Slain in the Spirit?? But which spirit…..

This is a topic that I have long had an issue about – ever since my own experiences of it in my 20s when I was involved with a pentecostal church and on through to this last decade of the infamous Toronto Blessing et al.    Even at that time when I was “pushed into” a lineup to “receive it” I wasn’t comfortable in the least, but like everyone else got felled unexpectedly by whatever force it was.   But I can’t say I felt that I was in the presence of God – really felt nothing of any great note but certainly found myself somewhat rooted to the floor for a time.  

Long left that church but over the years have had many times when I’ve been in churches that practice this teaching and the more I watch and hear, as well as the more tuned in I’ve become to the True Spirit of the Lord the more I recognise it is deception at its best and Satan once more pulling people away from the Lord as he makes them put all the emphasis on feelings and experiences rather than in the Word.

I have argued many times with my Pentecostal “family” about this issue yet few really take the time to truly research it – preferring to trust their own subjective feelings over anything in scripture and if you do push them to justify it they’ll always refer to about the only 1 instance in scripture (John 18:6 – see below) where the soldiers fell down backwards.    Other instances often cited such as Matthew 17: 5-7 (” And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.  And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid. “) actually again, just confirm my point below.  And note – the disciples fell themselves – they didn’t have someone praying them down to the ground and they were afraid – not raptured (as I’ve heard some state they felt while lying on the floor)!