Hobart Freeman: Criminal Word of Faith

Hobart Freeman was a controversial "faith healer" from Kentucky and Southern Indiana who convinced members of his cult of personality to refuse medical care. Several members of his cult died as a result of his anti-medication doctrines.

Freeman was deeply influenced by leaders in the Word of Faith movement, including Kenneth Hagin, John Osteen, Kenneth Copeland, T. L. Osborn, and E. W. Kenyon. He taught the Latter Rain version of the "Gospel of Divine Healing," which claimed that "healing" was part of the "atonement." Freeman believed that "it was always God's will to heal in response to our faith, and that God would do it without the aid of doctors or medicine." As a result, medical care was strongly discouraged and often reviled.

Considering his involvement in Latter Rain and his proximity to Branham's Jeffersonville church, it would appear that his primary source of influence was William Branham. In 1958, Freeman led the First Baptist Church of Sellersburg, Indiana, just a few miles north of the Branham Tabernacle. Freeman held inter-denominational revival services at the New Hope Community Church the previous year. He had recently graduated from Georgetown Kentucky College and attended Louisville Southern Baptist Seminary during his pastorate in Sellersburg.

In 1963, after William Branham announced that he would relocate his family to Tucson while becoming a "wander" (traveling evangelist), Freeman joined forces with Melvin Greider and established Faith Assembly in Kosciusko County, Indiana. Within a few years, their following had grown to over a thousand people, and the anti-medication doctrine had become extreme. Several people were critically ill, and many people died.

His extremist version of "divine healing" apparently was appealing to the Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship. Within a few years after moving his congregation to Claypool, Freeman was invited to speak at multiple Full Gospel Businessmen events.

Freeman was eventually indicted on charges of aiding and inducing reckless homicide. A Kosciusko County grand jury indicted Freeman after the death of Pamela Margaret Menne. Pamela, a 15-year-old, died of chronic kidney failure that prosecutors claimed could have been prevented by treatment.

Hobart Freeman:
https://william-branham.org/site/research/people/hobart_freeman
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