It is difficult for me to think of friends and family members as potential liars or fakers. Or that they are traumatized or hypnotized or even demon-possessed.

But it is equally difficult for me to see them as genuinely manifesting a work of the Holy Spirit. Tough call here. And I am not alone in trying to discern what is going on in today’s church.

My question: “Slain in the Spirit: Is it real?”

Real in one sense, sometimes yes, sometimes no. Yes, there are fakers. There are those who fall to be nice to the “slayer” usually a charismatic (small or capital “C”) preacher or “apostle” or “prophet”.

Is it hypnotic? Again, sometimes yes, sometimes no. The music, the pressure of the atmosphere, the personality of slain and preacher, the desire to conform, the self-talk.

Is it demonic? There are such phenomena in Hinduism and other religions. In fact many look-alike manifestations of those pagan groups have been showing up in Christian churches.

But take all those people out, take out the fakers, the demonized, the hypnotized, the emotionally conditioned and ask again, are there any true, Holy Ghost cases where people are “falling down” by and in the power of the Spirit?

Serious question.

I want to know, Is this the work that the Holy Spirit promised to do? Does this experience produce holiness in the individual? Growth? Edification? Souls won? The kingdom expanded? Repentance from sin?

Is there anything in the Scripture that points to such an experience? As far as I can see, there is only one man whose episodes match what we find in some churches today: King Saul.

1 Samuel 10 and 19 record two instances where the power of God came upon the first King of Israel. In chapter 10, he is the prospective ruler and the Spirit of God causes him to prophesy with the prophets. An amazing feat in itself! He was becoming a new man, a man set apart for God’s ministry to Israel. For the moment Saul indeed was “among the prophets”! But that was all he did, prophesy.

In chapter 19, a lot of water has gone under the dam. Saul has disobeyed. He is filled with jealousy for David. He has tried to kill him. In this very episode, Saul is once more attempting to snuff out the life of the one he views as his competitor.

The Spirit of God intervenes in his madness and brings him low. Yes, more prophecy. But this time he is stripped and laid out on the floor all day and all night, as Samuel the real prophet looks on.

Saul is not changed by this experience. His life continues to go down. The intervention, the manifestation, was obviously for David, not Saul. Saul ends his sad career by going to a medium, calling up the deceased Samuel, and being told that tomorrow he will die in battle. Tragic end to tragic life.

Saul an example of “falling in the Spirit?” Oh yes. But it didn’t work out too well for him.

Another incident in Scripture where the intervention of God brings down people is in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus identifies Himself to the crowd that has come to arrest Him. He speaks His holy name, I AM, and the power of God knocks them all to the ground.

But the arrest goes on. These are enemies, not children of God. Jesus allows this experience to let them know His power and to let us who read of it know He is not a victim on that night. He doesn’t have to go with them.

He willingly gave His life as a sheep to the slaughter.

Do these two stories of falling down of bad men translate into a norm for the Christian church? What has happened to us? Why do we delight in these things?

The term “slain” is all over the story of Israel, whether in history or prophetic books. Is it not the enemies of the Lord who are always slain? Does the term ever apply to God’s elect?

And, we must ask, If it is a real slaying, why do people get up in a few minutes and go about their business?

Is there a positive view of “slain” in the Bible?

1. The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
2. The church slain by the antichrist, slaughtered, overcome.

But nowhere is the term used to identify an experience engendered by the waving of a suit coat or the speaking of a magic word or the singing of a special song. Nowhere.

Nowhere does an apostle recommend or predict that such a thing will occur to individuals or groups in the ongoing life of the Christian church. Nowhere.