300 The Spiritual Man
taught by the Anointing. The most learned doctor shares in the same
foolishness with the dullest country folk when it comes to spiritual
affairs; nay, the learned may make more mistakes than the dullard.
False teachings are currently rampant. Many there are who with
deceiving words disguise lies as truths. How necessary is this power
of discernment in the spirit! The most appealing teaching, the
cleverest brain, and the most enlightened advisors are undependable;
only those who adhere intuitively to the teaching of the Anointing are
preserved from being deceived in this time of theological confusion
and supernatural manifestations. We should ask the Lord to make our
spirit more active and pure. We should follow the still small voice
that comes from our intuition instead of being overawed by people’s
knowledge and drawn away from the warning sounded within us.
Otherwise we shall fall into heresy or become fanatical. If we quietly
follow the teaching of the Anointing we shall be delivered from the
compulsion of a noisy emotion and a confused mind.
Dealing with PeopleNever should we judge other people; yet we surely need to know
them so that we may comprehend both how to live with them and
how to assist them. The ordinary way for man to know others is to
inquire, observe and investigate—all of which, unfortunately, often
lead us to blunder. Now we are not suggesting that these are
categorically useless, but we do affirm that they occupy merely a
secondary place in the knowledge of people. A pure spirit frequently
discloses unmistakable discernment. Well do we remember when as
children how we made certain remarks concerning various
individuals we saw. As time went on how accurate these remarks
proved to be. Many years have now passed; our knowledge,
experience and observation have altogether been increased; yet
somehow our ability to know people seems to be diminishing. When
we made those remarks as children we had no suitable reason to
advance for doing so other than that we felt that way in our hearts.