YE NEED NOT THAT ANY MAN TEACH YOU By Elwin Roach

After reading 1st John 2:27 around 40 years ago, I felt that I should withdraw myself from fellowship and not receive from anyone else, that I should receive the word directly from the anointing, from the Spirit of Christ in order for me to have a pure word to minister to others. However, after doing this and not having the expected anointed word to come to me, and with no feeling of the presence of the Spirit of Christ whatsoever for at least a month, I realized that something was definitely wrong. That is when I heard in my spirit: “I deliberately withhold the truth from each person, so they will be forced to fellowship with the one another. I give everyone a portion of My word, they have their part of the truth that the others do not have. They, therefore, must fellowship together in order to receive a complete word, not just a partial word that each individual receives from me. No man is an island unto himself. Moreover, if you cannot receive from others and have My word made alive to you by My Spirit, what makes you think your word to them would be perfect and without error?” That was an eye opener... ER

The apostle wrote, "But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him." (1 John 2:27). John, of course, was not saying that God does not call prophets, apostles, evangelists, pastors, and teachers as Paul drew out in Ephesians 4:10. If that were his implication, he would have been very much in conflict with Paul, the other apostles, and with himself as well.

If there were no need of men and women to preach the Word of God, it is unlikely Paul would have written:"...How shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" (Rom 10:14-15).

You see, the problem does not reside in hearing someone preach, teach, or prophesy, as a few have taken John’s words to mean. According to the scriptures — men are the primary dispatchers of truth, and very little would be heard without them. If He chooses to do so, God could divinely inspire the souls of every human being, and with one sweep of His hand miraculously save them all. That, however, is not His general plan. He has saved people in this manner, I was one of them, but it is not His general rule. He finds great pleasure in taking His time, and working through Christ’s body of many members. That is the primary means He uses to call His creation back home.

Let us never for a moment think that we should cease from hearing others speak. There is nothing wrong with giving your ear to the vessels of His calling. Much life can be had in their words. The issue is not in hearing others, but comes in not hearing properly. Jesus mentioned this in Luke 8:18, saying, "Take heed therefore how ye hear."

If the messenger speaks, and the word he speaks is heard by the Spirit — it is then by the Spirit that abides within that teaches the individual. Although a man or woman presents the word of truth, it does nothing until the Spirit within breaks it open and teaches the person. If the Spirit does not teach it, the best possible scenario is mental ascension and carnal reasoning. This, of course, would be the letter that kills. And we know — there is no life in the letter alone, never has been, and never will be.

When people isolate themselves with hopes of escaping the influence and doctrinal pollution of men, they may be in for a surprise. I am not saying our Lord does not draw us away and unto Himself at various times, for He does. There are also occasions when He may separate us from fellowship, from listening to tapes, or reading anyone’s publications. Many today know by their own experiences this is true. Some, however, separate themselves from the body when it is not the Lord doing it at all.

As an illustration we will go back and look at myself in this error. After a year or so into my salvation, More than twenty-five years ago ‘I’ withdrew ‘myself’ from any sort of hearing what others in the body of Christ had to say. My unlearned intentions were good — but I was way off the target. Other than learning by my mistake, nothing was gained. I was off target by a mile. After reading the apostle’s words, that ‘there was no need of any man to teach me’ — I quit going to meetings in the attempt of ‘receiving from no man’. It was my intention to get the Word straight from God, from the Source, right from the throne, from Christ Himself, with no outside influence whatsoever. My conviction was that the Anointing abiding within would teach me all things, that the word I heard would be pure, unpolluted, and undefiled. In my mind I believed that once this ‘pure word’ was received, I would have a ‘pure word’ to impart. But it didn’t happen that way, and I even had a scripture to back me. This was one of my first lessons in the dangers of building upon an unstable foundation of a presumed truth.

I suppose the first mistake I made was in not knowing I was just as polluted as the men and women I felt I no longer needed to hear. My own mind had a cunning way of sewing adamic thoughts, cherubim if you will, into the veil with those of Christ’s. I was sadly surprised when the small amount of word I had been receiving stopped flowing altogether. If it had continued, I would have no doubt brewed an apothecary’s mixture. The very thing I tried to escape from followed me into the wilderness where I had fled. Try as I may, it was impossible to outdistance myself. I could not get away from my greatest and most deceptive enemy — myself.

Praise God, this proud deception lasted only a month or two before I realized by the prompting of the Spirit what was happening. Since I had willingly severed myself from hearing God’s anointed men and women, God severed His word from me. Once I realized where the responsibility lay — which was in me and by the anointing of Christ — not only was I able to hear and receive from all the members of Christ’s Body, but that inner word began to flow again. It is now a true pleasure to hear the Voice of my Father in every vessel of His wonderful body. It is good to know that those of His household are not useless utensils, but they stand as vital parts in my life. Each one will help us all along if we let them. They are not here to slow us down.

We have many hindrances in the land, this is sure, but most of them cannot compare to ourselves. Although the leader of our nation and a multitude of supports are killing our babies on a mass scale — as it was in the days of Moses and Jesus — we must come to know they are not our worst enemies. It is not the president, the liberals or conservatives; it is not drugs, alcohol, or the tobacco industry; it is not the so-called antichrist, or the hoard of false prophets and teachers; it is not Babylon, nor even the devil who is our worst enemy. Our worst and foremost enemy is OUR OWN SELVES. All those other factions are merely fragments of the evil that is sufficient unto the day thereof (Mat 6:34).

Those who choose of themselves to walk alone are destined to stagnation. Their journey back home will be slowed considerably. While God is assembling the Body, they are busy working contrary to Him. In their sincere, but sincerely misguided venture, they are disassembling themselves from Christ’s body. When they should be re-membering the body from whence they came, they are dis-membering it.

Although most Christians do not fit the willful act of refusing to fellowship with others, they too may be dismembering the body of Christ. This can come in failing to understand the difference between assembling, and gathering. The two terms appear the same, but there is quite a difference, as we will see.