UHCAIan said:
I agree wholeheartedly. The manifestations of the Spirit are not bragging rights but are gifts that are given as the Spirit sees fit. What's more important is your lifestyle and heart! It was at time way back in the day the old saints told us that they would not believe a person received the Holy Ghost genuinely even if they spoke in tongues if they didn't "live sanctified and holy" as they called it speaking of the fruit of the Spirit. Speaking in tongues an lying in English; shouting and falling out but gossiping and destroying another person; the Holy Ghost is not schizophrenic or confusing!
I totally agree.
I will say, UHCAlan, that you have impressed me more than any other single person in this thread.
I'm not sure what I think of your experience.
I'm still quite convinced that God is not knocking people unconscious...those prophets you spoke of in the OT were falling down to worship voluntarily. No one laid any hands on them, and they did not lose consciousness.
As far as I know, there is only one incident in the entire Bible where a group of men fall over on their backs...
Joh 18:3 Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons.
Joh 18:4 Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them,
Whom seek ye?
Joh 18:5 They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them,
I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them.
Joh 18:6 As soon then as he had said unto them,
I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground.
This was definitely not a voluntary act of worship. No one touched them and they evidently did not faint or anything. And, amazingly, they continued with the arrest.
I don't think the Charismatic movement wants to claim this one...but as far as I have been able to find, it is the one and only situation where people are knocked over unto their backs under the power of the Lord.
There is Paul. I haven't forgotten him. And, since you don't seem to be too fussy as to what direction someone falls in, we do need to consider ol' Paul.
As you probably know, Paul was hardly a devout Christian when Jesus knocked him over. He had been present at the stoning of Stephen. You'll recall, I'm sure, that he watched over the people's coats as they did the dirty deed...
And then we find him raising h-ll with the new church....arresting and even murdering new converts.
Here he is, on the road to Damascus, with letters that give him authority to round up as many Christians as he might find, and lead them, bound, back to Jerusalem, where the Sanhedrin will condemn them to death.
Jesus knocked him down and blinded him.
I think we can safely say that he was not a devout Christian at this point.
Again, no one laid hands on him.
These are the only examples I can find of anyone falling over backwards.
Then we have John:
Rev 1:13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
Rev 1:14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;
Rev 1:15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
Rev 1:16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
Rev 1:17
And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me,
Fear not; I am the first and the last:
First of all, I'm guessing that any one of us, faced with this sight, might "fall at his feet as dead." I can almost guarantee that I, myself, would pass out cold.
But notice what Jesus does...
And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me,
Fear not; I am the first and the last:
Did John fall under the power of the Holy Spirit? Well, I could argue the point, but I won't. The fact is that he fell at the Lord's feet as one dead.
Once again, however, let me point out what Jesus does:
And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me,
Fear not; I am the first and the last:
Jesus doesn't go around knocking people over. Since the Holy Spirit is sent to us to remind us of all He taught us, it's pretty safe to say that the Holy Spirit isn't going around knocking people over, either.
What Jesus does do, is lifts people up.
I would expect to find the Holy Spirit doing the very same thing...