Statistics from the National Institute of Mental Health reveal that the majority of Americans struggle with all sorts of fears, including that of public speaking and death.
Creflo Dollar, the famous founder and senior pastor at World Changers International Church in College Park, Georgia says that such fears are just as rampant among Christians as they are in the public at large.
“Millions of people live under the stronghold of fear,” said Dollar, whose church serves more than 30,000 members and whose fame matches that of other prolific ministers such as Billy Graham, Joel Osteen, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. “Their lives are stunted, limited and even controlled by it. I’ve experienced what can happen when Satan and his spirit of fear gain a foothold in our lives. But there is victory, and I’m eager to tell my story, and the story of how God can bring us victory over this debilitating condition.”
In his new book, “Overcoming Fear: Eliminating the Bondage of Fear,” Dollar’s goal is to teach his worshippers and others that fear is not a normal part of life and shouldn’t be tolerated as such.
Naturally, Dollar talks of how God can bring victory to those paralyzed by fear.
Dollar also uses his own experiences and stories, including his battle with cancer, to prove his theory that fears can ultimately be overcome.
“When we learn, or remind ourselves, about God’s covenant and His promises to us, we can begin to escape the bondage of fear in our lives,” he said. “It’s truly amazing what our lives can look like when we embrace these promises. We move from taking tepid steps to launching ourselves into all the possibilities that life and God have in store for us.”
Dollar says he hopes to reach those who have accepted fear as part of their lives with the new book. He says that he has had to overcome other issues, including his very public arrest in 2012 for allegedly hitting and choking his 15-year-old daughter during an argument. The charges of battery were eventually dropped after the pastor completed an anger management program.
“I should have never been arrested,” he said, following his release. “The truth is she was not choked, she was not punched. There were not any scratches on her neck. The reports were an exaggeration.”
Still, the seeds of Dollar’s latest book were planted long before that incident. He says a tragic death in his family resulted in fear being planted in his soul, which surfaced when he married his wife, Taffi.
Dollar said that fear wasn’t removed until he began trusting more in his creator. Recently, he announced that he had prostate cancer, but the evangelist no longer lives in fear.
In “Overcoming Fear,” Dollar also speaks of phobias, the fear of failure, the fear of abandonment and the fear of intimacy, all problems faced by many whom he said have not fully trusted God.
“Most people yield to fear because they don’t know what else to yield to,” Dollar said. “To believe with your heart is to believe against your body— against what you feel.”
“Overcoming Fear: Eliminating the Bondage of Fear,” retails for $14.99 and is available on Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com and other booksellers.