by Marvin Gorman

– Introduction –

One of the most controversial things happening in the Pentecostal movement today is people being “slain in the Spirit.” Like other supernatural manifestations, this demonstration of God’s power has often been abused. There are some believers who honestly feel that being slain in the Spirit is not genuinely of God. They say it is only emotionalism, fanaticism, fleshly outbursts, mass hysteria, or some other such thing.

In the final analysis, however, I think there is ample evidence that being slain in the Spirit is a definite sign of the presence and power of God. It is not something modern Charismatics thought up or manufactured. It has been around for hundreds of years, and, as long as believers yield to the power of the Holy Spirit, this manifestation will continue until Jesus comes.

– 1 – 

What is being “slain in the Spirit”?

Have you ever seen electricity? Of course not. No one has. Yet every day we see what it can do. And some of us have felt it if we happened to touch a live electrical wire. If enough electrical current went through our bodies, we probably were knocked flat. Too much electrical power will even cause death.

God’s power is greater than any volt of electricity could ever be. While electricity is a natural power, God’s power is supernatural. It, too, is invisible, but we can see what it does. People are healed, baptized in the Holy Spirit, prophesy, and do other supernatural things when God’s power comes upon them. 

At times, we also feel God’s power. Some people experience it as warmth in their bodies or a feeling of lightness. But, just like a massive volt of electricity, sometimes God’s presence comes upon an individual with overpowering force. The supernatural touches the natural, and the person falls under the power of God. We call this being “slain in the Spirit.”

– 2 –

My first experience with this manifestation

I did not grow up in a Pentecostal church and did not know about the different manifestations of the Spirit. I knew that something was lacking in my life, and when I came into the Pentecostal experience as a teenager, I found the joy, peace, contentment, and satisfaction I’d been looking for but had been unable to find.

When I was still a young Christian, the Lord called me into ministry. I didn’t have much of a church background and I couldn’t afford to go to Bible school, so what I knew about the workings of the Spirit I learned for myself by studying my Bible. I used to drive our old farm tractor around the fields and pray and meditate on God’s Word.

One day just before my nineteenth birthday, I had been fasting and praying for several days, and God spoke to me to hold a one-week revival in a certain church. I didn’t have any formal training, but I’d studied the Bible diligently and had five sermons prepared. So I contacted the pastor of the church and he invited me to come.

The second night I was there, as people started to get up and come to the altar, they would fall. They never made it to the front. They were slain in the Spirit on their way to the altar. I didn’t know what was happening. Neither did anybody else. I’d never seen anyone slain in the Spirit before.

The next night there were as many people standing outside the church who wouldn’t get in as there were people inside the church. As the convicting power of the Holy Spirit began to move across the congregation, the people outside started coming in to go to the altar. I saw five men step inside the doorway, and – BAM! BAM! BAM! As soon as they did, they hit the floor. I never touched them.

In my natural mind, I was a little panicky by this time. But in my spirit, I felt a strong assurance that God was in charge. People started asking me, “What’s happening? What are you doing to these people?”

I told them, “I don’t know.”

One thing was for sure – miracles were happening. So many people were saved that the church tripled in number. They had to build a new building following the crusade. I saw a 21-year-old girl, who had been crippled by polio at the age of 6, instantly healed. I saw her arms… her hands… her legs straighten out.

The pastor came to me and asked me to continue the revival for another two weeks. I didn’t know what to do. I only had five sermons and he wanted to go on for another two weeks! So I would get up and read a text. Then I would feel the power of the Holy Spirit so strong that I would start weeping and give an altar call. I was only 18 years old. I had never seen that kind of thing before and I didn’t understand it, but I knew it was of God. He blessed and used me. He confirmed my ministry with signs and wonders and many different miracles and healings.

I didn’t know how to stop people from falling!

Then, a strange thing happened. Word of what was happening in our revival spread. And one day I got a call from the district leaders of my denomination. I thought they wanted to talk to me about the revival, so I gave them a detailed report. But I didn’t need to tell them anything because they had already checked it out. They knew the miracles were genuine, but they had some serious doubts about people falling down during the services.

I found out many years later that these men had just been through what was known at the time as the “New Issue.” Certain areas of the country were hit so hard by this controversy that some Pentecostals overreacted. These elders were afraid I might be getting into something that wasn’t of God and that it might harm my ministry.

They told me, “You’re a fine young man, but it’s very easy to get off into false worship and false doctrines that can lead you into error and destroy your ministry. So we advise you to stop this kind of thing from happening in your services.”

I went home broken. God knew my heart; He knew I wanted to obey. If I’d been the one who started it, I would have known how to stop it – but I didn’t. I didn’t know why people fell in the services, and I didn’t know how to keep them from falling.

I fell on my face before God and began to cry and pray and seek the face of God as earnestly as I knew how. I said, “God, just let me preach. Let people get saved and healed. Let them get filled with the Holy Spirit, but don’t make them pass out.”

I didn’t want any trouble. I loved my denomination. I didn’t want my brethren to be disappointed in me. I was honest before god, and He knew that.

Well, it never stopped, and I had a real spiritual battle over it. I knew I wasn’t doing it, so it must be God, but I also knew how the church leaders felt. So I learned to work around it. I started pastoring and eventually became the state director for the Assemblies of God youth program. At every youth convention and youth camp where I preached as youth director, I always asked the kids to kneel whenever I gave the altar call. I figured it wouldn’t be as noticeable for them to fall if they were already on their knees.

God gave me my answer in New Orleans

In 1965, the Lord called my family and me to New Orleans. I wanted desperately to do a work for God. I wanted immediate results. It wasn’t long before I became frustrated with this mammoth city. How could we reach it for God? What was the key to unlock this community? I had already run out of programs. Every day I loved the city more than I did the day before. I started fasting and praying. That’s all I felt I could do at the time. It was all I wanted to do.

I’d been fasting and praying for about a week when God spoke to me and said, “Invite Loren Fox for revival.””

I was stunned. I said, “God, I’ve only seen that man one time in my life, and I was 17 years told then. I’m 34 now, and for all I know, he may be dead!”

That shows how stunned I was because my next words were, “Oh God, I didn’t mean that. I know You wouldn’t have me inviting dead folks to come.”

God spoke to me so clearly that I knew it was God. 

When I went to my mailbox that day, there was a letter for me. And who do you suppose it was from? Loren Fox! He wrote, “Son, I don’t know why, but I keep seeing New Orleans every time I pray, and God keeps bringing your name before me. I don’t know you, and I don’t remember ever having met you. But if you feel this is of God, I want you to contact me at this address.”

I rushed the letter to him and invited him to come hold a revival. I had been praying and seeking God for revival. One day, I prayed, “God, I’ll do anything – anything You want. Just give me a revival.”

God spoke to me, not in an audible voice, but it was so clear I even turned to see if someone was there with me. He said, “Even to letting people fall in the Spirit?”

That scared me, but I said, “Yes, Lord, anything You want.”

That Sunday morning when I invited people to come forward for prayer, the most sophisticated lady in our church came up. I walked over to pray for her and reached out to touch her, but when my hands got there, she wasn’t there. The most unlikely person of all the people in the church had been slain in the Spirit. 

Loren Fox arrived just before the service that evening. After ministering that night, he turned to me and said, “Come and pray with me for the people.” He prayed for two people, and then he told me, “You pray for someone.”

I prayed for a person, and Brother Fox said, “Pray for another one.” So I prayed for another one. Then he tapped me on the shoulder and said, “We’re not going to pray for anyone else tonight.”

I was amazed. There must have been 200 people standing at the front ready to be prayed for. 

Brother Fox caught me and pulled me over to him. He said, “Son, I know now why the Lord sent me here. I’m not here for the people; I’m here for you. While I’m here, whatever I do, you stay close beside me, because God sent me here to help you through one of the darkest valleys you’ve ever walked.”

Later we went out to eat, and Brother Fox shared with me his experience with people being slain in the Spirit. His story was the same as mine, but he told me, “Son, it’s of God. Let God be God, and you obey.”

From that point on, I’ve done just that. I’ve learned to let God be God, and if He sends His power upon an individual so strongly that they fall, I just praise Him for it.

– 3 –

Why people are against it

There are many reasons why people resist and fight against being slain in the Spirit.

I think the first reason is because we don’t understand it. It goes against our natural minds. It’s something we can’t explain, except to acknowledge that it’s the presence of God.

Second, people are against it because it brings criticism. They are afraid of anything they don’t understand. And then they try to justify their fear by claiming the manifestation is human hysteria, emotionalism, or the like.

Third, as with any manifestation of God’s power, Satan does his best to imitate it, and abuses result. There have always been people who allow themselves to be used of the devil. They bring confusion or deception to a situation or try to belittle the manifestation that is taking place. And when that happens, other fearful people withdraw themselves from what God is doing.

Fourth, many people are against being slain in the Spirit because they are unsure of what God is going to do. They’re afraid they might make fools out of themselves or hurt themselves when they fall. And some just don’t want to submit to the presence of God. They’re determined not to fall because they don’t want to surrender themselves totally to God.

There are many other reasons why people put down being slain in the Spirit, but none of them is really valid. Being slain in the Spirit is simply a manifestation of the power and presence of God, and it has been going on for a long, long time.

– 4 –

Historical background of the manifestation

In every great revival of the Church, records show that people were slain in the Spirit. As far back as A.D. 202, it was happening. Writers in St. Augustine’s day recorded such instances. Hundreds of people would “fall under the power,” as it came to be known during the meetings of John Wesley.

It happened in Wesley’s services

Wesley wrote an account of the first time he ever saw this manifestation. As he was preaching, Wesley wrote, a woman sitting in the front row of the church suddenly pitched out of the pew face forward onto the floor. He thought she had fainted and asked if there was a doctor in the house.

Three doctors came and examined the woman, but could find nothing wrong. They concluded, “It doesn’t seem to be a physical problem. Her heart, pulse, and respiration are normal, but she seems to be under some kind of power or spell.”

A hypnotist stepped forward and asked Wesley if he, too, could examine the woman. Wesley gave him permission, and the hypnotist began trying to bring her around. When he failed, he reported, “I don’t know what this is. It isn’t hypnotism, but it is some kind of spell.”

The congregation began to ask, “Is this of the devil or of the Lord?”

“I don’t know,” Wesley told them, “but as soon as she comes out of it, whoever did it will get the glory.”

They waited. Wesley didn’t resume his sermon. Everyone sat quietly and waited. Finally, after about 45 minutes, the woman began to stir. The first thing she said was, “Praise the Lord! Glory be to God!”

“It’s the Lord!” Wesley shouted, and everyone began to praise God.

When all of the excitement had died down, the woman told the people how Jesus had appeared to her and had taken her to heaven. She told them all she had seen, and the entire congregation praised and glorified God.

It happened in Finney’s and Whitefield’s services

In his autobiography, Charles Finney tells about the first time people were slain in the Spirit in his services. It first happened in Utica, New York. He had been preaching about 15 minutes when suddenly people began falling off their seats onto the floor. Before it was over, 400 were lying like dead men on the floor under the power of God. Later Finney learned that these people were unsaved when they came to the service, but they were saved when they left. 

On one occasion, George Whitefield, a colaborer with John Wesley, was preaching on the courthouse square in Boston, Massachusetts, when some young men climbed up in the trees to see better.

When he saw them, George stopped preaching and told them, “You fellow come down out of those trees because the power of God is going to fall and you’ll fall.”

He waited until they got down before resuming his sermon. In just a few minutes, the power of God came down and people started falling all over the square.

In 1840, a medical doctor wrote a report of this special manifestation of the Spirit and how people in western Scotland were falling under the power of the Holy Ghost. 

W.J. Walthall testified, “At the time I was filled with the Spirit, I could not say what I did, but I was carried out of myself for the time being. I would fall prostrate under God’s mighty power.”

During a revival at a Swedish mission in Minnesota in 1892, the power of God would fall as the minister preached, and people would drop to the floor. And at the First Methodist Church of Greenfield, South Dakota, in 1896, records show that as God’s power came down, there were manifestations of tongues, healings, and people being slain in the Spirit.

It has happened throughout this century

This century has seen a miraculous moving of God’s Spirit throughout the world. There have been reports of the manifestations of the Holy Spirit – including people being slain in the Spirit – recorded by eyewitnesses since 1900. People fell under God’s power in Canada in 1907; in Norway in 1906; in Sweden in 1921; in India in 1905; in China in 1934; and in South America in 1908 (from With Signs Following by Stanley H. Frodsham, 1945, Gospel Publishing Company).

This is not something new that someone recently dreamed up. History shows that when God’s presence is truly experienced by His people, and His power comes upon them, they fall under this awesome, supernatural power.

“Don’t go to that church!”

When I first started going to a Pentecostal church, my alcoholic father told me, “Son, I don’t want you going to that church. It’s just a breakaway from this church I used to go to when I was a kid. People who went there would have a ‘trance,’ they called it, and they would have to be taken home in a wagon. 

“As a matter of fact, your aunt went to a brush arbor service that church was having one night, and she went out like that. We had to bodily pick her up and take her home. She didn’t come out of it until hours after we got home. That’s a weird thing, and you don’t want to get messed up in it.”

My daddy didn’t understand until years later when he accepted Christ that, when God’s power comes upon you, it isn’t a weird thing but a wonderful thing that happens. When the Infinite reaches down and touches the finite, it is a glorious and moving experience!

– 5 –

What the Bible says about it

I believe the Bible is full of instances where the power of God came upon people and they were slain in the Spirit. However, the terminology used in the Bible is different from what we use today. The Bible describes these manifestations as a trance of a deep sleep, but they are the same thing, I believe, as what we call being slain in the Spirit.

I don’t know exactly what God did to Adam in Genesis 2:21, but it says, “And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept.” While Adam was asleep, God operated on him and took one of his ribs and created Eve.

Genesis 15:12 says a deep sleep fell upon Abraha when the Lord reaffirmed the covenant He had made with him.

It is recorded in 2 Chronicles 5:14 that as the children of Israel were dedicating the temple and worshipping God, the glory of the Lord filled the temple like a cloud. The priests were unable to stand in the blazing intensity of the power of God’s divine presence. They had to go outside. 

Again, a few chapters later, the Bible says the glory of God once more filled the temple and the priests could not go back inside (2 Chronicles 7:1,2).

Isaiah 29:10 says the prophet Isaiah received a vision from the Lord while he was in a deep sleep.

Ezekiel fell on his face after feeling the presence of God in Ezekiel 1:28. He had another similar experience in Ezekiel 3:23.

Daniel also fell on his face and into a deep sleep after feeling the presence of God (Daniel 8:17, 18; 10:9).

The Gospel of Matthew reports that the disciples fell on their faces at the transfiguration of Jesus (Matthew 17:6). 

When the mob came to arrest Jesus while He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, the men went backward and fell to the ground (John 18:6). 

Matthew 28:4 records that the soldiers who were watching the tomb of Jesus became as dead men when they saw the angel of the Lord.

Paul, in his conversion experience on the Damascus road, fell to the earth as a bright light from heaven shone around him (Acts 9:3, 4). 

In Acts 10:10, the apostle Peter fell into a trance and had the vision of a great sheet containing all varieties of food.

When Jesus revealed Himself to John on the Isle of Patmos, John testified, “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead” (Revelation 1:17). 

These scriptutres, in my estimation, allude to experiences similar to those we are seeing and experiencing today. The power of God comes upon an individual, and he falls under the overpowering presence of Almighty God.

– 6 –

What is the benefit of being slain in the Spirit?

People often ask, “Pastor Gorman, what is the benefit of being slain in the Spirit? What good does it do me?”

Sometimes God uses this experience to give a vision to an individual, as He often did for the Old Testemtn prophets and for Peter in Acts 10:10. This was also the case for the woman in John Wesley’s account. At other times, He may use it to speak to a person, as He did to Paul on the Damascus road.

Many times in my experience I have seen people saved, healed, delivered, and baptized in the Holy Spirit while they were slain in the Spirit. 

For most people, however, I believe God uses the experience to make them understand who He is and how much He cares for them. It is one of His ways of saying, “I’m really God, and I know you. I know where you are, and I want you to know I care for you.”

I once had one of the men on my staff interview a number of people who had been slain in the Spirit. He didn’t tell them why he was interviewing then; he simply asked them to tell him about their experience. And every person, without exception, reported that while they were slain in the Spirit, they had some kind of manifestation or experience that greatly increased their faith in God.

“That’s the one!”

One night as I walked into the church auditorium for the six o’clock service, the Holy Spirit told me, “There is an unbeliever here who has never been here before, but tonight I will save him.” I walked onto the platform, sat down, and looked around. The auditorium was jammed that night, but about three rows from the back on the left side of the church, I noticed a tall, blonde-haired young man. And God said, “That’s the one!”

Now in an auditorium where the balcony is filled and every seat is taken, it can’t be a coincidence when you look at one person and God says, “That’s the one!” So I knew God waas going to save this individual even though I wasn’t sure how.

As the meeting progressed, God said to me, “Minister to the sick,” so I began to minister to the sick. After a few minutes, the Lord gave me a word of knowledge about a man with an injured knee. It wasn’t just a general, vague kind of thing that might apply to 75 people. It was a specific word from God about a particular individual.

I said, “There is a man here who has an injured knee. You twisted it, and now you have water on the knee.”

Now there can’t be 75 people there like that in one service. And sure enough, a man in his 50s hobbled out into the aisle on the left side of the church. But before he ever got to me, he threw his hands up and began to weep. He said, “The pain is gone! The pain is gone!” and he started moving his knee.

About this same time, his wife dashed out into the aisle and ran to the front. They had never been to our church before, and both of them were gloriously saved that night. 

Then the Lord spoke to me. “There is a young lady who was skating and turned her ankle and chipped a bone in her ankle. It’s her left foot.”

I told the congregation what the Lord had told me, and a young lady hobbled out into the aisle on the left side of the church. (Now all of these people were right in front of you-know-who. It wasn’t a coincidence that all were on the left side of the church.)

The young lady came down to the front, and as I laid hands on her and prayer for her, she was slain in the Spirit. And the Lord completely healed her foot.

I called out three more people. They also walked right in front of the man in the back.

God saved a family

Then I said, “God is telling me about a man who has been in the hospital. In fact, you heard about this church and came here straight from the hospital. You’ve been in traction for 13 weeks. You have had three surgeries on your back, and you’re getting ready for the fourth surgery to have some of your vertebrae fused together.”

Just then a woman in the balcony jumped up and began to scream, “It’s my husband! It’s my husband! He can’t get down. Come and get him!”

The usher brought the man and his wife down to the front. He still had the little hospital bracelet on his arm because he had to go back to the hospital as soon as the service was over. On his way down to the front, he and his wife passed right in front of the young man near the back. Everything was happening on the left side of the church, right in front of the man God said He was going to save. 

As the man with the bad back walked to the front, God said, “Don’t pray for his back. Hold his hand and talk to the people.” So I did just that. I began to exhort the people that God is a great God, worthy of our praise and devotion.

The man’s wife was kneeling at the end of the altar, her face buried in her hands, weeping her heart out. 

All at once I felt something go through me. It was like a bolt of God’s power. I turned to the man and he was trembling. I said, “What do you feel?”

He said, “It feels like fire in the lower part of my back. It’s not burning hard enough for me to say, ‘Hey, I’m being burned,’ but it feels like a warm glow.”

I said, “Why don’t you try to do something you couldn’t do before?”

He said, “Well, I couldn’t bend over at all.”

I said, “Would you like to try it?”

He bent over and kept on going until he touched his toes.

About that time, a teenage boy about 17 years of age came running down to the front. He grabbed the man and said, “This is my daddy. Reverend Gorman, would you help me find Jesus as my Savior?” That whole family was saved thern and there by the power of the living God.

“You came to be critical of me”

Then God said, “It’s time to minister to the man near the back.”

I walked back to where he was with my corless mic and saksed, “Sir, you’ve never been here before, have you?”

“No, sir.”

“You came here tonight to be critical of me, didn’t you?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You came because your friend beside you kept pressuring you to come.”

“Yes, sir.”

“When the first man came forward, you said that it was staged and fake, didn’t you?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And when the young lady was slain in the Spirit up there and fell, you told your friend that I pushed her down, didn’t you?”

“Yes, sir.”

“But when that teenage boy ran by you just now and grabbed his daddy and started crying, something touched you, didn’t it?”

He said, “Yes, sir.”

I said, “Have you ever seen anything like this before?”

“No, sir.”

I said, “Stand up.” He stepped out into the aisle, and I said, “Pray this prayer with me.” I started leading him in the sinner’s prayer, and he got about halfway through it before he hit the floor – slain in the Spirit.

I never touched him. I never held his hand. He had never been in our church before. He lay there on the floor trembling. And I heard him say, “God, forgive me that I ever criticized and made fun. Thank You that You love me so much You’ve touched my life today.”

Explain it? I can’t. Experience it? I have a couple of times. And I’ve seen thousands who were slain in the Spirit and I know it’s real. Of course, there are people who are healed, baptized in the Spirit, and delivered who are not slain in the Spirit, but we should not criticize those who do experience that manifestation, for it’s a genuine experience from God.

– 7 –

What are some of the abuses that occur with this manifestation?

Unfortunately, as with any manifestation of God’s power, there are abuses that sometimes occur. Satan is always going to try to mimic anything that God is doing. He is going to try to deceive people into accepting a fake experience instead of the genuine thing, or he will cause people to seek ane xperience instead of God.

Never seek an experience – seek God

I teach people that they are never to seek to be slain in the Spirit. We are never to seek ane xperience – we are to seek God. And if, as we seek Him, He decides to manifest Himself to us in such a way that we are slain in the Spirit, then that is wonderful. If we go seeking after an experience, you’re going to be disappointed. 

I have heard ministers tell entire audiences to come forward if they have never been slain in the Spirit. They say, “Come forward. The power of God is in me, and you will fall under the power.” This is an abuse. I don’t believe it’s biblical. And this type of situation usually leads to more abuses. There have been some cases where people have actually been pushed down. If these ministers can’t get everyone to fall under the power of God, then they just help God out a little and push the people down. I know this happens, and it is wrong because it hurts the cause of Christ.

People will use the occasion to get attention

Some individuals come forward for prayer and put on a show to get attention. They’re not really interested in seeking God – they want people to notice them and so they cause confusion and take attention away from what God is doing.

There was a lady who often came forward when I gave the invitation for prayer. I would line the people up across the front and begin to minister to them, and this lady would fall down and really put on a show. Finally, I had one of my altar workers talk to her. That didn’t work. So I had my associate pastor talk to her, and that didn’t work. And finally, I talked to her at the altar one night, and that didn’t work either. So I called her into my office one day and talked to her and that worked!

The Bible says, “Let all things be done decently and in order” (1 Corinthians 14:40). You can’t let people take control of a situation by causing a scene. You have to deal with it. When something like this happens, the minister or an altar worker needs to talk to the person and elt them know that what they are doing isn’t right. A lot of times these people just get carried away or they haven’t been instructed properly, and a word from the minister will straighten things out.

People will try to make a fool out of you

Another abuse I’ve had to deal with is people who would try to make a fool out of me when I prayed for them. If They didn’t get slain in the Spirit, they would denounce me and the whole experience as a big fraud. They were not interested in hearing from God or even being slain in the Spirit. Their motive was to show me up as a fool. But I want you to know, GOd will not allow an unbelievers to make a fool out of His servant.

One night I was praying for people, and there must have been 400 or more lined up across the front and down the aisles. As I was praying an laying hands on people, each time I came to this one lady, the Lord would say, “Don’t pray for her.” So I would go around her. I would pray on one side of her, and when I’d get back to her, God would tell me again, “Don’t pray for her.” I’d skip her and pray on the other side for a while.

I went all the way down one side and back, and when I got back to her, I skipped her again. But as soon as I skipped her, she caught me by the arm. She said, “When are you going to pray for me?”

I looked her square in the eyes and said, “I’m not. You had better be glad that God hasn’t struck you dead! You go back there and tell those three rascals who came in here with you tonight that if any of you ever put a foot inside this church again for the wrong purpose, God will strike you dead.”

I looked up and her three friends were beating it out of the auditorium. I told her, “You see your buddies there? They are running out on you. Those cowards sent you down here to make a fool out of me, and now they’re running off and leaving you down here.”

When the lady saw her friends were gone, she rushed out the back door.

Many times people have come for prayer who wanted to make a fool out of me, but God has always helped me. When I’m sensitive to Him and listen to His voice, He shows me how to handle the situation.

There are other abuses that occur, but I believe if we study God’s Word and follow His leading, God will give us the wisdom to know how to handle them.

– 8 –

Questions about being slain in the Spirit

Q: Are people ever hurt when they are slain in the Spirit and fall?

A: In my experiences of seeing people fall under the power of the Holy Spirit, no one who is genuinely touched by God is hurt when they fall. I know a lot of peop,e worry about that, and some of them won’t be rpayed for if they think they might be slain in the Spirit because they’re afraid they will be hurt. But this is not the case.

When  God’s Spirit comes upon you, He takes control of the situation. And God isn;’t going to do anything that will physical harm to someone who is sincerely seeking Him. It’s only those who are pushed down or who fall on their own who are hurt.

Q: If people aren’t hurt when they fall, why do you have someone to catch them?

A: There are several reasons why a minister is wise to appoint people to catch those who fall.

An obvious reason is for modesty. Often women who are wearing dresses are slain in the Spirit and the attendants can catch them as they fall to make sure they are covered.

I also think when you have catchers present, it puts a lot of people’s minds at ease about hurting themselves when they fall. Although a person genuinely touched by God will not be hurt, many people are still anxious about it. And when they know catchers are available, they will be more willing to come for prayer.  

One of the main reasons I use catchers is to protect myself and the church. If a person comes to be prayed for who has wrong motives and they fall and pretend to be hurt, they can bring a lawsuit against me or the church. And, believe me, there are people who would do something like that to hurt the cause of Christ. So I don’t take any chances. I will not pray for people without catchers being present. 

Another reason I don’t pray for people without helpers assisting me is because of all the weirdos who come to the altar pretending to want prayer. I’ve had women and even homosexuals try to take advantage of me. My altar workers have been a big help in preventing that kind of thing.

When I minister at the altar, I usually have one of my laymen with me. I will also have one of the women of the church nearby. I always pick a person whose testimony and life is without reproach, and these two attendants will help by protecting me and catching people who fall. If a man gets out of line, the worker will take care of it; if a woman does, the lady attendant will deal with it.

Why am I so cautious? Because God has done a lot for me and for my church, and I don’t want anyone to come along and throw a shadow over my life or this ministry. For that reason, I surround myself with people as dedicated as I can possibly find to help me deal with whatever problem may arise.

Q: How do you know if a person really has the power of God in his life so that people are genuinely being slain in the Spirit or if the situation is a phony?

A: I think the best way to tell if people are really being slain in the Spirit is to watch the outcome. Where the Spirit of God is really moving, you’re going to see people being saved, people being healed, people receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit. You’re going to see other supernatural things happening besides people being slain in the Spirit.

Another way to tell is to determine who is being edified. Is the situation just drawing attention to an individual or making the minister look good, or is the body of Christ being edified by what is happening? I believe when God manifests Himself to His people, it is to edify the body and to bring glory to Him.

A third way is to check the situation out with the Bible. Is what is going on biblical? Is the minister preaching the Word of God? Does his life and ministry stack up with the Bible? Is he is a real man of God, his life will demonstrate it, and you’ll see the evidence of God’s power in his life.

The Bible also says that we are to try the spirits or test them to see whether or not they proceed from God (1 John 4:1). That means, when you’re in a situation you are uncertain about, pray and ask God to reveal to you whether or not it is genuinely of Him. When you stay sensitive to God’s Spirit, He’ll reveal the answer to you so you’ll know what is going on. 

Q: Why are some people slain in the Spirit and others are not?

A: Whenever God deals with us, He always ministers to us according to our own individual needs. No two people are alike. Their personalities are different, their pasts are different, and their needs are different. So God deals with us in different ways suitable to our own individual needs and desires.

When a group of people come forward for prayer, God knows how to minister to each individual in the most effective way. He is the only one who knows how to do that. The minister can’t read a person’s mind or heart. Sometimes we can’t even read our own minds and hearts to know what we need. But when we come with open hearts, desiring to know God and serve Him, He will minister to us in the way we need most. 

Sometimes that means individuals are slain in the Spirit, and sometimes they aren’t. God is the only one who knows why. And if we are seeking Him and not an experience, it won’t really matter how God manifests Himself to us.