The early church battled a deception similar to today's 'new age' movement. The Gnostics perpetrated a variety of teachings encouraging human beings to fan the divine spark within them and realize their own 'godhood'. They gradually introduced their followers into secret mysteries. (The word 'Gnosticism' comes from the Greek word 'gnosis', meaning 'knowledge'). They taught that the Creator-God was inferior to the Redeemer-God. The former god created the material world which is corrupt, sin-causing and deteriorating. They taught that knowledge was imperishable, capable of revealing god, and the means of redemption. Jesus was an emanation of god and only appeared to be a man, because the true God would not allow himself to become a part of the evil material world. They taught that the hero of Genesis 3 was the serpent because he told the truth: liberation through knowledge. The woman, they said was not deceived because she ate from the tree of knowledge (gnosis) and had her eyes opened. The man was deceived because he listened to the evil creator-god.

Today we are told, 'knowledge is power'. People jockey for position, hoping to be recognized and rewarded as the most knowledgeable in their field. Did you ever notice how some of the most educated individuals can be so quickly out of their depth when you speak to them about spiritual things? Their minds are full of data but rarely intersect with spiritual discovery. They are "always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth." (2Timothy 3:7 NIV).

The Bible warns us 'not to be ignorant' about spiritual matters. Some people pursue forms of knowledge that lead to their undoing. The Apostle Paul observes that many people don't like to retain God in their knowledge (Romans 1:28) lest their amoral lifestyle be cramped. Some forms of knowledge can make us arrogant (1Corinthians 8:1) and deceive us into thinking that we do not need to live in a right relationship with God (2Corinthians 10:5). Some pursuits of knowledge discount the fact that one day we must give an answer before an all-knowing Judge.

In contrast with the 'gnosis' of Gnosticism, the Apostle John uses a different word for 'knowledge' in his letters to the churches. He contrasts head-knowledge (the acquisition of knowledge through data input) with heart-knowledge (the acquisition of knowledge by personal experience with the subject matter). He uses the word OIDATE- from EIDO- literally meaning 'to see'.

"But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you KNOW (oidate) the truth." (1John 2:20 NIV).

We do not know all things, but we have a personal relationship with the One who does. The Christian believer is told that one of their birthrights is an anointing; the indwelling Spirit who connects us with Christ Himself, the Anointed One, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3).

The Spirit in us witnesses to truth that we may not fully comprehend intellectually. The Spirit within the believer leaps like John the Baptist in the womb of his mother Elizabeth as a joyful subjective witness to the objective reality of Christ (Luke 1:41-42).

An 'anointing' in the Bible, always followed an 'appointing'. Kings and priests were appointed and anointed for service. God appoints men and women for various functions and responsibilities today. The anointing speaks of the presence and power of God permeating our being for the fulfillment of those ordained tasks. Each member of the body of Christ, the Anointed One, will receive a supply of the Spirit for authorized ministry.

"Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He ANOINTED us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come." (2Corinthians 1:21-22 NIV).

The maintenance of the anointing is conditional upon our remaining in Christ. Our experience of the Holy Spirit's presence and power in our lives can increase through the exercise of faith or diminish through unbelief and neglect.

"As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit--just as it has taught you, remain in him." (1John 2:27 NIV).

Are you alive to the presence of the all-knowing, all-powerful, everywhere-present God today? Powerful Christian living requires not just the exercise of faith in the facts of Scripture but an affirmation of the Spirit of Christ within; the anointing, our source of confidence, spiritual perception, intuition, ability and authority.

Knowing the One by Whom I am known,