Now, in the very reserved Christian upbringing that I was in, this news was greeted with disdain... ridicule...and shock. No way could God be doing such things. It was so... different! God would just never do things like this. It wasn't His way.
I too, thought like this. Or rather, I kind of thought like this. It certainly seemed terribly "wrong" to me. It flew in the face of what I believed Christianity to mean. Jesus just didn't work this way.
However, a part of me was having problems completely dismissing it. "How do we know God can't work in such a way?" I would ask myself. God can do all sorts of things to take us by surprise, so why not something like this? I wished I COULD just dismiss it, but something was stopping me. I just didn't want to tie God up in a little box.
The Toronto Blessing is my earliest memory of hearing about such things as slaying in the spirit, and apart from the thoughts I've just relayed there, I never really gave it a great deal of thought - until the last couple of years, since I have been chatting on the Internet and have encountered all sorts of Christians from many parts of the world - and many of them praising such things as being slain in the spirit... getting "drunk in the Spirit"... (as well as speaking in tongues, as I have written about elsewhere on my site). It was through meeting various people, and hearing various views, that I started to become quite intrigued by all this. I had always been against it, even if I had never totally convinced myself of that, but I was concious that I was only against it because it just seemed "weird" to me. And I felt that was hardly a very solid support. I (and we) cannot base our believes simply on "how we're brought up". We have to base all our beliefs on the Bible.
For those who don't actually understand what this slaying is, it is when, normally, a pastor or leader of a church touches someone else, and they fall backwards, or just collapse, in a sleeplike way. They may jerk around. The may start speaking in tongues. They may get healed. But it seems to be believed that when people get slain in the spirit, this is a Baptism of the Holy Spirit that we are told about in the book of Acts. Now, I do believe that there is a Baptims of the Holy Spirit that comes after converstion, but I'm not going into that particular argument here. What I'm looking at here is whether the slaying seen in churches today is that baptism. If it's from God or not.
So I started to study on this subject. I started to watch various television programmes that included slaying in the spirit. I found websites... read books... listened to various views from people. And I have actually learnt much more of what various Christians believe that just the slaying during all this study. I wanted to know what was right. Is all this really from God? I wanted to know the truth. Not just from how I was brought up. But simply - what does God say? Is this a movement of His, or not?
I have to admit that I was a bit hesitant about writing on this subject. Not because I haven't discovered things. And not because I'm afraid to be controversial (that's never stopped me before :-) ). But because, unlike speaking in tongues for example, it's rather hard to speak about slaying in the spirit from a direct Biblical perspective. And I am concious that author Nader Mikhaiel, in his book "The Toronto Blessing And Slaying In The Spirit - The Telling Wonder", says it all more and better than I could ever do. Although it is an Australian publication, and I'm not sure if it's available overseas, I would advise anyone who has an interest in this phenomenon to seek Mikhaiel's book out. It is written by a Christian, using Biblical arguments. Yes, there are things the Bible says about slaying in the spirit. Just not in a direct sense.
So, really, Nader Mikhaiel has written what I believe to be the definite work on the subject, and I was concious that I didn't want to come across as copying everything he has said. I'm not going to do that for a couple of things. One reason is for copyright. The other is that, quite simply, I don't necessarily agree with everything he says. :-) I have read his views, balanced them with other things I have heard, compared them ultimately with the Bible, and come to my own conclusions. I will be making references to a couple of things Mikhaiel mentions, but in no way am I writing as any kind of disciple to the author. This is Keith Bennett talking.
I believe there are two verses in the Bible that are amongst the most forgotten and overlooked ones in Christianity today. One is 1 John4:1, "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world". The other is 1 Thessalonians 5:21, "Test everything. Hold on to the good". Now, I must admit that it's only very recently that my views on the 1 John verse have changed slightly. Many people, including Mikhaiel, suggest that this verse is talking about spirits behind strange manifestations. But it has seemed to me that it could be actually speaking about the human spirit. If we look at the verse in context, it does seem to be talking about testing the teachers who we here. Testing what they say. Maybe it is talking about both. I'm not sure. But 1 Thessalonians is totally clear. We are told to "test everything". That's a command from God. Not a suggestion, but a command. I was appalled to once here someone say, "It's not for us to say if something is of God or not". Of course it is! God has told us in His very word that it is very good and correct to work out whether something is of God or not. To not do that is a sin. Since, whenever we disobey a clear command from God, we are sinning.
Now, it has to work both ways. Those verses don't mean we should dismiss everything we see. We could then be in danger of disobeying the first part of the verse that comes just before the one in 2 Thessolanians I just mentioned. "Do not put out the Spirit's fire". We should not automatically dismiss everything. But neither should be automatically accept everything. We are told to "test everything. Hold on to the good". That is a command from our Lord.
So, if we believe this is what we should do, then we must apply it to slaying in the spirit, and its associated manifestations. We must test it, to see if it is from God or not.
So how do we do this?
There are, I believe, three answers that are most likely to be given to that question, including two strong arguments that say that slaying in the Spirit is from God. I will refer to each of them.
One argument that slaying in the spirit is from God, and therefore is, presumably, the test people give it, is that it "feels good". There's no doubt that people get a highly pleasurable experience when they are slain in the spirit. They can get feelings of peace... of tranquility... of joy... They can have a deep feeling of conviction for their sins.
Now, all these things sound quite reasonable and indeed are feelings we would expect if someone had a special touch from God. But are they total proof that someone HAS had a touch from God? I beg to say no.
A New Age person could come up to me and say they've just had the same feelings looking into a crystal in their bedroom. Some people say they get very religious feelings from sex (and that wouldn't just be sex in marriage). People can feel good doing all sorts of things - including all sorts of wrong things.
In his book, Nader Mikhaiel has offered a quite stunning comparison between people who have described what it's like to be slain in the spirit, and those who describe what it's like to be hypnotised. Now, for copyright reasons, I cannot relate exactly what was said. But I will just say here that there are remarkable similarities. There are times when the slain person and the hypnotised person use almost the exact words to describe their condition.
We can feel good for many reasons. I myself have had good feelings from certain "promises" that I thought were from God. I was wrong. They never happened. God wasn't telling me those things at all. So the good feelings weren't from Him.
So, how something feels is in no way a watertight support for testing slaying in the spirit.
Another very strong argument is that many people have grown stronger in their faith, or indeed have become Christians, since being slain in the spirit.
Now again, I do not doubt this is true, and that's wonderful that God has worked in them. But can this be used to prove that slaying in the spirit and its associated manifestations is from God? Again, I would beg to differ.
God can use many things that aren't of His will, to do His wonderful work. We just have to go to the first chapter of Matthew to see the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Jesus is descended from the adulterous act between David and Bathsheba. No way was that sin in God's will, but He used that to eventually bring our Saviour into the world. Also, we hear distressing news every now and again of missionaries who are persecuted, and sometimes killed, while doing their work. And yet God constantly uses such situations to touch people's lives. Look how the Gospel was spread throughout Judea and Samaria, when the church was scattered after the stoning of Stephen.
God can use any situation He wishes to do His good work. It doesn't mean that situation was augmented by Him. Of course, many times people grow in their Christian faith IS because they experienced something that was done by God. I'm just saying that it isn't necessarily always the case, and not something that we can use to test all things.
The third possible way for us to test all things, is to go to the Bible. This should be number one for, of course, it is the very thing we should do straight away. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work". That's EVERY good work. I'm not saying experiences don't have their place in our growth. Of course they do. But they must always be based on the Bible. The Bible is, essentially, all we need to be "throroughly equipped" in our lives. Every answer we look for in life, if God choses to give us an answer, can be found in the Bible. And as God has told us to test everything, then it is natural for us to believe that God has answers to our questions about slaying in the spirit, and its associated manifestations, in His Word.
Now, I used to believe that there was no Biblical support for slaying in the spirit. Well, actually, I still believe that. :-) But what I mean to say is I used to believe everyone agreed with me there. But I've realised that some people have referred to certain parts of Scripture that they say is like the slaying in the spirit seen today.
One reference is Acts chapter 9, when Saul is converted. They refer to how he fell before God when a light shone before him. They say he was slain in the Spirit. But we can see that what Saul, in the process of becoming Paul, had an experience that was nothing like the slaying in the spirit. Chapter 3 says, "As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flahed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"" Note here that, unlike the slayings, no-one touched Paul. And it is clear that Paul fell to the ground in an act of worship. He would have bowed, not fallen backwards. Also, we notice that Ananias was sent to Paul, and when he got to him, he said in verse 17, "Brother Saul, the Lord - Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here - has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit". Now, people who support slaying in the spirit say that being slain is being filled with the Spirit, and yet it is clear that Paul himself was not filled with the Spirit when he fell down, as it happened to him afterwards when Ananias arrived.
Another passage that people use to support slaying in the spirit is John's chapter 18 account of Jesus' arrest. Verses 4 to 6 say, "Jesus, knowing al that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, 'Who is it you want?' 'Jesus Of Nazareth,' they replied. 'I am He,' Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) When Jesus said, 'I am He', they drew back and fell to the ground.
Now again, we see a couple of notable things. Again, no-one touched the guards. And again, they obviously bowed down in awe. Drawing back and falling to the ground suggests they stepped backwards, then bowed forward. There's no mention of them lying on the floor twitching, and there is certainly no mention of the Holy Spirit coming into them, or them being saved. This is nothing even remotely like the slaying in the spirit.
Personally, and I'm sorry if I sound a bit harsh here, but I think using these two passages to support the slayings reeks of, "I can't kind find any real Biblical support for what I believe, so I'll take these two passages and try to squeeze them into my beliefs the best way I can". To use them for support is really quite ludicrous, not to mention deceiving when Chrisitan leaders do it, and surely, if any Christian is totally honest, and reads these passages closely, one cannot come to any other conclusion than the fact that they do not support slaying in the spirit in any way.
Curiously, there are other passages in the Bible which people don't seem to use as much to support slayings, which do seem to resemble the phenomana a bit more. These can be found in Daniel and Ezekiel. I won't write them all out here, but we'll look at a couple.
Daniel 8: 16 - 18 says, "And I heard a man's voice between the banks of the Ulai, who called, and said, 'Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.' So he came near where I stood, and when he came I was afraid and fell on my face; but he said to me, 'Understand, son of man, that the vision refers to the time of the end." Now, as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep with my face to teh ground; but he touched me, and stood me upright."
Ezekial 1:28 and 2:1 - 2 says, "Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. So when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of One speaking. And He said to me, 'Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak to you.' Then the Spirit entered me when He spoke to me, and set me on my feet; and I heard Him who spoke to me."
Other passages like this are Daniel 10: 7 - 11, Ezekial 3: 22 - 24, Matthew 17: 5 - 7, at Jesus' transfiguration, and Revelation 1: 17 - 18.
Now I can't say for sure what it means when Daniel was in a "deep sleep", but something is very significant about these passages. Advocates of slaying in the spirit say that the Holy Spirit enters them and they fall over. But have a look at these passages. When the man of God fell down, God was constantly telling them to get up! In fact, in Ezekial's case, the Holy Spirit enters him and brings him to his feet. This is exactly the opposite to what slaying in the spirit is! From these passages of God's Word, we can see that, while God was obviously not against people bowing down and worshipping Him, He was very interested in saying, "Get up" and He used His Spirit to help the man to do that. Coupled with, again, such facts as no-one pushing the men over, them not shaking or having contortions, etc, and again we can see that these passages do not support slaying in the spirit in anyway. In fact, they suggest completely the opposite, and could be used to tell us that the Holy Spirit is not in the habit of knocking people over, but bringing them to their feet, therefore telling us that it is highly unlikely that the slaying in the spirit is of God.
To strengthen these arguments, we can look at a couple of passages in the Gospel where we would have thought slaying in the spirit would have appeared if it was a legitimate work of God.
Mark 13, 13 - 16 has Jesus blessing the children, and verse 16 says, "And He took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them." It mentions nothing of the children falling over, and yet we see numerous children, rather distressingly, falling over when leaders of churches, etc, slay them in the spirit.
John 20 tells us about Jesus appearing to various people after His Resurrection, including visiting the disciples hiding in a room. Verse 22 of that chapter states, "And with that He breahed on them and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'" Again, there was no mention of anyone falling over. Surely this is quite striking? If there was to be any perfect support for slaying in the spirit, this would be the place. Noted television evangelist Benny Hinn has been known to knock people over by supposedly blowing the Holy Spirit into them. Has Mr Hinn got more power than what our Lord had?
So, if we use the Biblical approach to testing the spirits, which the Bible itself commands us to do, we can see that there is nothing to tell us that the slaying in the spirit is of God. There's absolutely nothing in the Bible to support it.
Now, some people might say, "Okay, but we can see there that God can do some pretty strange things. Some of these things in the Bible sound like the slayings in at least a little way. How can we put God in a box? If He can do stuff like that, why can't he do stuff like the slayings?" Well, of course, God COULD do things like that if He wanted to. But we must remember, again, that God has told us to test everything. In Matthew 24: 24, He tells us, "For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect - if that were possible". God can do "strange" things, but so can the Devil! If we see, or experience, something unusual, it might be from God, or it might be from Satan. God tells us that in His Word. So we MUST test everything, and the only way to test them, as we have seen, is seeing if Scripture either teaches on such things, or supports such things. And we can see that the Bible does not support slaying in the spirit in any way. It is not from God. It is not the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
"Alright then," someone might say, "it sounds like you're saying slaying in the Spirit is then from the Devil." Well...this is where it gets kind of tricky. :-) Answering the question, "What IS it then?" For a start, in NO way am I saying that people who are slain in the Spirit are possessed by demons. No way at all. Again, Nader Mikhaiel's book has much about what the phenomana might be, and his main belief, which I mentioned earlier, and I'm aware that popular radio man and author Hank Hanegraaff, in his book "Counterfeit Revival", which I haven't read, seems to believe this too, is that it is a form of hypnosis.
As I stated earlier, Mikhaiel has descriptions of many, many people who have been slain in the Spirit, and also those who have been put under strange powers from professional hypnotists, and it is stunning to see that in virtually all the cases, the descriptions are almost word for word. What the slain people say about their experiences, the hypnotised peole say in almost exactly the same words.
If we consider these facts, then we can think along these lines... We have to test the slaying in the spirit. We need to go to the Bible to do that. We see that there is nothing in the Bible to support it. But, on the other hand, we see that there is a LOT of support from people who have been hypnotised. So, can we then come to the conclusion, "Well, it must be from God then." If we are totally honest, how can we possibly do that?
I do believe that the slaying in the spirit is Satan-inspired. Anything that has deceived so many Christians seems very likely to be from the Devil. Nader Mikhaiel also says a lot about what demonic spirits might be involved in the practice, but I don't want to really get into that. I hate accusing people of being involved in things of Satan for a start. :-( And I don't know I have studied it enough.
But, to be honest, I don't think I need to. There is so much evidence mentioned here already to tell us that the slaying in the Spirit is not of God, and therefore, should be avoided at all costs.
"But, wait!" someone might say. "Alright, maybe it's not of God. But it still does a lot of good. Just leave us alone and let us enjoy what we feel is good. If it's not hurting anyone, then just leave this whole thing alone."
Well, there are a couple of answers to that, and I have shared them in Part 2 of this study. Meanwhile, if anyone has any comments or any questions about what I have written, please do not hesitate to write to me.
But remember... overall... we must "test everything". That means everything. We cannot go by feelings, because they can deceive. We cannot judge by results, because God can do good things from bad situations. We can only test things by The Bible, and The Bible tells us nothing about slaying in the Spirit. In fact, in a few places, it seems to tell us things that directly contradict the practice.
Therefore, I do not believe that slaying in the spirit is of God. It is not the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
