Thank You God For 'Blessing' This Blog!

 F. Whitehead said...

I found the last four articles extremely interesting as well as well-researched with respect to Biblical backups to support your position. As I never take anything at face value, I have reviewed all of the Scripture verses mentioned and my blinders have been removed from my eyes. I know now that I am involved in a church that probably has a satanic influence and this frightens me more than I can say. I have read horror stories about people trying to leave churches like these and have actually seen some of my former friends be put out of our church for questionning what the Board and Pastors are doing and teaching. Thank you for posting.

G. Franklin said...

Wow! Wow! Wow! What an eye-opening article! I have been convinced that there has been something wrong in our church for some time but could not get anyone to listen. I have made an appointment to speak to our Pastor right after Christmas.. he needs to explain where he is getting his "spiritual" guidance. Thank you.

M. Dresdin said...

How terrible that so many can be taken in by such an evil! We as Christians need to be more vocal when these charlatans start infiltrating our churches with the hysteria and falling on the floor. In our church it started with the raising of hands and within a few months.. full blown hysteria. We left our church and have found a good Bible-believing one where these goings-on aren't there.

Herman Gregory said...

Well-put! I enjoy following your blog and I must say that your insight into this strange and weird world of charismatic pentecostals is mind-opening.

Maury Shipton said...

What a frightening thing! This means that the Pentecostal movement could be infiltrated by Satan and hypnotists. This is awful! How do we begin to bring this to an end?

S. C. Roweling said...

This phenomena of the mass hysteria has started to show up in our church here in the Jersey Island (UK). We currently attend an Anglican church but we have a new priest from the U.S. and this started with some of our young people's groups. We are sharing your blog with the Head Diocese here today! Thank you.

 

Alice & Byron White said...

We have been following your blog for over a year and really find these last two articles the most disturbing of any that we have read. Our teenage children have started attending a church (not the family one) where this is a common occurrence at every service. We do not understand how this practice has crept into the main stream churches and are at a loss at how to get our children out of this emotional experience that they seem to need.. they started going once a week and now they are involved with something almost every day of the week. Their schoolwork is suffering and all they can talk about is "pastor-says".. thanks for letting us vent!

Marissa de Long said...

Horrible, horrible, horrible! How can this be happening under our very noses. Are we so blind as to feel that we need that excitement each and every week from Church. If this continues, we are lost!

H. & D. Hirams said...

We are completely blown away by your blog. We have been deceived by our Pastor for a number of years and are appalled that this could happen to us. We got disallusioned with our former church and were befriended by some members of the local Victory Church who made us feel loved and wanted. Now, several years later, we can no longer afford our home and have it up for sale. Everything that we have read on your blog has happened to us in some form or another. Please continue writing so that others won't end up where we are now.

Otto Schriber said...

Honestly. How can people be so taken in by something that is so non-biblical in nature. I hope that you can continue to educate people in this area and that more will come to realize the errors of their ways.

Syliva & Thomas Morton said...

We are so thankful to have found your blog this week. We have read it with great interest as our children seem to think that we are "out to lunch" when it comes to what is going on in their church in California. We have sent them the link and hope that they will take the time to read some of the facts and research the verses that you quote.

Monique Drinkwater said...

What an interesting review of "Slain in the Spirit". I was quite taken aback when I looked up the verses quoted and learned that, in fact, God's people always fall forward on their faces and not backwards as goes on in the Pentecostal movements. These Charismatic churches really should get their Biblical facts straight! I had no idea and look forward to reading the next section.

Dave & Marcie Hedben said...

We had no idea that falling down backwards was not of God. Our pastor always has catchers available so that no-one bangs their heads on the ground. We have always thought that our evening services became very hysterical and once one person falls over, everyone else just follows. We have looked up all of the verses and will be discussing this with our small group this evening.

 Graydon Blume said...

Amazing! Where do you find this information? Penetcostals have been falling down on their backs for years and now it's become a "bad" thing? I am sending a link to this blog to our Board because if it is, in fact, true that only forward falling people are being influenced from God, we have a serious problem in our North American churches. I will be very interested to see what else you have to say on this subject.

H. Pathway said...

I have been saying this for years but it's like crying out in the wilderness. My children live for that explosive experience every week and nothing seems to get through to them. I am convinced more than ever that this is a satanic attack on the Christian church and more and more people will be drawn away. I am looking forward to reading the answers to the next question.

Rev. D.G. Browning said...

Great article. It's about time that someone took the time to investigate the "slain in the spirit" garbage that is pervading our church. Keep it up, Grand Poo-Bah!

Dave & Marcie Hedben said...

After having a very heated discussion with our small group, we have come to the conclusion that our church is teaching something that is not Biblical and that this practice should stop. We fully expect to be asked to leave our church as this is one of the cornerstone principles but now having this information directly from Biblical scriptures, we have no alternative but to follow it and not man's interpretation of being "slain in the spirit". We are also now looking into the tongues scriptures as well because you have made some valid points there as well.

M. & G. Shipson said...

We were in a small group this week that was discussing the verses that you outlined regarding being slain in the spirit. We are so appalled that our church has been teaching something so non-biblical and that our eyes were blinded by Satan in this area. If we cannot get our Board and Pastors to see reason, we will have no alternative but to move to a more biblically-based church.

A. Smythe said...

This is incredible! I had no idea that I was involved in a church that is teaching falsehoods. Thank you.

Please feel free to share if you have any personal experiences 

regarding "SATANIC INFLUENCES" in the Penetcostal church.  

'Pentecostal' includes any church where "Speaking in Tongues" 

or being "Slain in the Spirit" is practised.  These are only two of a
long list of problems which are rampant in the Pentecostal church.

We All Fall Down (1 of 4)

PROLOGUE: The Present Problem

A powerful religious phenomenon appears to be sweeping through many churches across the world.  So marked has this been that extensive comment has even appeared in the national press.  For example, on June 18, 1994 the Times newspaper carried a report headed 'Spread of Hysteria Fad Worries Church', in which it was stated that 'a religious craze that originated in Canada and involves mass fainting and hysterical laughter has crossed the Atlantic to cause growing concern in the Church of England'.  In this article, it was reported that the vicar of a large church in London 'was forced to cancel an evening service of Holy Communion ... because so many of his congregation were lying on the floor'.  Apparently, the service had 'ended in chaos ... as dozens of people burst into spontaneous laughter or tears, trembled and shook or fell to the floor'.  The church's parish newsletter then carried an article about the service under the headline 'Holy Spirit Fever Hits London', in which it described the phenomenon as a 'revival'.

The widespread occurrence of this activity in churches today -- often referred to as being 'Slain in the Spirit' -- requires some careful examination.  When confronted with unusual phenomena which purport to be of Divine origin, the diligent believer will search the Bible to see whether they are compatible with what God has revealed to us.  In view of the publicity which has been given in the media, and the confusion into which so many believers have been thrown on this issue, the questions which must be asked are: 1) What is the Biblical evidence for this phenomenon?  2) What is its true origin?  3) Can this occurrence rightly be described as a 'revival'?  4) Is it really the work of the Holy Spirit?

These are the questions that we will address in this brief paper.

WHAT IS THE BIBLICAL EVIDENCE?

To establish if there is any support in the Bible for the experience of being 'Slain in the Spirit', let us examine the texts that have been offered as proof that it is a legitimate Christian practice.  In the Bible, there are a number of people who are spoken of as having fallen down as a result of a spiritual encounter.  These are cited as proof of the 'Slain in the Spirit' experience.  But we must first discover in what manner they fell, what caused it to happen, and whether their falling could be considered as normative for all believers in every era.

For example, proof is sought in the fact that Abram fell into a deep sleep, during which God gave him a revelation about his descendents (Gen. 15:12-21).  But this unique event involving a lone servant of God could hardly be likened to the euphoric, mass Pentecostal-Charismatic experience of being 'Slain in the Spirit', especially as the Scripture says that 'horror and great darkness fell upon him'!  Another alleged proof text involves the pagan soothsayer Balaam, who is said to have 'fallen' while undergoing a visionary experience (Num. 24:4ff).  But this extraordinary event involving the giving of judgmental prophecy can hardly be cited as a normative experience for all believers, as Balaam was not even a believer!  In fact, he is presented by the Apostle Peter as an illustration of the false teachers in the Christian church who pervert the truth of the Gospel (2 Pet. 2:15; cf. Rev. 2:4-15), and he was eventually killed by the children of Israel as an enemy of God (Jos. 13:22).

Another proof text offered is that which tells of Ezekiel having a vision of the Lord in all His glory (Ezk. 1:28).  The prophet was so utterly awestruck and overcome by what he had seen -- a vision too terrible to behold -- that he fell forwards to the ground, prostrate in a state of abject worship.  But this response of a lone man of God cannot possibly be used to support the 'Slain in the Spirit' experience as it is entirely different to what happens in Pentecostal-Charismatic gatherings, where a mass of people simply fall down (usually backwards) in a swoon because of the loaded suggestions and triggering touch of a human being, rather than as a response to the awesome power of God.

It is also important to note that Ezekiel fell forwards on his face.  In the Bible it is only God's enemies who fall backwards when confronted with His naked spiritual power (e.g., Jn. 18:6; cf. Isa. 28:13); whereas the believers in the Bible always fell on their faces in reverential adoration and worship, without a trace of the hysterical laughter or convulsions we see in so many churches today (e.g., Gen. 17:1-3; Jos. 5:13-15; Ezek. 1:28; 43:1-5; 44:4; Mt. 17:5-6; Rev. 1:17; 7:11; 11:16-17).

In the New Testament, Mt. 28:1-4 and Jn. 18:1-6 are cited as Biblical proof of the 'Slain in the Spirit' experience.  But these two cases of falling to the ground are simply the responses of fearful men to Divine power, and have no redemptive or salvific qualities whatsoever -- as the sequel to the second example clearly shows (Jn. 18:12).

The experience of Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, as recounted in Acts 9:4 and 26:14, is also offered as proof for the validity of being 'Slain in the Spirit', as also is Paul's 'third heaven' experience in 2 Cor. 12:2.  But these are hardly normative experiences for all believers and there is not a jot of proof that to be 'caught up to the third heaven' is equivalent to the 'Slain in the Spirit' experience.

It is evident that there are no Scriptures supporting the validity of the Pentecostal-Charismatic experience involving 'mass swooning and hysterical laughter' during meetings of worship.  In view of the widespread nature of the phenomenon in professing Christian churches and the fact that there is no sound guidance being given to those seeking it, this is a matter for serious concern.  And that brings us to our next question.