Fake Anointing

At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.

Mark 13.21-23, NIV

I suspect most of us feel well-proofed against going after false Messiahs. Of course it does happen, and once you go down that pathway, it is only a moment or two until every one is shooting Senators and drinking the cyanide-laced KoolAid.

But what if we are reading that wrong. χριστός (translated in verse 21 as Messiah) simply means ‘anointing’; only by extension does it also mean ‘the anointed one’. “‘Look, the anointing is here’ or ‘look it is there’” is a little more worrying – or at least, it should be. Because that then leads on to a warning about “false anointings and false prophets, giving signs and wonders for the seduction, if possible, of the elect.”

As Jesus said, “see it guys: I have told you everything beforehand.”

So how does one keep oneself safe?

Trust the Spirit in your spirit; if your spirit is uneasy, take that very seriously.

And watch how people handle scripture. What people who are teaching in the Church say should stand up to you checking it out in the Book. And yes that is getting harder, the more flakey translations and deliberately tweaked paraphrases there are floating around; but if you need wisdom, ask God for it and He will give you what you need.

Let me give you a real example: someone I was listening to quoted 1 John 4.17 “as He is, so are we in this world” (ESV). Look it up and you will see that the context is all about perfecting love, and that love casts out fear. But instead of using this verse in context, the speaker used it more like Aleister Crowley (the 20th Century satanist) saying “as above, so below”. They then suggested that since Jesus is coming back as a roaring lion, so we should become more aggressive and combative and so on (which was about the point where my spirit was so disturbed, I turned them off.)

My biggest worry is that even in my sharing this much, you might be seduced. Please don’t be. There is so much wrong with this.

Firstly, as I said a moment ago, the context is lost. John was speaking about love and the fact that we can be as full of love here in the world as Jesus is in heaven. He wasn’t leaving the door open to Christian political militancy.

Second, the speaker complained that Christians are too much influenced by Jesus as the lamb when they need to be like Jesus the Lion. I have bad news for them. The only reference to Jesus as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah (which itself is a reference back to Genesis 49.9) reads like this:

Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”
Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain…

Revelation 5.5-6a, NIV

What John saw in heaven was fulfilment of prophecy. The Lion of Judah was the prophecy; but when he looked, there was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, as the fulfilment now revealed. It simply isn’t biblical to say Jesus was a lamb, but He is now coming back as a roaring Lion.

To follow this speaker’s injunction requires that we overthrow everything Jesus and His disciples have actually instructed us, in favour of aligning ourselves with a picture of angry Jesus which has no biblical basis, but is a pure piece of preacher’s sleight of hand.

How do you protect yourself? Go back and read things in context. As a Chinese Navigator friend said to me, 40 over years ago, “a text without context is a pretext”.

And for the avoidance of doubt (not to mention the avoidance of a Disney villain version of the gospel), nothing will be more terrifying than the sight of the Slain Lamb to those who have opposed Him. Satan and His hordes will squeal in despair.

For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

1 Cor 1.25, NIV

God simply doesn’t need to show off; God at His apparently weakest is infinitely more powerful than anyone else; even if they are posturing like a roaring lion.