By Robin Sam
June 25, 2009 | 00:31:16

DR. Neil T. Anderson is founder and president emeritus of Freedom in Christ Ministries. He was formerly chairman of the Practical Theology Department at Talbot School of Theology at Biola University in the USA. A former aerospace engineer, Dr. Anderson has 20 years of experience as a pastor and has written several best-selling books on living free in Christ. ‘The Bondage Breaker’ and ‘Victory over the Darkness’ are among his bestsellers. Freedom in Christ resources have now been translated into more than 30 languages. He holds five degrees from Talbot, Pepperdine University and Arizona State University. Neil Anderson will be in Chennai, India, from July 4 to 11 to speak at a seminar and at a few churches in the city. THE CHRISTIAN MESSENGER spoke to him on June 24. Excerpts from an exclusive interview:

 

When did you first discover that you had it in you to take the message of freedom in Christ to others?

 

I was teaching at Talbot School of Theology and I was discovering myself what it really meant to be alive and free in Christ. I started to see the lives of my students change, and then I went through a very broken experience. For 15 months I didn’t know whether my wife was going to live or die, and we lost everything we had. Freedom in Christ Ministries was born out of that brokenness.

 

At the core of your teaching is the belief that discipleship counseling works. How effective can be the counseling offered by one disciple to another?

 

It was out of my own brokenness that I realized that I was not the Wonderful Counselor. Jesus is and He is the only One who can set a captive free and bind up the broken hearted. When pastors and counselors understand that simple concept and include God in the process they began to see God at work and lives changed.

 

Why is Christian life always a struggle? Did God intend it to be that way? Why is it difficult to live a life that’s holy and acceptable to the Lord?

 

“For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh” (2 Corinthians. 4:11). I don’t know of any painless way to die to self, but that is what must happen if we want to be all that God has called us to be. Self-sufficiency was my greatest enemy to my sufficiency in Christ, and I had to be broken from that. Suffering is often a part of the sanctification process. Even Jesus, “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered” (Hebrews. 5:8). But let me quickly add that it is all worth it. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18).

 

What should be a Christian’s response when he sees moral decay all around him, sometimes even in the church?

 

The first thing we should do is become the person God created us to be. That is God’s will for our lives (1 Thessalonians 4:3). In other words, we should take the log out of our own eyes before we point out the speck in another person’s eye. Then we are in the position of being the salt and light that God intended the church to be. We can’t change another person, but we can change ourselves and become ambassadors for Christ’s sake. We change the world by reaching one person at a time and equip that person to reach others.

 

What is your message to the world that’s hurtling towards a huge economic catastrophe?

 

I think God is shaking the foundations of this world, and I don’t think the world is getting better. Christians are going to find out whether their security rests on things they have no right or ability to control or whether their security rests in Christ. The church must become firmly rooted in Christ and trust that He will meet all our needs according to His riches in glory.

 

How can a Christian convince the world that the “good news” is good enough for the hungry and hurting?

 

There has always been a social elevation wherever and whenever Christianity has flourished. Unfortunately, the result can be comfortable Christians sitting in comfortable churches and no longer seeing the need for God. That is what has happened to the Church in the United States, and we start looking more like goats than sheep. The sheep feed the poor, invite the stranger in, cloth the naked, visit the prisoner and take care of the sick (Matthew 25:31-46).

 

Several pastors do very well preaching their Sunday messages from the pulpit. But they fail miserably when it comes to personal evangelism. What’s the solution?

 

That happened to me when I was a pastor. All my associates and friends were Christians. I got caught up in the business of church, and I lost sight of a dying world. We need to see the world the way God sees it, and then we will start doing ministry differently. It is the responsibility of every church to be a witness to their community and make disciples. I personally made a conscious choice to follow up every visitor and share Christ with them. When I felt comfortable doing that I trained others who trained others. We must never lose sight of hurting humanity. An ingrown church is destined to die.

 

If Satan can put a thought in our minds, does it also mean that he can read our minds?

 

I am putting thoughts in all the readers’ minds right now, but I cannot read their minds. We know that God knows the thoughts and intentions of our heart, but no where does the Bible teach that Satan does. We should never ascribe to Satan the attributes of God. Satan does have the advantage of observing humanity for thousands of years and can probably figure out what we are thinking, because eventually we will live out our thoughts in our daily life. Besides, it is not hard to tell you what you are thinking if I gave you the thought.

 

Why doesn’t the evangelical church have the same commitment of the Catholic Church to society and its needs? Did God intend the evangelicals to be this way - to be concerned only with the soul to the extent of turning a blind eye to the physical suffering of man?

 

The Catholic Church has done some fine work around the world, but so has the evangelical Church. World Vision and World Relief have done tremendous work around the world. I personally support a young girl in India through Compassion International, as do thousands of others. I don’t have enough memory in my computer to list all the para-church ministries that feed the poor, help the addict, council the down trodden, etc. There are some ‘fundamentalist groups’ who think that such works represent a social gospel, but their voice is all but gone. I could not share the gospel with a man dying of hunger without giving him something to eat. The Christian message is wholistic and takes into account all humanity and all their needs.

 

‘The Bondage Breaker’ and ‘Victory Over the Darkness’ are bestsellers that propelled you on the international stage. How does it feel to be a celebrity and a successful Christian author?

 

I am just a child of God intent on becoming the person God created me to be. There is no name I could make for myself that would even remotely compare to that. I would be content being a pastor in a small country church learning to love God and others. Fame, if striven for, can lead to spiritual famine.

 

Give a ringside view of what your upcoming book, ‘The Core of Christianity’, is all about.

 

The subtitle for the book is; ‘Reestablishing Authentic Unity and Personal Wholeness in Christ’. The first part of the book is an evaluation of the Church around the world and an appeal to become Christ-centered. I try to point out the dangers of moving away from Christ toward legalism, humanism, spiritism, false apostles and prophets. The second half of the book is about living a Christ-centered life and divine guidance.

© Copyright: The Christian Messenger/Messenger Communications Private Limited, India.

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