The Evangelical Universalist Forum

Has the Holy Spirit slain you lately?

Sherman, I was going to read the rest of the thread before responding to your testimony, but there’s too much.

That is so exciting! You brought tears to my eyes – I would love to be involved in something like that. But I think you may have touched on a key element to the whole “charismania” thing, and that is this: Have we in the church become too insular, “ministering” to one another (which is good, certainly) and forgetting that the anointing for healing and miracles was specifically offered to us, His disciples, as an adjunct for evangelism – signs following? We have to manufacture “miracles” and “moves of the Spirit” because we aren’t seeing it on the streets. And since we, most of us, know that the great bolus of what we “see” in church is, well, just isn’t real – it isn’t really happening, and we know that, it’s hard to “work up” the faith to believe that when we lay hands on that half-drunken street person and command his mind to be healed, it’s not only possible but promised that our Father will confirm the good news of the Kingdom with signs following.

I have also had the experience of being “slain in the Spirit” which, I’m convinced, is for most people a voluntary yielding to what is expected (Fall down; we promise someone will be there to catch you so you won’t be hurt. If you’re wearing a dress, don’t worry; the nice church lady will have a cloth draped over your legs before you reach the floor.) The only time I ever felt anything even approaching “overpowering” was once when Kenneth Hagin laid hands on me. It was like a white kind of “power” rising up in me, but before it got all the way to my head, he moved on and it subsided. I tried to yield to it, but you know, it just wasn’t happening. But I’ve had what I would call visions and I’ve seen miracles (from my own hands, which I knew to be miracles first-hand) – instantaneous miracles and nearly instantaneous, and in a couple of serious situations. If it hadn’t been serious I would probably not have had the nerve to act.

So, I DO believe in the power of God, and yeah, I even believe He does weird things to people sometimes (but not to me, thus far). I can sense His presence when I turn my heart toward Him. Yes, I could lie to myself (and convince myself, too) and make reasons why that stuff didn’t happen or was a coincidence and would have happened in any case, and I’m only deceiving myself and so on – or that it’s some kind of snake spirit-of-power seated a couple of inches below my navel and not really God in me at all. But I never could get into the laughing thing, let alone the shaking and shivering. God just never did that to me, and for a long time I thought there was something wrong with me, that I couldn’t let go and yield to Him like the others did. Now I wonder whether they weren’t faking it in the hope of making it, too. :laughing: Although I’m sure it was real for at least some of them.

Anyway, my thoughts. Sherman, I want to go out prayer walking with you, Bro! Nothing like that ever happens to me. :wink:

Blessings, Cindy

Cindy- I share your wonderment at Sherman’s testimonies and would willingly join you two on that prayer walk if we lived near by. :smiley: I’ve been thinking about all these signs and you have mentioned what I’ve been thinking: real signs and miracles accompanied the followers of Jesus as they shared the good news. It seems that these signs and miracles served to ‘prove’ that what these ‘Christians’ were telling people was true. Shouldn’t that be the case today? You and Sherman are very blessed to have witnessed real miracles but I have only seen the dodgy ones e.g people saying they don’t need their walking stick, and then next week they walk in with said walking stick, or someone who had some internal problem that you can’t see, but is now better. We never see the real change that Sherman experinced with the drug addict. I do believe that God can still do these kind of miracles through people, but maybe not enough people have the right attitude or faith to be able to allow these miracles.

Cindy, yep I think you’re on the money when it comes to why we do not see more miracles. I’m reminded that the number one reason that is recorded for Jesus performing miracles was because He looked on the people and had compassion on them. He saw their deepest needs and was moved to meet those needs. He saw the needs of the lost because he walked among them and did not isolate himself.

Another miracle I saw happened when I was at a camp for the physically and mentally handicapped, in FL. I was a counselor, helping the young pastor who set it up. One morning we woke early and were saddened to learn that it was expected to rain all day. As we talked and prayed together under the outdoor shelter, as the sun rose we could see a huge black thunderhead coming our way. It would have ruined the day for the campers so we prayed and then told the storm that it could not come near the camp. Well, it continue towards us, but then we watched it split and surround us, and stayed that way all day. Most of the day the wind was a breeze with a cooling mist, but no rain. It was probably the most comfortable day the whole week we were there. We had a great time.

On the other hand, in chapel that evening the Lord had something to teach me. During worship I stood in the back watching the campers and praying for them. One young man raised his hands and staired up at the ceiling and just sat there transfixed. He was one of the least responsive of the handicapped there. I didn’t even know if he knew what was going on around him, though he did seem to respond to music with some movement, like raising his hands that night. Anyhow, as I was watching him, I started feeling so sorry for him, pity, thinking he’s missing out on so much. The Lord spoke to me though and said, “Hey, don’t feel sorry for him; you have no idea what I’m showing him!” And I had the sense that God was opening up the heavens to this young man, blessing him with a spiritual revelation that I can only imagine, angles, maybe even the very throne of God, or the Lamb. Talk about an about-face! I had the distinct feeling that I was the one missing-out, that needed to be pitied! After that I began to see the campers in a different light. Yes they had physical and metal challenges in comparison with what is “normal”, but not only do we not know all that God is doing in them, but we don’t even know what is “normal”. What God showed me freed me up to love and respect the campers more when I didn’t even know I wasn’t loving and respecting them as much as the deserved.

So I saw a miracle in that it did not rain on us all day, but the greatest miracle was worked in my heart when I came to see others who were different from me in a greater light, not as deserving my “pity” but as wholly loved by God and blessed in ways that are beyond my comprehension. We all have struggles, challenges, simply because of being born in this present evil age, but is it worse to be crippled in body or in our soul. I find that those with the least physical challenges often have the most difficult spiritual challenges - like pride and self-righteousness which plagued, enslaved my soul for so many years.

20…“**Blessed **are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 **Blessed **are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
**Blessed **are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
22 **Blessed **are you when people hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil,
because of the Son of Man.

23 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven.
For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.

24 “But **woe **to you who are rich,
for you have already received your comfort.
25 **Woe **to you who are **well fed **now,
for you will go hungry.
**Woe **to you who **laugh **now,
for you will mourn and weep.
26 **Woe **to you when everyone speaks well of you,
for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.

What worries me about the story of the rich man and Lazarus is that I’m a “rich man”! So blessed in many physical ways, and yet such a mess deep inside! One thing that gives me great hope though is that over the last few years, since coming to believe in UR, the number of people who have been speaking evil of me has greatly increased! Hallelujah!!! Wahooo!!!

On my grave marker (if there is one) I hope that it can some day truthfully be written - “He loved the hell out of people!”

Sherman, you’re a blessing. :smiley:

I agree! Hilarious! My Catholic friends especially found it funny!

I wouldn’t give it a wide berth. You want to be more in contact with the Spirit not less. It is possible to be spiritually dry.

So people being slain in the spirit may be more spiritually wet. I haven’t fallen down yet but I have had other experiences.

A preacher I know explained once how as a little boy he would crawl under pews and get in the ladies handbags. A lot of the ladies were slain in the spirit…the reason he knew for sure that it actually happened is that they were falling on concrete.

Falling on concrete is quite a risk to take to fake being slain in the spirit.

We worship a personal God so expect Him to get personal…Welcome it. Getting personal is a sign of a healthy relationship.

People will “risk” most anything for acceptance… be that perceived acceptance of God, or others; and there’s nothing quite like religianity to foster such conditionality.

I don’t know if it’s that much about acceptance, Davo. Well, maybe it is. Most places they have the men stand behind and catch you, so it’s not that big a deal. IME, it’s not that much about being slain in the Spirit, though. I do think it’s a real experience in some cases, but I’ve seen people get hurt (once to the point of requiring stitches) sometimes if the guys were on the other side of the room. :frowning: This is NOT a good thing especially, when the person doing the falling is an old lady.

Plus, I discovered long ago (to my rather naive shock) that preachers have the same tendency most of us have when it comes to stories. Every time you revisit a memory, you change it; whether consciously or not. Generally, the changes go more in the direction of ever-so-slight embellishments rather than toward making the story more boring (and possibly more in accord with the facts, whatever facts are.) When you pile up these little embellishments over a period of time, they make some amazing stories. I’m all for experiencing the power of the Spirit. ALL for it. I’m not into showmanship, though. Much of the time, in my own experience, there’s a lot of showmanship in these kinds of meetings. I’m not happy about this, not feeling superior or anything. This is just the way of things, sadly. We think we have to have spectacular displays of “power,” but that doesn’t really do anything to grow the Kingdom of God.

Well, I had three exposures. Some multiple times:

Once a few years ago, in the rural south. A “full gospel” Pentecostal minister touched me. He said the Holy Spirit had something I been wanting for a long time. I could feel the power and a message was communicated.
I know a Roman Catholic priest, with the gift of healing and the power to hear God’s voice. I’ve been to several of his services and I have fallen down at times. He does the healing service after the mass.
There used to be a Catholic priest give healing services but he is now passed. My mom joined me for some of his Christmas dinners.

And they do have volunteers in the services I’ve attended, who stand behind you and glide you down, if that’s what your direction is. Nobody lets you just fall.

Here’s how you can tell the real from the non-real. Folks on TV like Benny Hinn, Leroy Jenkins, etc., show folks always being healing immediately. I know what the reality is, as the Catholic priests and even Native medicine men have told me. Some are healed immediately and fully, some not at all, some only partially and some healing takes a bit of time to accomplish. And another thing. The Roman Catholic priests are not multimillionaires from doing the healing and services - unlike folks like Benny Hinn.

Sorry but you need to go back and study on unbelief and doubt.

They are to be avoided at all costs.

The New Testament also says to die to self daily…For all we know the Spirit is giving people assistance in this area.

Nothing is impossible with God and God’s power hasn’t disappeared from this world just because a lot of people have gotten poor at recognizing it and claiming it with authority.

You need to read up on the believer’s authority.

You do more damage as a biblically uneducated Christian to other Christians than an unbeliever does.

Either there is dominion and power or there isn’t.

But personally I refuse to be a spiritual leper.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me and people with spiritual sense know to claim that verse regularly.

It is the favorite verse of Tim Tebow the son of Christian missionaries.

If you want to own the power and authority of God then you claim it.

The devil likes to discourage people from claiming God’s power but that is exactly what people need and what resurrection is all about.

The Power of God in You.

An anointed study by William R. Cunningham with many enabling verses for people to look up and meditate upon.

pursuingthetruth.org/sermons … dinyou.htm

I personally know about God’s power from my mother’s testimony.

She used to suffer from epilepsy and depression. But God cast the epilepsy from her. Oftentimes reading scripture regularly will cast out an epileptic spirit.

And there was nothing normal about her going down in an epileptic seizure in the grocery store checkout line with a seizure.

A few years after that she told me God had taken her epilepsy away and she threw her Dilantin away.

Then while she was suffering depression God started to push her out of bed to get up and write God themed poems…She told me that He did this several days in a row until she started to get up on her own.

She wrote a booklet called 140 Inspiring Sonnets which she mailed to heads of state around the world encouraging peacemaking.

I have dozens of the letters those heads of state sent back thanking her for her poetry book.

Reagan, LBJ, Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Golda Meir, Ladies in Waiting to the Queen of England, etc…

I have dozens of these letters she called her “collection” and I think I may have to start a museum for them…but they really belong to God.

You want to get spiritually wet and experience a miracle then go back to the bible and start practicing what God tells us instead of this weak man made imitation spiritual junk food religion that we have now and most churches feed us.

Start fasting …start praying…start reading…start seeking God for the answers…Get active and see if God doesn’t respond to you when you get serious.

The worst thing that could happen to us is that we could get stuck in pews instead of going places for God.

Seven Signs of Spiritual Dryness

enlivenpublishing.com/blog/2 … l-dryness/

If you don’t believe my witness then how about the witness of Jesus?

Matthew 22:29 in the letters in red “Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.”

Oh here’s a good one.

Luke 9:1

Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.

We still have the Great Commission to do and Jesus left everyone powerless to do it?

face palm. :open_mouth:

Praise you, Lord for this verse.

Acts1:8 in red letters:

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

So what is the 5th word in that verse?

Yes…you see it now…POWER!

Here’s a couple things I’ll share, that folks might find useful

First is a prayer from Christian mystic Tiffany Snow

Second is something I’ve learned from observing a Native American with a heart condition. He want to the white hospitals and doctors. But he also went to the medicine men, medicine women and ceremonies, of the Lakota people. When I asked about this, I was told the spiritual healing also makes the white doctors medicine work more effectively. Since no scientific experiments have been conducted to validate this, I’ll have to honor centuries of wisdom, from their medicine men and women.

If you read Wright’s book A More Excellent Way

…which I have only read parts of…he tries to show the spiritual causes related to health problems.

I think medicine is holistic and so we have to treat the spirit, mind and body…combo treatments sometimes.

I am looking at KJV Matt. 28:20 right now and it says in Jesus’ words:

Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever, I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

Jesus never took his command back to heal people or cast out demons.

People have doubted and let their spiritual tanks run dry then made themselves of no effect by not studying the scriptures themselves on this question in detail enough.

Instead they took the word of other men over the Word of God.

I know a Christian Missionary Alliance preacher who said he prayed over a baby with a very high fever and the fever broke in the middle of the night.

Another missionary guy reported his arm was broke in 5 places until he had 4 or 5 Mexican ladies pray over him with laying on of hands for close to an hour.

He thought his arm would never come back but it recovered.

That quote of Snow’s is a good one. I need to write it down later.

I thought I saw the faintest outlines of a ghost a few nights back after my trip to disperse the Gospel but I figured it was probably the Holy Spirit.

I don’t allow myself to over worry about evil spirits because I know God has my back.

I ran into a taxi driver in D.C. who tried to put a fear notion in my head while I was delivering the Gospel…he was either an atheist or a Luciferian most likely…

He tried the paternal routine with me…but I blew him off…

It was quite ham handed of him to presume to counsel me when I only knew him for about 3 minutes.

Even your friends will try to hinder you with silly observations…

You ought to read Mission Network News. Christians in the West are deceived and don’t know what missionaries know.

Missionaries Pray Away Demons
mnnonline.org/news/missiona … -redeemed/