Not long after I met Brother Freedom he and I were attending a weekly early morning men's Christian breakfast at a local restaurant. I will never forget one Saturday morning in 1994 or 95 that Brother Freedom arrived at the breakfast meeting having just had an unusual dream.
He had gotten up early, as is his custom, and after preparing found that he still had some time to wait before departing for the men's breakfast. So he sat down in his easy chair where he fell asleep for a few moments. In that short period of time God sent him a Divine, revelatory dream. Freedom told the men at the breakfast the events in the dream. The details of the dream made such an impression on me that I have not forgotten what Freedom shared.
In the dream Brother Freedom was being transported down a wide and very modern freeway in a long, luxurious limousine. It was probably a Rolls Royce. This vehicle was very commodious as well as spacious. There were several rows of passenger seats. But he was the only rider in this opulent conveyance, except for the chauffeur. The chauffeur was such a supernaturally pleasant and winsome fellow who radiated the presence of God. Later Freedom has come to believe that the Chauffeur and the limo symbolized the aid, comfort and help of the Holy Spirit.
As Freedom looked out of the windows of the limo he noticed that there were many people walking along the side of the highway going the same direction as the limo. They did not have the luxury and the comfort that he had. It seemed as though they were somehow impoverished. They appeared to be trying to go where Freedom was going, or at least making an attempt of some kind.
Freedom asked the chauffeur if they might pull over and invite someone to ride along with them. The chauffeur was very happy to pull over, where upon Freedom pushed open a door and beckoned any and all who desired to join him. He wanted to share his blessing. He wanted to aid these ones who were not so fortunate.
It was with great surprise that he received unanimous refusals. At that place he had not even one taker of all those walking along. They waved him on. They would not take him up on his offer to ride in total luxury.
The limo started up again and they went on further. Still there were many along the road, all going the same direction. Once again he signaled the driver to pull over. Again he opened the door and beckoned any who would come to ride with him. But they also had no desire to travel in the comfort of the perfect vehicle. In the dream he found it so perplexing that no one was even slightly interested in joining him.
The limo started up again. Soon the driver wheeled the limo down an off-ramp taking a two lane highway. The many folks walking along were also making this same change of roadways. Making another stop, Brother Freedom tried to coax the pedestrians to ride in the beauty, luxury, comfort, power and purity of the grand car. He was rebuffed and turned down cold!
They came to another group of people who had stopped moving and seemed to be camping at that point on the journey. These folks were no longer traveling, but were living in a kind of shanty town area by the roadside. Freedom had the driver pull over. Freedom got out and approached the people making another invitation. These people told him that they would not stoop to travel in such a terrible vehicle and besides they had found something of great worth in that spot and they were not willing to leave.
It was strange that they saw the limo as something loathsome. As Brother Freedom looked at these people he was nearly overcome with nausea. There was an odor in their camp that was the aroma of an open sewer. He noticed that they were living in the filth of a latrine. They were covered in awfulness. Worms were crawling upon them. These people were extremely insulted that Freedom would dare to offer them a ride to leave that place. They were totally self assured that they were living in the lap of luxury itself. How dare he offer to take them away in such a despicable vehicle. They were totally and completely deceived. Freedom returned to the limo about to vomit, driven away by their insulted hard looks and foul odor. In the dream he recognized the faces of many of these people. Sadly he signaled the driver to resume the journey.
Then the driver turned off the two lane road onto a small single lane, but still paved road. Now there were fewer walkers along the route, only one here and there. He tried again to invite one of these lonelier pedestrians to join him. The traveler turned away without even answering.
Next the driver swung the limousine onto a gravel road. There was hardly a soul on this road. The few they passed wanted nothing to do with the plush limo.
Then the driver turned off onto a dirt road. Dust came up from under the stretch limo as it slowly navigated this road that was pitted and pot-holed. The luxury vehicle bumped over the rutted and rugged road, proceeding very cautiously to keep from scraping it's undercarriage. None of the walkers had made it this far!
Finally the limo stopped. The back road had come to it's end. Brother Freedom opened the door and saw that a trail wound it's way on from this point. He now walked the narrow trail. The trail turned up into the hills and began to get steeper by the minute. As he walked along the trail became fainter and less well marked out. What there was of a trail became more and more narrow. He watched carefully to distinguish the true path.
The steep trail ran head on into the vertical face of a solid, flat granite mountain. The trail had come to its end. There was no way to climb up and over. There was no way around. The granite hemmed in all directions but where he had come from.
In the face of that bare rock was a hole about the size of a skinny man's waist. Pouring through the hole was the light of glory. The Lord of Glory had placed a portal into the glory world in that flat granite wall. Brother Freedom put his head into the hole but nearly got stuck. He new that his journey could never end until he somehow entered the glory world beyond.
Quickly he pulled off his jacket and his shoes and tried again to slide through the hole. He was nearer to going through, but got stuck and had to work at backing out.
He pulled off his work trousers. Now he was a step closer, but still he could not quite fit through the opening. He pulled off his shirt and socks. He was now down to his underwear, but no way could he push himself totally into the glory beyond, so he backed out. There was no one around so he pulled off every stitch of apparel. Somehow he still didn't fit. Then he pulled his glasses from his eyes. Now he was in the physical condition in which he entered this life from the womb. He was able to just barely push, shove and squeeze through the tiny opening where he found himself in a total white out of heavenly glory. He awoke with a start in his easy chair.
The Holy Spirit has since interpreted the meaning of the dream. The limo symbolized the help and the aid of the Holy Ghost which is absolutely essential for modern believers to make it through the difficulties of this dark period we are living in. God Almighty has provided the perfect help of THE COMFORTER to take us through and guide us on the journey. With the Spirit of God in control and at the helm we will never miss the way and we will avoid many troubles, pitfalls and temptations that non-Spirit filled believers face.
The Holy Spirit further revealed that very, very few people desire to reach Heaven by the plan that God has arranged through the total leadership of the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit. Most believers are trying to make it in the natural man, through thinking, reasoning and programs. The vehicle of the Holy Ghost looks terrible to them. They are afraid to totally surrender to the Spirit of God! The way of the natural man, the thinking man, the intellectual man appears far more reasonable and promising to most believers. This way of the natural man, however, will often side track believers, causing them to end up in a spiritual latrine!!
The meaning of Brother Freedom having to remove all his apparel in order to enter glory has to do with the truth that nothing of this earth can enter God's glory realm. We have to ultimately surrender all in order to gain a place in God's Heaven. The earthy things of mankind are not welcome in the glory world!
I believe that the reason the limo could not take Freedom all the way is because God doesn't do it all for us. Being a Christian is a steep climb that we must work at. God will aid us all along the way, but we must do the maintenance, reading God's Word, praying and seeking God's face every day. We must struggle to reach out to God. The Lord will not respond until we seek HIM with all of our energy and all of our faith and trust. HE tests us through struggles.
The Holy Spirit told Freedom that not many would join him in his quest to follow the leadership of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit revealed to him that as he goes along the journey few will respond to his offers of help and that fewer and fewer will journey with him by way of the Holy Spirit's aid. Those who refuse the Spirit's help and try to make it on their own will gravely endanger their chances of reaching the glory of Heaven. The rigors and dangers of this particular, spiritually-darkened, end-time period can only be safely navigated by the Holy Spirit of God as our chauffeur at the steering wheel of our lives.
That dream is coming to pass. Brother Freedom has found fewer and fewer who understand the way of the Spirit of God and who will listen to what God has revealed. Brother Freedom is just a nobody who has listened to what God tells us about HIS Holy Spirit. Freedom has listened, sought and obeyed what the Bible teaches so plainly. He has been greatly rewarded for these efforts of seeking God at all costs.