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The Bible talks about God’s spirit being “poured out” or “coming upon” individuals, like Samuel, David, Samson and so on (Judges 14:6; 15:14; 1 Samuel 16:23; 1 Samuel 18:10; 2 Chronicles 24:20) What is the difference between this and the “anointing” of spirit that was available after Jesus?

Whereas the spirit poured out upon the early prophets were an outpouring to accomplish specific tasks, the anointing available after Jesus is the indwelling spirit, the spirit living permanently inside us, and it is available to every single person who puts faith in Jesus Christ. While there might be an outward manifestation of this anointing in some believers, as at Pentecost, this anointing is available to anyone identifying themselves with Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. (See article:…..)

Paul says to Timothy: “This fine trust guard through the holy spirit which is dwelling in us.” (2 Timothy 1:14) This spirit dwells, or lives, inside a Christian. In other words, when a person puts faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, and that he also died, was buried and raised with Christ, then God’s spirit begins to operate in us from within.

What is needed on our part is to believe that Christ’s spirit is living within us, working in us, operating from within because we have died with Christ and been raised up with him. Paul says: “I am impaled with Christ. It is no longer I but Christ living in me.” (Galatians 2:20)

Anointing is our living connection, union with Christ, the life of Christ within available to all because of our faith in our death, burial and resurrection with him.
It was only made available to us once Christ was glorified.

“Now on the last day, the great day of the festival, Jesus was standing up and he cried out, saying: "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He that puts faith in me, just as the Scripture has said, 'Out from his inmost part streams of living water will flow.'" However, he said this concerning the spirit which those who put faith in him were about to receive; for as yet there was no spirit, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.” (John 7:37-39)

That this spirit was an internal force, bubbling up from within the person, implanted there by God, was further confirmed by Jesus’ own words John 4:14 “Whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty at all, but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water bubbling up to impart everlasting life."

This spirit is poured out into us – inside us. It lives in us, and it is grafting us to Christ, as we keep growing in faith. “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” Becoming “one spirit” with Christ would mean a person has no consciousness of self but of another life within him, that of Christ. (1 Corinthians 6:17) The spirit in us makes our bodies the temple of the living God. (1 Corinthians 6:19)

The spirit would also teach people from within, requiring no outside assistance, as Jesus explained in John 14:26 “But the helper, the holy spirit, which the Father will send in my name, that one will teach you all things and bring back to your minds all the things I told you.”

And John also said at 1 John 2:27 “And as for you, the anointing that you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to be teaching you; but, as the anointing from him is teaching you about all things, and is true and is no lie, and just as it has taught you, remain in union with him.”

Anointing of the spirit is the grafting of us into Christ, making us one with him. The book of Zechariah explains this union with Christ. “And the angel who was speaking with me proceeded to come back and wake me up, like a man that is awakened from his sleep. Then he said to me: "What are you seeing?" So I said: "I have seen, and, look! there is a lampstand, all of it of gold, with a bowl on top of it. And its seven lamps are upon it, even seven; and the lamps that are at the top of it have seven pipes. And there are two olive trees alongside it, one on the right side of the bowl and one on its left side." (Zechariah 4:1-3)

Zechariah was very confused, so he questioned the angel. “And I proceeded to answer and say to him: "What do these two olive trees on the right side of the lampstand and on its left side mean?" Then I answered the second time and said to him: "What are the two bunches of twigs of the olive trees that, by means of the two golden tubes, are pouring forth from within themselves the golden [liquid]?" So he said to me: "Do you not really know what these [things] mean?" In turn I said: "No, my lord." Accordingly he said: "These are the two anointed ones who are standing alongside the Lord of the whole earth." (Zechariah 4:11-14)

In the vision that Zechariah sees, the seven bowls have a never-ending supply of oil. Why? Because they are connected to the very source of oil, the two olive trees.
So anointing has to do with being connected to the source of the spirit, Christ himself.
A person could have an outward manifestation of the spirit, but if he does not by faith get strengthened in his inner connection with Christ he would be like those foolish virgins who ran out of oil. However, the discreet virgins were those who had oil in their receptacles.

So the question arises, what then is the manifestation that some have received? The Scriptures clearly show that at Pentecost, there was an outward manifestation of the anointing.

This anointing does not have to be accompanied by some external manifestation, either tongues etc such as at Pentecost 33 CE, or today, when some claim that only those who have had an “experience” with God, are truly anointed? That would be strange, since in the 1st century, that didn’t happen. Luke reported in (Act 8:12) “But when they believed Philip, who was declaring the good news of the kingdom of God and of the name of Jesus Christ, they proceeded to be baptized, both men and women.” So then in (Act 8:14) “When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Sa·mar'i·a had accepted the word of God, they dispatched Peter and John to them; and these went down and prayed for them to get holy spirit. For it had not yet fallen upon any one of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.”

These people had had no external baptism! They had no “experience” with God such as is claimed by some today, nor had they received manifestations of the spirit – it was simply within them. That was enough. “Then they went laying their hands upon them, and they began to receive holy spirit.” (Act 8:17)

Only when one of the apostles “laid hands upon them” did people “receive” a visible, or outer manifestation. Exactly the same thing happened with Paul. Luke wanted to show that Paul had equal authority to the 11. So he reported on an event that took place in (Act 19:1-6) “In the course of events, while A·pol'los was in Corinth, Paul went through the inland parts and came down to Eph'e·sus, and found some disciples; and he said to them: "Did you receive holy spirit when YOU became believers?" They said to him: "Why, we have never heard whether there is a holy spirit." “And he said: "In what, then, were YOU baptized?" They said: "In John's baptism." Paul said: "John baptized with the baptism in symbol of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus." On hearing this, they got baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul laid his hands upon them, the holy spirit came upon them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying.”

So only when the 12 laid hands upon a person would they receive some external baptism, some experience with God. Why was this done? Paul himself explained in (1Co 12:7) “But the manifestation of the spirit is given to each one for a beneficial purpose.”

Some were given an external baptism, others were not. Yet all were sons of God, “anointed”. And how? Paul again says in (Gal 3:26,27) “YOU are all, in fact, sons of God through YOUR faith in Christ Jesus. For all of YOU who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” And again in (Rom 8:14) “For all who are led by God's spirit, these are God's sons.”

The whole reason that Paul had to write to the Corinthians was precisely because they were doing what some are doing today – they were focused on “gifts of the spirit”, external signs, an “experience” that proved that they were God’s sons. But the reality was that all had an anointing which is received by faith, because it is the internal spirit that flows out of a person. And every single person can have that through faith in Christ. As Paul had to point out, just because some had gifts, they were being stupid, imagining some difference between those who did and didn’t. (1 Co 12:1) But Paul had to put them straight in (1Co 12:4 - 6) “Now there are varieties of gifts, but there is the same spirit; and there are varieties of ministries, and yet there is the same Lord; and there are varieties of operations, and yet it is the same God who performs all the operations in all persons.”

When people are focused on having some external event or experience to say they are “anointed” then they are repeating the mistake of the Corinthians, and they have forgotten what Paul said in (Heb 6:1) “For this reason, now that we have left the primary doctrine about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying a foundation again, namely, repentance from dead works, and faith toward God, the teaching on baptisms and the laying on of the hands, the resurrection of the dead and everlasting judgment.”

The simple key is for all Christians to take to heart and exercise faith in Jesus own words at (Joh 15:1 - 6) "I am the true vine, and my Father is the cultivator. Every branch in me not bearing fruit he takes away, and every one bearing fruit he cleans, that it may bear more fruit. YOU are already clean because of the word that I have spoken to YOU. Remain in union with me, and I in union with YOU. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it remains in the vine, in the same way neither can YOU, unless YOU remain in union with me. I am the vine, YOU are the branches. He that remains in union with me, and I in union with him, this one bears much fruit; because apart from me YOU can do nothing at all. If anyone does not remain in union with me, he is cast out as a branch and is dried up; and men gather those branches up and pitch them into the fire and they are burned.

All then who exercise faith can have the spirit bubbling within him to impart everlasting life. It is not the privilege of a few 144,000. (See the article “Who are the 144,000?)

Later, the angel showed that these people would be present during the “Lord’s Day”, as shown in (Rev 11:3,4) “And I will cause my two witnesses to prophesy a thousand two hundred and sixty days dressed in sackcloth. These are [symbolized by] the two olive trees and the two lampstands and are standing before the Lord of the earth.”


By faith, any person may have the spirit of Christ living in him, dwelling in him, grafting him into Christ. The spirit is like a fountain, it can pour out of him like life-giving water to others. This is available to absolutely everybody, hence Paul said in (Eph 4:4) “One body there is, and one spirit, even as YOU were called in the one hope to which YOU were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism;” It is available to absolutely anyone today. That can be discussed some other time, since it’s slightly off point.

Paul also explained what exactly this spirit is in (Rom 8:9) “However, YOU are in harmony, not with the flesh, but with the spirit, if God's spirit truly dwells in YOU. But if anyone does not have Christ's spirit, this one does not belong to him.”

Paul equates God’s spirit with Christ’s spirit. So when Jesus was glorified, his spirit and God’s mingled, and then was poured out into the hearts of all those who had faith that they were included in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. He also said this on other occasions, for instance in (Joh 14:16) “and I will request the Father and he will give YOU another helper to be with YOU forever,” and again in (Joh 16:7) “Nevertheless, I am telling YOU the truth, It is for YOUR benefit I am going away. For if I do not go away, the helper will by no means come to YOU; but if I do go my way, I will send him to YOU.”


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Remain in me, for apart from me, you can produce nothing at all

John 15:5

Paul also explained what exactly this spirit is in (Rom 8:9) “However, YOU are in harmony, not with the flesh, but with the spirit, if God's spirit truly dwells in YOU. But if anyone does not have Christ's spirit, this one does not belong to him.”

Paul equates God’s spirit with Christ’s spirit. So when Jesus was glorified, his spirit and God’s mingled, and then was poured out into the hearts of all those who had faith that they were included in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. He also said this on other occasions, for instance in (Joh 14:16) “and I will request the Father and he will give YOU another helper to be with YOU forever,” and again in (Joh 16:7) “Nevertheless, I am telling YOU the truth, It is for YOUR benefit I am going away. For if I do not go away, the helper will by no means come to YOU; but if I do go my way, I will send him to YOU.”

They are not allowed to talk about it.

I have had times as a 'common or garden (lesser spotted)' Witness when I have felt the holy spirit, or spirit intervention when dealing with demons in my home which had demonic activity. I have had voices speak to me. My PO didn't believe in any of this so I suspect never had a spiritual experience.
He spent his whole life as a witness.
Try praying deeply before you open the Bible, and see where it takes you. The HS is all around us all the time so long as we are not pompous jerks.
Of course leaving an organisation that turns us into pompous jerks does help.

Read the post by Resolute http://www.paradisecafediscussions.net/s...373&page=4
This was before becoming a witness. Put faith in Jesus and his Father, not an institution. It seems that the organisation does act as a HS blocker.

i have a question..... might sound silly....
do active JW's actually feel Jehovah's Holy Spirit? besides the annointed...lol.
i am asking everyone because:
1. i never heard anyone talking about it in service or at the hall
2. i always felt it washing over me at times all my life and recently i constantly feel it
3. i became officially inactive at age 22 and while i was active, i never payed too much attention to what everyone else was doing or saying, cause i saw it all mainly as bad and Jehovah didn't want me to have any part in it. so if they talked about HS, it wasn't around me.
4. i just now remembered one sister had said during bookstudy at the hall that when she read the bible she felt the holy spirit comfort her and the elder kept asking her what she was talking about like she was crazy. i felt so bad for her, and i didn't understand why he couldn't understand what she was saying.
5. my mom remembers that when she mentioned to someone that she felt the HS and she could understand the bible better, she was brushed off.

so.... do they just not feel it or not allowed to talk about it?