"Slain" In What Spirit?





There is a supernatural phenomenon in many Pentecostal and Charismatic groups during which some people fall backwards onto the ground in an altered state of consciousness.They usually appear to be unconscious or sleeping. Those, who promote this experience, refer to it as being "slain in the Spirit." However, this term is nowhere in the Bible, nor is the experience.


In an attempt to give scriptural authority to this experience, its proponents point to certain verses, which describe something similar.The most outstanding example of this occurred when God’s presence was so powerfully manifest at the dedication of Solomon’s temple that none of the priests were able to stand. A close examination of the contexts of 2 Chronicles 5:13&14 and 1 Kings 8:10&11, however, reveal this is not true. The Hebrew word, translated as "stand" in some versions of the Bible, is more accurately translated as "continue" in newer versions. Thus, the presence of God’s glory did not knock the priests down backwards, but forced them to stop ministering. Nor were they induced into an altered state of consciousness where they acted like sleeping people.


There were times when God’s glory motivated those, who saw Him, to fall on their faces. But this was not involuntarily forced upon them by God. It was an act of awe and reverence.They did not do this in a state of passivity, but of activity.Thus, there is a great difference between voluntarily prostrating oneself before the Lord and passively allowing oneself to lapse into an altered state of consciousness. The former is biblical, but the latter is from the occult.
It is most appropriate to kneel or prostrate oneself before the glory of God. Isaiah did it when he saw God's glory in chapter 6. Others also did this throughout the scriptures. Yet we saw an opposite response when we visited a church that was infiltrated by the Toronto Blessing a couple weeks ago. While we were praising God for His holiness, which began to attract His manifest presence, someone began to laugh. The more she laughed, the more the Lord withdrew from the meeting. After Ichabod was written spiritually over the doors, someone else began prophesying something that was nonsense. That person began developing his alleged gift of prophecy after he was "slain" in a spirit during a Benny Hinn convention in the USA.


I’ve been praying about writing something on this subject for several months.The church needs to be warned how it has been infiltrated by demons impersonating the Holy Spirit. I felt an urgent need to develop this subject last weekend when I watched a TV program in which a man, who irreverently brags of being the Holy Ghost bartender, caused several gullible people to be "slain in the Spirit." After a few fell to the floor seemingly unconscious, he turned to the camera and said, "I only do what I see him do."


That sounds very spiritual because it is what Jesus said about the miracles He performed.  In John 5:19, Jesus said, "…the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does…" By this statement, Jesus set us an example, which we ought to strive for.  If we ever really attain to it, I’m sure God will greatly be pleased.
However, is what I saw on TV last Sunday night a legitimate demonstration of someone, who only does what the Father does?  If so, why is it that no one Jesus healed in the Bible ever fell down when He healed them? In several cases of healing, Jesus told the person healed to get up.  He never knocked them down with His power. The same was true in every case of healing done by the apostles in the book of Acts. Since Jesus is the same today as He was yesterday, healing should be done the same way today as He did it in the Bible. Jesus didn’t knock anyone down when He healed them because He didn’t see the Father knock them down. Thus, the Holy Ghost bartender was not observing the Father at work in His church. He was observing an impersonator of the Father. Thus, the people knocked down were overpowered by another spirit.


The apostle Paul warned about those, who preach another Jesus using another gospel in the power of another spirit (2 Cor. 11:3&4). Paul did not mince any words by saying such a counterfeit originates from the same serpent, who deceived Adam and Eve. Paul gave a similar warning in Gal. 1:6-9. Thus, the Holy Ghost bartender is an angel of light. It is also why he speaks so irreverently about God.


No one needs to be knocked down when God ministers genuine healing to him.  My own life is a good example of this. Not long after I was born again in 1966, I injured my back.  The sprain was so bad that breathing caused sharp pain. Can you imagine what it is like when it feels like you’re being stabbed with a knife with each breath you take? I went to an evangelistic meeting where God was healing people. As I watched people getting up from wheelchairs and walking away without their crutches after the evangelist prayed for them, I began thinking how God is the Healer, not the evangelist. At one point, I thought to myself, "Wouldn’t it be wonderful if God healed me here in my seat so the evangelist could take that time to pray for someone else instead?"  In the very next instant, I felt all the pain leave me. I returned home completely healed.  I was wide awake the whole time. The same was true for everyone else, who was healed that evening.  Instead of knocking them down, God raised them up. The same was true when God healed me of a headache a month later. It was true when He healed me of Hong Kong Flu a couple years later. It was true again when He healed me of a hernia a few years after that.  And it was true more recently when He healed a painful knee injury, which doctors could not surgically repair.


The first time God healed someone I prayed for was two years after my conversion to the Lord Jesus Christ. That person was not knocked down, but he was healed of dysentery and a back injury. Later that same day, I was asked to pray for someone who had the flu. Without going to see him, I just prayed for him with his wife. She found him well when she returned home.  Since that time, I’ve been blessed to see God heal others of such things as cataracts, paralysis, cancer, MS, broken bones, varicose veins, decayed teeth, and two who were in comas from car accidents. None of them were "slain in the Spirit" when God healed them. Thus, those healings followed the biblical pattern.


Since the supernatural phenomenon of "falling under the power," as it is also called, is not in the Bible, where does it come from? The answer to that involves so much research that it cannot be adequately covered on a single web page. Therefore, I urge you to check out the following books:
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I also recommend a book entitled Signs and Wonders Movement Exposed, but I don’t recall the names of its authors. All three authors were heavily involved in the Word of Faith Movement, Toronto Blessing, and similar counterfeits before God opened their eyes to realize what they were really doing. David DuPlessis used to say, "You can’t know Jesus as your Baptizer until you first know Him as the Lamb, Who takes away your sin." Yet the bartenders of the counterfeit wine from Toronto and Pensacola frequently imparted it to unsaved people via the laying on of hands. Why did they forget Paul’s instruction not to lay hands on anyone suddenly?


It is because people, who are led by another spirit, aren’t led by the true Holy Spirit. 
Because of counterfeits, we not only need to be led regarding whom we lay hands upon, but also who we allow to lay hands on us. Don’t give place to the devil.


To summarize this on a positive note, I want to make it clear that I do believe the baptism in the Holy Spirit is still for today (see Acts 2:38&39).  Those of us living today qualify for this promise by being those "who are afar off" and "as many as the Lord our God will call."  I also believe the gifts of the Holy Spirit are still for today (see 1 Cor. 12:7&11).  The gifts are for "everyone," not just the early church.  They will not end until we see the Lord Jesus face to face at His second coming (see 1 Cor. 13:12). If you have a heart that desires God more for Who He is than for what He does and are motivated by love instead of a lust for power, you are well-prepared to avoid the counterfeits. If you desire to exalt Jesus as Lord and give Him the preeminence instead of grandstanding your own ego, you qualify for the gifts of His Spirit.  If you seek to serve others instead of fleecing their wallets out of greed, it is another sign you are on the right track with God.  Avoid the blab-it-and-grab-it crowd and you will find God to be your shield and buckler instead of your butler.


The books by Kurt Koch, Mark Bubeck and Dr. Brown document case histories of people who needed deliverance from demons after they experienced being "slain in the Spirit."  Therefore, the spirit(s) behind this experience really aren’t the Holy Spirit.  That is why this experience is not in the Bible.  Jesus didn’t do it to anyone because He never saw the Father do it.  The apostles didn’t do it because Jesus didn’t do it.  Who was the Lord Jesus referring to when He said He would tell some people on judgment day that He never knew them after they allegedly cast out demons, prophesied in His name, and did miracles in His name?
Anyone, who has read many pages at this web site, will notice that I’ve been quite critical of several things among Pentecostal and Charismatic churches.  This is not because I enjoy being critical, but I can’t tickle peoples’ ears either.  Jesus warned about escalating deception in the end times.  Paul also warned us about it.  The book of Revelation also has serious warnings.  Thus, I want to obediently take God seriously.


Two Roots Of Today’s Revival
Occult ABC’s
Vessel of Honor
The Adversary
Satanic Revival
Counterfeit Revival
Christianity in Crisis
Seduction of Christianity
Occult Invasion
Spirit Wars
Peter Jones     Dave Hunt Dave Hunt Hank Hannegraaff   Hank Hannegraaff     Rev. Mark Bubeck   Rev. Mark Bubeck    Dr. Rebecca Brown Kurt Koch Robert Liichow