Do those refusing to partake at the Lord's Supper abstain due to not having the Holy Spirit's anointing?

Question

Or do they abstain due to other people telling them they cannot have this anointing?

I ask because of a recent Watchtower magazine article on the Jehovah's Witnesses "Memorial" celebration in a few days. At this annual remembrance of Jesus' death, there will not be one single partaker of the emblems in thousands of their congregations. Only some 8,000 will partake world-wide, with millions abstaining. I know their theological reasons for this. I just want to know whether this article, which virtually tells them not to partake, has convinced them they cannot have the Holy Spirit because "it's not for them" (it's only for the remnant of the 144,000). So, does this persuade them? Or do they genuinely not have the Holy Spirit's anointing (in which case they cannot say they belong to Christ - Romans 8:9-11).

Answer 1

Only those Christians who are in the New Covenant which Jesus inaugurated at the last supper some 2,000 years ago at Passover and who are anointed with the Holy Spirit can take up Jesus' invitation to partake of the bread and the wine when they remember him.

Jehovah's Witnesses claim that only those belonging to the elite 144,000 who have a heavenly hope are in this New Covenant and are anointed with the Holy Spirit, therefore only they can partake of the bread and the wine at their annual Memorial Service on April 2 this year (Watchtower March 15 2004 pges 5 & 6). Whilst not disagreeing with the Biblical qualifications for partaking, it begs the question "So where does that leave all the OTHER JW's - the ones who have an earthly hope and who are not allowed to partake? If they are not in this New Covenant and are not anointed with the Holy Spirit, then what are the implications for them?" The following is addressed to all JW's who are not of the anointed class:

Jesus said "This cup means the new covenant, by virtue of my blood, which is to be poured out in your behalf" (Luke 22:20). If you are not in this New Covenant then Christ's outpoured blood does not cover you. Faith in Jesus, repentance and baptism are all necessary steps towards salvation but if you have not received the Holy Spirit how can you be sure your sins have been forgiven? Acts 2:38 says "Peter said to them, repent and let each one of you be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for forgiveness of your sins, AND YOU WILL RECEIVE THE FREE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT." This is the proof our sins have been forgiven - the Holy Spirit comes upon us.

If you do not have the Holy Spirit's anointing where does that leave you? According to Romans 8:9 you cannot call yourself a Christian: "If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ." Read all of Romans 8 to understand the world is divided into two camps - those who have the Spirit of Christ and those who do not.

Those JW's who do not have a heavenly hope have been told "The same spirit is operation on Jesus' 'other sheep', but it is not arousing in them the hope and desire for heavenly life." (Watchtower 15 February 1998 page 19). You have been told you can have 'a measure' of the Holy Spirit, but cannot be fully anointed. Yet John the Baptist said of Jesus, "For the one whom God sent forth speaks the sayings of God, for HE DOES NOT GIVE THE SPIRIT BY MEASURE" (John 3:34).

Strangely, the NWT used by JW's inserts the words "in union with Christ" in passages that speak of the believer's anointing. This is misleading and wrongly suggests that those not of the anointed class are included. The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures puts the phrase 'union with' in square brackets, which is the publisher's admission that the phrase has been inserted by them. They do not occur in the Greek text. When those inserted words are taken out then the Word of God becomes crystal clear - THERE ARE NOT TWO CLASSES OF CHRISTIANS, only some of whom will go to heaven. IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO HAVE ONLY A MEASURE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

You have correctly been told that Jesus is the Mediator of the New Covenant and that those in this New Covenant are anointed with God's Holy Spirit. What you have NOT been told is that you, too, can be an anointed Christian if you truly believe in Christ and accept him (John 1:12-13). The Bible says "and to ALL who believed in his name, who accepted him, he gave the right to be born of God."

If you are to see the kingdom of God and enter into it, you MUST be born again (John 3:3). You cannot do this yourself. Nor can someone else do it for you. Only God can give you the new birth and only by believing in the name of Jesus and accepting him can you become a Christian (Acts 16:31). That saving, believing faith is a gift from God (Eph. 2:8). Unless Jesus becomes your Mediator, you are lost in sin and remain outside the New Covenant. "The relatively few remaining anointed brothers of Jesus still on earth can rely on Jehovah's promise [in 1 Peter 1:4-5]... Some of these faithful Christians have been anointed by God's spirit to become joint rulers with Christ in heaven. They have been declared righteous as spiritual sons of God, and to them [the] words [of Col. 1:13-14] apply. Millions of other faithful Christians are assured that they too can benefit from God's provision of the ransom" (Watchtower 1 June 2005 page 10).

That Watchtower assurance is worthless. God's word tell us that unless we are declared righteous by God our sins remain unforgiven and we will die in our sins (Hebrews 10:10-22). Millions of JW's cannot rely on the promis in 1 Peter 1:3-7; they have not been declared righteous, nor do the words of Col. 1:13-14 apply to them. Why? Because they are not anointed with God's Holy Spirit.

Only those in covenant relationship with God belong to him and are saved. By continuing to believe in what your leaders have told you, you are not in the New Covenant. Why not trust and believe Jesus' words in John 3:12-21? Turn to him alone for salvation. Can you refuse Jesus' invitation? Brooklyn says it's only for a select few - not for you - and you believe them. Don't you believe Jesus?

Answer 2

No, Carly. The Holy Bible is quite clear on this. There can be many reasons for a person not to partake of Communion.

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.


This may also help you to realise that the Holy Bible also gives you an opportunity to get right with God before you do condemn yourself.

1 Corinthians 11: 23- 32.

23For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for[d] you. Do this in remembrance of me."[e] 25In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." 26For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.



27Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. 28Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.[f] 31But if we judged[g] ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined[h] so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

I do hope this will enlighten you. May GOd Bless and Keep you in His Care, in Jesus name, amen.

Answer 3

Something not mentioned about is that those of the Bridal Class, who are Born Again and partake hold no special position over others. They don't say, "Look at me, I'm special! I've been born again." This is quite different from other churches where claiming to be born again, adds prestige and is considered a position of power. In the JWs, they becomes servants to their brothers and sisters. The only way to really know who is of the anointed is by seeing them partake, though they do tend to put in a lot more hours in the field work. They can be of all ages, and not just someone soon facing the end of their lives. My mother and stepfather are walking their final path in life and look forward to being resurrected with new bodies to help rebuild the earth back into a paradise.

Your thinking that the anointed have a special position comes from the views of the churches of Christendom, where one can claim to be born again while still shacking up with someone, such as Jesse Jackson and Haggard did. It was easy for people to believe them because they are taught to believe it and ignore any evidence to the contrary.

Answer 4

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Answer 5

Years ago it was explained to me that "those of the anointed" know they are of the "heavenly class" in the same way that we know we are men or women. It is a natural and instinctual thing.
Meanwhile, there were times when I felt the calling applied to me. The indoctrination made me afraid of it. A perceptive close friend told me that all witnesses "go through it at one time or another." I hadn't told her what I had been feeling, but she clearly saw it.
Jehovah's witnesses are taught that to partake of the emblems of the Lord's Supper "undeservedly" is the worst kind of blasphemy. Whether they truly have the anointing or not, they fear it.
My late husband said, after his baptism, "They don't tell you about THAT FEELING." I sublimated what he said due to my own indoctrination. But I never forgot it.

Answer 6

The Holy Spirit has absolutely nothing to do with The Watchtower people, except to convict them of sin, as He does with all!

Answer 7

While I cannot really address your question, it does remind me of a "funny" incident. My wife, Cindy, and a JW at her work (Breezy) had been "discussing" spiritual things for some months. Breezy always denied that she was controled by the W.T. Cindy kept asking her to go to church with us but she would say, that, while she was "free" to go, she just wouldnt be comfortable. So one day breezy invited Cindy & I to go to their once a year celebration of the death of Jesus (the one time I believe that they offer communion). She said that she would in turn go to church with us. She really did NOT expect us to accept. We did of course. At their service when they passed the communion around, I whispered to my wife that I was going to partake, (just wanted to see some jaws drop lol). They actually had people waiting to make a "note" of anybody that dared to. (disfellowship maybe?). I figure as a true believer in the REAL Jesus Christ, it would'nt bother me to partake of communion anytime and anywhere its offered. MY wife gripped my arm HARD and whispered back, "you better not". So I didnt. But I really wanted to. Oh by the way, Breezy did NOT visit our church as she PROMISED. (Of course we knew she would NOT be allowed to.) And of course it was just killing her to know that we were confirmed in our belief that she WAS a W.T. slave, no matter what she used to say. She never could look Cindy in the eye after that. She actually deliberatly started a "argumentive fight" at work over some little trivial thing, just so she had an "excuse" to not to talk with Cindy anymore. A few weeks later she actually quit and got another job, because she couldnt look Cindy in the eye. So Sad......theBerean

Answer 8

mm must be a Jehovah,s thingy ....if by not being confirmed they haven't been anointed by the holy spirit then they cannot ....but lets get real here .... the lords suppers was many eons ago we can participate in spirit .... sure that Christ was very forgiving and everyone welcome...its just a man made thing which says no maybe they cant cater for the numbers .....

Answer 9

Dear Sasi,

I'm not really sure about the reason for their abstaining but I'll share what I've observed.

In the early 1970s I lived near a jw relative who would only come to see me if I allowed "Bible studies" but the study related to Millions Now Living Will Never Die rather than the Bible. I was told that my jw relatives who were born on or before 1935 would go to heaven and anyone who became a jw after 1935 would live on a restored earth.

A couple of years ago my aunt told me I should wish my mom a Happy Nissan 14 and told me I should ask her about taking the bread and wine. I didn't do that. But in these recent years Mom who was born before 1935 is now saying she is NOT one of the 144,000 and that she will live on a restored earth.

I guess she got demoted or else it has to simply be a case of FALSE humility. It is not worth asking about because none of it is in the least bit biblical. You probably know more about those who partook at a period of their lives but no longer do.

Answer 10

I never hear of any of this. Where in the Bible does it say that you need special anointing to partake of the Lord's Supper?

Paul said that you should not partake if you have unconfessed sin, or if you are taking the ceremony too lightly. but I never saw anything about needing a special anointing.

Answer 11

As to the best of my knowledge and understanding, all who have received Christ as thier personal Lord and Savior are allowed to partake in the Lord's Supper. Those who refused to take or abstain from partaking are either not "born again" or are fearful to partake because of things in their lives that they have not "made right" with God.

As for Jehovah Witnesses, I know them as a cult who uses their own version of the Bible (the New World Translation). Their view is that Jesus Christ is not the Son of God, but just a god - if this is so, how can they say they belong to Christ? The Holy Spirit's annointing is only given to those who love Christ and who are called His sheep. Jesus warns us to beware of false prophets that comes in sheep clothings, so be alert and watchful lest you get deceived !!