BIBLICAL BRIEFS 124
In the course of history, there were many believers who would claim a spiritual position of a certain biblical characters and act as if they have received his/her anointing, especially those found as forerunners, symbolic or apocalyptic figures in the Bible. I have personally encountered people who firmly believe that they were appointed by God as a contemporary Joshua, Zerubbabel, David, Cyrus, Paul, even some who firmly believe they are now the two witnesses of Rev. 11, and acted the part. Another confused person even proclaimed that he owned the personal mandate of the so called son of perdition, the Antichrist! However, the most popular incarnation is “Elijah, who would come” (Matt. 11:14). People with mental disorders, such as those with obsessional religious thoughts, delusions or other syndromes, psychoses or megalomania, are not currently discussed here. The people referred to in the question above are normal, rational believers who firmly believe that they are chosen by God to play a particular role and that this role is determined by a historical Biblical person who now makes his appearance for God’s (often apocalyptic) agenda to be fulfilled. They interpret their calling as prophetic, based on the Old Testament prophet-like style. In 1948 William Branham presented himself as the end-time angel of the covenant (Mal. 3: 1) in the manifestation of Elijah. Branham had a large number of followers, and today still one finds ministries under his name and banner. Unlike Elia who did not die, Branham died in a car crash in 1965. A next Elijah figure who enjoyed a great deal of attention in the spiritual world, was Herbert W. Armstrong, founder of the Worldwide Church of God. They believed: “God only works through ‘one man at a time’ and that he was God’s chosen representative on earth for his time.” Armstrong’s free magazine: The Plain Truth, propagated especially the British Israelism, the origin of the cult group called the Israel Vision, also prominent in South Africa. Currently Prophet DJ Comfort of Pretoria is the new Elijah on the block, and the people flock to his church in Pretoria-West. What do we make of this from a Biblical perspective? If you so peculiarly believe this, you are being seduced by an idea that you have been chosen to received the personal anointing or mantle of a significant historical figure. In the Charismatic and Pentecostal churches they often refer to the awesome great anointing of individuals. This is misleading. The word “anointing”, as it is often used, only occurs four times in the Bible, in just three passages. Note that each time it is used, it is expressed in a corporate sense (Ex. 40:15; 1Joh. 2:20 & 27). All anointing comes from the Anointed, Jesus Christ. The entire history of Israel has progressed in order to establish this anointing, as Dan. 9:25 states: “to build Jerusalem unto the Anointed One”. Jesus the Anointed changed the overall scenario of Old Testament anointing. In the past some individuals were called anointed, especially because they were physically anointed [officially, like the priests (Ex. 40:15 ), kings (1Sam. 15:17) and prophets (1Chron. 16:22)]. Cyrus was offered as an Old Testament shadow of the Messiah (Isa. 45: 1). Here, the anointing was exemplary and individual, but it pointed to the One whom Isa. 61:1-3 prophesied about: “The Spirit of the Lord Yahweh is upon me because the Lord has anointed me …” When this prophecy was fulfilled in the ears of the chosen people, the Jews (Luke 4: 18-21 ), it is explicitly stated: “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” (Acts 17: 3). The Anointing of the Anointed is to give form to His identity in the multitude!? Since John the Baptist and the beginning of the new covenant, all anointing is corporate. Trump may, therefore, bear the anointing of Cyrus, but there are many people in the world who carry this particular calling or corporate mantle. Thus: God does not only work through ‘one man at a time’.
Dr Tom Gouws
