“Our Students Come Back and Share Their Stories of Freedom from Addiction”

Kimberly Kelly with WSPA TV’s Your Carolina was guest speaker for Wisdom in Living Life Ministry’s Fourth Annual I’ll be Home for Christmas Banquet. She discussed a personal story of the impact of addiction on family members. She has a family member who had apparently become a victim of substance addiction and is currently attending classes at the ministry training center.

This remarkable ministry has taught scores of seemingly hopeless alcoholics, drug addicts and individuals caught in the snare of other addictions and on the way to destruction, the way to “becoming a new creature” forever free from the sin of addiction by following a scriptural prescription taught by Freeman and available to all who earnestly seek help.

To meet the former and current students of the “Beyond Recovery” training program and hear their stories of where they were and where they are now, is an unforgettable experience that is not found elsewhere, however, that is in the process of change.

Freeman is preparing others to do what he has done and is continuing to do. One of his former students, Ted Cochran, was trained by Freeman and refers to him as his “Daddy.”  Now, as Director of Operations at Homes of Hope in Greenville, he brought 10 of his students to the banquet and introduced them as Freeman’s Grand Kids. Freeman insists that it is Jesus Christ and not Winn Freeman that brings about miraculous changes in the lives of people suffering from the sin of addiction. What Freeman does is teach them to seek and live by the truth found in Holy Scripture.

Freeman is a former drug addict and alcoholic who came to South Carolina from the courtrooms and jails of California with a message that those imprisoned by addiction can experience total freedom by duplicating what he did.

Freeman had gone through the 12 point secular programs and was still an addict, going from drugs to crime to jail to program after program. Finally, in the back seat of a police car, after many of his friends and his brother had died from overdoses and he had “hit bottom,” his mother had refused to continue supporting   his habit financially and called 911, he found the key to the cure.

Part of a letter from California Superior Court Judge Gary Ingle describes the transformation in the life of Winn Freeman almost a decade later.

“When I sentenced you to jail back in 1988, you were caught up in a miserable lifestyle of drugs, theft and violence, and had hit rock bottom….”

…”I was totally unprepared for the transformation that seemed to occur quickly in your life, and which was nothing short of miraculous. You were reborn, spiritually, physically, and emotionally. You became a new person, who was articulate, intelligent, compassionate, motivated, hard-working, and on fire for the Lord.”

Ted Cochran, Sean Hamilton, Farron Hancox, James McCluney, Lori Small, are some of the students who have found freedom through Wisdom in Living Life Ministry.

Cochran, Hamilton and Hancox attended the banquet. In fact both Hamilton and Hancox teach at the ministry. Since entering the training, Hancox, who lost his family while involved in crime and drugs, has graduated from college, remarried and gained custody of his son. Hamilton is a student at Holmes Bible College, is married and expecting their first child.

Ann Eastland discovered her son was using drugs. She sought help from her church and they didn’t know how to help, but referred her to a secular program. Those programs provide treatment and promise recovery but no cure. She continued to seek a cure for her son and discovered Wisdom in Living Life Ministry. She is thankful to have her son back and learning to remain drug free through the power that comes from only one source and can only be obtained through Jesus Christ. Secular programs may help some people, but they remain alcoholics and addicts; but as one of the former addicts testified: “When God sets you free you are free indeed.”

Phil Biesser became addicted to pornography on the Internet. He lost his family and more. He met Rhonda Freeman at their place of work and learned of the problem that was destroying his life. She invited him to attend classes at the ministry temporary training center located at 12408A Old White Horse Road in Travelers Rest. This is the second Home for Christmas banquet he has attended and expressed his gratitude for the ministry showing him the way to freedom from the addiction that destroyed his family and was destroying his life.

Chief Summary Court Judge Diane Cagle Holcombe was first to speak and provide the opening prayer. She has been a supporter of the ministry for several years because she has seen the lives saved from prison or worse.

Some of the attendees were there at the invitation of Judge Cagle. Several of the attendees had visited her court room and been referred to Winn Freeman to determine if they were willing to make a commitment to seek a total transformation.

Special music was provided by Pastor Mark Dibler and Family Harmony.