Culture & Christianity: The Allen Jackson Podcast - What Christians Get Wrong About Spiritual Oppression [Featuring Dr. Neil Anderson]

Episode Date: February 21, 2025

The Bible says, "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." We have an adversary that seeks to threaten, intimidate, and frighten us. The Church needs to be aware of this ongoing battle with evil, how it manifests in the physical realm, and more importantly, how we can overcome it. Dr. Neil Anderson, author of "The Bondage Breaker" and "The Steps to Freedom in Christ," joins Pastor Allen in this episode to help Christians understand what spiritual oppression looks like and how we can exercise the authority we have in Christ over demonic spirits.More Information:Bondage Breaker: https://freedominchrist.com/thebondagebreaker-new.aspxThe Steps to Freedom in Christ: https://freedominchrist.com/new-thestepstofreedominchrist.aspxThriving Through the End Times: https://freedominchrist.com/thrivingthroughtheendtimes.aspx__ It’s up to us to bring God’s truth back into our culture. It may feel like an impossible assignment, but there’s much we can do. Join Pastor Allen Jackson as he discusses today’s issues from a biblical perspective. Find thought-provoking insight from Pastor Allen and his guests, equipping you to lead with your faith in your home, your school, your community, and wherever God takes you. Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3JsyO6ysUVGOIV70xAjtcm?si=6805fe488cf64a6d Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/culture-christianity-the-allen-jackson-podcast/id1729435597

But truth of the matter is I learned early on that you can go through a good seminary and graduate purely in the basis that you answered most, not even all the questions right. And you could do that and be a non-believer. You can know scripture, recite it, passages, and not know God. I mean, that's, you know, frankly, the greatest problem with Christian education is we make knowledge and it in itself. And Paul says, knowledge makes arrogance. again, the biggest problem in Christian education. We make knowledge and end in itself.

I know the Bible, but do you know God? Hey, welcome to culture and Christianity. If you are a regular listener, you know the goal. We want to take our faith outside the walls of the church. We want to learn to live our lives as Christians, not just when we're in a Sunday school class or a small group or a Bible study, but we want to take it into our homes,

into the marketplace, into our schools. I believe that our Christian has to impact our culture, or we are salt that has lost its saltiness. So that's our objective. Today's a little different. You may, my setting is a little different. We're actually on the set where we tape some broadcast,

but we have a live audience today. We got the staff from the church. Y'all make some noise, so they'll know I'm not making this out. See, they're really here. Those are all the smart people that make this possible. So I am very much a turtle on a fence post. When you see me show up in these various formats, you should know that a lot of smart people are working hard to help me hold that space.

But I am really excited about our guests today. Dr. Neil Anderson has had a tremendous impact in my life and my thought and my spiritual formation. I got to know him through his books. And then I followed him around listening to his seminars for a while. And to have him on set and in Tennessee today is a great honor. Dr. Anderson, welcome. Thank you. Good to be here.

are excited about you being here. You have written extensively and taught thoroughly on a general topic of spiritual freedom. Is that a fair assessment? It is. And that freedom, of course, you know is in Christ. I mean, so I remember a doctor asked to five and see his daughter was going to Biola University. And she said, oh, you mean the demon man? I said, no, I'm the Christ. man, I'm not the demon man. And, but it was, that one turned out to be a good story, by the way. But anyway. You know, I think that's a, a fallacy, having spent a few years in the arena, we get focused

on the wrong side of the equation. Yeah, we do. It's who we are in Christ where the celebration is. Yeah. It's not to be focused on the darkness and the frailty or even the unclean spirits. Yeah. And you've written that so beautifully, who we are in Christ and. Is that my imagination or do we tend to migrate to the wrong side of that?

No, no, you're absolutely right. And it isn't just in that. It's like trying to think bad, stop thinking bad thoughts. I said, you never told to do that. You think the truth. And so it's like one person after a conference he said, well, what should I do? I said, well, live a righteous life. Is that it?

Well, that's it. It really honestly is. I said, we get confused in the sense of looking around. I said, you know, you got to focus on the truth. I said, you aren't trying to dispel the darkness. You're called to turn on the light. And the difference is really profound when you think about it. I said, you see all the chaos in our society, and let's take on the chaos.

No, you just, you know, all the darkness in the world can't withstand the light of one candle. And so you just keep lighting that candle wherever you go. And the more people that you see God set free, the more the influence. You know, I learned years ago, if you can win one person to Christ in your community, they have 10 contacts. You win one or two of those. They've got 10 contacts. And that's how it's supposed to be.

I said it's like, oh, we've got to do something dramatic. And so he's opened up a stadium event. I said, no, that's not the way it works. You wouldn't one to Christ. And then in six months, they went two more. And you keep doing that. You multiply. We know that.

We know it scripturally. But we don't do it. And it's just kind of sad in a way. What I appreciate so much about that perspective is it takes most of the fear out of the discussion. Because we're not focused on the darkness. We just want to turn on lights. I'm not trying to save the world. you do one person at a time.

You just, you know, I remember when America came out and finally concluded, you know, kind of ended in the year 2000, unfortunately. But the idea at that time was, was that you got five people on either side of you, 10 across the street. And their whole mantra was pray, share, and care. And I said, who'd be against that?

Well, you'd be surprised. And so sometimes we, we, we see the pictures and it's just, it's overwhelming. Where do you start? It's like when I went to India the first time, I said, oh my God, where do you start? And the answer is still the same. I mean, it was so dark and littered everywhere.

People just littered. Just threw things on the side of the road. And I said, let's start by cleaning up the road. That would help me a lot. It does take the pressure off of you. you say, I've got this big task out there. And your first task is just to be the person God created you to be. And that's God's will for your life.

And everything flows out of that. Everything. What God has planned for your life, you know, the people that you meet, and it's just one person at a time kind of a situation. And I look back in my own personal life, and I started out teaching at the seminary. Saw a few students change. now you start meeting those students around the world

and the people that impact that they've had. And that's kind of fun, to be honest with you. It's exciting for somebody at my age is to be invited by one of your former students and he's doing a great job someplace. And gosh, that's encouraging. It's fun, to be honest with you. Absolutely, to see the fruit of your life.

But you, I don't want to say you reintroduced, but you have reminded the church of our heritage. It's a spiritual story. And somehow in the 21st century, particularly in seminary or theology schools, we've made our faith almost entirely rational. And it's been a logical exercise. And I like logic. I like both sides of the equation to balance. It doesn't offend me.

But there is a spiritual component of our faith. Well, the journey here is amazing. The very fact that I'm sitting here talking to you about this right now would have been so far off the grid when I was young. I was an aerospace engineer. I was so left brain my head tilted on one side. You know, there was a time in my life. I believe there was a natural answer for everything and a natural explanation. And then out of the mystery, I mean, I was a religious boy too.

I got a little pincers. I didn't miss Sunday school for nine years. And if they shared the gospel, I didn't hear it. If he asked me then if I was a Christian, I would have said yes. In fact, even in the military, you know, I was kind of like the Christian aboard the ship. truth of matter is I wasn't. It was just part of my culture growing up. You go to church and Sunday and you get the golden rule and you try to live that way.

And, you know, even in that, I'm thankful. I look back, you know, I was a relatively moral person, probably because of that. I was also disappointed when I heard the gospel and received Christ. It was like, why don't you share that with me a long time ago? And I don't know, maybe that's part of God's economy for my life. is that. I wanted you to go through that experience. And it's an interesting thing to me. You know, you look at the book of Acts and God called him to go over here and then he gave me a mid-course correction. I'll go over here. And, uh, forbidden him from speaking in Asia. And I said,

why was that? You don't know. I mean, you know, God's guiding you through the maze of life and steering you away from obstacles. But if I wanted to be the person I am today, why don't you just call me out of high school and the seminary and go out and preach. I said, no, I want you to do a little period in the Navy. I want you to go through the athletic regimen. I wanted you, you know, when Paul talks about he's a good farmer's worthy of his wages and a soldier knows how to restrict himself, I've had all those experiences and look back and I'm thankful for that. You know, I said, engineering taught me how to think. I was good of math, to be honest with. That was my easiest class. But, you know, it taught me.

me how to think. It taught me logic. But when I look back over my life, God gave me A.W. Tozer early on in my life. I don't know if you've ever read anything by him, Christian missionary alliance guy. And I looked up something about his life, and he said, I'm an evangelical mystic. And I said, what in the world is that, you know? And he explained it, and I said, That's what I am. He wrote an article about spirit taught or word taught, and challenging to say the least. But in my estimation, he nailed it.

I mean, look at John and Paul and Mark and Luke. Were they word taught? No, it was all new. There was all spirit taught. It's not either or, it's both and. but truth of the matter is I learned early on that you can go through a good seminary and graduate purely in the basis that you answered most

not even all the questions right and you could do that be a non-believer you can know scripture recite it passages and not know God I mean that that's you know frankly the greatest problem with Christian education is we make knowledge and it and itself

and Paul says knowledge makes sense arrogance. Say that again. The biggest problem in Christian education. We make knowledge and end in itself. I know the Bible, but do you know God? And he said, knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies. The goal of our instruction is love. Having been in higher education, haven't taught seminary and that kind of thing, you look at the word of God as profitable for reproved, correction, training, and righteousness. By and large, that's not happening. Functionally, is the word of God is profitable for teaching, training, and competence. So we're going to teach you the truth, and so we're going to

be classes on preaching and teaching and counseling, whatever else, so that you can be competent. Now, I'm not against competence, but that wasn't the goal. Proffable for reproof, correction, training, and righteousness. You know, you should be holy as God is holy, so. If we're functioning properly as a church and as a culture as the children of God, every year we should be able to say, I'm more patient than I was a year ago. I'm more loving. I'm more kind. If you can't say that, you're not growing.

You may have knowledge. But you can know what Paul says about love? You can know all things and be noisy, gone, and clanging symbol. And so what does higher education do? and once you make you more knowledgeable. But don't you, or at least I think, I won't put it in your mouth. I think we have misunderstood the meaning of love.

You know, we think of it as a group hug and constant affirmation. And, I mean, you mentioned reproof and rebuke and discipline. All of that is a part of love as well. Well, absolutely. I don't know of anything that's, our society has distorted the concept of love, unfortunately.

If I could take a minute, just explains something. Church is often time puzzled between Agape and Lagos. And I said the difference is really profound. God loves me because God is love. It's its nature to love me. The love of God is not dependent upon the object. And if you love me, you know, love others because they love you back.

When I wrote my little book about my experience with my wife, the power of presence when she was dying with dementia. I started one chapter by saying, I love my wife now more than I loved her when I first saw her. When I first met Joanne, I was attracted to her, classy lady, you know, it's what she did for me. I enjoyed being with her. It was what she, and now, at this time of life,

she couldn't do anything for me. And by anybody's stretching imagination, she was not attractive. When you're dying for dementia, it's really tragic. But now I loved her not because of who she was. I loved her, thank God, because of who I am. That's the goal of our instruction. If we're becoming more like Christ, the love of God is not dependent upon the object. So when you say, I don't love you, you said more about yourself than you have about the other person.

And you really in one sense can't overstate that. because that is truly the goal of our instruction. And it's like the world doesn't care how much we know until they know how much we care. And so it's been an amazing journey for me, personally, to move from that left-brained orientation. Never was involved in any of the occult type experiences in my life. I don't know what my astrological sign to this day.

the lure of knowledge and power has never been a major issue with me but the transformations that I had to go through were profound I mean my whole worldview just kept changing you know as I grew and understand benefited by the fact that I started traveling around the world and realized

there were people out there that see this world very differently than I did growing up and in top of all of that not just learning but what began freedom in Christ's ministries was brokenness. My poor wife went through a period for 15 months. I don't know whether she was going to live or die, and we lost everything we had.

And I mean, God stripped us down to absolutely nothing. We were living in a little rental house. Meanwhile, my ministry is taken off. I'm seeing God, you know, have an effect on people's lives. and my family is going down. And that went on for 15 months. I mean, God just stripped me down to absolutely nothing. And I had a day of prayer on campus,

had nothing to do with that other than emphasized prayer. And I got delayed on campus helping a man. And undergraduate students were taking communion on the gym floor. And I went down there and just sat there. I'm the loniest period of my life my family's suffering I'm dead broke and I'm sitting on this floor

maybe it was the context of communion I don't know but if I've ever heard God I heard in there and Neil there's the price to pay for freedom are you willing to pay the price I said God I'm willing but if it's some stupid thing I'm doing please tell me

and I left there and I knew it was over and the major issue of Joanna struggling, she could not sleep. And within a week, she woke up and said, I slept last night and never looked back. Now, why would I have to go through an experience like that? Well, I think I was kind of a caring person before, but not like you are afterwards. But the big issue was, God brought Neil Anderson to the end of his resources so I could discover his. I can't set a captive free.

I can't heal the wounds of the brokenhearted, but God can. And my resources would make a pretty good list. You know, I had five degrees, two doctorates, you know. Chairman of the Practical Theology Department, the devil could care less. But out of that brokenness, every book I wrote was after that. Every video series I did, all after that. didn't know anymore.

Brokenness is the key to ministry. It's that you get to that point in your life. Wherever you go, you know, is God in this? Freedom of Christ's ministry is around the world today. And I said, we've never advertised. We've never had a marketing agent. We've never, I've never gone where God hasn't called me. for a guy who never wanted to write a book,

which I didn't up to that period. I mean, had no clue, didn't desire it. But then after that, I would go for about 20 years. I would start the year. There'd be like two books in my head. And then to stop. Stop right there. Is this your last one?

Last book. Well, don't say that. You never know. One may show up in your head. I know my staff says, yeah, right. But no, it is. You know why? Because I watched Biden and I said,

I am not going to end my ministry like that. I agree, but I also know you well enough. You don't make fear-based decisions. So don't let that one in. You keep whatever the Lord puts in you. Well, I'm available to God. When you watch somebody walk through what your wife walked through, it puts something in you.

It does. But I wouldn't accept that. This is the pupil talking to the teacher. But God has too much in you to pick up that mindset. What I think is so intriguing, and you gave us a beautiful presentation is you walk towards, you invite people to freedom and show them a pathway,

but I have never felt like it was about you. And that's very unique in the ministry world. you, selfish ambition is not a part of your portfolio. No. And that brokenness, I think, makes you very aware that you can't afford to get that out of place. Yeah. And the people listening to us, this is not about getting a bigger platform. Because on our best day, we can't heal the Nats wing.

Yeah. On the other hand, if the Lord shows you his truth, you want to share it with as many people as you can, but you want to stand on the, you want to stand as far out of the light as you can. and you have done that so beautifully. I thank you for it. Well, thank you. Well, truth of the matter is, I said, when you know that your ministry is in good hands,

our international director now is actually in England. He's in, lives in writing in England. And that's what you try to do, is to leave somebody behind that you have confidence and trust in. And are you as president right now? He's a godly man, you know, and I'm just thankful for that. No, I feel I could let it go.

And I've been around enough to say, let it go. Don't hang around as the founder and be a pain in the necktow of the people. I said, so I'm confident in that. And that gives me a real peace today too. And so don't get me wrong. I'm talking to people. I'm sharing under Sunday school class here and there. I said, but I also realize.

I've seen Brett Farr stay one year too long in football. I've seen that kind of a thing, and I've seen founders hang around when they should have let it go. And so that comes out of experience. And I'm comfortable with that, because there has to be that kind of godly transition where you get out of the founder's trap, if you know what that means.

And I'm out of it. It's not dependent upon me anymore. And officially, I should be, on the international board for the rest of my life. And I just withdrew from that. I said, when you get to an issue, I don't want you to all look down. What does Neil think?

I want you to look up and what does God think? You know, that has to be the source of your inspiration. And so I'm comfortable with that. I don't need it anymore. You know what I mean? I don't need the affirmation. I don't need the, you know. This is mine.

It's not mine. If it was mine, we would never have had the ministry. It's God's. And I can't sit here and say, why don't you charge for counseling? I said, I didn't set him free. I'm not going to charge for what God did, you know. But God has honored that.

I'm comfortable financially. Books have done well. And so not be a burden on the ministry. You know, I haven't had a salary for probably almost 30 years now. And it feels good. You mentioned our nation. How do you describe what's going on these days?

Oh, man, I tell you what, that's why I wrote that last book. The way our country was gone, I just think of the last election. What if it had gone the other direction? My goodness, having a laughing hyena for a president for four years. I mean, it's just scary, actually.

And so what's going to happen now? I don't know. I mean, you can turn culture around to a certain extent, but I said, we are in a cultural war. Thank you for what you're doing. I mean, it's a battle between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of God. And it has been, you know, from the beginning.

But it just looked like we were overwhelmingly losing a battle. But it seems to me it's going to take a change from the church that is as substantive as the change we're seeing in the political arena? Well, that's why I wrote the book because I just was really concerned for the church. I've seen churches cave in and, you know, we've got to, you know, incorporate people

and we should accept everybody. I said, yeah, accept everybody. Sure, everybody's welcome to come to church. But you're not going to be on our boards. You're not going to teach our Sunday school classes. You know what I mean? Right. It's, uh, so it's, uh, my, my concern was, you know, really born out of the fact. I said,

this is not a time right now for us to cave in to woke and that kind of issue. I said, it's the time to stand strong. And, uh, COVID, you know, wrecked havoc on the church, on everything, of course, but, uh, I said, and we lost a lot of, I call it. kind of chaff. People who were just, so in one sense, the church may have gotten stronger during that time because the ones that remained, you know, probably had a little firmer foundation. But I said, when Jesus said,

when the son of man's returns, will he find faith? And knowing these things are going to come to pass, what manner a man ought you to be? So it really comes back to that whole issue again. You know, if we are living in the last times, then the question is, what man are man ought you to be? I mean, don't think the world here for a moment. You just stay firm in your belief.

And that was the purpose of the book. And you do that by staying, you know, vitally connected to God to the source of life. They can't determine who I am. Only God can determine that. And that's my commitment to the end. I will be the person God created me to be. You cannot.

change that. That's God's will for your life. And so you can be the person God created you to be. Amen. Evil doesn't have the strength to keep you from that if you will choose the Lord. No. Devil can't make me do it. But that's amazing. We're not, the devil doesn't have the power. If we will choose the Lord with our whole heart, it doesn't matter what formic evil takes in the way it touches our lives. We can overcome it. The last thing the devil wants you to know is who you are in Christ. Right. Because you can say, I'm a child of God, you can't touch me.

First John 5.7. That is so foundational. I've had that challenge right in my face. I had this large lady get out of her chair and start walking towards me. I would share that train. What would you do? I just looked at him, child of God, you can't touch me. Stopped right in her tracks.

This isn't pie in the sky theology. This is just critical. I got this really neat letter. from a guy. He said, you know, I heard you say that in a conference. And these three thugs came up to me. And I just, you know, this takes some discernment, by the way. But I just looked at him. I said, I'm a child of God. You can't touch me. Oh, and they turned around and walked away. And it is fascinating. This pastor one time came in, he said, he was an older man. And he said, there's something really demonic here. And he was, two couples, weren't married, we're living together.

And it was her that had the problem. And the pastor said, oh, here they are. I'm like, you know what, sir, I appreciate it if you stay. Well, I got a bad heart. I said, there's nothing here to be afraid of. But you're going to have to follow up on them. I can't do that. So please stay.

I appreciate your prayer support anyhow. And so as soon as I started to talk to this girl, She just went catatonic. Just catatonic. I said, have you ever seen her this way before? No. And so I said, well, let's just pray together. And meanwhile, the so-called boyfriend started to shake.

I said, you know, son, now's the time to get right with God. I didn't have to convince him of that. Man, he started pouring out all kinds of stuff, whatever else. returned to her and then I just took authority over it and I command you to release her and she was released and we went on with her. I mean, you kind of wish you had a camera and that could show it to people who are skeptical about these kind of things. But the pastor's heart survived and the couple got freedom. And the couple, they did. They really, we spent the old afternoon, but they really, you know, poured out their heart, which is repentance is what does it.

So it grieves me when I hear leaders in the church, not just ministers, but people with tenure in the church, experience in the church. And they will say to this discussion, you know, I don't believe that. Because when you make that choice, not only do you leave yourself in a deficit position, you leave a lot of other people there. Oh, absolutely. I mean, you're taking the church right out of its primary ministry. there was Green, I remember his first name, he was an Anglican, he was an evangelist

in the last, you know, 30, 40 years ago and kind of a thing. He wrote this book, Evangelism now and then. He said the number one reason that people sought off the church, the early church, was to be freed from demonic influences. And he said that likely will be the case

at the end of the ages. And I think he's right. I said that we wrestled not with Follession Blub, of principalities and powers. And it, trust me, brother, it took me while to understand

and accept that, that this is, this is the reality. We have a spiritual realm all around us, and we don't know it like you don't see, you know, sound waves either. I said, you walk in an elevator and all of a sudden your phone rings,

and I said, explain that to somebody right now. How did that get through those walls, you know? And how do you know there's radio waves out there? You just answered the phone. And so you have this spiritual world that we're told about in Scripture, which you have to trust God because you can't see it. And so you either believe God or you don't, for that matter. And if you believe God, then you have to believe the whole word.

And he's got to tell us what this world is, who the God of this world is, who the ruler of this world is. Those are words that Jesus used about Satan. And the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. He's deceived the whole world. So what do you say to somebody that says, you know, I just, I don't want to think about that. I'm born again and I'm good. Ignorance is not bliss.

It's a defeat. I mean. And you shouldn't boast about it. No, you shouldn't boast about that. It's, but in defense of the average person sitting in a church, think of the world that. they grew up in. They went to a secular school, they went to a secular college. They were given a secular explanation for everything. The classic of that to me is the whole world of psychology and the study of psychology, which I'm not against because psychology is the study of the soul.

And frankly, here's the textbook on it. I was really disappointed when the new international version took the word soul out of his translation and put people. That's unfortunate my way of thinking. I'm against a secular psychology. You think about it for a moment. I may be the only pastor teacher who's written books on anxiety disorders and depression and anger, chemical addiction, sexual addiction, but all from a biblical worldview perspective. This is, this is, interesting to me because I've taken one class on counseling, personally, profession. That's 24 years of education, by the way, one class.

I took one psychology class. How unlikely is it that I would write a book on those issues? And not only that, but the American Association of Christian Counseling, they have this big international meeting at Opryland out here every two years, almost as a lark. I was a member of it. they called for papers, so I said, you know, to be a presenter. So I turned it in.

400 showed up for my workshop. 400. To hear a pastor, teacher, tell them how to counsel. Next year, 700. Next year after that, 700. Last fall was my last time. And I told them that, and I said, you know, people, I said, I'm going to share something with you today that you will never get in your school of psychology.

Even Christian one. And actually I gave them the preference of this book of the world that we live in, just a worldview. And when I was done, I said, by the way, thank you. Place was packed. There was standing there. There was about 700, 800 people there. And actually, it turned away people. And I said, this is my last presentation.

Thank you very much. I got a standing ovation. I said, that's a good way to finish. It is. there's 6,000 people who tend that thing. There would be Serbel in there that wouldn't even bother to listen to Neil Anderson. You know, he's just a pastor.

But I think the church, if it's salt and light in the community, if you start helping people with those kind of problems, anxiety disorders and depression, sexual addiction, if you start helping people like that, they're going to start coming to your church because people are going to see the change of your life. You see somebody who is in total bondage, I mean just horrible bondage, get free.

Every one of her family and friends and coworkers are going to see the difference in their life. But when the church doesn't look any different than the world, there's not much of a witness, folks. Hey, well, she'd become a Christian like me. No thanks. Then I'd have to stop going to parties on the same. Saturday night. There's implications. Well, you've mentioned it several times.

Your latest book is thriving through the end times by Dr. Neil Anderson. And I'm assuming they can get that wherever they get books, Amazon. Amazon sells it. Yeah. Hate to support Amazon, but that's one way you can get this book. It's good. You know, the bondage breaker steps, the steps to freedom, they're a part of what we do in this place. I really appreciate that, brother. Thank you.

Well, I mean, I appreciate you giving us a tool that is that straightforward and accessible to people. Those steps to freedom. Did you observe that and put it down? Where did you arrive at that? Well, make a long story short here. When I got called out of the pastor to teach at the seminary, I went there as a learner, even though I'm a prof. You know, I could give him some ministry stuff and like that. But I went there with a burden.

There were people in my church had problems I didn't have adequate answers for. And I'd had two or three encounters with something I knew it was demonic. I didn't know what to do. I mean, nobody had told me what to do. You see the Gospels and just cast it out or whatever else? I tried that with one, and it was like, I didn't work.

What's wrong here? And so I went there as a learner, and I started a Masters of Theology class, been to seminary. That's the fourth level, essentially. and electives aren't popular because you only get two or three or four. And so I had 18 students, I think it was first year. That was good.

Next year, 23, then 35, then 65, then 150, then 250, then 250. For a seminary, that's a phenomenon. That just doesn't happen. And everybody wanted to eventually take that class. And the reason was I was seeing the lives of our students changed. And but I went there. The first year I was there, God removed the scales from my eyes, and I saw who I was in Christ.

I'm in Him, I'm in Christ, I'm in the beloved. How come I didn't see this before? I may have known it theologically, but that spirit-taught thing again became a reality for me. And actually, for the next seven or eight years that I was at school, I just really puzzled with that.

How come everybody doesn't know who they are in Christ? And to this day, every hurting person that I've sat down with to try to help that, they all had that same thing in common. None of them knew who they were in Christ. So that was the essential prerequisite to what I was going to learn after that.

And then God started sending me all these hurting people, primarily because I was free. And I never charged for counseling. And I'm telling eating disorders, all kinds of things like that. And I would get stuck. And Bible says, if you lack wisdom, pray and God will give you wisdom.

So I literally would say, I'm just going to stop and pray here for a moment. I remember waiting one time. It was just waiting upon the Lord. And then I started to think, I'm asking God to tell me so I could tell that person, that would make me a medium. And there's only one intermediary between God and man. Why don't I have them pray? I'm telling you, Ellen, within a year, my whole ministry had almost done like a 180.

Wow. And I sat down one day and I just wrote us some simple petitions that they could pray. And kind of sat on it for a year. And one day I thought, I'm just going to try this. The first one was really forgiveness, asking God, you know, to reveal to me who I should forgive from my heart. That kind of blew me away because we would be talking about some ornery person in their life or didn't like their dad or their mom or something like that. they would pray and out would come 20 people, which we hadn't talked about.

Now, if you think about it over the years, I've helped you forgive your dad. That was a big deal in your life. And you'd see a change in their life. But they prayed and there was another 10 or 20 they needed to forgive. What have you overlooked? But it wasn't just that. It was, this was really remarkable when they would pray and ask God to reveal to the mind every sexual use of their body as an instrument of unrighteousness.

God did. It's amazing. They would tell about their first experience, and then some, it was too numerous to mention. And there's a lot of theology behind that, by the way. But eventually, I felt God kind of calling me to go out and try this in a church. And I was very cautious, to be honest with you. I sat there and worked with individual students for five years at least before I finally went kind of went public with this.

And let me tell you another big part of this whole issue. That's just critical because I would dealing with people who just had no mental peace whatsoever. Some literally hearing voices. But the majority of them were just struggling with condemning thoughts. and I'll give you an illustration before I even went public with this. Our Hebrew professor, wife, got pneumonia

and wasn't responding to treatment, so they went in and took a liter and half a fluid out of her lungs. And then they found the cancer. And so they were treating her for cancer when I went on my tour this summer. And I got back, he called me, he said,

Robin wants to see you. I said, okay, so I went over to their house. And, um, she was just fearful. She was just phobic, you know, and she's a lovely Christian lady. You know, there's the two of them. They would go on ministry, you know,

to missionaries overseas and whatever else. So you're finding two lovely, godly Christian people. And she looked at me and said, Neil, I'm not sure I'm a Christian. I said, sweetheart, if you're not a Christian, I'm in deep trouble. I said, why would you say that? I go to church and I had these blasphemous thoughts.

And I said, did you want to think that thought? No? Did you try to think that thought? No. Then why do you think it's your thoughts? No other explanation had ever been given to her. Well, frankly, with her maturity, half an hour later, that thing was all over with. Why was she fearful?

Well, if I'm having these thoughts, how could I be a Christian? And I'm facing the prospect of death. And that's why she didn't think she was a Christian. And the Holy Spirit explicitly says, I mean, listen to the language here. It's not used anywhere else by Paul. I'm just telling you flat out, you know. Bang, bang, bang, bang, get this. In the latter days, people will fall away for the faith,

paying attention to deceiving spirits, teachings of demons. It's happening all over the world. Has been since, you know, the commitment of Christ. And, well, is Neil Anderson the only one that's dealing with people or hearing voices and have those kind of thought? Absolutely not. Every psychologist is concerted, but they will tell you it's chemical. And you say, come on, folks, would you explain to me how a chemical could produce a personality

and a thought, how my neurotransmitters could randomly create a thought that I'm opposed to thinking, and you have a natural explanation? There isn't one. what you will hear is I gave me antipsychotic medications and the voices stop. Well, sure, so did everything else. All you did was narcotize it. Take away the medicine back. And by the way, that's the primary reason why people take drugs and drink.

They have no mental peace. And so they narcotize it. They'll drink until the voices are gone until, you know, finally, I meant peace. Only to be worse the next day and the next day and the next day and the next day and next day. And you can go into 12-step programs and they'll hear little buzzwords like don't pay attention to that stinking thinking and get rid, you don't pay attention to that comedian in your head. What do you think that is? We could unlock the door to almost every psychology hospital in this country if we could just bring out that truth to them. Believe me, I've tried, folks. I've done the

best I could to make this known. I had a psychiatrist said through my conference one time and he walked up the book table, I'm going to buy it all. You know, he was a good Christian man. And I had a psychiatrist on my board. He's with the Lord now. And he said, I could, I look back over my career, 85% of the people I've seen could have been set free just through this process. And so I've done my best. I've tried to go to the AACSA. I've tried to go where I could and tell people and be available. for seminars. And, you know, I'm not anti-psychology or medicine. My family's steep in the meds.

My brother taught med school for years. My daughter's a nurse. My aunt's nurse. You know, I was going to be a doctor at one time. And so I thank God for the medical profession. But it's the medical profession that's telling you that 50% at least of our people are sick for psychosomatic reasons. They want that burden off their back.

They like me. Who's burden is that? I think it's the church. I agree. When you see fallen humanity after the fall, first thing he said was, I was afraid. What's he afraid of? He's in the Garden of Eden.

God is there. It's the absence of life. It's the primordial fear. And it's plagued this entire world every sense. And their answer to that was somebody had to be sacrificed. You watch any program on television that's going back to old digs and old cultures and whatever else. Everyone had a sacrificial altar. That's true.

Every one of them did. And so God was that great sacrifice for us. But the beginning, the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. How is that? Let me come a couple of minutes here. You can explain it because this just, to me, it's just critical. fear, anxiety, and fear and panic attacks are the number one mental health problem in the world. People are paralyzed fear all over the world.

I said anxiety, you're anxious because you don't know. Don't be anxious for tomorrow because you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. The anecdote for that is seek you first the kingdom of God. But fear has an object, and we categorize fear by the object. claustrophobia, arachophobia, fighters, you know. And now for a fear object to be legitimate, it has to have two attributes. It has to be somehow eminent and somehow potent.

I don't like rattlesnakes. By the way, fear is a God-given thing. Anytime your psychological or physical safety is threatened, fears what you should experience. It's for yourself protection. It's a natural reaction. It's a natural reaction. God gave it to us.

Even animals have it, or they'll all be roadkill. somewhere anyhow. And so the point is like, I don't like rattlesnakes, but I'm not afraid of them right now at all. No fear, zip, nothing. You throw one of those babies in right here, the exit stays right on. And so, but in my mind, it's both eminent and potent.

Now throw one in here and it's dead, provided I was really sure it was dead. All you've got to do is move one of the attributes. What are the big three? death, people, and Satan. Look at death. Which attribute? It's a pointer on to every man

that one day you should die. Still, am it. It could be today. It's no longer potent. Well, death is your sting. For me to live as Christ, to die is gain. Am I afraid to die?

No, I'm looking forward to seeing my Savior. My body's getting worse, man. My tent pegs are coming up and everything else. I said, I'm looking forward to resurrected body. There's nothing but good in my future. I'll hang around and be a good steward of what you have entrusted me because that's what you want me to do, but I'm not afraid to die. And looking forward to it. I said, so death is, he's eradicated that. You know, for me to live as Christ dies gain. People, he's very potent about this in the Gospels. He said, don't fear a man who has

power over your physical life. Fear God who has power over your soul. How you do that. sanctified Christ is Lord of your life, always being ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within you. And so that takes some explanation for people, but people are afraid of their boss. You can fear, there's a book called Fear the Corporate F World, not a good title, but they're right. You can control people by fear, and it's been done since the beginning. And what about Satan? He's roaring around a hungry lion, seeking for someone to devour. Yeah, but this lion doesn't have any teeth.

He may gum you to death, but he's disarmed. We have to believe that that's part of the gospel. It's Colossians chapter 2. I have disarmed the enemy. And you have to know that. If you don't know that, here's the problem, Ellen. People sitting in our church have a lot more fear of Satan. They do have God.

Well, aren't you free to talk about him? No, that's part of the deception, people. I fear God, not Satan. And because I'm going to have to give an account someday for him. I ain't going to give any account for him. And so if you are free from that, it just changes everything. And all of a sudden, no, I'm a child of God. You can't touch me.

I know who I am. I'm a child of God. Now look at God. What two attributes does he have? He's omnipresent and he's omnipotent. That's the beginning of wisdom. It's like a man driving a little Volkswagen bug around, two kids in the back seat and all of a sudden the bee comes through.

And he goes, no, there's a bee here. And dad reaches back with his hand and grabs the bee in his palm. And his finger goes into his hand. And then he releases it. Dad, the bees here! Look at my hand. Look at my side. Look at my feet.

There's no stinger. We need to know that, profoundly need to know that, that he took the fall. He took the stinger. He may be flying around, but he has no power over me. And the key to that thing is to win this battle for your mind. That's not a chemical imbalance when you hear thoughts, impulse of thoughts, to do things.

standard of a cliff and all of a sudden the thought comes to your mind, jump. Where'd that come from? It's bizarre. It's little things like that, and we don't realize it. And I said, you know, when we're successful in our ministry and we sat down and helped somebody, always at the end, I say, would you just close your eyes for a moment? What's it like right now in your mind? Is it quiet?

I've had people actually say, how'd you know that would happen? But there is actually a peace that passes all understanding, garden our heart and our mind in Christ Jesus. By the way, look how the passage starts. Be anxious for nothing. Don't be double-minded about anything. When anxiety comes from the root word, Mriza, which means divided mind.

Double-minded man is unstable in the way. So don't be double-minded about anything. So what do you do? banexen for nothing but prayer and suppication, let you christen be known unto God. So you turn to God, as we always should, no matter what your problem is. But that's not the end of it.

And the peace of God that will pass all understand will guard your heart and your mind in Christ, Jesus. Don't stop there now, go on. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, right, lovely think on those things. Don't stop there either. Go to the next verse. The things you heard from me in the presence of many others,

Put it to practice. In other words, do the right thing, do the loving thing, do the kind thing. You turn to God, but I have a responsibility here to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. That's my responsibility. If you just let your mind go anywhere, you'll go anywhere, and you don't want that. You have the responsibility to guard your heart and your mind of Christ Jesus. You need God to do that, but you have the mind of Christ too, so count on that being on your

side. Thank you. Dr. Neil Anderson, you are a treasure. You have given a gift to the body of tribes. So are you, brother. You're having a remarkable ministry here in Murphysboro and around. A little country church. Yep, a little country church. You know, on the podcast, one of our commitments is to always talk about what we can do. And those last five or seven minutes with Dr. Anderson, you go back and listen to that. If you face fear or anxiety, he gave you a prescription to find freedom. And you keep listening until you hear it.

I seldom hear the first time something crosses my ears. But you listen because if you'll practice what he just handed us, you can have peace in your mind too. It's not because of who we are, it's who we are in Christ. His most recent book is thriving through the end times, But I'm a Dr. Neil Anderson junkie. I would read what he's written, the bondage breaker, the steps of freedom.

It will help you and it will help you help other people. And if you're anxious about reading somebody you don't know at the heart, the foundation of what he gives us is who we are in Christ, and that's grounded in the Word of God. I thank you for your ministry and for joining us today. And for now, that's culture and Christianity.

Hey, thanks for joining me today. Before you go, please like like the podcast and leave a comment so more people can hear about this topic too. If you haven't yet, be sure to subscribe to Alan Jackson Ministries YouTube channel and follow the Culture and Christianity podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Together, let's learn how to lead with our faith and change our culture. I'll see you next time.