Origins of Being 'Slain in the Spirit' (2 of 4)

If there is no support for this experience as bona fide Christian practice, then how are we to identify it?  What is its true origin?  According to the above-mentioned article in the Times, the spate of  'religious fainting' to which it refers has its recent origins in a small church in Toronto, Canada -- hence it has recently been referred to as the 'Toronto Blessing'.  This experience can certainly be transferred from one church to another -- usually through a visit by members of an affected church, or by an influential leader who encourages it during a service.  But that is by no means the real wellspring of this phenomenon, which has always been around in one form or another in the Pentecostal and Charismatic churches. In fact, it can be traced back even earlier than the beginnings of Pentecostalism at the turn of this century.

One of the earliest and most notorious advocates of this experience was an itinerant preacher in the so-called 'Holiness Movement', Maria Woodworth-Etter (1844-1924), who also gained a reputation for falsely prophesying that San Francisco would be destroyed by an earthquake in 1890.  In her preaching in the 1880s, she advocated a religious experience which she called 'The Power', and she would often go into a trance during services, standing with her hands raised in the air for more than an hour.  Nicknamed the 'trance-evangelist' and even the 'voodoo priestess', she was often accused of hypnotising people.  And here we come to the very crux of the 'Slain in the Spirit' phenomenon.

What Maria Woodworth-Etter had discovered was the ancient art of hypnotism, the practice of which was first popularised in the West one hundred years earlier by the Austrian physician Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815).  As one researcher of the occult has noted, 'the phenomena that are defined as 'hypnotic' emerged from the faith-healing activities of Mesmer at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries' (James Webb, 'The Occult Establishment', Open Court 1976, p. 352).  Mesmer had developed his pantheistic theory of 'Animal Magnetism', which resulted in the famous faith-healing sessions at his clinic in Paris.  In a major book on the occult (which was originally titled 'The Black Arts'), a description of these sessions reads as follows:

'Mesmer marched about majestically in a pale lilac robe, passing his
 hands over the patient's bodies or touching them with a long
iron wand.   The results varied.  Some patients felt nothing at all,
some felt as if insects were crawling over them, others were
seized with hysterical laughter, convulsions or fits of hiccups. 
Some went into raving delirium, which was called'The Crisis'
and was considered extremely healthful.' 

(Richard Cavandish, 'The Magical Arts', RKP, 1984, p. 180).

In a book significantly entitled 'Three Famous Occultists', a record of Mesmer's clinics by a contemporary historian gives a similar portrayal of his manipulative sessions: 

'Some are calm, tranquil and experience no effect.  Others cough,
spit, feel slight pains, local or general heat, and have sweatings.
  Others, again, are agitated and tormented with convulsions,
These convulsions are remarkable in regard to the number affected
with them, to their duration and force.  They are preceded and
followed by a state of languor or reverie'.

(R.B. Ince, 'Three Famous Occultists', Gilbert Whitehead, 1939,

pp. 87-88).

Sometimes the participants in these sessions would hold hands to form a circle, and it was not uncommon for waves of communal singing to occur.  There is an inescapable comparison here with the phenomena which have so bewitched numerous churches today.  Although its practitioners are ignorant of the fact variations of the 'Mesmeric Crisis' experience are being repeated in Pentecostal-Charismatic meetings throughout the world today.  Repetitive chorus-singing to create an intoxicating atmosphere, the laying on of hands, powerful physical sensations, agitation, hysterical laughter, raving delirium, convulsions, all followed by a deep sleep or state of reverie.  Like its Mesmeric counterpart, this religious experience is induced as the result of the potent suggestions or physical touch (or even the mere presence) of an influential teacher.  Furthermore, it is an experience that is available to anyone who is open to receive it, of whatever religious persuasion, and it has as little to do with Christian spirituality as a Dionysian rite.

However, the true significance of Mesmer's hypnotherapy sessions was well understood by some of his more perceptive contemporaries.  Way back in 1784, the King of France wisely appointed a Commission to examine Mesmer's claims, consisting of reports from two reputable medical bodies:  the Faculty of Medicine of the Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society of Medicine.  This commission came to the highly discerning conclusion: 

'That man can act upon man at any time, and almost at will, by striking

his imagination; that the simplest gestures and signs can have the

most  powerful effects; and that the action of man upon

the imagination may be reduced to an art, and conducted

with method, upon subjects who have faith'

(R.B. Ince, op. cit., pp. 107-108).

Mesmer's discovery that his patients could be controlled by his will is acknowledged as being the great foundation-stone of modern hypnotism, as well as exerting a profound influence on succeeding generations of occultists of many traditions, ranging from the Cabbalist magician Eliphas Levi, to the U.S. Spiritualist Movement of the nineteenth century, which had discovered that in the Mesmeric trance a person could readily make contact with discarnate entities or 'spirit-guides' - the significance of which will soon become clear.

When Anton Mesmer discovered, in the late eighteenth century, the rudiments of manipulative hypnotism, the seeds of Western psychotherapy were sown -- a fact which is confirmed by a prominent psychiatrist in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine:

'What is important is the impact and influence [Mesmer] had on

the subsequent development of psychiatry.  It would indeed be no

exaggeration to say that he was one of the world's first psychotherapists'

(J.R.S.M., Vol. 85, no. 7, July 1992, p. 383).

It is Mesmer's crude form of manipulative hypnotherapy which is being practised by the 'deliverance ministries' and 'healing' crusades of the Pentecostal-Charismatic movement, through which the strong suggestions and even the mere touch of a powerful teacher can turn the lives of the guillible inside-out.  But the origins of this hypnotically-induced 'Crisis Experience' can be traced back much further than the eighteenth century.  For the hypnotherapists of today have simply rehashed the psychological and spiritist techniques of the ancient Shamans -- the witch-doctors and medicine men of pagan cultures -- in a modern guise.  The New Age scientist, Dr. Fritjof Capra, physics professor at Berkley University, California, reveals that

'Shamans used therapeutic techniques such as group sharing, psycho

drama, dream analysis,  suggestion, hypnosis, guided imagery [visualisation], and

psychadelic therapy for centuries before they were rediscovered

by modern psychologists'.

(Fritjof Capra, 'The Turning Point: Science, Society, and the Rising Culture',

Flamingo/Collins, 1982, p. 337).  [emphasis added]

Just as the Western psychologists are proffering ancient Shamanistic practices in a guise which is more palatible to the uninitiated Westerners, so the professing Christian churches which peddle 'religious fainting' have simply made the Possession-Trance state of Shamanism more readily acceptable to the undiscerning sheep who attend their heated meetings.  These are the true origins of the strange phenomena which are being so widely reported today and which are bringing the Gospel and Church of Jesus Christ into so much disrepute.

Tongues May Be Satanic or Demonic

How are we to explain the charismatic experience? Countless charismatics testify that speaking in tongues has enriched their lives. For example:

"What's the use of speaking in tongues?" The only way I can answer that is to say, "What's the use of a bluebird? What is the use of a sunset?" Just sheer unmitigated uplift, just joy unspeakable and with it health and peace and rest and release from burdens and tensions.

And this

When I started praying in tongues, I felt, and people told me I looked, twenty years younger...I am built up, am given joy, courage, peace, the sense of God's presence; and I happened to be a weak personality who needs this.

Those testimonies make a powerful sales pitch for speaking in tongues. If tongues can give health and happiness and make you look younger, the potential market is unlimited.

On the other hand, the evidence to support such claims is dubious. Would anyone seriously argue that today's tongues-speakers live holier, more consistent lives for Christ than believers who do not speak in tongues? What about all the charismatic leaders in recent years whose lives have proved to be morally and spiritually bankrupt and does the evidence show that charismatic churches are, on the whole, spiritually stronger and more solid than Bible-believing churches that do not advocate the gifts? The truth is, one must look long and diligently to find a charismatic fellowship where spiritual growth and biblical understanding are genuinely the focus. If the movement does not produce more spiritual Christians or believers who are better informed theologically, what fruit is it producing after all? And what of the many former tongues-speakers who testify that they did not experience genuine peace, satisfaction, power, and joy until they came out of the tongues movement. Why does the charismatic experience so often culminate in disillusion as the emotional high from initiatory ecstatic experiences becomes harder and harder to duplicate?

Without question, many people who speak in tongues say they find the experience beneficial to one degree or another. But normally -- as in the testimonies cited above -- they are speaking of how it makes them feel or look, not how it helps them be better Christians. Yet improved looks and feelings were never results of the New Testament gift.

It is significant to note that Pentecostals and charismatics cannot substantiate their claim that what they are doing is the biblical gift of tongues. We know of no authentic proven cases where any Pentecostal or charismatic has actually spoken in an identifiable translatable language. The linguist William Samarain wrote, "It is extremely doubtful that the alleged cases of xenoglossia [real languages] among charismatics are real. Any time one attempts to verify them, he finds that the stories have been greatly distorted or that the 'witnesses' turn out to be incompetent or unreliable from a linguistic point of view.' "Charismatic proponents have given no evidence, other than their assumption, that these are the same phenomenon" as the New Testament gift.

So how can the phenomenon be explained?
A number of possibilities arise. First, tongues may be satanic or demonic. Some critics of the movement want to write off all supposed tongues as the work of the devil. While I am not ready to do that, I am convinced that Satan is often the force behind phenomena that pass as gifts of the Spirit. After all, he is behind every false religion (1 Corinthians 10:20), and he specializes in counterfeiting truth (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). Many in the church these days are susceptible to his lies: "The Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons" (1 Timothy 4:1).

Former tongues-speaker Ben Byrd believes some of his extra-ordinary abilities were "psychic and possibly satanic powers":

Many, many times I have walked down ministry lines praying for people with my eyes closed while I prayed with tongues. I was able to function as if my eyes were open. I was aware of everything happening around me, BUT MY EYES WERE CLOSED. I felt as though I were in a strange, but very vivid dream state...almost asleep in my body, but very aware and alert in my mind. Functioning through another realm IS POSSIBLE. But PLEASE REMEMBER THAT ALL GIFTS ARE NOT FROM GOD.

Ecstatic speech is common in false religions. Current editions of Encyclopedia Britannica contain helpful articles on glossolalia among pagans in their worship rites. Reports have come from east Africa telling of persons possessed by demons who speak fluently in Swahili or English, although under normal circumstances they would not understand either language. Among the Thonga people of Africa when a demon is exorcised a song is usually sung in Zulu even though the Thonga people do not know Zulu. The one doing the exorcising is supposedly able to speak Zulu by a "miracle of tongues".

Today, ecstatic speech is found among Muslims, Eskimos, and Tibetian monks. A parapsychological laboratory at the University of Virginia Medical School reports incidents of tongues-speaking among those practicing the occult.

Those are only a few examples of the centuries-old tradition of glossolalia that continues today among pagans, heretics and worshipers of the occult. The possibility of satanic influence is a serious issue and one which charismatics ought not brush aside without somber reflection.

(from Charismatic Chaos by John F. MacArthur, Jr.)