Into The Schmutz With Neil T. Anderson

(A Brief Review of Rough Road to Freedom: A Memoir by Neil T. Anderson; Monarch Book, 2012, $14.99)

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. The extended and detailed research on these teachings can be easily gotten from Anderson’s own biography, Rough Road To Freedom, his books, namely, The Bondage Breaker and an extensive heavily documented article and critique generated by Personal Freedom Outreach in St. Louis Missouri . The following then is the schmutz we would be in if we accepted what Anderson says. These are all his ideas and one would be hard pressed to find them anywhere in the Bible.    Continue at G. Richard Fisher