Psychology

The reputation of Anderson has escalated in past years, attracting hordes from various churches through his motivating seminars. This may mainly be attributed to his well structured approach to Christian counseling. People and especially Christians are beyond doubt in need of counseling in relation to their daily struggles with sin (Crabb, 1977). It is in response to this phenomenon that Anderson and his counseling approach comes in to provide efficient and quick answers that people seek. The approach is skewed towards spiritual warfare and he seems in the first instance to be a fine relief to the church. Currently the church is being bombarded at every side by the many psychological counseling approaches from within and elsewhere (Corey, 2009). The question is whether Anderson really manages to break the congregation from the inconsistent psychological counseling approaches that chokes the church members. Is the model of Anderson genuine according to the scripture Is it in a position to maintain and propagate its promise of freeing believers from the bondage of the sin This and many other questions still linger in minds of believers when they settle to hear and read of Christian counseling.

Anderson and Psychotherapy
As the book opens, the author draws the readers attention to the fact that his work offers tested and tangible results equivalent to his know-how rather than just mere intelligence standing by itself. Anderson is of the opinion that the book is unlike any other written material written by somebody lacking battlefield experience. He continues to say that he has stood in the battle front for many years, assisting the victims of terrifying mistreatment find liberation from the powers of the enemy (Anderson, 2006, p.7). The experience of the author in the battle field enlightens one of the facts that the methodology employed is grounded and firmly rooted in real spiritual warfare. He says that the Lord started directing him towards Christian counseling over the past 15 years. There was a need to free the believers from the bondage of a variety of Satanism. In his daily ministry work, he started meeting with many Christians who were under the control of thought, habits, behaviors and patterns which blocked their spiritual growth. The author concludes that believers are unhappily not equipped to cope with the world in which Satans kingdom is real. The available church leaders are not even ready to attend to those who are in captivity of darkness (Anderson, p.11). In essence, a large portion of this book majors on having full authority over Satan and his evil powers.

Emotional Traumas
The modern-day psychological counselors emphasis is on childhood traumas. The book tackles the fundamental matters of ones identity in God and presents an outline of practical stages on how one can walk as per the spirit of God, live by faith, renew his mind, deal with his emotions, and  at the same time heal the emotional and mental traumas of the past through forgiveness and faith. This is the major purpose of undertaking psychotherapy (Corey, 2009).

Integration
The amalgamation of theology and psychology is not explicitly discarded by Anderson in this book. As a substitute, his disapproval is of the approach in which many of the integration below are framed Anderson notes that many of the attempts of integrating psychology and theology feature God and humanity and leave out the role played by Satan and demons (Anderson, p. 28). The usage of the expression most attempts, the author implies that there is possibility that one attempt of integration may be successful, if only the role of demons and Satan in future integrations is taken into account. Anderson disregards the more foundational problem of whether any effort at integration should be taken serious. This vital question demands consideration of whether the saying that Gods word is pure and sufficient is well-matched in any case with the wisdom of godless men who present a fake sanctification (Ortberg, 2002).

Strengths of Anderson
The strengths of Neil Andersons approach to Christian counseling are as listed below, among others.
According to Andersons approach to Christian counseling, a saint has an influential ground in Christ that ought not to be underestimated.

Anderson also bears the belief that there are almost four qualifications for one to demonstrate power over authorities and rulers. These include belief, humility, dependence and boldness. This breakdown makes the approach undemanding and hence, easy to comprehend.

He correctly admits that authority in the realms of the spirit is not through oneself but through Christ. These comments on opposing the evil one are not subject to objection. This is because the scripture also advocates such directives, along with commands for spiritual warfare in Ephesians chapter six and elsewhere in the scriptures.

In his approach to Christian counseling Anderson asserts great authority to the believer in relation to powers of the enemy. This he does by fully supporting his arguments with scriptures. This and many other depicts that his approach is comparatively practical.

Weaknesses of Anderson
Though the approach of Anderson has much strength, it has its shortcomings. This is especially apparent when projected from a critique point of view as indicated below.

Anderson being aware that God has bestowed authority upon mankind in various institutions, for example church, home and state for specific purposes, he still insists on having authority over demons. Perhaps it would be easy to primarily emphasize on exercise and submission to the God ordained authorities in human sphere. His critics argue that if authority structures in these institutions were given their due respect, then most of the counseling issues that Anderson majors on would move toward godly resolutions (Crabb, 1977).

Also all along, Anderson has assumed the believers stand in God imperative as that seems, and runs very far with it. He asserts that no single believer should declare to be without power in opposition to the powers of darkness. Conversely Scripture neither suggests that one should have authority over nor make verbal authoritative commands to the devil, as in the approach that Anderson promotes.
The way Anderson approaches the issue of resisting evil powers raises questions. Critics argue that it is not balanced in its primary focus on the position of the devil in the lives of believers (Adams, 1986).

In conclusion, Anderson and his approach to Christian counseling are swiftly becoming more and more popular within the confines of the current church and the society at large. His way of approaching matters of the heart is an ingredient of a precarious drift in prominence that has taken place from the time of Reformation, with the church of Christ and its customary ministry being pressed to the marginal, while extraordinary gatherings, groups, seminars and such like groupings spread like wild fire. Instead of church leaders to give direction to their church members and handle with care the souls of believers, this role has been left to these special authors, speakers and counselors from outside the church and oversight of the ministry (Hart, 1999). This inclination ought to be noted with alarm. Particularly, there is need for believers to test every spirit and more so what they listen to in opposition to Gods all-round and inerrant Word.