In your worship services, have you ever noticed that most of the time, it’s the same people falling out?Why is that?Is God putting them to the floor?OrHave they conditioned themselves to do it? They are expecting to go down.OrThey really like the attention?Your opinions and discussio________________
I kind of wonder what would happen if we just forgot about the catchers.________________
I think there are some of all. Plus some real stuff. But I think there are some who may be addicted. I witnessed a near ‘terrible thing’ in the Mt. Holly, NC COG. We had a visitor from Paw Creek COG looking for a new church. He went up for prayer and fell backwards when the pastor touched his forehead. We never had ‘catchers, I didn’t even know such a position existed.The man hit his head on the edge of the first pew with a loud sickening thud. He rolled back and forth a few times holding his head and asked loudly, Where was the catchers?At the time I had no idea what he really meant. I think that might have been ‘expecting’ or addicted.And yes in most churches it is the same folk. In some cases they may be closer to God! ________________Some facts but mostly just my [email protected]/
I have been so overcome by the Spirit before that I could not stand. In all cases, it put me on my face weeping in awe of his holiness. This slain in the Spirit stuff is mainly people falling backwards to make a preacher happy. Having catchers shield the fall helps a little to.Has anyone asked these people what they are feeling at that moment? Do they black out, lose consciousness________________
Just because there are some who might be inclined to be used more often than others, why is that an opportunity to mock? I know people do courtesy drops from time to time but that is NEVER an excuse to quench or inhibit the move of the Spirit. Better teaching by the leaders might help but I for one would rather have a little flesh from time to time and deal with it than to stop or hinder the opportunity for the real deal.
I have a problem with what many folk consider the ‘power of God’. I am not in many services where Folk are ‘slain in the spirit’. In the past few months we visited a sorta ‘mega church’ it is a COG. The minister according to my wife is well known in the COG. I did not recognize the name. He started his sermon then walkd down to the first pew where a man was standing and touched him wiht his Bible and the man fell out. He was caught by the man behind him. This continued with folks running to the front of the church and he would touch them and the ‘catchers’ and ‘modesty women’ were having trouble keeping up. The he started touching folks sitting down and they slid out of their seats. There was a man in a wheel chair with his hands raised praising God, the preacher stepped over him to make the folks around him slide to the floor. The ‘doubter in me’ wanted to know why the man in the wheel chair, who obviously needed a touch, was not touched???I tend to agree with the DaSheik on his comment. quote: conditioned emotional response________________Some facts but mostly just my [email protected]/
Blows my mind, too. If the preachers don’t believe it’s for real, no wonder the people are confused. Do most churches not even expect the Spirit to move occasionally________________More of Him…less of me.twitter.com/camiracle77www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=691241499&ref=name
As you said in your previous comment, there are likely some who expect to fall out, so they do. But some of it is for real. I have been in a lot of services where I’ve seen people fall under the power. I guess I’m weird, but judging whether it’s for real isn’t just something that I think about much unless something really weird is going on. I don’t do courtesy drops, either. And I’ve been in services where everyone around me was dropping like flies, and I was just standing there waiting. It used to bother me and I wondered why I wasn’t going down (aside from the no courtesy drops thing.) A minister once told me that as you mature you are able to withstand the power and are not always instantly knocked out by it. I don’t know if that’s correct or not but it made me feel a bit better. There have been other instances where I have gone down for the count.To answer another question, my experience has been when I have been put on the floor that I am aware of everything going on around me. But when it really is the power of the Spirit, I feel His presence and usually hear Him speaking encouragement into my spirit. I don’t ever remember being totally out. I agree the thing with skipping the guy in the wheelchair bothers me, too. I’ve mentioned that before here, and people acted like I didn’t know what I was talking about, but it happens.Benny Hinn was criticized a lot for touching people with his Bible, throwing his coat at folks, or blowing on them, but he made himself accountable to some ministers and took their advice (at the time at least) to stop doing the more dramatic things like that and just pray for people. Sometimes when I am praying for people, the Lord shows me where to lay my hands (nothing inappropriate) and sometimes I resist it at first, but I’ve kind of learned to just obey the Lord and not question it too much. I am more afraid of displeasing Him than I am others at this point.I have seen some people fall under the power and it amazes me. I remember one guy I saw on TV…no one was touching him, but it looked like someone had hit him with a 2×4…knocked his legs completely out from under him and his legs went way up in the air. Someone was praying for him but didn’t touch him. I tend to believe that is the Lord________________More of Him…less of me.twitter.com/camiracle77www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=691241499&ref=name
When I pray for folks i don’t care if they fall or not. TL prayed for me one time everyone was falling. I and my wife thought we were not going to fall because everyone else fell. We both fell. Call me weak call me ignorant i don’t care. I fall because I cannot stand. I don’t do courtesy drops.A well known preacher tried to push my wife down________________Recorded Sermons @ http://www.pastorwiley.com
Nice dissertation on tongues. However, you did not deal with the extra-biblical teaching of being slain in the Spirit. What are these people supposedly feeling? Do they black out? Perhaps someone on here has experienced it and would like to share________________
I promise you I’m not mocking. I’m just identifying what I’ve (and apparently others) have observed.Sometimes we have to ask hard questions.ExampleWhy do preachers feel the need to slap people down, neck crack, or wobble folks until they fall?Sometimes I believe it’s like notches on the old six gun.Some people expect or even addicted to it. It’s not a good service unless they wind up flat on their back.These are many times the same people at the same time in the service.I’m sure we’ve all observed it. I’m just saying it out loud. We can’t be afraid of hard questions________________
I promise you I’m not mocking. I’m just identifying what I’ve (and apparently others) have observed.Sometimes we have to ask hard questions.ExampleWhy do preachers feel the need to slap people down, neck crack, or wobble folks until they fall?Sometimes I believe it’s like notches on the old six gun.Some people expect or even addicted to it. It’s not a good service unless they wind up flat on their back.These are many times the same people at the same time in the service.I’m sure we’ve all observed it. I’m just saying it out loud. We can’t be afraid of hard questions________________
Mama said knock you out.Give ’em a shove…More annoying than courtesy drops is heavy-handed preachers!The experience of falling in the Spirit is real. But it can certainly be faked or forced________________I’m not saved because I’m good. I’m saved because He’s good!My website: http://www.bradfreeman.comMy blog: bradcfreeman.tumblr.com/
I have experienced a genuine slaying but as RS said it was falling forward. Both times I was not touched. Once there was a call forward for needs to be met. No one moved and I was desperate and began to move forward and as I made my way out in to the aisle the Holy Spirit fell on me in such way that I was overwhelmed and went face first into the aisle.
Thank you brother for that honest, open dialog and testimony________________
Having seen many instances of people falling down while being prayed for over the years, and having noted similar incidents being reported especially during the 1st and 2nd Great Awakenings (though typically without the laying on or hands in those historic Great Awakenings), it seems to me that falling down may be, but is not necessarily, a sign of the Spirit’s power, that it can quite obviously be faked by someone wanting to be considered spiritual, that it can in some cases also be something a person wants to happen so badly that they may be easily influenced to let it happen, that in other cases it may be that the evangelist does push the person, perhaps trying to make them fall backwards (generally with a fair degree of success), and, in some cases, an individual could in fact be so overcome by the Holy Spirit that they fall down.