The fact that first century Christians were anointed directly from heaven and received gifts of the holy spirit does not mean that modern "Christians" enjoy those same benefits. For example, in ancient times the Israelites saw miracles such as the ten plagues in Egypt, the sea parting, the cloud in the night and the pillar of fire in the desert, etc... but the magnitude of the miracles they saw, Christians of the first century did not see. So evidently there are several stages in which God has related in different ways to His own people.
There were also moments of rupture such as His rejection of the nation of Israel when most of them did not accept the Messiah. Then, shortly after the death of the apostle John, the apostolic age ended, and the apostasy was free to prosper. After the apostolic age ended, the general situation of God's people changed. Similar to the Babylonian exile, from the second to the twentieth centuries, isolated Christians who pleased God were imbued with a religious system that did not allow them to separate as a free people. Those few living from the second century AD onward would no longer enjoy the same benefits as Israel or those of the anointed ones of the first century. Spiritual gifts ceased to exist and no more books inspired by holy spirit were written that were part of the inspired "canon".
The modern era began a new stage. Many groups began to study the Bible more deeply from the end of the 19th century onwards, taking advantage of the steps that had gradually been taken before their time. Those steps were open discussions on biblical topics, critic to the poor performance of the traditional church, archaeological discoveries confirming the Bible, more translations and publication of the Bible, deeper studies of biblical languages and manuscripts, etc. At the beginning of the twentieth century the world religious situation was very confusing. Jehovah's Witnesses believe that at that time the prophecy of Mal. 3:1-4 was fulfilled in its modern fulfillment, and Jesus saw the groups of people who were trying to discover the truth and do things the right way, so He choose one group and cleansed them, separating them to constitute the modern people of God. We witnesses consider that by leaving the world religious system and becoming independent from it since 1919, our people were separated to serve Jehovah and Jesus in a special way.
Jesus gave many ways to identify God's people in the time of the end, but none of them have to do with being enabled by the holy spirit to do miraculous works, neither like those witnessed by the Israelites before Christ, nor the miracles that were performed by the anointed ones in the first century. One thing is certain: Christendom, made up of thousands of different sects, is not the people that Christ leads. It is part of the world system that is separate from God and Christ, and has been so since the beginning of the widespread apostasy sometime in the second century. Its end is close to happen.
