Robert Morris is the founding pastor of Gateway Church in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, whose active members exceed 36,000. He is also the bestselling author of THE BLESSED LIFE, THE GOD I NEVER KNEW and THE POWER OF YOUR WORDS. In 10 power-packed chapters, Morris defines the spiritual strongholds that take Christians captive today. He details the various ways that Satan (and his minions) work diligently to bind Christ followers and thereby render them ineffective in spreading God’s truth and in their personal lives.

With a refreshingly transparent voice, Morris shares from the outset his own struggles with lust and the like because he wants readers to know that he “gets it.” Spiritual battles are fought by one and all, and he understands how deeply entrenched individuals can be even as longtime committed believers. Morris states that there are three big warning signs to which Christians need to be on the alert if they think they might be suffering from spiritual (demonic) oppression.

"TRULY FREE is chock full of biblical instruction, pointed prayers for release, and questions for personal contemplation and group study. Readers will appreciate [Morris'] even-handed style of writing, which never comes across as overly spiritual or hokey."

First, when folks continue to willfully sin over and over in a particular area and are consciously snubbing their noses at God, that can signify something deeper is going on within them. Secondly, sometimes a continued illness (or self-inflicted pain/injury) can signal that the enemy has entered in and attached itself to a person’s life. Morris notes how he was extremely accident prone for much of his own life and then recalled how an ER nurse had predicted to his mother that he would be in and out of ERs his entire life. He recognized how he had believed this “sentence” and seemed to live it out…until last spring when he became deathly ill for 120 days and God started challenging his errant beliefs about his health and his body. Morris writes, “If we have any manner of thinking that’s contrary to God’s Word, then that’s an open door to the devil.”

Lastly, when Christians participate in occult practices such as astrology, horoscopes, tarot cards, Quija boards, spells, witchcraft, palm reading, sorcery and séances, it’s like opening the door to spiritual oppression. These activities can be passed down from grandparents to parents to present-day Christians, and need to be confessed and abandoned.

Morris not only attempts to bring understanding regarding spiritual bondage, he offers Christians the practical path to freedom. TRULY FREE is chock full of biblical instruction, pointed prayers for release, and questions for personal contemplation and group study. Readers will appreciate his even-handed style of writing, which never comes across as overly spiritual or hokey. Christians can live their lives defeated by their past (or present), or they can take heed of Morris’ sage advice to break free and live out their days truly free.