topics they chose. Freedom thought to himself, “Jesus is the most wonderful thing we can talk about!”
As the plane settled onto the Dallas runway and Freedom disembarked he wondered to himself, “How am I going to find out where my loved ones are in this big airport?”
In those days they had a tram that ran around the outer perimeter of the entire airport. So Freedom said, “Lord, I’m going to get on this by faith. When YOU want me to stop let me know.”
He boarded the tram and began to ride along. He didn’t know where he was going. All of a sudden he felt by the Spirit that this was where he was to leave the tram. He grabbed his bag, went to the doorway and there his relatives stood, right in front of him. Oh, the awesome power of God. Hurricanes, strikes, and the rules and traditions of man, nothing can over throw the will of our mighty God!!
That was the weekend that his Father-in-law, who had been widowed, was to be married. Freedom’s wife could not attend so she arranged for her husband, Brother Freedom, to be there.
God had put something in Freedom’s heart that God had asked a long time before. God wanted him to go to this little church in Trinidad, Texas to speak for the Lord. But of course Freedom wouldn’t invite himself. He would wait on God to open a door. And this trip was bringing him right to that neighborhood and that very church. So he wondered if this was going to come to pass at this time. In his spirit he felt that it would come to pass the following day, which was Sunday.
The wedding of his Father-in-law was going to occur in between Sunday School and Church. After church there was going to be a potluck lunch under the trees, on the church grounds.
Brother Freedom had on a brown shirt.
Nothing happened in Sunday School, or the wedding or during the worship service. No door opened. Nothing unusual happened. Then the potluck lunch began. Freedom thought to himself, “This must have all been in my head.”
Freedom has to leave at 1:30 or 2:00 P.M. to be in Dallas in time for his plane out. He assists his brother-in-law in getting some ice and then returns to the potluck.
When they return they notice that dinner hasn’t begun. Just then the pastor stands and says, “You know I’ve held up dinner because this man in the brown shirt had gone to get ice. But God tells me that HE wants this man to bring a word and to pray.”
So Freedom started the praying portion of his assignment. With Brother Freedom prayer always seems to bring the release of the anointing. And God powerfully moved upon Freedom. God spoke to the congregation using Freedom. The Lord, said, “There are some of you here that this is the only place that you have heard the Word of God. God is here and he wants to visit you in a special way. He has seen your life and HE sees where the correct path is.” Freedom cannot remember the exact message. The messages the Spirit pours through Freedom are bigger and wider than Freedom can contain. He simply allows the Spirit to speak the words and then they quickly fade since Freedom is not the author. God is the author. God spoke to those people in a very special way.
Then they went ahead and had lunch. During that time the pastor of the church came to Freedom and said, “I would like for you to come and speak for me sometime.” And Freedom did get to go back there and minister at a later date.
Then Freedom was immediately driven to Dallas where he caught a plane for the West Coast.
Haiti Miracle Adventure, Man Gets New Heart
At a regular Saturday morning Full Gospel Business Men’s meeting W______ was sharing that he was going to go on a Full Gospel Business Men’s Haiti ministry trip. Afterwards Freedom’s friend R_____ asked Freedom if he would like to go on that trip too. Brother Freedom thought about it and said that he might want to go, but that he was not able to do that. About a week later R_____ said that he and J_____ wanted to underwrite the whole trip so that Freedom could join the group to Haiti.
Freedom sensed in his spirit that those that were going would not be pleased to have him along. Yet Freedom sensed that God was in it and agreed to go under the sponsorship of his friends.
During the last week prior to the trip Freedom was under a lot of pressure to get some major problems fixed on some heavy equipment of an important client. One of the last jobs was the repair of a transmission from a Caterpillar 966 Wheel loader. Freedom was working late, 10 or 11 P.M., to finish the transmission in order to be able to make the trip.
He was tired and had put in a very, very long day. A little clip that goes from a stack of control valves dropped down inside the transmission. The clip fell down somewhere out of sight. He had to get that clip out. That clip would destroy the transmission if it remained during regular operation of the machine, so it had to be found and removed! That generally meant that he would have to disassemble all he had done, find the clip and re-assemble.
Freedom thought, “Oh, my goodness! I’m going to have to tear all this apart! And I’m too tired to do that tonight. So I will just have to do it tomorrow and just forget about the trip [to Haiti].”
Freedom breathed a prayer to the Lord. And the Spirit of God spoke, “Put your hand down in there!” And Freedom obeyed, putting his hand down into the transmission! The chances of just blindly putting a hand down in that huge and complex transmission and running across that clip were very, very small! The transmission was full of places where the clip could go. Freedom had not seen exactly where in the transmission the clip had fallen. But he put his hand down and instantly touched the lost clip. It was a Divine miracle! The Holy Spirit conserved all those hours of hard work in a second! The Lord kept him right on schedule for Haiti. God is good!!
So he finished the transmission that night and the next morning he began installing the transmission back in the Wheel Loader. He worked as rain poured down. But the job was completed and he left for Haiti the next day.
Brother Freedom departed on the mission trip to Haiti with the the group of Christian men.
It was quite a group of prominent business men on that trip to Haiti. But, Brother Freedom was just a common mechanic. He wasn’t an important executive or owner of a thriving factory or business. All the others were movers and shakers, people of importance in the eyes of society. As a result Freedom found himself riding in back of all the vehicles, seated in the back of the restaurants and generally ignored. Even though his going on the trip was a special miracle provided by two generous third parties, the main group of men were not terribly pleased to have this extra “nobody” along. So, Brother Freedom began to feel kind of left out and a bit sorry for himself.
When ministry assignments were given out others were sent to places fit for them. Brother Freedom found himself assigned to preach in a church that met in a chicken coup. The pulpit was an old, heavy, steel safe. But God moved and he knew he was there for a purpose.
At the big final banquet all the other men were seated at the head table. Brother Freedom was directed to sit in an ill-lighted corner at the back of the restaurant with the locals. He really was feeling sorry for himself. But God spoke to him and said, “The night isn’t over yet!” Brother Freedom has never claimed to be perfect. But, God is perfect and God has a perfect plan!!
Someone remembered that Brother Freedom was in the back of the restaurant somewhere and they asked him to stand and give a word of testimony. Brother Freedom arose and spoke a few words in which he mentioned that the Lord had blessed him so much that year in Kelowna, Canada, and Peoria, Illinois and now in Haiti. Then the service went on as before.
At the end of the banquet, just before the final prayer, one of the most prominent men arose. He happened to be from Kelowna, Canada. And, all through the trip he was one who had especially not appreciated Brother Freedom’s presence. But the Holy Ghost was changing all of that.
The Canadian arose and declared: “God has just spoken to me!! I have had a serious heart condition and God has just said that this mechanic has been sent here to Haiti to pray for me that my heart will be healed. I’m going to be the first one in line for this man to pray for me and then any of you who need prayer can line up behind me.”
A long line of people formed, led by the prominent Canadian who needed a new heart! God moved gloriously as the Holy Ghost anointed Freedom to pray for each person in that long line. And yes, a year later Brother Freedom met the same Canadian again. The man’s heart was still totally healed, by the Lord, and the man’s love for Freedom was very strong. God had healed that man’s heart in two ways!!
The next day as Freedom stood in line waiting to board his plane he found himself at the back of the line. All the others were up front. But Freedom was so happy for how God had moved. Just then two Haitian customs agents approached him. Freedom wondered if he was in trouble or something. These men were very tall, and very authoritative. They told Freedom that he was NOT to be in the back of the line. And they led Freedom to the very front of the line, in front of all the important businessmen. God arranged for Freedom to have first class service. He entered the plane before the rest of his party. This lowly, diesel mechanic was chosen to enter with the dignitaries. Freedom felt a bit strange being thrust to the very front. But he could not argue with these Customs Agents. God lifted up HIS servant. And in the process of this move to the front of the line Freedom caught sight of a minister from the Eastern United States. God told him to go and pray for the man. He did and their hearts were knitted like Jonathan and David. That pastor later had Freedom travel across the USA to preach in his pulpit.
On the trip home, after he boarded his plane the Holy Ghost spoke to his heart, “You are going to have to pray for this airplane like you pray for Caterpillar equipment.” Brother Freedom began to pray. The plane shuddered. A vibration began. The pilot shut down one engine. That engine had something very seriously wrong. It had lost oil pressure. The plane was immediately diverted to another airport.
The Spirit of God spoke again, “They are going to find absolutely nothing wrong with that engine.” And it was true. God had healed that engine. The mechanics went all over the engine as the plane sat on the ground. There was a big delay, but they could find nothing wrong. The captain came back on the public address saying, “I guess I have egg on my face. There is nothing wrong with that engine??” But Brother Freedom knew, and God knew that God had healed the engine and saved lives.
God Saves An Angry Man
In more than half a century of work Brother Freedom has had many different assignments. Once his employer sent him to assist in the shop of a logging company to work on a Caterpillar 977. It looked like it might be a refreshing change of pace. But, when Freedom showed up for work on Monday the man he had to work with turned out to be one of the meanest, rudest, roughest men he had ever seen. That man cursed Brother Freedom, he swore at Brother Freedom, he yelled at Freedom, he ordered this and that! There was no pleasing the man. That first day was like living in a rattlesnake den.
Brother Freedom thought for sure that this assignment by his employer must be a big mistake. He went home, got on his knees and told the Lord all about it. “Lord, I don’t think I can make it in this. This first day was horrible! What am I to do? How can I work with this man day in and day out?”
Brother Freedom tells the story like this:
“There was a Caterpillar 977 that I was working on, many years ago. And the Spirit of God told me, ‘You know this 300 pound operator [of that 977], He’s going to come in here and give you a lot of problems. If you can live with him this week, you’ll see him saved! If you can’t live with him, you are going to be in trouble, because I want to see him saved!’
And I said, ‘Lord, this is a tremendous job! I mean this guy is big, and ugly. He looks like Goliath.’ And his words were terrible! He ate me up! He just said all these words that touched my panic button, ALL those little buttons I used to have! It was frightening! I did the best that I could do!
On Friday night I seen him saved! He gave his heart to Jesus!
Later the owner of the WHOLE company called Freedom into his office and he too received the good news of Jesus, because he saw something real. The rich, big owner gave his heart to Jesus Christ. If we were to name that man, today, you would hear the name of a well known and long standing business in this part of the Country.
Not long after these victories that owner went to be with Jesus. Two men’s lives were saved from Hell and one went right to glory. But Freedom had to take the beating, like the Lord Jesus, so that life might come into that dark place. God Almighty is the star and hero of this wonderful story. Glory, forevermore, to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost!
Hospital Miracle of Silent Prayer In the Spirit
One night about 10 or 11 P.M. Brother Freedom received a phone call from some brothers in the Lord. They were asking if Freedom would join them immediately at a hospital some 45 miles away. A friend of Freedom’s and their’s was deathly ill.
Freedom knew that there was no distance in prayer. He also knew that he was to arise at 3 A.M., only a few hours later, to begin his day. Men in his profession must be on the job with the sun. He always gave the Lord two and a half hours of his morning time. Somehow it seemed best that he join the men in prayer, but not drive the round trip of almost 90 miles. God could move in any case. And this would make it a whole lot easier for him.
The men on the other end of the line were disappointed that Brother Freedom was not coming to join them as they planned to go to the bedside of the dying friend.
As soon as Freedom hung up the phone he began to pray for the sick man. As he began to pray he was shocked at what he heard. The Spirit of God spoke to him and said, “You know, you’re lazy!” The Holy Ghost really shamed him. Conviction came upon him and he saw in himself a weakness. The Holy Spirit pointed out that God could take care of the work that was to come on the morrow. But God was in that call and God had an assignment for him that night and that if he wanted to be in God’s will he would go.
You know, this is the beauty of the anointing and guidance of the Holy Ghost. This is why all believers need to come into the fullness of Pentecost. It doesn’t mean that we are flawless. But it does mean that when we seek guidance the Spirit of God will confirm or HE will correct. But the Spirit will keep us on course if we will just seek God and let the Holy Ghost be in charge. You can’t make a rule that you must always go or that you must always stay. You must only follow the rule that the Holy Ghost of God is the one who cuts our orders. We don’t cut our orders. God does. He uses HIS Spirit to give us that Divine direction.
Believers with the Baptism in the Holy Ghost hear the Spirit much more clearly. Believers that do not have this experience often have a very hard time hearing God’s orders. They go more on logic, reason and common sense. Common sense will fail you! The Holy Ghost never fails!
Brother Freedom repented immediately, asked his wife if she wanted to take a ride to the next city, and she did. They left immediately and he arrived in time to meet these other men at the perfect moment before they had even tried to visit the sick man. These caring men were so glad to see that their number would then be complete.
The men walked together toward the dying man’s room. As they approached a nurse cut them off. They told the nurse they desired to go in and see their sick friend. “No, you men cannot go in! You will make too much noise! I won’t allow it! I will call the police and take you out forcefully if I have to!”
Brother Freedom spoke up. He asked the nurse, “What if we say nothing? We’ll be quite. I promise.” This question caught the nurse by surprise. She could hardly imagine a bunch of pentecostal men going to see a sick man and not saying a word.
The tough nurse relented a bit. “If you men make one noise you’ll spend the rest of the night in jail!” So they proceeded into the man’s room under a “gag order.” But, they were at least by his bedside.
Brother Freedom saw a mighty truth demonstrated that night! When a Spirit-filled believer steps into a room their presence changes the atmosphere! When a Spirit-filled believer walks into a school, a church, a hospital or a work place the presence of Almighty God that burns over the Holy of Holies in the center of their being….that glorious Shekinah presence of God comes into that place when the Spirit-filled believer walks in.
These men of God stepped quietly into that room. And when they did the atmosphere of that room changed. The presence of God filled that room. Brother Freedom felt the glory of God as these men took each other’s hands and inwardly prayed in the Spirit. Freedom looked at the equipment that was monitoring the sick man. His vital signs were very low. He was just clinging to life.
Then the monitors began to indicate a change. Readouts began to show a more normal reading. They had only been in the room about ten minutes when the man’s eyes fluttered open. He signaled them for a pencil and paper. On the paper that man wrote these words: “Jesus has touched me!”
God healed that man and raised him up without a single word being spoken audibly. Brother Freedom was so glad that he consulted with the Holy Ghost and got a mid-course correction to stay on track in God’s perfect will.
Death Bed Case Lives 10 More Years!
While Brother Freedom was still at the hospital the Holy Spirit spoke to his heart and said, “Why don’t you go tomorrow and pray for Brother V_____.” Under the direction of the Spirit Freedom went back the next day to the Hospital. He met some men in the elevator. They were pastors. They had just been upstairs praying for V_____.
Brother Freedom was taking the elevator with the wife of the dying man. These pastors asked her why Freedom was going up. She said, “To pray.” The pastors indicated that they had prayed and V_____ didn’t need any more visitors to bother him. But the wife told Freedom, “Come on up anyway.”
Freedom said, “When I opened that door up the presence of God just [fell].” When Freedom felt the Spirit of God he said to V______, “I come here today to give you good news! God’s going to heal you!” V______ looked at Freedom with some surprise. Freedom said, “Yes, HE is!!! HE’s going to give you a new heart! In just a few minutes V______ was experiencing healing. He was out of the hospital in just a few days!! God gave V______ ten more years of life!
Freedom Obeys and God Makes a Hard Job Easy
One Saturday morning Brother Freedom was planning to go to his regular prayer breakfast meeting. But, the day before he had been given a call from his employer. There was a 528 Caterpillar Log Skidder way up in the mountains that was having trouble. It had to be looked at over the weekend because it was in demand during the week in a logging operation. The boss said that Freedom had to find out or repair whatever the problem was.
Brother Freedom was at a loss as to whether to go to prayer breakfast or to go directly into the mountains. And as he put it, “I just felt the Spirit of God said, ‘Go to breakfast and I’ll show you. Go by yourself and you’ll be by yourself! But you won’t find the problem.'”
It was one of those tough commands of the Lord because whenever he went to prayer breakfast he was later at arriving at Saturday job sites, and sometimes they would complain to his employer. So he was in a bind. If he was early he knew he would please men, but he also knew he would be on his own with no Heavenly help. If he put God first he would be later and have to take the criticism of a late arrival. But, God would aid him greatly.
“So, I chose to go God’s way.” He went to prayer breakfast and the Lord was moving and the breakfast was late getting out. He was really feeling the pressure. So he took off into the mountains and through the woods in his service truck, trying to make up time. And he prayed all the way there in the Spirit of God. He traveled about a 100 miles into the mountains.
Freedom finally arrived at the disabled skidder. He was about to set up his needed test apparatus to begin diagnosing the problem, trying to zero in on the trouble. He was going to take a reading on the “boost pressure.” The work order he had received indicated that the problem was probably in the engine. So he was about to focus his attention there first. As he is doing this the Holy Ghost speaks to him and says, “Why don’t you pray first?” Well, he had been praying all the way up the mountain about this. But he knew that when the Holy Ghost gave a direction like this that he needed to correct right away. “Excuse me Lord for not praying again! If you say pray I must need to pray.”
You know once Freedom visited a church where they mostly worshiped, but they seldom started with prayer, nor did they hardly pray during the whole service. He noted that particular church had to work so hard to get anything done. Their worship was mostly up hill. If they had only had an anointed saint to open in prayer and then if they had prayed again when directed they would have had the fire falling and the hills would have been so much smaller, and the joy so much greater and the move of the Spirit worth it all.
Freedom says, “Pray and pray and pray until the Spirit of God moves. That’s the idea! When there’s no prayer I start wondering what’s going on.”
So he prayed again there with the skidder. “Just like that, the Lord spoke to my heart. God says, ‘Go take the cap off the filter! It only takes six bolts, and you can look at it. I’ll show you after that.'” He thought, “I’m going to be obedient.” So he pulls the cap off and starts to begin to move to pull the filter out and he has an open vision. He suddenly is looking into the transmission of that machine. He is literally, by the Spirit, looking through metal and seeing the inner workings of that transmission! He sees the stator in that transmission and that it has been sheared off! As Freedom put it, “I can’t explain it; the splines in that torque converter, the stator was gone!”
Then the Lord says, “Do you want to reinforce what I showed you?” He pulls this filter up and out and down under where the filter was he sees specks of aluminum. There is only one place aluminum comes from in that situation, the converter!
Then the Lord said, “I would advise you to be bold in this. You tell them that that stator is broke!” Freedom thought to himself, “Oh, my goodness! How can I do this?” He has not actually opened the transmission up. It takes a day of labor to even get to the transmission. God says that he is to tell them the trouble based on revelation knowledge. This is a major repair for this machine. Based on the revelation this machine is going to have to be pulled off the job at major expense and be sent miles to the shop for other mechanics to spend many hours of labor. The job in the woods is going to have to shut down with this machine gone. This is a “big bucks” situation! The vision is going to have to stand on the line! If Freedom is wrong then thousands of dollars are on the block and even his job. So the logging company trucks the big machine to the shop a hundred miles away.
“Lord, I know I heard exactly right,” Freedom says to himself!
The Lord kept telling Freedom, “Don’t think anything about it! Get it out of your mind!” The Devil was trying to fight Freedom by working on Freedom’s mind. But Freedom knew that he knew that he knew what God had spoken!
In five minutes Freedom had diagnosed a very major problem that would normally have taken hours to even know about. The Holy Ghost was on the case and when God is on the case things happen. If Freedom had missed the prayer breakfast he would have been in more trouble than he could imagine. He might have spent hours tearing into the engine when it was really the transmission! But he had to walk by faith! He had to stand behind God’s diagnosis! And he had to wait it out while the shop mechanics spent a day and half tearing down the machine to get to the transmission.
The shop mechanics said, “Are you sure?? Are you sure you’re sure??” They didn’t want to get into that long job and find nothing wrong with the transmission. But he had to walk by faith. “I’m sure!”
The Holy Ghost is NEVER wrong. He’s never been wrong, ever! And after a day and half of hard, grueling work those greasy shop mechanics at the main shop come back with the report, “You’re right! That stator is sheared off!” Hallelujah! You can’t pray too much!! Pray ’til you hear from Heaven!
Are You Wide Awake??
One morning, very early, Freedom arose and began to read the Word of God and pray. He just could not get himself awake that morning. He was really struggling. At the end of his prayer time he said, “Lord, I just can’t get awake.” And the Lord spoke to him and said, “Before this day is over you will be wide awake!”
So Freedom headed to work. When he got to the job sight there was a DW20 sitting there with a steering problem. Freedom thought he would start working on that. Someone walked up with a message for Freedom to go to a certain fire station. A forest fire was going on and there was trouble with some equipment being used in the fire. Freedom contacted the headquarters of his company and received the “go-ahead” to assist with the heavy equipment needs of the fire crews.
Brother Freedom traveled to the fire station near the fire and got some directions to a staging area. When he arrived at the staging area he met Bill and Roy, both well known to him. Freedom said, “Where’s your Cats?” The men indicated that their machines had been left behind. The machines were a Komatsu 65 and a Caterpillar D8-46A. Roy had been flown out and Bill was waiting to go in. The fire had gone up over their machines. Roy was saved, but the condition of the machines was unknown.
They told Freedom that since he worked for the main equipment repair outfit that he was to go in and see if anything was damaged, and if the machines were still operable. “You have to walk in about five miles,” they told him. But the Department of Forestry said, “No, it’s still too dangerous. Wait a couple of hours.”
Close to mid-night Freedom and five others started to walk into the burned area to get to the Cats. They walked through the darkness, lit by the glow of the fire. Freedom was in good physical condition and found himself ahead of the group. This was what he desired so that he might be alone with the Lord. The farther ahead he got the harder he prayed. When everyone was out of sight he had great liberty in the Lord. Just before he arrived at the scene he was wonderfully praising the Lord and having a marvelous time. Then God spoke to his heart, “Are you wide awake?” “Yes, I’m wide awake,” he told the Lord!
He checked the machines out and they were not harmed at all. The seats weren’t even burned. Those machines are a lot tougher than people. The operators couldn’t bare the heat, but the machines did.
The others arrived and the machines started up fine. Then Freedom started to walk out. When he got to a certain road an International one-ton pickup was to meet them. He was out ahead again having a time in the Lord. He saw the lights of a pickup coming. Somehow God was directing and even though it was night every move was perfect.
In the truck was another man he knew, Ben. They took off heading back. About a half a mile later the Lord spoke and said, “STOP!” Freedom said, “Ben, let’s just stop! Back up! Back up!” Ben complied. And just ahead of them a huge burned tree, four to six feet in diameter suddenly fell across the road where they would have been. The heart of the tree had been burned out. It would have crushed the truck, but God saved them! They waited there for the Cat’s to catch up and push the heavy tree off the road. God is so good. It pays to stay in contact with HIM!
Two Dozers Going Down Soon
One February God spoke to Freedom about one of the Company’s customers. The Lord told Freedom that the customer was going have the transmission in each of his two Caterpillar dozers go out. The Lord even told Brother Freedom that it will be the Reverse Carrier in each transmission that would fail.
This was a big test indeed. It is one thing to have a customer call when a machine goes down. But, how do you tell a customer, of the big company you work for, that he is going to lose two machines shortly and that God has said it would happen in such and such a way?? How do you do that without angering your boss in your company and maybe causing the customer to get upset? You can be sure that Brother Freedom really began to pray concerning this test. He knew the account of that customer was on the line as was his job.
But God said it and God wanted it told as a sign of the Lord’s Mighty Power and Authority. And God is the Boss that Freedom follows first and foremost! He knew God wanted him to warn them. This is what Freedom said to the customer:
“I don’t know if you guys believe in God, but I do. I’ve been trying to get my life together, but I’ve been doing some praying. I have a feeling there’s something wrong with both transmissions [in your dozers]. I’m not pushing for work! But I believe they’ve got a problem, both of them in the Reverse Carrier in both transmissions.”
The customer said, “Well, we’ll give that some thought.” Freedom answered, “I believe we should at least take some warning to see if something is happening.” So one goes and he pulls the filter and sees some metal cuttings caught in the filter on one machine. But they decided to run the two machines for a while since they were running good.
Then in May of that year those machines were doing some work near by. All of a sudden they lost the transmission in one of those machines. So they called in Brother Freedom. Sure enough it was the Reverse Carrier that had failed! And because they waited to fix the problem pieces of metal had gone down and damaged other parts. It was an even more extensive job to repair. When Freedom finished the first Cat with all that collateral damage, the top man told his associates that they better get the other machine in right away. But before they could get word to have it brought in the second Cat went down and was so bad that it couldn’t even be moved. Freedom had to fix it pretty much where it stopped. And the second Cat had even more collateral damage.
Isn’t God good and loving! God warned those men three months in advance so that they could have saved time and money on their machine. God is glorious, and HIS Word never fails. Freedom learned once again that you can never go wrong if you listen to the Lord!
A Winch Miracle
There was a winch that was working terribly. It was on a 977 Caterpillar loader: a number 56 Caterpillar winch. It just wouldn’t work right. It would never, ever release the brake. It would always come up to a spot and just not work correctly. It had to be operated very carefully in order to get it to work at all.
It was worked on by the big shop several times. But, they could not seem to improve it. It continued to act up. Finally, in frustration they came to Brother Freedom and said, “You are going to have to go into that winch until you find out what’s wrong!”
Brother Freedom’s favorite jobs are not digging into hydraulics and winches. His specialty is diesel engines. Working on something like that, which has already gotten the best of others, is a tough assignment.
He tore into the winch and was putting it all back together. He hadn’t found a thing he could put his finger on that might be wrong or broken or in need of adjustment. He was praying as he did this. “I need some help, Lord! I just can’t figure this out.”
The Lord suddenly spoke to Freedom and said, “Take that little piece and turn it around the other way!” Just like that. That’s how quick and clearly the Lord spoke. Freedom couldn’t see any difference in the part one way from another. But he obeyed the Lord. He turned the little piece around and put it into it’s spot in the opposite way. And the winch worked perfectly after that!!
To this very day Brother Freedom has no idea what turning that part around did. He can’t figure it out. But Almighty God knew and that’s all that matters!
God’s Divine Dozer Parts Service
One day Freedom and his friend R______ were going up to a landfill. The friend had talked Brother Freedom into leaving his shop and taking a ride to look at a piece of equipment. He said it would be an easy little job. R_______ was a sharp business man and he knew he could save some money if he got Freedom to take a quick “look see.” R_____ had a way of sneaking little jobs “under the wire,” so to speak. Freedom knew this was going to be one of those “cut-rate” jobs in which he was going to get an outing, but not much pay.
The starting engine on this Cat in the landfill wouldn’t run. The starting engine was a small gas engine that would turn over the big diesel and fire up the Cat. Not only was the starting engine not working, but someone else walked up and said the Cat’s transmission was bad too! This was beginning to look like a big job. There was a bunch of work back at the shop that was waiting. And here was Freedom stuck some miles from his shop, and the pressure of the total work load was starting to get heavy.
The business man said, “Oh, we’ll make it up to you. We’ll buy you a big steak!”
Freedom climbed up on the machine. He found a plug had somehow come out of the hole where the differential pressure can be measured. That plug being out was the cause of the transmission acting up. The plug was laying near the hole. He picked the plug up and set it aside, where upon it fell down into the belly pan of the machine!! There was no easy way to get it. It was gone! Now things had just gone from bad to worse!
The Lord looked down on his servant who was in a very uncomfortable situation that was getting worse by the moment. Freedom looked around and “believe it or not” there was a brand new plug laying right behind him! It was brand new!!! Freedom put the new plug into the hole. It was a miracle! God sent Freedom a brand new plug, sent it to HIS servant stuck in the dump! The machine ran great after that simple fix. But God had to supply a plug out of nowhere!
God Tells Freedom Exactly How Long a D9 Dozer Will Last
In April of 1980 a customer was going to change over from DW 20s to 631 scrapers and from D8-46A push Cats to a D9 push Cat. They needed bigger equipment. In this change over they were looking for a big D9 dozer. They asked Brother Freedom to go to San Leandro and take a look at a used D9 they had located there.
Freedom checked the Cat out, and the appearance was very good. But when he went through the service reports they pointed to an approaching engine problem. Freedom really had a big question about the engine. He wondered how long that engine would last before it had to have a major overhaul.
On the way back home the buyers asked Freedom what he thought about the Cat. He told them all he knew and that he had no idea what to tell them in light of the service reports pointing to engine troubles ahead. It would cost $15,000 to $20,000 when the engine goes. Then the buyers said something that would be surprising to most people. But, they had known Brother Freedom for quite a while. They said, “Why don’t you pray about it?”
These men had heard about how the Lord assisted HIS servant. Freedom was feeling the pressure. These men were asking to put faith in God on the line in daily business. Freedom was wondering if their request was in the Lord’s will. These men were asking him to pray about their business future. God is sovereign. Was God desiring to work as these men were asking?? Freedom knew that God would answer only if the Lord willed. God is not a business tool. We are HIS tools!
So Freedom went before the Lord. “What shall I do Lord,” he asked? He prayed for three days! After three days God spoke to his heart. “Don’t worry, all you have to do is tell them. You are just the messenger boy. The Cat will make it all this year, but it won’t make it into 1981. It will run this year, but you will have to do a little tune-up for it to be right.”
When the men heard what God’s answer was they said, “We’re going to buy it!”
Word got back to one of the big wheels in the company where Freedom worked that he had prayed and told these men how long a used piece of equipment was going to work before it broke down. The big wheel came and told Freedom that the company should fire him for making such a statement to their customers. Freedom answered, “Yes, you are right!” Freedom knew that in the natural the big wheel was right. The big wheel was right in the natural, but wrong in the supernatural. But Freedom had to be quiet and humble himself. The big wheel was not aware of the supernatural.
“What do you want me to do,” Freedom asked the big wheel? “Well, just keep working.” They were going to have to wait and see how it all came out through time. Then the Devil came along and began to try to bring doubt. The Devil said, “This is going to put you under right here.”
The Lord spoke and said, “You can’t let this bother you! You’ve got to rise above it! Walk by faith, not by sight!” You’ve got to do it!”
The Lord had Freedom do a tune-up on that Cat. Then it went to work. It worked one day, two days and on it went, a week. It was still going. It ripped the ground for a pipe line. It needed a little adjustment on fuel flow, but it went on. Then in December of 1980 it was working in a prune orchard ripping and pushing trees down. When it finished the last round on that field and they went to park it the Cat’s engine began to miss. And that was December 31st 1980!!
That’s how accurate the Almighty God is when HE says something will go all the way through the year and not make it into the next year he means it will go to December 31st!!! Hallelujah!! Brother Freedom didn’t lose his job. And some folks began to know that there is a God in Heaven.
God Diagnoses An Engine Noise Many Mechanics Missed
One rainy day Brother Freedom was called 40 miles south to look at a 623 Caterpillar scraper. The owner described a noise that sounded from the front of the engine. The Holy Spirit whispered to Freedom on the way down that he was to look at the rear of the engine.
The rain was pouring down while the owner kept telling Freedom about the noise at the front of the engine. Sure enough Freedom could hear that noise at the front. The day wasn’t optimum to look at that machine with rain in the mechanic’s face. It isn’t wise to open a machine up in the rain. So, Freedom put the job off until the next day.
As he wheeled his service truck back down the road the Lord asked him why he hadn’t looked to the rear of the engine. He asked the Lord to forgive him. The rain and the situation had somehow caused him to lose focus and forget the command of the Lord. He had fallen back into the natural. There can be only little success in the natural, and much failure. But with God all things are possible.
The next day as he arrived on the scene and faced that owner he had to “eat crow.” “Ray,” he said to the owner. “I’ve been praying. And I feel the problem is in the rear.” He had to gently and diplomatically ignore the owner of that machine and obey God.
Sure enough he found the problem in the drive unit off the engine, in the rear! The strange noise was being ducted to the front by some mysterious process. But, the problem was in the rear! This was a brand new machine! This problem was one that Freedom later learned had fooled many mechanics. It really humbled Freedom that he had failed to listen to the Lord the first time because the wet weather got him out of focus.
What a powerful lesson Freedom learned that time: The natural things can so throw you off the track and mess up the supernatural, if you allow them. We must keep our focus on the Lord God!
God is Never Wrong!
G.P. told Freedom, “I’m really worried about my transmission in that D8.” Freedom said, “Are you sure it’s the transmission?” G.P. said, “Yeah, it’s the transmission.” But in the Spirit Brother Freedom kept seeing the cross shaft, not the transmission. But it was G.P’s machine and surely he should know. So we went ahead and pulled the dozer apart. And sure enough the cross shaft only had two bolts and that ring gear was sitting there side ways! It was ready to have something serious happen. But you know, God is never wrong!
Utah Auction Miracle
Brother Freedom’s friend R_______ wanted Freedom to accompany him to a Utah used equipment auction. The Lord often gives Freedom insights concerning heavy equipment. And Freedom’s friends like to take him to look at equipment because they benefit. Below is a story, partly, told in Freedom’s own words, of a miracle God did for a business man who had recently been born into the Kingdom of God.
We took off from [our Town]. R______ is always an hour late, really late. So, here he has this little old red pickup, GMC pickup. He picks me up. We were supposed to leave at three o’clock, but at four o’clock he is still not there. At four-thirty he is not there. And the plane is to leave at six or seven that night [a hundred miles south].
So here he rolls in there and says, “Come on! Come on, we got to go! We’re late!”
I said, “Your late, there’s no use us going! R_____, let’s just do this another day. I don’t feel good about us taking off in a hurry like this.”
He said, “Well, I’ve been in a hurry! We’ll be all right!” So they get on down the freeway some miles and a red light comes on, pulls R______ over. And the State Trooper gives R_____ a real hard time. The trooper pulled him over for making so many fast lane changes more than for the speeding.
I said, “See R______, we are not going to make it. We’ve got 50 or 60 more miles and you’ve only got 30 minutes.”
He says, “Well you wait and see what’s going to take place now.” Then he really flies down the freeway! He flies so fast that he says, “They won’t even see me!” So they take off down the road that goes up to the airport about 80 miles an hour! He was just flying down through there. And they just barely get on the plane!
Brother Freedom says, “That’s just not my way of doing things! I don’t like those kind of things. I don’t like to be hurried. God knows me. I’m a slow person.”
So they get on that plane and R____ says, “This is great!”
Freedom answers, “I don’t like riding with you! You scared me to death!”
“Well,” R_____ says, “We’re on the airplane now! No speed limits up here.” So they get up in the air and R______ says, “Ain’t this great! We are going to stop tonight at Salt Lake City.” This is the way R____ talks. “We’re going to have us a nice supper! You’re going to forget all about this.” So Brother Freedom starts to feel better now that he is safe on that airplane. He begins to relax. His friend R_____ is something else. But Brother Freedom always loves people, even the ones that stretch him to the max.
Soon Brother Freedom is kidding R____and, R_____ is kidding him. Freedom is feeling okay now. They arrive in Salt Lake City. R_____ rents a car. R____ treats Brother Freedom to a simply superb dinner. Things are looking better to Brother Freedom.
The next morning they get up early. And Brother Freedom has a talk with the Lord. “Lord, I want you to make a miracle today!” So they went to breakfast. R______ had some fancy European something or another for his breakfast. Brother Freedom just ate his usual eggs over easy. R______ says, “That’s the way you are! You never try something good. You eat that old stuff!” “That’s the way he and I always were,” Freedom said. R____ and Freedom kidded a lot.
This whole trip occurred not too long after R_____ had given his heart to the Lord. R_____ had been desperately sick in the hospital. Brother Freedom went to visit him. Freedom said, “R______ you don’t know Jesus as your personal Saviour. Would you like to accept HIM in your heart tonight? I just felt so wanting you to make peace tonight. This is your night to receive Jesus.” And R______ did receive the Lord that night. And so from that time R_______ and Freedom had a growing friendship in the Lord.
As they were getting ready for the auction R_______ said, “This is going to be a good day!”
Brother Freedom responded, “Yeah, I KNOW it is! God has something in store for us. HE’s got something! It’s going to be a mark for HIM! You know what? That touches you, it’s going to be money. God’s going to let you realize, let you see today something.”
R______ said, “What’s it going to be?”
Freedom says, “I don’t really know, but what you like is money. Wouldn’t surprise me if God doesn’t do something along the line of money.”
We might point out here that because R______ was a brand new believer, and one who didn’t think in any other terms than money that God was going to get R_______’s attention in that way. Brother Freedom would be the first to tell you that the love of money is a very dangerous thing. Brother Freedom is not one of those get rich types. But in this case God was going to speak in terms that this man understood. God has a way of working in terms we understand.
Then they drove to Ogden, Utah. The Heavy Equipment Auction started at 9 A.M. in the morning. So they had to be on site early to look over the equipment, to see what was going to be auctioned off.
They get to the auction and look at three Caterpillar 633s, elevating scrapers. R_____ says, “You know, I could use two of those.” He says, “I don’t want to go over $35,000.” That was a pretty tight budget for two scrapers.
Brother Freedom says, “All right. What else do you want?”
R______ says, “I want to buy a nine [Caterpillar D9 Bulldozer].” And there are two D9 bulldozers to look at. Brother Freedom, being a diesel mechanic has had a lot of experience looking at equipment and evaluating it. Nevertheless Freedom has to depend totally on the Holy Spirit to help him. The Spirit of God knows all things. And the Lord loves to help us even in our work areas of life, if we will give God the glory and not do things that are out of God’s will.
Brother Freedom looked over the three 633s and the two D9s very closely. Then he went into the office and went through the detailed service reports, telling about the repair history of each of these used machines.
And so Freedom prays. He says, “Lord, I want YOU to perform a miracle, perform a REAL miracle.” Brother Freedom asks this because he wants this new Christian man to see that God is glorious and dependable, that God is a wonderful Heavenly Father. Freedom wants the Lord to get some glory in the life of this new Christian business man that has brought Freedom across the country to look at equipment. So that short prayer was all he said.
Of the three 633s Brother Freedom told R_____ the first, second and third machine, in order of quality, based on his analysis and the leading of the Holy Spirit. He warned him that the third machine was in very poor shape. The auction started for the first 633 at $30,000! And R____ wanted to get two for a maximum of $35,000! That machine looked pretty good, but that was a lot of money, especially since R_____ had to pay to haul the machine over 1500 miles home. It was going to cost $5,000 just to get the equipment out of Utah and home.
The second 633 bids start at $20,000, and sold at $27,000. So R______ ends up with two 633s, one for $30,000 and the other for $27,000, thats $22,000 over his budget! Then R_____ buys his bulldozer for $28,000 which was a good deal because it was worth $40,000.
As bidding is going on for the bulldozer a stranger comes up to R____ and says, “Hey, you know I see that man that you got with you that was looking over those 633s. We believe he knows what he is talking about.” Now this conversation was going on and Freedom did not know about it. But God works in mysterious ways his wonders to perform. The stranger says, “Do you believe that what he says is going to be pretty accurate?” R_______ replies, “Yeah, he says that the two best machines are the two that I bought.” The stranger says, “Well, that’s what we thought, too. We didn’t want to stick our neck out, but we need one. Would you take $33,000 for one of these machines?” R____ says, no I don’t want to go for $33,000.” R_____ was a good negotiator.
R_______ asks Freedom what he thinks. Freedom says that he thinks that $33,000 is a pretty good price for the second best machine, which is what the man wants. But R____ presses for more. So the stranger comes back and pays R____ even more! R____ makes enough money from the sale of that second 633 to pay the $5,000 for hauling the 633 and the D9. R______ stays well within his budget and gets all his expenses for the trip covered, plus some spending money left over! As Freedom put it, “And that was God!”
Brother Freedom added, “What a mighty God we serve!” God literally did a miracle and answered Freedom’s prayer for R_______. It touched R_______ in his pocketbook.
God’s Employment Agency
Brother Freedom believes in waiting on God and listening for direction from the Holy Spirit in every area of life. God is infinitely interested in the smallest and largest details of our walk. So Freedom waits on God.
Here’s a little glimpse on how God wants to take care of our lives if we’ll let HIM. Freedom was working on a job for a certain man who had a construction outfit. Things were going right along with regular work. But with the economy so unpredictable suddenly the construction outfit had a change and they had no work for Freedom. So Freedom turns it over to the Lord. He’s like the rest of us. He’s got bills to pay and responsibilities to meet.
Freedom takes the situation to the Lord in prayer. Pretty soon a friend calls him and asks to take him on a ride to a town almost a 100 miles away. They get there and a man they meet hires Freedom to run a Dozer several times a week. That job tides him over. Freedom levels a large area that had been a open mine. After a few weeks the job is done and it is gone.
Things look kind of scary again. Bills are coming in and no work seems to be on the horizon. So Freedom turns it over to the Lord. This time the Holy Spirit starts speaking to him. The Spirit says:
“I want you to go (names and places have all been changed to protect the privacy of the people involved) South on Highway 20 until you get to Logan Street. Turn left on Logan Street and go back in there and turn again. There’s a shop back there.” Freedom had no idea there was an equipment shop back there. Freedom is very familiar with the whole area. But God knows all things better.
“You stop there and go in and you will run into a fellow named John Doe. Ask him for a job. If he asks you if you have any tools tell him you haven’t got any.”
Freedom had sold all his own tools because he thought he was out of the mechanic part, being over 70. So he follows the Holy Spirit’s directive and sure enough there is a shop there and a man by the name the Spirit had given. And when he asks for a job the man says, “When do you want to start?”
And sitting there is a D6 Dozer torn down waiting for Freedom to put it back together and get it working.
God wants our lives to be like the Book of Acts. HE has given the Holy Spirit to be our Comforter and our Guide! We just need to learn to listen to the Holy Ghost and turn all things over to the Lord. Then we wait for divine direction. This is the life of the Spirit-filled believer.
Air Compressor Controlled By Praying in Tongues
For many years Brother Freedom was a mobile mechanic. He spent long hours in a Caterpillar service truck. This truck was bigger, heavier and taller than a pickup, even though it wasn’t as big as a semi. It carried lots of heavy tools, a boom lift, welding equipment and an automatic air compressor. But the air compressor had a fault. It was a constant problem.
The air compressor on Freedom’s truck was run by a small gasoline engine. The little engine pressurized the big air tank so that Brother Freedom’s air wrenches and other air tools could be powered. It was totally automatic. The little engine had a sensor that told it when to start and re-pressurize the tank. It was so automatic that it functioned at all times. And here lay the problem.
The little engine had a quirk about it. Every time it finished pumping up the pressure tank it would automatically shut itself off and then immediately backfire. This blast was as loud as a 12 gauge shot gun. And so as Brother Freedom would drive down the road, periodically, other motorists would be startled by a loud cannon blast. It truly sounded like somebody was shooting on the road.
When Brother Freedom would wheel into his home at eleven or mid-night, after a long day on the job, if he forgot to shut the compressor totally off it would start up in the early morning hours and then shut down and blast all the neighbors out of their dreams with a hearty explosion. That compressor was an embarrassment.
The compressor was a burden. Every time it started up Brother Freedom would brace himself for the big bang. He knew what was coming next and he would tighten up inside wishing that something could be down. There seemed to be no simple cure for the little engine. It just was destined to blow it’s stack every time.
One day the Lord spoke to Freedom just as the little engine powered up and began to pressurize the air tank. The Lord said, “Pray in the Spirit and watch and see. You will find that every time you pray in the Spirit there will be no backfire.”
God Almighty had set up a test to show the power of a person humbling themselves and praying in a language they do not know under the control of the Holy Ghost. Now this cannot be done by a non-Spirit filled believer. Only those who have been baptized in the Holy Spirit with the gift of a TRUE Heavenly Prayer Language can truly and effectively pray in the Spirit. Anybody can make funny noises…but only Holy Spirit filled believers can utter a language from Heaven!
Praying in the Spirit means that the Holy Spirit totally controls the syntax, the words, the tone, the attitude, the whole prayer. A prayer prayed in the Spirit is not authored by the man or woman who opens there mouth and lets out the prayer. It is authored by a “ghost writer,” the Holy Ghost to be specific.
Brother Freedom had long ago learned to obey the voice of the Lord. So he began to pray in that Heavenly language. When the little engine finally finished it’s work and cut off there was total silence. There was no explosion. From that day forward ONLY when Brother Freedom prayed in the Holy Ghost, while the compressor pumped, were the explosions silenced. If he failed to pray in the Spirit the little engine would let out a horrible bang.
One night brother Freedom lay in his bed. In his sleep he heard the little engine outside on his work truck fire up. “Oh no,” he thought! But then the Spirit reminded him again of the power of the Heavenly language. He began to pray….and the little engine shut down quietly as the Lord Almighty had foretold. Brother Freedom slipped back into restful sleep.
God has given us a great gift in the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. And those who have received this gift have been given a weapon that is stronger than any weapon held by any army on earth. That weapon is called the Heavenly Prayer Language. And through that language the Holy Ghost will pray a prayer that the Father wants to hear.