This Elijah Challenge Coordinator was trained in 2006 and now ministers very powerfully on the foreign mission field
On [a certain remote] island 97 people were healed in Jesus’ name and over 120 (we could not count them all) confessed faith in Christ, despite my making it as hard as possible, by not letting them come forward the first 4 times they tried to come forward. I made them count the cost until they were begging to come forward and told those in the back of the group that came forward, to go sit down because they would not be in the back if they were sincere about following Jesus. They began to push their way to the front and knock others down… All of this happened in just one evening crusade in a village that does not have a road to connect it to the rest of the island (they use boats only).
I can do the Lord’s work in the field preaching, healing, delivering, planting churches and teaching easily, and it seems as if it requires almost no effort. The travel and living and sleeping conditions, etc., are the only hard part for me. Once I stand up on stage, the Spirit comes and I run like the wind (in the spirit) and it feels as if I am almost flying or floating at times. I feel as if I was born to preach, heal, deliver and teach.
One older Pastor in this country, who used to be A. A. Allen’s regular translator in Asia is a friend of mine now. [A. A. Allen was a very famous healing evangelist in Pentecostal circles.] This older pastor is very prophetic and apostolic in his gifting and he is the head of a large number of “Miracle Churches.” He said, I have “a double anointing of A. A. Allen’s spirit but I am stronger and have more peace and humility than him.” When he told me this, he had been my translator through the The Elijah Challenge course, the previous two days and at the time, I thought well, I wasted my time, after two days of instruction, he doesn’t even understand the basic premise of The Elijah Challenge because he is referring to my “anointing” instead of the “power and authority to heal”!
Editor’s note:
We heartily echo the sentiments of this servant of God. Here’s the basis: the “double anointing” sometimes mentioned in charismatic circles is taken from an exchange between Elijah and Elisha in 2 Kings.
2 Kings 2:9 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?” “Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied.
Based on this exchange the term “double anointing” is accepted and used in charismatic circles. However, Elisha never asked for a double anointing of Elijah’s spirit. Rather he asked for a double portion of his spirit, which is not the same thing. But convention automatically assumes that spirit is equivalent to anointing. This is not true. In Acts 1:8, Jesus did not promise the anointing, but rather power to be witnesses when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples. Nowhere in the New Testament did Jesus promise the anointing [to minister to others] to his disciples. Rather he promised them POWER. There is a crucial difference between anointing on the one hand, and power and authority on the other. The Vital Difference between Gift and Anointing
Every disciple of course has the spirit. But we do not have the anointing for ministry to others. The only anointing promised to New Testament disciples is that which is God’s seal of ownership on us (2 Corinthians 1:21-22); and an anointing which enables us to know the truth (1 John 2:20) and which teaches us about all things (1 John 2:27). There is no mention of an anointing which enables us to minister to others. Why might this be the case?
Eventually the well-known pentecostal minister A. A. Allen mentioned above had serious personal problems, and it is said his death certificate indicates that he died of liver disease caused by alcoholism. When people raise us up to be a superstar because of a special “anointing” upon us to minister to people, they are setting us up one day to become a falling star. There is only one Anointed One who can save us, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
There may be a high correlation between so-called “anointed” superstars and moral failure at the end of their ministries. One well-known example is Benny Hinn, who was divorced by his wife. He is one who popularized the term “anointing” with his very popular book “The Anointing.”
We should not forget that the very first “anointed” king of Israel was Saul, who at the end of his life died a most tragic death after committing a terrible sin against God. Even David, the “man after God’s own heart” who was anointed king to replace Saul, later fell into sin and brought terrible suffering upon his family. The Israelite experiment whereby they put their trust in an “anointed human king” instead of the LORD to fight their battles for them did not turn out well. Could this be one reason why in the New Testament there is not the slightest mention of “anointed” servants of God who can minister and deliver people from the hand of the enemy with supernatural power?
Only Jesus Christ was anointed to save us and minister to us. When disciples claim to possess that which is reserved in the New Testament only for the Son of God Himself, they are treading on dangerous ground.
Matthew 24:5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah [or literally, anointed one],’ and will deceive many.