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Goodbye Jesus

Slain in the spirit


Panther

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Have most of you seen this stuff?

I know most of you are probably farmiliar, but for those who aren't, I'll describe it. I know not all of the churches have this stuff happening, only the charismatic ones like the one I used to attend.

 

When I used to attend church, they had this kind of jazz going on there.

Basically, the pastor would call out for whomever would like a healing done...the elders would wait at the front by the altar....

and a stampede of people would come on down looking for help!

The church was huge so literally at least a hundred or so....the rest would just wait at their seat.

(attendence was in the thousands)

 

In process, I have seen people fall backwards...at the slight tap on the forehead. Now, if an elder hadn't been standing behind, these people were headed straight for a fall on their patootie....

Not everyone, just a few...

 

Being the curious person that I am, one time I stayed at my seat and closely observed this bizarre activity to try to see if it was staged. There would always usually be at least five or six people engaged in this stuff.

After they fell...I mean, were caught, they would actually lay on the floor for about a good ten or fifteen minutes, even after the pastor was continuing on with his nightly sermon.

Elders would bring out these cutsie little red blankies for them to cover them with.

 

Anyhoo, after that, they would get up, go back to their seat like nothing happened.

 

What I would like to know is WHAT IN THE WORLD WAS THAT? :eek:

 

Is it simply a matter of "trust" by letting yourself fall backwards and expecting the elder to catch you?

 

See, I question if christians believe it is more...many times I have heard the term "slayed in the spirit" and they will describe an intense feeling of God actually moving through their bodies and being so intense, they would fall over.

:scratch:

 

This always puzzled the heck out of me...so I figured, why not make a topic?

(I do not believe in this anymore...just curious since I never got a sufficient answer from christians whenever I used to ask)

I know someone here knows what they were doing.....or at least what they THINK they were doing....

:thanks:

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IMHO, my dear, I think it is adrenaline.. in a sense... people get themselves so worked up and want it so bad that it happens. I feel the same way about speaking in tongues (aka glossalia).

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More emotional hysteria.

 

You're bringing back horrific memories for me, My hairs standing up on end at the thought this use to be considered "Normal" to me.

Never happened to me personally, I use to think there was something wrong and why God never loved me enough to give me all these "gifts" everyone else seemed to have.

 

I see now because I refused to allow "reality" go. My emotions come in today in different ways. One is (or at least was at one time on an extreme level, Panic disorder) Perhaps it was the thought of people I loved not being saved and burning for eternity that upset me most. I also remember one day my sister and I walking home from our day from the Christian school, we took a detour and went climbing the corys. When we arrived home, My mothers car was in her usual spot, however My mother was nowhere to be found. My sister and I were convinced we were "Left behind" because we never told my mother where we were. God left us here and took our mother, The rapture must have happened, we were convinced of it.

 

Screws your head up massively this BS. I'm constantly afraid someone's going to die, or leave. (I'm no where near as bad as I use to be, However) I do know that the damage this massive mind control causes, will effect people for years even after they escape it.

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I didn't have a 'slain in the spirit' occurance....however....I did have a rather bad experience with 'speaking in tongues.'

 

I was 21, at a Christian Youth Retreat for a college group I had met. I grew up pretty conservative lutheran, but I liked this group, and 'the leader' was a COOL charismatic guy. At the retreat, there was an evening where EVERYONE was supposed to speak in tongues. The leader basically said if you didn't, you weren't saved, and didn't have the Holy Spirit.

 

I was one of the last ones he approached. Everyone else was babbling incoherently to the music playing in the background. He laid his hands on my head...and asked God to give me the gift of tongues. I completely cleared my mind, open for this gift to come springing forth from my mouth.

 

Nothing happened.

 

He prayed harder...and harder...and HARDER!!!

 

Still nothing.

 

He then pronounced that I had 'secret sin' in my life, and this was keeping the tongues from happening. That pissed me off. I stood up, told him to take his fucking gift of tongues and shove it up his ass, and left.

 

A few weeks later it was discovered that this charismatic leader was 'counseling' a 13 year old girl...he disappeared soon after.

 

My point...I hate that shit.

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I think it is all in the mind. Most people see what is happening and copy it. because they expect it to happen to them.

 

Next time you are in church an see it happen... set of the fire alarm. Some of those fuckers will be out of there like a flash! I think some are also in an altered mental state. Some sort of transe.

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I think it is all in the mind. Most people see what is happening and copy it. because they expect it to happen to them.

 

Next time you are in church an see it happen... set of the fire alarm. Some of those fuckers will be out of there like a flash! I think some are also in an altered mental state. Some sort of transe.

LOL! I agree and oh...I will NEVER go into a church again LOL!! :grin:

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My personal opinion is pretty much the same as you guys...that it is all in thier heads.

I even thought this when I was a practicing christian. The first time I heard all that stuff, it gave me the heebee jeebees!! :eek:

 

LOL~

 

I think it is all mind conditioning too. Notice how things are set up...you CAN'T do it before baptism, but if you DON"T after that, then some churches will say you aren't christian. And as far as someone actually interpreting all that gibberish, that always gave me a chuckle too!!

Couldn't figure out which one was crazier! The one doing it or the one interpreting it!!

 

This is just even MORE evidence as to it all being a cult. I wish it wasn't so hard to get people to understand that when they are IN it...

 

The thought of all that stuff just freaks me out anymore....see, I just left a few months ago so I am sorta going through the conversion right now. So it helps me a lot to be able to talk about these crazy things. :grin:

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Oh, you mean the Benny Hill..ur um...Hinn stuff?

I was at a christian "light" club gathering that featured a formal member of the rap group, "Three Six Mafia". He left his "life of sin" to become a rapper/preacher and was doing his weekly performance. He called everyone who needed prayer to the stage and well, being as I could use some prayer, I went on stage to get the "laying on of hands".

 

The preacher placed his hand on my head while two people were behind me just in case I should "fall out." As he's praying for me, he applies ever-increasing pressure on my forehead. Feeling quite normal, thank you very much, I wasn't, and never have been, in the mood that suggested being in some spiritual coma.

 

At the end of his prayer, he pushed me harder but I still wasn't going down. That lead me to the conclusion that people were being slain with a little help from the minister pushing that person down, making them think it was the force of God.

 

I was pretty non-plused and not surprised. I was never a real suggestable person and that speaking in tongues, healing, falling out stuff didn't make me a believer that some God was supernaturally knocking people out like some boxer. :shrug:

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No way. My Lutheran pastor used to openly ridicule charismatic histrionics.

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I have never had it happen nor have I seen it happen, other than on TV.

 

TAP

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I've seen slain in the spirit, though I could never fall for that.. :lmao:

Sorry..that was bad..

I never really understood the purpose of it. Of course, I don't understand the purpose of handling snakes and drinking strychnine either.

 

I remember sitting in a church a few months back..it was a charismatic, nondenom, connected to other churches around the world place..

 

Folks were singing with arms raised, praying, praising, speaking in tongues..

 

My mind played with the words..changing them around. I'll try to remember them later..

 

(it was during that time you got worried about me, Lisa..)

 

I listened to the woman next to me speaking gibberish..and it all seemed so very foolish..

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My old cult did that. It was big on the holy fruitcake of the spirit. Babbling in tongues, stoned in the spirit, holy maniacal laughter, etc., etc., etc. I think it's a product of getting emotionally worked up about jeezus.

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Being slain by the holy spirit is a sin in the Church of Christ, so I would never!

 

I've been Slain by the spirit of Jack Daniels a time or two though

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Being slain by the holy spirit is a sin in the Church of Christ, so I would never!

 

I've been Slain by the spirit of Jack Daniels a time or two though

 

 

:lmao::68:

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Guest acorn

Yes, this type of "filling of the spirit" has happened to me. I was trying to quit smoking, seeking what God wanted me to do. I fasted for 3 days and went to church one night. The pastor asked if anyone needed to hear from God, and invited people up front. While up front, I began to pray and I remeber being very nervous, and I was shaking when I relized everyone was watching. I began to pray and focus on the need, and I remember hearing someone get beside me. I stopped shaking immediatly, and finished praying. I then looked up and nobody was there. The crazy part about it was that I asked about 5 people if they saw anyone kneel beside me and they all said no. :ugh:

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I grew up in the conservative Missouri Synod church. Our church services were pretty boring, so no, I can't say that I was ever a witness to anything like that.

 

It's all crowd psychology, IMHO.

 

In Terry Goodkind's novels, the Wizard's First Rule is: People are stupid. They will believe what they want or fear to be true. I truly think this is one of the reasons people still believe in religions. They either want the Bible to be true, or they are afraid it's all true. They don't want to think for themselves.

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Yes, this type of "filling of the spirit" has happened to me. I was trying to quit smoking, seeking what God wanted me to do. I fasted for 3 days and went to church one night. The pastor asked if anyone needed to hear from God, and invited people up front. While up  front, I began to pray and I remeber being very nervous, and I was shaking when I relized everyone was watching. I began to pray and focus on the need, and I remember hearing someone get beside me. I stopped shaking immediatly, and finished praying. I then looked up and nobody was there. The crazy part about it was that I asked about 5 people if they saw anyone kneel beside me and they all said no. :ugh:

 

I wonder if there is any chance you were shaking because you hadn't eaten for 3 days? Just a hunch....

 

they say that not eating for prolonged periods of time can cause delusions/hallucinations....

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I was "slain in the spirit" once at Bible camp. But I think it had more to do with the heat of that tiny stuffy church and the emotional fervour and the suffocating smell of candle smoke that made me faint rather then any actual "touched by God" experience. We'd be worked up into such a frenzy that you'd actually feel dizzy and kind of drunk, like you'd just gotten a hit of E or something. People used to cry on a dime during service and the altar call at the end was just usually all us kids could take before collapsing in an emotional heap.

 

It's the most insidious kind of manipulation. I think I understand what might make someone fly a plane into a building or orchestrate a mass suicide. After being worked over so hard you feel capable of anything to keep that feeling of euphoria going. Especially if the same people making you feel so good right then do everything they can to make you feel like shit (via guilt and pain) every other time.

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My personal opinion is pretty much the same as you guys...that it is all in thier heads.

I even thought this when I was a practicing christian. The first time I heard all that stuff, it gave me the heebee jeebees!! :eek:

 

Slain in the spirit? Speaking in Tongues? What's the difference? :shrug:

 

From: http://skepdic.com/glossol.html

 

Glossolalia is fabricated, meaningless speech.

 

According to Dr. William T. Samarin, professor of anthropology and linguistics at the University of Toronto,

 

Glossolalia consists of strings of meaningless syllables made up of sounds taken from those familiar to the speaker and put together more or less haphazardly .... Glossolalia is language-like because the speaker unconsciously wants it to be language-like. Yet in spite of superficial similarities, glossolalia fundamentally is not language [Nickell, 108].

 

When spoken by schizophrenics, glossolalia are recognized as gibberish. In charismatic Christian communities glossolalia is sacred and referred to as "speaking in tongues" or having "the gift of tongues." In Acts of the Apostles, tongues of fire are described as alighting on the Apostles, filling them with the Holy Spirit. Allegedly, this allowed the Apostles to speak in their own language but be understood by foreigners from several nations. Glossolalics, on the other hand, speak in a foreign language and are understood by nobody.

 

Glossolalics behave in various ways, depending upon the social expectations of their community. Some go into convulsions or lose consciousness; others are less dramatic. Some seem to go into a trance; some claim to have amnesia of their speaking in tongues. All believe they are possessed by the Holy Spirit and the gibberish they utter is meaningful. However, only one with faith and the gift of interpretation is capable of figuring out the meaning of the meaningless utterances. Of course, this belief gives the interpreter unchecked leeway in "translating" the meaningless utterances. Nicholas Spanos notes: "Typically, the interpretation supports the central tenets of the religious community" [spanos, 147].

 

Uttering gibberish that is interpreted as profound mystical insight by holy men is an ancient practice. In Greece, even the priest of Apollo, god of light, engaged in prophetic babbling. The ancient Israelites did it. So did the Jansenists, the Quakers, the Methodists, and the Shakers.

 

From: http://www.goodnewsaboutgod.com/studies/speakingtongues.htm

 

Glossolalia is defined in the recent authoritative Encyclopedia of Religion as a practice of "nonordinary speech behavior that is institutionalized as a religious ritual in numerous Western and non-Western religious communities." The Greek term glossa means "tongue, language," and the verb laleo means "to speak", thus the word glossolalia.

 

A renowned linguist who has studied Christian glossolalia extensively gave a similar definition, describing it as "a meaningless but phonetically structured human utterance believed by the speaker to be a real language but bearing no systematic resemblance to any natural language, living or dead." (William J. Samarin, Tongues of Men and Angels. The Religious Language of Pentecostalism (New York, 1972).

 

Glossolalia is a fairly recent phenomenon in the Christian world: "First wave", 1900: "speaking in tongues" was manifested in the traditional Pentecostal churches. "Second wave", 1960: neo-Pentecostalism or the charismatic renewal movement, "speaking in tongues" entered most traditional churches of Christianity including the Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Baptists, Roman Catholics and so on. "Third wave": the recent celebration church movement.

 

Speaking in tongues did not come about as a result of studying this subject in the Bible. Speaking in tongues just happened, then students subsequently studied the Bible to find support for this new phenomenon that took place in the meetings of Charles Parham of Bethel College in Topeka, Kansas in 1900.

 

Recent studies have indicated that glossolalia is not a uniquely Christian practice. Glossolalia is practiced by a large number of native non-Christian living religions around the world. Glossolalia is found amoung the "Inuit (Eskimos), The Saami (Lapps), in Japanese seances in Hokkaido, in a small cult led by Genji Yanagide of Moji City, the shamans in Ethiopia in the zar cult and various spirits in Haitian Voodoo. L. Carlyle May shows that glossolalia in non-Christian religions is present in Malaysia, Indonesia, Siberia, Arctic regions, China, Japan, Korea, Arabia, and Burma, among other places. It is also present extensively in African tribal religions.

 

From: http://www.bible411.com/glossolalia/glossolalia_4.htm

 

If the gift of tongues was not ecstatic utterances and if the gift of tongues ceased shortly after the death of the Apostles, then how do we account for the phenomenon of tongues in the form of ecstatic utterances today? It is interesting to note that glossolalia is not a phenomenon confined to Christianity. Pagan religions throughout the world are frenzied with tongues. This is reflected in an article in the Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation entitled "An Ethnological Study of Glossolalia" by George J. Jennings, March 1968. Jennings observes that glossolalia is practiced amoung the following non-Christian religions of the world; the Peyote cult among the North American Indians, the Haida Indians of the Pacific Northwest, Shamans in the Sudan, the Shango cult of the West Coast of Africa, the Shago cult in Trinidad, the Voodoo cult in Haiti, the Aborigines of South American and Australia, the aboriginal peoples of the subarctic regions of North America and Asia, the Shamans in Greenland, the Dyaks of Borneo, the Zor cult of Ethiopia, the Siberian shamans, the Chaco Indians of South America, the Curanderos of the Andes, the Kinka in the African Sudan, the Thonga shamans of Africa, and the Tibetan monks. Certainly we wouldn't attribute Glossolalia in these heathen religions to the work of the holy Spirit.

 

Behavioral Scientists have conducted extensive research on glossolalia and for the most part concur that supernatural forces are not necessary to explain its existence. This is shown in an article entitled "Behavioral Science Research on the Nature of Glossolalia" which appears in the September, 1968, issue of the Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation . This article is perhaps one of the most comprehensive scientific discussions on glossolalia and some of its conclusions are briefly quoted as follows:

 

VI. Summary of Behavioral Science Research Data on Glossolalia

 

1. Glossolalia is an ancient and widespread phenomenon of most societies, occurring most usually in connection with religion.

2. Glossolalia may occur as part of a larger condition of hysterical, dissociative, or trance states, or it may occur completely alone.

3. Glossolalia is not necessarily related to specific personality types.

4. Glossolalia may be deviant behavior due to abnormality of the mind, or it may be normal expected behavior, depending on the social and cultural environment.

5. Glossolalia is a form of partially developed speech in which the thought-speech apparatus of the person is used for a variety of internal mental functions.

6. Glossolalia may be a form of healthy regression in the service of the ego, leading to more creative modes of life.

 

VII. Possible Theological Implications

 

In my discussion in this paper, there is a wealth of reasonable information which gives us an outline of the mental, social, and cultural contexts within which glossolalia can be, and is, produced. Thus we need not invoke either divine or devilish supernatural forces to explain or justify the existence and function of glossolalia.

 

However, the fact that we have a reasonable scientific framework for explaining and understanding this behavior does not necessarily undercut its importance or value to either and individual or a religious group. Glossolalia can be useful and valuable as a media of spiritual exercise for an adherent.

 

Perhaps the most important distinction that should be made is between cause and consequence. Glossolalia is not "caused" by supernatural forces. However, glossolalia may be a "consequence" of involvement in deep and meaningful spiritual worship. Glossolalia does not miraculously change people in a supernatural sense, but participating in glossolalia is a part of a larger social and personal commitment may play an important role in the change of direction in participant's lives.

 

VIII. Summary

 

Glossolalia is an unusual pattern of aberrant speech. Areview of the current research data provides a new source of information for examining the phenomena of glossolalia. If is a nodification of the conscious connection between inner speech and outer speech. The meaning and function of glossolalia is closely tied to its social and cultural context. The historic theological debates concerning glossolalia centered on whether it was of divine or devilish origin. Such debate is irrelevant. Glossolalia, as such, is not a spiritual phenomea, but is may be a result of deep and meaningful spiritual exercise.

 

Whether we agree with these conclusions or not, the research referred to in the article reveals that glossolalia today is actually abbreviations of known languages. Note the following quotations:

 

5A. Structural Linguistics of Glossolalia

 

A number of studies on American English-speaking glossolalists have recently been done. These reports vary somewhat in the specific technical conclusions, but in general there is consistency in the conclusions. The differences seem to be due to the fact that glossolalic speech has different degrees of organization. Some glossolalia is very poorly organized and consists of little more than grunts and barely-formed sounds, while other glossolalia is highly organized into a systematic series of vowels and consonants. Several language studies, including our own, suggest that glossolalists develop their speech from ill-formed structure to "practiced" and "polished" glossolalic speech. Thus the quality of glossolalia depends to some extent on the stage of development of glossolalia.

 

The following seem to be reasonable conclusions from these studies. Glossolalia, in English-speaking subjects, is composed of the basic speech elements of English.

 

The major difference consists of a lack of organization of the basic vowels and consonants into the elements necessary for intelligible speech. The elements of speech such as pauses, breaths, intonations, etc., are greatly reduced or changed. Thus glossolalic speech tends to resemble the early speech qualities of young children before they organize all the various parts of the adult language. Further, there is a reduced number of vowels and consonants used. The conclusions of the linguists is that glossolalia has the characteristics of partially formed language, while lacking certain requirements of true language.

 

Indeed, many of the qualities of glossolalic speech are those found in the speech of young children. A comparison of Devereaux's outline of children's speech and glossolalic speech is striking. On this basis, one may suggest that glossolalic speech appears to be a return to an early way of speaking, in which speaking and sound are used for purposes other than just the communication of thought. This idea gets further support from other data to be cited.

 

Another line of investigation has focused on the duplication of glossolalia under experimental rather than religious conditions. Al Carlson, at the University of California, recorded two types of glossolalia. One type was recorded by volunteers who were asked to spontaneously speak in unknown language without having ever heard glossolalia. These speech samples were then rated and the two types of glossolalia could not be distinguished from each other. In fact, the "contrived" received better ratings as "good glossolalia" than did the actual glossolalia.

Werner Cohn, at the University of British Columbia, took naïve students to Pentecostal churches to hear glossolalia and then asked the students to speak in glossolalia in the laboratory. They were able to successfully do so. Their recordings were then played to glossolalists who described the glossolalia as beautiful examples.

 

In sum, the data suggest: that glossolalia has a specific language structure based on the language tongue of the speaker; that the linguistic organization is limited; and that the capacity to speak in this type of semi-organized language can be duplicated under experimental conditions. Thus, glossolalia does not appear to be a "strange language," but rather the aborted or incomplete formation of familiar language.

 

This research clearly undercuts the claims of glossolalists that they speak a "heavenly language." In reality they are speaking abbreviations of their national language.

 

Another interesting article appeared in the New York Times, January 21, 1974:

JohnP. Kildahl, a clinical psychologist and professor at New York Theological Seminary, said here today that the Pentecostal practice of speaking in tongues constituted "learned behavior."

 

Dr. Kildahl, an ordained Lutheran clergyman and former chief psychologist at the Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn, recently published a study of glossolalia undertaken with a grant form the National Institute of Mental Health.

 

In his address, he said that on the basis of his research and extensive correspondence with charismatic Christians it appeared that five elements were normally present when someone began speaking in tongues. These are a "magnetic" relationship with a group leader, a sense of personal distress, and "intense emotional atmosphere," a supporting group, and the prior learning of a rationale of its religious significance. In the case of people who begin to speak in tongues when they alone, he said "these five conditions have been present in the days or weeks preceding the initial experience."

 

Kildahl in his book The Psychology of Speaking in Tongues, further explains how glossolalia is initiated:

 

How the Experience is Initiated

 

Typically after an ordinary evening church service, interested members of the congregation are invited to remain in church in order to discuss the gift of tongues. The leader encourages the people to "receive" this ability going from one another laying his hands on each person's head. "Say after me what I say, and then go on speaking in the tongue that the Lord will give you." One might utter a few syllables, speak for two or three minutes, or ten, or not for several days and while at home. "It was the best I ever felt in all my thirty-one years."

 

Once possessed of this ability, a person retains it and can speak with fluency whenever he chooses. It does not matter whether he is alone or in a group of fellow glossolalists. He can speak in tongues while driving a car or swimming. He can do it silently in the midst of a party, or aloud before a large audience. The experience brings peace and joy and inner harmony. Glossolalists view it as an answer to prayer, an assurance of divine love and acceptance. It is referred to as a "direct and personal encounter with the holy Spirit."

 

How do we explain tongues today? As has been noted, tongues-speaking is also practiced in many heathen religions throughout the world today. Certainly this is not the work of the holy Spirit:grin:   Perhaps Behavioral Scientists are correct in saying that much of tongues-speaking has a natural explanation. However, this much is observable - when a person has experienced tongues he is absolutely convinced as to the scripturalness of his experience and the correctness of his doctrinal beliefs. Hence the traditional Pentecostal insists on the correctness of the "second blessing." The theologically liberal Protestant who speaks in tongues feels that his doubt in the inspiration of the Bible is vindicated. Catholic Pentecostals testify that the charismatic experience has deepened their devotion to Mary. A glossolalic experience convinces Mormons that their brand of Christianity is right, etc. Thus, while tongues may not be directly caused by Satan yet it can be used by him as an effective means of sidetracking sincere Christians. The following scriptures reveal that one of the signs of the end of the world or age would be the phenomenal working deceptions of Satan in the Church. "And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." Matt. 24:2 and 24

 

"Even his, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie." 2 Thes. 2:9-11

 

Satan's involvement in the charismatic wonders cannot be ruled out as part of the deceptive wonders at the end of the age.

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I came out of a Charismatic Church where people were regularly slained in the Spirit. I have experienced it and looking back at it honestly, I never gained anything out of it. It was taught in my church that God was touching you and changing you when you were slain and that is why you pass out (No one can handle the touch of God). I would fall over, sometimes pushed by others, feel happy (I guess) and that would be it.

 

One thing that I found interesting about the experience was that when I was slain in the spirit I would feel relaxed, but once my mind drifted (Ouch! that fat lady fell on top of me. True story!!) I would lose my "connection". Unless I concentrated and really believed I was touched by God, I would feel nothing. What this shows me in hindsight was that nothing was happening in the first palce and it was all in my mind. For if I was truly being touched by something, why did I need to keep concentrating on the belief I was touched by something supernatural?

 

There is nothing in the Charismatic experience, but false beliefs and people abusing themselves for their next fix of God. It is painful to think back to the discussion with friends who could not be "touched" by God because they would not fall over and watch them struggle with guilt that there is something wrong with them. I watched a good friend deal with this and it truly hurt him that the rest of the church was touched, but not him.

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As I've mentioned many times (under my old Pseudonym guise) there is currently a British psychologist/magician doing the rounds on T.V who can invoke almost every kind of religious, spiritual or occult phenomena you could care to mention, he can do it consistently, and he can do it better than most so-called experts. He doesn't claim to have any paranormal faculties, and he is an atheist to the core; he is simply acutely aware of the psychological techniques people who claim to have such capabilities use to invoke a state of profound suggestibility. Ironically, most church gatherings and ceremonies (deliberately or no) are constructed the deployment of these very techniques. In a recent broadcast on British T.V called "Messiah" Derren Brown (the psychologist in question) visited several insititutions in the states, proclaiming to have a number of abilities including the power to communicate to the dead, to make people feint by investing them with the power of Christ or God or whatever, and the ability to read dreams in the interests of seeing whether those responsible for such institutions would immediately endorse that which reinforces their particular "art" or apply critical evaluation before doing so. In every case they were flabberghasted by his apparent abilities, and offered any number of positions and endorsements.

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I have never had it happen nor have I seen it happen, other than on TV.

Same here. On TBN.

 

Seriously, if I was to come before the presence of an almighty God, I do believe I would fall on my face, as in bowing before a king, rather than fall backwards.

 

Being merely human, I would hope for mercy...

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Guest Peyton

I must say, I have been slain in the spirit, the last time being a few weeks ago when I went back. A group of people began praying for me, my legs buckled and I ended up on the floor of the church. I went to a meeting about 10 years back in London and found myself on the floor, speaking in tongues and crying. When all that Toronto Blessing stuff was happening, getting slain for me was a weekly occurrence. There's definitely something strongly psychological about it because it never happened during the service but when they had put the chairs to one side afterwards, then people would all get slain and fall about. I believe we were all in some ways setting each other off. That doesn't explain why it's happened when I've been prayed for though :scratch:

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Guest acorn
I came out of a Charismatic Church where people were regularly slained in the Spirit.  I have experienced it and looking back at it honestly, I never gained anything out of it.  It was taught in my church that God was touching you and changing you when you were slain and that is why you pass out (No one can handle the touch of God).  I would fall over, sometimes pushed by others, feel happy (I guess) and that would be it.

 

One thing that I found interesting about the experience was that when I was slain in the spirit I would feel relaxed, but once my mind drifted (Ouch! that fat lady fell on top of me. True story!!) I would lose my "connection".  Unless I concentrated and really believed I was touched by God, I would feel nothing.  What this shows me in hindsight was that nothing was happening in the first palce and it was all in my mind.  For if I was truly being touched by something, why did I need to keep concentrating on the belief I was touched by something supernatural?

 

There is nothing in the Charismatic experience, but false beliefs and people abusing themselves for their next fix of God.  It is painful to think back to the discussion with friends who could not be "touched" by God because they would not fall over and watch them struggle with guilt that there is something wrong with them.  I watched a good friend deal with this and it truly hurt him that the rest of the church was touched, but not him.

 

I agree, some churches really push this subject even to the point where you feel not normal in a sense. This was one of the hardest things for me. There is though a fault in any religion, they tend to pacify the doctrine, or system of the church or branch instead of the word of God. This is a very serious condition for followers of Christ. Followers have to have there on relationship by God, and not worry about what others expect or feel is appropriate. This is difficult to many current Christians, and was even to myself. The ultimate thing is to keep focus on God. I was so worried that I would be a hypocrite if I when up and fell out, So I didnt for a long time. I never have been under this type of "slaying" except when I didnt actually go up there for it. I went up to seek Gods answer for me, the pastor layed hands on me, and went to another person. While focusing on god, I felt something come over me, and I began shaking profusely. Honestly though, many churches had adopted this type of thing to every service, and expect these things to happen. Well, Ive got bad/good news for them.Bad news is if they are seeking a "feel good" experience then thats what they will get only. If they are seeking Gods passing of the Holy Spirit then thats what they will get, and it is the most revealing experience I have ever had, I went to my car after that and prayed about this graceful experience for about 2 hrs.

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