NEIL T. ANDERSON HEADS INTO THE SCHMUTZ

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Apprising Ministries first discussed Neil Anderson in Kay Arthur Of Precept Ministries International And The Unchanged And Unchanging Neil Anderson where I told you a dear friend, and reader of AM for years, sent the link to a well-researched article by pastor G. Richard Fisher of Personal Freedom Outreach.

The piece is called Demons, Demons, Where Are The Demons? The Unchanged And Unchanging Neil Anderson. You should know that my friend has “taken over 50 Precept Bible classes since 1992″ and she has also “completed the 3 day training sessions to be qualified to be a leader.”

Though she decided not to teach these Precept classes, she has “taught the Bible in women’s Bible studies in churches for over 17 years.” Again, I believe the testimony she shares next is worthy of your attention:

For the most part, Precepts offers a very solid method of Bible teaching/study.  But, Kay Arthur has suggested different teachings over the years that are very questionable, i.e., Neil Anderson’s – The Bondage Breaker, Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby, etc.

Having been with Southern Baptist Convention myself since 1988 I have personally been through that course of mystical mythology by Henry Blackaby, who has attained a near apostle-like status within the SBC. Basically, in my experience, when Blackaby speaks on spirituality it is accepted as if he’s on par with Scripture.

Not unlike wildly popular SBC quasi-elder Beth Moore, who is now essentially Southern Baptist Prophetess Beth Moore. As you may know, Moore, contemplative endorser Priscilla Shirer and the aforementioned Kay Arthur are friends and worked together with Lifeway’s Deeper Still conferences.

There’s no question that Kay Arthur herself recommends the work of Neil Anderson, founder of Freedom In Christ Ministries. For example, here’s what she says about Anderson’s magnum opus The Bondage Breakers (TBB):


(source)

Then on the back cover of Anderson’s Victory Over the Darkness we read:

As far as Anderson’s TBB itself we’re told:


(source)

Against this backdrop I now point you to Into The Schmutz With Neil T. Anderson: A Brief Review of Rough Road to Freedom: A Memoir by pastor G. Richard Fisher where he tells us:

Yiddish is a language developed by the Jews in Europe. Yiddish has some interesting sounding words. One of those Yiddish words is the word schmutz. The word schmutz has a range of meanings and can be described as soiled, icky, a mess as in “I have schmutz all over my face”. It is also used of something of inferior quality. If one is having lots of serious problems they might say they have fallen into the schmutz.

Author Neil Anderson is known as The Bondage Breaker from the title of one of his books (see our article “Cure All Bondages” beginning on page 4) . He recently published his biography entitled, Rough Road to Freedom. His forte is deliverance from demons but in a gentle low keyed style euphemistically called by Anderson, “freedom encounters.” There is not a lot of freedom felt when a Christian is told they have a demon inside of them.

It is a case of saddling you with a problem that you did not know you had simply because Anderson says so. He eschews being thought of as an exorcist and is against the rambunctious, hollering commanding type of exorcist. Though there is a stylistic difference it is the same game with a different name.

Drawing from his new bio and other of his writings I would like to summarize Anderson’s extreme views in capsule form hoping that it will stir reader’s to their own biblical research to “find out if these things are so”, (Acts 17:11). This compilation of some of his major presuppositions is rather startling and can be viewed as religious schmutz. If the average pastor claimed to believe these things he would be looking for a job or given medication. Anderson is applauded by many of the big names in the Christian world. Publishing some books can do amazing things in a celebrity culture.

Departing from Dave Letterman’s list of 10 and observing the number 13 (considered very important to Anderson) I will list 13 of the most extreme and egregious views of Neil Anderson without comment… (source)

You can read Fisher’s insightful post in its entirety right here.

Further reading