Question: No one can understand the biblical propherties except the officially anointed prophets. If you are not anointed, how can your understanding be correct?
Answer: the Bible does not support this view. Today the Bible prophecies can be understood not only by “officially anointed prophets”. There are many biblical texts that confirm this, and I will only give the most obvious ones.
When the angel finished giving the last prophecy to Daniel, he said the following:
“Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase.”
“Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end time. Many will be purged, purified and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand.” (Daniel 12:3, 4, 9, 10, NAS)
What is clear from these texts is that anointing is not necessary to understand the prophecies. For a correct understanding, only the wisdom of a honest person is needed. It is wisdom which has already been tempered in the appropriate tests — in practice. On the other hand, prophecies are “solid spiritual food.” According to Hebrews 5:14, only spiritually mature people who have discernment can understand such solid food. This discernment is a God-pleasing wisdom that develops itself as a result of applying biblical principles. This is the kind of wisdom needed to understand prophecies.
Daniel wrote here about this kind of wisdom. God-pleasing wisdom has nothing to do with “the wisdom of this world.” It is clear from Paul’s Epistle that “the wisdom of this world” is a competitive spirit (1 Corinthians 3:1-4, 18-21). It is clear that such people cannot reach maturity and a deep understanding of the Bible’s prophecies (1 Corinthians 3:2). Because words of truth cannot take root in the soil of cunning hearts. They look for their own will in prophecies, not God’s will. And their lack of understanding is the result of their pride and guile. It is not surprising that they often seek to call themselves “anointed” servants of Jehovah, even though they have no reason or evidence to support this.
Agree, the fact that a person took bread and wine on the so-called “Memorial” of Jehovah’s Witnesses does not prove that this person is an anointed one. (Also, Jesus instituted a dinner for remembrance, not a dinner for announcements of new “anointed ones.”) After all, the “man of lawlessness” sitting in a spiritual Temple does the same things. Moreover, Paul says that the man of lawlessness gathers aroung himself only “those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved… they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness” (2 Thessalonians 2: 10-12) Can people who “have not received the love of the truth” be anointed?
After all, how can one define “officially anointed prophets”? Do they have to present a certificate of anointing with the signature and seal of the Most High? The problem is that none of these prophets were recognized by their contemporaries during their lifetime, despite the divinity of their messages and even despite the miracles they performed!
Returning to the Scriptures, consider the parallel prophecy recorded in Revelation 22:10,11:
And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still practice righteousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy.”
Unlike Daniel, John was explicitly told that the prophecy was no longer sealed. The only reason for misunderstanding of it is the same as that given to Daniel — the love of injustice (see the context, Rev. 22:14,15). But here, too, it is not said that to understand the prophecies one must have an anointing from God.
Who can get the right understanding? –
“I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost (Revelation 22:16,17)
As can be seen from the context discussed above, prophecies can be understood by any “thirsty and willing” christian with a pure and just heart. For a correct understanding of the prophecies, the obligatory anointing is not specified anywhere.
If anointing was necessary to understand the prophecies, no one would understand them even after they were fulfilled. No one except the anointed ones. Similarly, we can look at the texts of Matthew 24:15 or Revelation 1:1, which are addressed to the servants of God to show them what is to be done soon. These texts also do not say that anointing is required to understand prophecies.
Finally, if anointing is required to understand the prophecies, You will not be able to distinguish right from wrong understanding if you do not have such anointing. In fact, You can’t even speculate about it!
I say directly: Jesus set the task to seek God, not His anointed ones! (John 17:3) Otherwise, You risk falling into a trap! And Your “wisdom” will remain “the wisdom of this world” and you will repeat the mistake of the foolish Corinthians (1 Corinthians 1:11-13).
As for me personally, I do not consider myself an anointed, and I have no right to invent anything. From the researches presented on this site, it is clear that all these researches are the result of a thorough systematic analysis of biblical prophecies. Even a special education is not necessary for this. As can be seen from the texts discussed above, a correct understanding requires only intellectual honesty and the absence of a spirit of competition or pride, which sooner or later will lead such a “researcher” to try to apply their ideas on the biblical story. And, even worse, they will prevent him from admitting the mistakes he made earlier. Even if at first such a person has received the correct understanding, there can be no further growth of understanding (John 7:18). Moreover, the sealing of the real holy ones is a matter of the future and will take place only on the eve of the Day of Jehovah (Revelation 7:1-4). These real anointed prophets will appear after this sealing only.
But since even the book of Revelation is “not sealed”, in any case, it is obvious that today a deep understanding of the prophecies is available to any thirsty person and it does not require mandatory anointing.
This article was translated into English. I don’t speak English, so sorry for the mistakes and style.