Do not Replace Christ with Anything else but Live According to the Inward Anointing

It is very important to know that the One who firmly attached us with the other saints in the Body unto Christ and who has anointed us is God (2 Cor. 1:21). On the one hand, God is the One attaching us unto Christ, and on the other hand, He is the One who anoints us.

First, God anointed Christ, the Anointed One, to go and fulfill God’s purpose; then, Christ became a man, lived a perfect human life, died an all-inclusive death on the cross, resurrected and became a life-giving Spirit, and was ascended to the heavens.

This One, the Anointed One, has become the anointing: He became the life-giving compound Spirit which is the anointing coming into our spirit to anoint us with God’s elements and subjectively teach us concerning the Triune God. The anointed One became the anointing, and God has anointed us with Himself as the anointing. This is so wonderful!

However, even though on His side God did everything necessary to prepare the anointing and anoint us, on our side we need to cooperate with the Lord by paying attention to the anointing, exercising our spirit, and staying in the anointing so that all of God’s elements would slowly be wrought into us.

If we, however, do not pay attention to the anointing, the enemy in his subtlety will deceive us to be in the principle of antichrist, that is, to be either denying Christ or replacing Christ with something else. We need to be warned and be aware of the fact that even us as believer may live in the principle of antichrist if we either deny the anointing or replace the anointing with anything else.

If we look at our Christian experience in the light of God’s word in 1 John 2 we will realize that many times we lived our life as if there’s no Christ, and even though we may have not denied Jesus as Christ, we have replaced Christ with other things such as morality, ethics, culture, tradition, and good things.

Whenever we are not one with the Lord and under the anointing, being in the fresh painting of the Triune God, we are living in the principle of antichrist. Oh Lord Jesus!

Unconsciously and Unintentionally, we may be in the Principle of Antichrist

If we deny an aspect of Christ revealed in the Scriptures, we are following the principle of antichrist, although what we are doing may be done unconsciously and unintentionally. If we replace an aspect of Christ with something that is not of Christ, we are practicing the principle of antichrist.

If we deny Christ’s divinity, we are in the principle of antichrist; but if we deny any aspect of Christ, we are also in the principle of antichrist.

We all need to apply this word to ourselves and be on the alert lest in any way we follow the principle of antichrist. If we deny an aspect of Christ’s Person, we are against Him, anti Him. If we have something in our daily living that replaces Christ, we also are against Christ, anti Christ. To be anti Christ is both to be against Christ and to replace Christ with something else. If we replace Christ with our own good character and behavior, we are practicing the principle of antichrist. In a practical way, we are against the anointing, anti the moving, working, and saturating of the Triune God within us. Instead of being anti the anointing, we must live according to the anointing. Otherwise, we shall be against Christ or we shall replace Christ with something else. (Witness Lee, Life-study of 1 John)

We need to be on the alert in our Christian life so that we don’t live in the principle of antichrist. We may not deny Christ as Lord but we may deny some aspect of Christ’s person, which makes us anti-Christ, anti the anointing. If we have something in our daily living that replaces Christ, if we do something or are engaged in some activity that replaces Christ, we are also against Christ, living in the principle of antichrist.

We may replace Christ with our good behavior, living a good Christian life without being under the anointing, and expressing our good natural life instead of living one with the Lord; this is to replace Christ in our daily living, and no matter how much others appreciate our good behavior, we live in the principle of antichrist.

If we live according to our good character or good behavior, in a practical way, we are against the anointing, anti the moving, working and saturating of the Triune God within us.

If we are open to the Lord and allow Him to shine on us in this respect, we will be exposed of so many things, situations, and matters that have replaced Christ or an aspect of Christ in our life. We relied so much on our own ability, understanding, confidence, man-made peace or joy, and zeal in doing things for God, and we “tried our best” in ourselves to be a good Christian while at the same time neglecting the anointing.

We need the Lord to really expose us and cause us to realize how much we lived ourselves and not under the anointing. It is good to ask the Lord,

Lord, we open to You: shine on us and expose anything that replaces You in our daily living. We don’t want to live in the principle of antichrist. Lord, we treasure Your anointing and want to live daily under the anointing so that we may have Your elements be added to our being. Anoint us more today. Lord, remove anything that replaces You in our being. Cause Your light to shine on any replacements of Christ, and be our everything as the anointing within us! Oh Lord, we love You!

Do not Replace Christ with Anything else but Live According to the Inward Anointing

In 1 John we see the fellowship of the divine life, that is, the enjoyment and experience of the Triune God as life. God wants to be enjoyed by us, and for this He became a man, and then He became a life-giving Spirit to come into our spirit to be our enjoyment.

Now we as believers in Christ can enjoy the Triune God in the fellowship of the divine life and in the divine light by means of the anointing which is in us (1 John 2:27). The anointing within us is the moving and working of the Triune God in us to saturate us with Himself and make Him everything to us.

However, if we pay more attention to the doctrine of the Triune God, having God as a doctrine rather than our experience, even the theology concerning the Triune God can become a replacement of Christ. Satan uses all kinds of things – good or bad – to replace Christ in us, including culture, good and improved character, good behavior, and religion.

We may not deny any aspect of Christ but rather know what He can be to us, but what about our daily living? Do we live Christ under the anointing throughout the day, or do we allow natural, cultural, religious, moral, and ethical things to replace Him in our daily life? We may live our life according to a certain standard, which may be a highly ethical and quite spiritual standard, but does this standard replace the anointing within?

We may be in all the meetings of the church, but do we live under the anointing or do we merely religiously attend all the meetings? Good things of religion, culture, and ethics can replace Christ in our being and experience. We should not allow anything to replace Christ in our being and experience but we should live according to the anointing within.

Instead of being anti the anointing, we must live according to the anointing a life in the fellowship of the divine life, always being open to the Lord and allowing Him to anoint us, speak to us, impart life to us, and add all His elements to our being. Even more, we need to repent for replacing Christ with other things; we need to repent for having a living that is in the principle of antichrist.

If we truly allow the Lord’s light to shine on us and expose our real situation and condition, we will repent before Him for allowing many things of the culture, religion, ethics, and natural concepts to replace Christ. Oh, Lord Jesus! We need to realize how many things in our daily living replace Christ and we need to learn to daily live according to the anointing so that we would have a daily addition of God’s element to our being.

Lord Jesus, save us and deliver us from anything that replaces You in our being and living. Bring us back to Your anointing. We don’t want to be anti Christ in any way! Lord, we don’t want to be anti the anointing; we want to live and walk by the anointing within! Oh Lord, may our daily life and walk be by the moving, working, and saturating of the Triune God within us. May nothing and no one replace You in our heart, our living, and our walk, but may we have a daily living according to the anointing!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, brother Andrew Yu’s sharing in the message for this week, and Life-study of 1 John, msg. 33 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (3), week 11 (week 35), The Anointing of the Compound Spirit.
• All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
• Further hymns on this topic:
  # God in Christ as life in Spirit / Into my own spirit came! / He the Holy One anoints me / Till in spirit we’re the same. / God in Spirit; I can touch Him; / In my spirit He’s the flow. / Deeper, wider, richer, fuller— / Oh, the very God I know! (Hymns #1119)
  # Th’ anointing’s here! It teaches us in everything; / The sense of life we always have within. / Obey this sense, and you will know what you must do, / And live by Life—Yes, clear in everything. (Hymns #1118)
  # ’Tis by this inner life-anointing / I in fellowship may move; / In God, the light of truth, I’m walking, / And the love of grace I prove. (Hymns #266)