The experience of being “slain in the Spirit” often accompanies worship in Pentecostal and charismatic churches. It is attested in the history of Christian revival movements, and a certain basis for it may be found in the Scriptures.
The expression slain in the spirit is a relatively modern expression, denoting a religious phenomenon in which an individual falls down, the cause being attributed to the Holy Spirit. This experience is also known in Pentecostal and charismatic churches as “falling under the power.” Although the nomenclature may not have been in place for very long, it is generally recognized that the phenomenon (or something closely related to it) has occurred throughout the history of the church.
John Wesley’s journal tells of people who “were struck to the ground and lay there groaning” during his preaching. Similar phenomena occurred during the New England Great Awakening of 1740–1743; they are attested in the writings of Jonathan Edwards and also accompanied George Whitefield’s preaching. Charles G. Finney’s autobiography recounts episodes in which people could not move or speak, in one instance for sixteen hours. In the 1800–1801 revival at the University of Georgia, students who attended camp meetings “lay for hours in the straw prepared for those ‘smitten of the Lord,’ or they started suddenly to flee away and fell prostrate as if shot down by a sniper” (E. Merton Coulter, College Life in the Old South [New York, 1928], 194–195, as quoted in Vinson Synan, The Holiness-Pentecostal Movement in the United States [Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1971], 25). The preaching ministry of nineteenth-century Methodist circuit-rider Peter Cartwright was characterized by the same kinds of response.
On April 9, 1906, while conducting prayer services in a private home, W. J. Seymour, the apostle of the Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles, fell upon the floor, along with seven other people, and began speaking in tongues. This was to become a common occurrence in the meetings on Azusa Street, in which falling under the power resulted in speaking in other tongues. A similar phenomenon took place when hecklers came into the meetings intending to break them up; on the way down the aisle they are reported to have fallen on the floor, unable to rise. The Azusa Street Revival is generally regarded as instrumental in the birth of the modern Pentecostal movement.
During the 1960s and 1970s, being slain in the Spirit took place regularly in Pentecostal and charismatic meetings. As an example, during a revival at the Oak Cliff Assembly of God Church in Dallas, Texas, conducted by evangelist Marvin Schmidt, young people filling the church aisles in a “victory march” suddenly fell to the floor like dominoes. In another service during the same revival, two unchurched children, who had come for a children’s club and were taken into the revival meeting instead, fell to the floor, raised their hands, and began speaking in tongues when the evangelist stretched out his hands in their direction.
More commonly, falling under the power is a liturgical practice, which takes place at a certain point in Pentecostal or charismatic worship services, usually at the time when people are called forward for prayer for healing and other needs. As the minister lays hands on them and prays, the worshipers often fall backward to the floor. Specified assistants, such as church elders, stand behind those being prayed for, to catch them as they fall and prevent physical injury; usually a female assistant is present to cover the legs of any women wearing skirts, for modesty’s sake. After several minutes of lying with eyes closed, and sometimes speaking in tongues, the worshipers return to their seats. Probably a majority of charismatic churches do not regularly include this practice in their worship.
A number of Scripture texts are enlisted to support the legitimacy of the phenomenon, although the Bible offers no support for it as an experience to be expected in the normal life of the believer. Ezekiel (1:28) and John the Revelator (Rev. 1:17) both fell on their faces in the presence of the Lord. Jesus’ disciples “fell facedown” at the voice of God (Matt. 17:6), and the guards at the garden tomb “shook and became like dead men” at the appearance of the angel of the Lord (Matt. 28:1–4). Both of the Matthean texts may simply describe a reaction to fear.
Two important texts that appear to support the experience of falling under the power of the Spirit are John 18:1–6 and Acts 9:4; 22:7; 26:14. Neither of these occurrences are placed within the context of worship. In the first, the officers from the chief priests and Pharisees who have come to arrest Jesus fall backward to the ground at his word. In the latter, Saul falls at the sound of the Lord’s voice and the great light which accompanies it at his conversion on the Damascus road. This event closely parallels the modern experience of being slain in the Spirit, but there is no intimation that it is normative for all Christians. In fact, it is the uniqueness of the occurrence that prompts Luke to record it three times.
Thus, the phenomenon of falling down under the power of God is enigmatic. Although there seems to be no direct biblical support for it as a normal Christian practice, the fact cannot be questioned that Christians have experienced it throughout history and that those who undergo it attribute the experience to God.