"Can demons read minds?" Neil T Anderson - full interview

Satan is the god of this world according to Scripture and and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one so I mean I have to take that as truth and and it is evident I mean you can go in any culture in the world and you'll see evidence of this in terms of people you know addicted to problems in their life or you know having horrible nightmares or mental struggles major reason people drink and take drugs they have no mental peace and that's where the battle is is primarily a spiritual battle some of the overt stuff that you see a lot of that is more like a caricature the real battle is more internal and people will struggle with that and oftentimes don't know what to do about it or where to get help for it well it sells movies I guess you know it's part of this Carrie thing I mean it's you know it is scary at first a lot of people things that go bump in the night in fact what I've discovered as a Christian over the years is that more people even in our churches are afraid of the devil than their of God which is actually a reverse of what should be true and what actually is true the real problem that people don't understand about the spiritual world in which we live is that it's I give my own thoughts in Heaven's gonna say it's hard let me put it this way it's hard for a westerner who's steeped in Western rationalism and naturalism to understand that there actually is a spiritual world around us when the Apostle Paul says that what you see as Temple Anne's past in a way that was you don't see is eternal I mean from his perspective actually what you don't see is more real and lasting than what you do see and in his heart and I was an aerospace engineer and I was so left brained at one time a head tilt on one side I mean that was my orientation I personally had to go through a lot of paradigm shifts to come up with an adequate answer for people's problems I had to include somehow the reality of the spiritual world it's tough for us because we don't see it sometime but we can see the evidence of it everywhere I mean just look at the evil around us I remember I was on a radio program after the terrible shooting where 21 20 kids were killed and one guy got up and said this is nothing to do with evil this is mental illness I thought if that's not evil what in the world is evil I mean it's that kind of Western orientation now if you go to two-thirds of the rest of the world they don't have that orientation they clearly believe there's a spiritual world I mean spiritism is actually the most practice religious orientation in the world by far any Missy ologist will tell you that if you go to Brazil 85% of the Brazilian population are practicing spiritists and by that I mean they will seek out of witch doctor quack doctor or shaman somehow another get guidance in your life or to ward off you know evil influences in their life so I mean it's only here in America parts of Canada a little bit of Western Europe that we have this kind of natural orientation to the world we live in but that is not the rest of the world well that's very typical that's that's what we do in the West is we just simply say you know we're more profound I said do you realize that we distribute more child pornography around the world than any other culture of the world I mean evil is just as present here what's different about the spiritual battle here as opposed to say Africa or Indonesia or place like that there it's much more known so it's much more out in the open here it's all deception and yet the battles are there let me point out where the primary battle is it's in our minds let me tell you what the Apostle Paul says in latter days days which we're living right now people will fall away from the faith paying attention to deceiving spirits and teachings of demons is that happening here in America it's happening all over the place am I the only one seeing it absolutely not every psychiatrist is dealing with people or hearing voices every psychologist is probably dealing with people who are struggling with foul thoughts you know blasphemous thoughts sometimes if you've got some kind of a prison ministry and they're incarcerated for a crime they can how many are hearing voices autumn mark the only difference is they will tell you who and it will probably use it as some kind of an excuse so it is far more present and present in our experience than we realize we just haven't known the nature of the battle we always think of the occult or thee or the spiritual world as being some kind of bizarre experience or so many Fullman at the mouth or watching The Exorcist which was a terrible tragedy of a movie 11 the population think that somehow this poor priest has no match for Satan when just the opposite is true and yet we believe that and because that people are literally afraid of things that go bump in the night yes several years ago when I started to to help adults you know get free from these kind of influences in their life and really find their freedom in Christ I realized that almost all the problems originated when they were young so we did some research we researched seventeen hundred and twenty-five professing Christian young people now we went to very conservative churches and schools to do this I mean the results even at that time we're alarming to myself seventy one percent said they were hearing voices like there was the subconscious self talking to them now do I think they're mentally ill no I don't I believe there is a spiritual battle going on for their mind because I've seen God set them free from that just time and time and time again and walk out with a peace of God that passes all understanding but how many of that group played Dungeons & Dragons for instance kind of a you know kind of an occult a kind of a game that they would play it's kind of passe now but in those days of that group about two hundred eighty or so head of that group 43 percent have impulsive thoughts to kill people I'll grab a knife and stab somebody now they don't do that but can you imagine what they think of themselves now how can I have that kind of a thought if you if you understand what you're looking for it becomes much more obvious for instance I've had people come to a conference and I'm saying here's a mom who comes home from the hospital just had her second or third her electrolytes are depleted she's tired kids are cream and all of a sudden she has the thought kill your baby who's she going to share that with her husband honey I've had thought about killing the kids no she stuck she can't share that with anybody now does that happen every time I've shared that in the conference some ladies come up to me and tell me that's exactly what was happening to me you know what's wrong with me I said there's nothing wrong with you that's it's not you that's thinking that thought and I said but occasionally they do remember the story about the lady in Texas who drawn five of her kids she told him it was a spiritual battle for a mind and it was but it just got put off as postpartum depression I said so we've done that somebody comes in there they're having a lot of fear and they're hearing voices it's an automatic diagnosis paranoid schizophrenic but is that the real cause for it and these are an answer then do they have an answer for that I said sure we gave Matt I psychotic medication the voices table sure slowed everything else all you did was narcotized it which by the way is the reason people drink and take drugs they have no mental peace so they drown it up only to wake up the next morning a little bit worse what if there was a way to sit down with that person and get rid of those thoughts and if you got rid of them are they part of you no and so you need to ask an honest question though how can a chemical imbalance produce a personality and they thought or how can my neurotransmitters randomly fire and create a thought that I'm opposed to thinking and you have a natural explanation for that well I'm open what is it there isn't one and so you just medicate it essentially but you haven't solved anything but what if you actually sat down with a hurt person helped them submit to God resist the devil and walk off free and those voices are gone then it couldn't be them it's not a flesh pattern now we have struggles with that as well but if it leaves it's not a flesh matter because flesh patterns don't leave and so if something leaves and all of a sudden you're free and your mind is free what just happened it's false guidance that's the first thing in our steps to freedom that they look at is that an entry point for the enemy yes it is I've seen people go back to just playing with Ouija board or them even the magic 8-ball it's false guidance now this is a great story I love to tell it when I was getting my doctorate at Pepperdine essentially was a secular program way to class on futures and this principle of a inner-city school came in and his whole presentation was on what now we would call New Age we didn't really have that label at that time and and he brought all this stuff of astral projection and you know many metal transportation and all that kind of junket and I'm just sitting there my eyes are getting bigger and I watched the people in the classroom they were curious asking questions you know that layer of knowledge and power can suck almost anybody in and so I just kept my mouth shut finally at the end I said when you were researching this did you ever ask the question whether this is right or wrong no I said I'm not interested in that I said I would be if I was you you have described nothing new that's as old as biblical history and God prohibited it in fact if you were a medium or a Spiritist you were to be cut off you were to be killed actually if you consulted them you were to be cut off from the rest of the people that's how serious false guidance is and God obviously takes that very very seriously and in it is an entry into something in your life that will potentially control you I don't know my astrological signs of this day tonight so I've never been curious about that kind of stuff but people said well I just read it doesn't mean anything I said you just put it into your mind and that little thought came in this morning beware of strangers day and you meet a stranger what's the last thing you put in your mind beware of them so what's guiding you right now it's very very subtle stuff do you think society's thoughts about become changed over the years well yes what is really interesting is that the the Tower of Babel was essentially a man's attempted to be a God for himself and when God dispersed their languages they went around the world they took those occult of practices with them and embedded them in their culture and we keep renewing them every year if you go to Norway and you go to a gift shop what do you find there little trolls and you go to England and there's a gift shop what do you find gremlins we celebrate Halloween which is not a Christian thing at all and and we just see that in every culture around the world it's kind of embedded in their cultural thing let's just part of our culture so we just kind of make fun of it I said but we're not playing the game there's eternal consequences with what we celebrate what we believe how we live etc and and that makes some of those cultures very very resistant to the gospel to hear the good news here's a very important point however if you read any of the early church literature the number one appeal evangelistically was to free people from demonic influences that's why they came to church because they knew that and and even when when Jesus was with us at that time when he would disclose what was going on in their hearts because he knew their hearts and their minds what was their response he has a demon now even a culture at that time and you had that kind of esoteric knowledge knowledge that didn't come by way of normal study or research forever somehow you have this insight coming to you they assumed it was from a demon and so what we do today is we don't call a medium we call them Chandler we don't call it a demon we call it a spirit guide and suddenly it's acceptable to a very very gullible public it's the same thing are you ascribing some sort of power to those now no I'm not to be honest with it's just symbols it's what you believe about them that that's what counts it you know it's just a little wooden dowel or plastic or whatever else it is that's not the problem it's the belief behind it understand something you know God created Lucifer he didn't create Satan Lucifer essentially created Satan when he chose to rebel against God and that introduced evil into this world God's if you look at the Bible what is it it's primarily a battle between good and evil between the Christ and the Antichrist the false prophets the true prophets the Father lies the Spirit of Truth and everybody on this planet is in this battle whether they know it or not the question is how do we understand it and how do we win this battle and you can't win it by just rationally arguing for instance or something like that that doesn't really work this truly is a spiritual battle and when you read the Gospels one of the great things that Jesus clearly demonstrated to us was his superiority his authority over that kingdom of darkness and when he commissioned the church to go in all the world he said all Authority has been given to me in heaven and upon this earth go therefore and make disciples now we need to know that because if you're going to go out into this fallen world where the god of this world is Satan and Jesus referred to him as ruler of this world you better have the authority to do that and every child of God does well the research that we did 20 years ago is far worse now with the advent of the internet and and all the video programming 20% of your teenagers are 16 we think about that and that's amazing to me I mean that would have been unbelievable embarrassing when I was a child but to take a picture of your private parts and share them around is like you did what we can that's how much our culture has changed today what I find in my ministry is is that young kids are far more inclined to accept what I'm sharing then the older generation is it was a much more innocent generation that I was raised in I mean less this stuff was even available to me in the in the 50s when I grew up so the whole culture has shifted but look at the rapid sex for instance absolutely there is you know let me start with a very innocent thing years ago there was a series called bewitched where this kind of nice-looking which you know kind of a thing would do her little dilly whicker's she said well that's innocent i one of my favorite testimonies is the gal who saw that who had a terrible problem with her mother and she said by watching that I knew somehow there was a power out there and I wanted it and and that led her on a journey where she ended up with spirit guides demons that she needed to give help to overcome that you say simple little innocent thing like that or how about Harry Potter do you realize is that movie come out that whole series with the number of adults in England seeking paranormal activity and consolidating Spiritist more than doubled adults not just children when Campus Crusade for Christ had me go on campuses around Southern California to respond a little flyer come here about demonic influences I was blown away to be honest with you they were coming here Neal Anderson they didn't know who I was Long Beach State University we had 400 people show up Monday at noon now what if you said come here about the claims of Christ you know who would have been there you know to staff and can't wrap friends you know but that's where our college is that here in Canada Alberta when I was doing a comm in Edmonton I went down to the University and we have a huge crowd show up just here about demonic influences well you know because I share a lot of stories of actual encounters that I've had working with people around the world what it does because I would always shift it from yes it's out there but is this good and then they would then I would be just be crowded by people that's happening to me this is my struggle in our culture because the way we're wired here in the West nobody's going to come up and share with you by the way I'm hearing voices or I'm having these condemned bees thoughts or blasphemous thoughts because the knee-jerk response in our Western culture is boy you're mentally ill let me give you this medicine well they don't want that affirmed so they don't know what to do about it and the very thought you mean I could get rid of this I just recently I let it go through the steps to freedom and afterwards he just looked up at me said did you turn out another light and my mind is quiet I can't believe that my mind is quiet I always thought that was just normal to have all these distracting thoughts she was paying attention to deceiving spirit but she had no idea what it was and she just thought that was normal and why don't we know this well true for that can't read your mind you can't read mine so unless you have the courage to tell me what's going on in your mind I don't know and so all we see is the behavior so we try to change that and that doesn't work you're not transformed by the renewing of your behavior you're transformed by the renewing of your mind and and that's why the Apostle Paul instructed us take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ if it's not true don't believe it and so that that spiritual battle is going on all over the world all over the world right now and it has it has ever since the fall it's nothing new well think about this they're spirits so they have no power to to move you I use this as an illustration when I was born and raised on a farm we had some neighbor that we would share work with us said we go over there they had this yappy little dog scared the socks off of me my brother would be with me my dad and that dog would come barking around the corner and man I ran guess who we chased my dad would sit right there my brother wouldn't even wouldn't even acknowledge the presence and I would run up on top the pickup cab now what power did that dog have to put me up on top that pickup cab none he used my mind my emotions my will and my muscles that's how I got up there and dad say one day son this is kind of embarrassing it's just a little dog why don't you stand your ground and so great big beads of sweat welled up you know and I was off a pair that dog came around the corner I kicked a stone in it he ran he actually doesn't have any power it's only what you give to him and it's really all deception it's all a lie essentially and he's the father of lies but if you believe a lie he can just tear you up and you know if you look at irrational fears the clue is it's irrational so if you want to get rid of the fear do you get rid of the emotional fear no you get rid of the lie behind it why are people anxious because they're double minded and that's literally what the word means by the way comes from two words divided or not and mine and so if you're paying attention to deceiving the spirit and believing the truth over here man you're going back and forth back and forth and so it all comes down to a battle for the mind but a spirit has to have some intimate you know source to operate in and so that's even when the gathering demoniac you don't know why do you have to do with us Jesus you know my god so he's rubber the pigs and the pigs all ran over the cliff you know suicide is the end result of all of that that was the pig stop on the way to the pit stop by the way and it's so he has to operate somehow through people even as Christians to be honest with you you know God lives his life through us and people who are demonically influenced and listen to the father of lies they do that bidding as well now they don't always do it but they're troubled by it well it's a very fine line we have to draw because it's very very important only God knows the thoughts and intentions of my heart God perfectly knows me and and loves me that's the amazing part it's it's not hard to tell you what you're thinking if I gave you the thought so he can do that and we got clear evidence of that in Scripture in chronicles for instance it says that the devil haven't put into the heart of David to number the troops well that is really revealing because David had a whole heart for God now what is even wrong with that once you want to know how many troops you have now the captain of his guard knew is wrong and said don't bring the sin upon us but he did anyhow but you still be left with the question how did he do that well these were David's thoughts or at least he thought they were see there's the deception and that's what we don't always see today we don't know that it's worth coming from if we knew where it's coming from we'd probably stop you know immediately but we don't know that's why we're deceptions such a kneel an issue listenmi before Jesus went home to the Father and after the resurrection he has what we call the high priestly prayer in John 17 now he's going to leave behind the eleven he's already lost one by the way Satan had put in the heart of Judas to betray Christ one of the twelve so he's down to his eleven and he's talking with him I asked not that you take him out of this world but you keep them from the evil one how sanctify them and that word that word is truth now think about this this is the first concern of our Lord first concern well I'm concerned too the Apostle Paul says I'm concerned as Satan 2-cd by his craftiness that our minds we'd be led astray from the simplicity and peer to devotion of Christ I'm concerned too these are these are very important portions of scripture telling us the kind of world we're living in today and so if that's his first concern on the church left down on this planet it should be our first concern is to help people to be sanctified in that word they word is truth truth sets us free but truth is more than a book it's a person Jesus is the truth God my father will set me free I think there are how does how does a created being who is not omnipresent keep a worldwide rule well any honest theologian would tell you is through principalities powers dominions and rulers I had the privilege to lead a guy to Christ who came out of Satanism now this wasn't a dabbler this guy was raised in it his mother was a Satanist he was raised to be a Satanist this is hardcore stuff I mean the moment he came to him I said you can't just leave Satanism you're still in the kingdom of darkness you'd have to choose Christ to get out of it and all hell broke loose when that happened I said that and but eventually he went for it and made a decision to do that and now here's somebody that was raised in it steeped into Satanism by the way it's not Anton LaVey and if you know about it that's a caricature true Satanism it's underground you don't know about it if you know about it it gets exposed it just stops right there and so that's what I'm most concerned about I learned that through the heart well I've seen when I actually take people out commit suicide he'll never get to trial for instance fortunately I think that's good because it would just be a battle over the Bible or something and and the Christian would probably lose that one but but he's the one who pointed that out to me said even hardcore under around Satanism he said if you know about it it's a surface level but there's three different layers under that and they correspond to three demonic levels as well so you have some strongholds that are much more resistant than others and I've seen that I've seen cases where while this is going to be a fight and others is just very simple well he really struggled they really went after in the mental harassment was horrible he was shot at he was actually tied up and all and branded in his own house and I found out later they came and said we'll stop the harassment if you stop sharing and unfortunately you did but you don't make a deal with the devil and I've never seen him since I don't know what happened to well in my book rough road to freedom is my memoirs I just put it off I talked in there about a chapter of how God was just bringing this tough to me and showing me the depth of it and how much is there I mean and I really personally came to conclusion for myself person I think it's true for the church I said okay it's there it's not my battle mine is to help Christians help people who want to be free in Christ and help them get there but the devil in one sense is already defeated he was disarmed at the cross and it's my job to proclaim that so I don't go out and look for that kind of stuff if it comes my way I deal with it but I don't think it's I don't think it's the role of the church to do that you kind of for us for help will help you but let me put it this way I don't have to know the enemy because the enemy is a chameleon he'll change that's why you don't see much instruction for scripture about you know Satan's tactics for the simple reason he's a liar he'll just change tomorrow whereas the opposite is true for God he's the same yesterday today and tomorrow he'll never change and it's because of that eternal consistency that I have stability in my life if God all of a sudden say wow I'm a I've changed my mind where would we be today as Christians we'd be lost to be honest with you are you going to change your mind again tomorrow then so the key to this is not learning all the Satan tactics because I've discovered over the years it's all over the map there is no consistency there the consistency is in Christ and so what I have to know then is not the lie but the truth and scripture constantly reaffirms that finally brother whatever is true and right and lovely think on those things never does he tell me don't think negative thoughts because you that doesn't work you just keep choosing the truth that works and so it's like people who deal with counterfeit they don't study a counterfeit $10 bills or whatever they study the true thing and when the counterfeit shows up they know what they can say it sense it and recognize it immediately and that's what we have to do as Christians as well that's not true what you just said right now it isn't how did you know that because this is the truth and now you just go on from there but the point of it is is that you know that's what he that's what Jesus prayed for that we'd be sanctified they were they weren't his truth and boy if there was ever a day the world needs truth it is today you know I mean just think about how many politicians lie how many people how many kids lie if you go over to Asia how many people in Asia will lie to say face all of them will and if you don't know that when you go over there you can go for a ride well you you said the right word it is a power trip and people want that I mean think about it if you truly had that kind of knowledge the pretense of Satan is that I got precognition I can know before time if you actually could do that do you realize how much power you just go to the racetracks you win every race if you knew who's going to win tomorrow you know but it's really a lie he doesn't perfectly know the future that's why a true prophet was separated from a false prophet because a false prophet not everything he said came true a true prophet is true prophet what he says will come to pass now if you can say something before you have to have power to bring that about you have to have some means by which you can orchestrate that otherwise you couldn't so power is the big issue it's a power trip for people well your car won't run without gas so they have to have a vehicle by which to to bring it about you know essentially if you just if you're totally deceptive and you live in the world of the occult you're just a tool of the enemy but he needs your arms and mouth and lips to bring that about he can't he doesn't have any arms her lips her feet and so essentially he needs animate object that's why you will find for instance prayer groups going on and all of us dogs will start hauling well demon can halt didn't have mouth and vocal cord by the way this is the other interesting issue is very very important to realize this I said when people are hearing voices how are they hearing well to hear in the natural world you have to have a sound source and that's just a physical phenomena it's a compression and rare fraction of air molecules here's my eardrum sends a signal to my brain how do you see have to have a light source reflecting off of a material object and that goes back to your optic nerves as a signal to your brain now if you turn off his lights you won't see me you have to have a physical light source so when people say they see something in my office because I've had people say look at their own they say they see something what are they seeing because I looked at I don't see it we rustle not with flesh and blood it isn't out there it's here and they're just using my little brain cells to bring that about so mom goes into a child's room and baby's crying or some a'my there's something in my room and as a Western parent we would say honey I looked under the bed the closet there's nobody here go back to sleep you're an adult you saw something in your would you go back to sleep but see it wasn't in the room it was here and that's why we missed that and I've seen this all the time in my office people hearing voices seeing things and we sit down work only with the person they walk out can't see it anymore don't here anymore either this goes and lights are turned down there's rumblings there's also from the pecans fall over it seems the guys flashlight doesn't work anymore they say that's like taking the camera to try to take a film of a radio wave there's spiritual world out there but it's spiritual and sure they have some way to to move animate objects and in that but even people have told me I saw something go across the room I said did something actually probably go across the room probably not it's just what they saw in here that's a twilight area for me to be honest with you I've not seen it I a general natural answer is no they would need somebody to move it I mean it's just like the way that little puppy got me up on top that pickup cab he used my mind my will my emotions of my muscles I've seen that happen and I've seen what appears to be almost supernatural strength that's why I never touched somebody who's in that condition I never tried to physically manhandle them weapons ever warfare or not of the flesh we don't even deal with it that way I said well how do I explain that because it just seems like he has supernatural power I said actually that happens sometimes for good you'll have you can actually have such an adrenaline rush within you that somebody's in an accident and some little old lady will tip over a car or something like that and then go back and try it again physically they can't do it but they just run that adrenaline thing into the stops and you can peer what appears to be supernatural but it actually is quite natural it's just such a extreme adrenaline rush that you can do things you couldn't normally naturally do in Symes I've seen that as well but when you get a person to write mica they do it again no I say well what gave them a I said actually it's just such an adrenaline rush it within your own system that you do things that you actually could naturally normally do and you can that actually happens for good at times well I remember one time this counselor called me said I've never given any place to the demonic but maybe this girl has this problem I hooked over there for years the counseling EKGs cat scans and you name it I said there's a pentagram cutting into her skin there's a cougar if you could see it here you know you'll never see it of course but and I looked at her I said honey there's a battle going on for your mind oh thank god somebody understands and so she came to see me the next week here was a case extremely difficult by the way she was a satanic ritual abuse victim she had been subjected to Senate tannic rituals here's an incredible thing they were still going on at that time she was switching personalities at night because almost every one of those people end up what they called EIG dissociative identity disorders we used to call a multiple personality she would switch at night and go to satanic rituals come home in the daytime and have cuts on her I had no idea how they got there she had cuts all over arms so money saw that she wore sweat shirt to cover her scars in her arms and other symbols that she had and so and because of the abuse he was quite large as a person and suddenly she gets out her chair starts walking towards me I use that sometimes as I train people to help others and I said what would you do I just looked at I said I'm a child of God you can't touch me that's 1st John 5:18 and she stopped in her tracks and I said said no she did now the authority that we have in Christ does not increase with volume we don't shout out the devil we just calmly take our place in Christ in that sense it's no different than parent authority if you're screaming yelling at your kids to somehow control their behavior you actually aren't exercising your god-given Authority you're undermining it it'll bring about a brief result in so Lestat but the lasting effect of it probably won't be good and so it's a very interesting thing we do have the authority to continue on Christ's work but it's his authority it's his power it's not mine so I need to abide in Christ I need to be you know under his protective authority of myself but I do believe that I said I'm a child of God you can't touch me I've had people come up to me you know one police officer was sweating profusely he said Neil have these thoughts to grab my knife and stabbed us and well thanks for sharing them but what's interesting as soon as he brought out on the light power is broken because it's all a lie and sweating stopped and he stopped shaking I said you know that's not you right now I do but you know he was wondering what the heck is wrong with me I had a girl come to a conference set of them front row glaring at me and her friend afterwards came over and said can you know my friend she can't get off the front pew I walked over I said just sit there for a few minutes you'll be fine and he can get up a little later and walk on then they all do but I found out that she was a psychiatric nurse and she had driven by a gun shop for three days in a row fighting off a temptation to bring a gun to the conference to shoot me one gal the first night at the conference started she was sitting in the back row and everybody had left I was picking on my notes I'd walk out and she walks down just a very large lady she said I feared you I've hated you acid good grief lady who are you she actually had razor blades in her in her Bible that stuck between the pages and so am I afraid of that now no of course not you know but that's not the valid object for our fear the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and and once that's in place in your own mind I said you know that God is omnipresent he's omnipotent he's omniscient and wherever I go behold God is there let me draw a parallel to help people understand this better because I've had people say you mean to tell me there are demons in this world I said let me tell you what else is here germs now everybody's believed that almost nobody has seen them you know biologists do of course I said but what's the proper response to that you start looking for germs you'll be a hypochondriac he said I said what's the proper response live a balanced life get enough at rest exercise eat properly your moon system will take care of you those demons in this world so never righteous life it's really that simple well if that's the answer then why do we even need to know about for the same reason we need to know there were demons is the same reason we need to know there are germs 200 years ago we didn't know there were germs doctors didn't scrub up then sterilize the equipment the average person lived to be about 45 people died needlessly didn't have to say mercy here why do we need to worry about demons so it's my focus no my focus is on Christ so I know enough to put on the armor of God to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ to stand firm to resist if I didn't know that didn't know what the nature of the battle is I wouldn't even know how to find it I wouldn't even know this fight but we wrestle not with flesh and blood Paul's very clear about that but principalities powers dominions of rulers and the good news is for the Christian the battle is already won we just have to claim our place in Christ and live accordingly for the fallen world it's Satan has blinded the minds of the unbelieving and that's what we're struggling with and scripture tells us that he's blinded the mind of the unbelieving and that's why it's just not a rational discussion this is a spiritual battle it has to be fought on that plane well Fijians chapter 6 is is is where he says we wrestle not with flesh and blood be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might for that's the nature of our battle when you put on the armor of God what you're really doing is putting on Christ unfortunately we going to church we call that a sanctuary I said it is not actually it's a nice auditorium but you may do more spiritual battle there than many other places the only sanctuary we have is in Christ it's in our spiritual position that we have in Christ that's the only sanctuary we have when you put on the armor of God the first Indonesia gird your loins with truth why is that so important because you're up against the father of lies this is not a new thing Eve was deceived and she believed a lie and she hadn't even yet sinned so innocent seemingly innocent people can be good people can be deceived so that's how important it is if I tempt you you know it if I accuse you you know it if I deceive you you don't know what if you knew it you're not deceived anymore that's why the first thing you do is you gird your loins with truth that's why it's truth that sets us free and the breastplate of righteousness that's not my righteousness that's his and so I stand in his victory my righteousness is like a dirty ray so I need his righteousness so it all comes back essentially the way I explained it to even a Christian when you become a Christian you step through a door you you step literally out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's beloved son and hit is Christ we're called a fixer eyes on Jesus the author and finisher of our faith but when you step through that door I'll be an arrow at first it's like there's two story buildings on each side and pimps and prostitutes are poking their head out you'll come in here you want to do this you don't believe this God doesn't love you and all that junk there's three responses to that one is to believe it you just sit down you made a decision but you're defeated you're just sitting you're going nowhere you actually could get up and walk towards Christ but you don't know that the other guys know I'm not going to do that I'm not going to go there fighting a good fight right actually is losing it but the devil set the agenda put up the shield of faith fix your eyes on Jesus take every thought captive the business of Christ and keep on walking and what will happen this will get broader and broader and broader knees here and easier and easier that's a struggle we all go through we all go through it but not very well explained unfortunately reassuring yes sounds pretty mundane compared to what people would think see you know I've had a few show times but that's what it is it's show time and I said God is much more honored if we do everything decently and in order if we never lose control you really are manifesting the love of God and in his presence you're losing control you're letting the enemy manifest you letting him control the agenda and fear will probably be the likely response think about this what is the number one mental health problem of the world anxiety disorders what was the first emotion expressed by Adam after sin I was afraid what's the number one commandment in Scripture 400 times fear or not it's a huge problem huge problem and but what if you had a way to sit down just work with a person and help them get rid of their junk we're trying to get rid of the garbage how I always tell people I said your life is like a house I said and you haven't taken the garbage out at six months and the answer is home and I guess that's going to attract a lot of fly so I got to get rid of the Flies no no you got to get rid of the garbage what I'm really saying is repentance and faith in God has always been the answer and will continue to be the answer and so that's what we help people do and we sit down God is a wonderful counselor he shows them what the junk is and we get rid of it and they walk out Satan has no right to be here someday this right quite simple in fact some people say work so well they didn't know this is demonic problem I said I don't care because a real issue to me is their own personal relationship of God that's the issue and there are things that have that have made a barrier to my intimacy with God such as bitterness and I'm willingness to forgive and sexual sins and that kind of a nature so we help get rid of that junk and when they're rid of it they're connected to God piece of cake to tell Satan to take a hike

Channel: Jon Oleksiuk

Views: 315,681

Rating: 4.8635974 out of 5

Keywords: neil t anderson, demons, christianity, authority, bible, interview, freedom in christ, neil anderson, spiritual warfare, bible truth, satan, dr. neil anderson, freedom, ficm, neil t. anderson, neil anderson sermon, occult, witchcraft, spirituality, neil anderson ccna, neil anderson interview, neil t anderson interview, neal anderson interview, neal t anderson interview, spiritual warfare prayer, spiritual warfare sermon, dr. neil t anderson, what are demons, freedom in christ ministries

Id: 2FBC4G1hU90

Length: 46min 1sec (2761 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 23 2013