Practitioners of Spirit Slaying – causing people to collapse – use Bible passages as supposed confirmation that their practice is legit. They point to Daniel 8: 17, 18 and 10: 7-9. Revelation 1: 17 also is mentioned because of its talk of people becoming “as dead.”

But notice these contrasts. In each of those scriptural references, when a person fell, it was in response to what was seen in an extraordinary event or in a vision. The person was in awe, and in two of the cases – the third doesn’t specify – when the person fell, it was forward on his face. We also see this happening in Matthew 17: 6 during Jesus’ transfiguration.

However, in the Spirit Slaying phenomenon, the minister touches (sometimes pushes) believers or waves his arm before them. This results in them falling backwards onto the floor/ground, supposedly overcome by a force—the power of the Holy Spirit.

If we’re to measure all things by the Bible, and we should, then Slain in the Spirit doesn’t hold up as legit. That’s not to say that recipients don’t feel an energy or force that causes them to fall. They probably do, but you have to question the source of that power.

Since there isn’t a biblical basis for Slain in the Spirit, the energy/force is very likely not the work of the Holy Spirit. The concept smacks more of devious spirits performing flawed, counterfeit, signs and wonders.