Being Slain -- Is It the Work of the Holy Spirit? (4 of 4)

Is it conceivable, in the light of all that we have said, that this mass experience of religious fainting and hysterical convulsions is the result of being filled with the Holy Spirit of God?  We have proven that there is no biblical support for this experience as normative for the Christian believer.  We have shown that its true origins lie either in the realms of suggestion and hypnosis, as proffered by Western psychotherapy, or in the Possession-Trance of ancient Shamanism.  However, the susceptible frame of mind induced in the seekers of this experience opens them up to a dark spiritual realm of which they seem to be completely unaware.  We can only conclude that the spirit by which these people are being 'slain' is not the Holy Spirit of God but some other spirit, for 'God is not the author of confusion but of peace' (1 Cor. 14:33).  Those churches where the phenomenon is practised are being swept up into a supernatural tide of evil where they become shipwrecked on the rocks of ignorance -- ignorance of Church history, ignorance of Scripture, and ignorance of the true work of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  We agree wholeheartedly with Seraphim Rose when he writes:

 'It is only foolishness when some "charismatic" apologists presume to compare these childish and hysterical experiences which are open to absolutely everyone, with the Divine revelations accorded to the greatest Apostles, such as Paul on the road to Damascus, or to John the Evangelist on Patmos.  Those Apostles fell down before the true God (without contortions and certainly without laughter), whereas these pseudo-Christians are merely reacting to the presence of an invading spirit, and are worshipping only themselves.  If these "charismatic" experiences are religious experiences at all, then they are pagan religious experiences; and in fact they seem to correspond exactly to the mediumistic initiation experience of spirit-possession, which is caused by an "inner force welling up inside attempting to take control"...  What is involved in these experiences -- when they are genuine and not merely the product of suggestion -- is not merely the development of mediumisticability, but actual possession by a spirit.  These people would seem to be correct in calling themselves "spirit-filled" -- but it is certainly not the holy spirit with which they are filled!

 
What Maria Woodworth-Etter practised was Mesmerism; what Mesmer practised was a Westernized form of Shamanism; and what Shamans practised is Possession-Trance -- and that is what the phenomenon called 'Slain in the Spirit' is all about.  To credit this occult experience to the work of the Holy Spirit is as close to blasphemy as one can get.


EPILOGUE:  The Believer's Response

Christian believers need great patience, perseverance and powers of discernment.  The biblically-ignorant and rebellious churches of today are not discipling followers of Jesus Christ but are instead grooming a new generation of spirit-mediums whose religious experiences differ little from those of countless pagan cults, both ancient and modern.

Those who profess Christianity should refrain from indulging in practices which undermine the essential message of its Founder.  Instead of inducing mass swoonings and hysterical laughter, churches should be cultivating widespread repentance and reverential worship before the present time of God's mercy comes to an end (Rev. 14:14-20; 18:4-24; cf. 2 Cron. 36:15-16).  If the crisis in modern Christianity deepens, the ensuing Divine judgment will defy the powers of the imagination.  (Alan Morrison)