Picture this: a coliseum filled with crazy people whipped into a frenzy, arms flailing like windmills in a gale, eyes rolled back as if caught in a trance. The preacher, slick and telegenic, lays a hand on someone’s forehead, mutters a few words, and then—bam! Down they go, “slain in the Spirit,” they’ll tell you. It’s a spectacle, a theater of spiritual euphoria. And it’s bolstered by a handful of cherry-picked Bible verses that seem to suggest that falling flat on your back is a surefire sign of divine encounter. Oof! The alluring aroma of Scripture twisting!

The charismatics among us might trot out a line-up of verses to defend this bizarre practice, from Balaam bowing before an angel to Saul falling off his high horse on the road to Damascus. But let’s not be bamboozled. These verses, when ripped out of their rich biblical context, are like isolated stars in the cosmic canvas—beautiful perhaps, but void of the story they’re meant to tell.

First up, 2 Chronicles 5:14, where the glory of the Lord fills the temple, and the priests couldn’t even stand. Charismatics leap at this as if it’s the Golden Ticket for being “slain in the Spirit.” But let’s not gloss over the detail here—it was the glory of the Lord that filled the house, not some transferable, human-induced experience. The glory was so immense that the priests couldn’t perform their duties. It was an event that marked a unique historical moment—the completion of the temple—and it is absurd to think that such a monumental event is replicable every Sunday morning in church basements around the world.

Then there’s John 18:6. When Jesus identifies Himself, the soldiers draw back and fall. There’s a crucial point here that’s routinely ignored. They fell backward in dread and terror, not in divine ecstasy. This was not a beautiful spiritual moment—it was a fearful confrontation. The power Jesus exhibited in this moment exposed the frailty of human schemes. Twisting this event into a justification for being “slain in the Spirit” is not just a stretch—it’s a leap off a theological cliff.

Or consider Revelation 1:17, where John falls at the feet of the resurrected Christ “as dead.” The common misinterpretation conveniently forgets that John wasn’t in a collective, frenzied worship experience. Rather, he was receiving a revelation that bore the weight and terror of ultimate realities. In his encounter with the living God, there wasn’t a charismatic preacher pushing him down or smacking him across the forehead. There was the voice of God lifting him up, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last.”

Let’s talk about Matthew 17:6 and Acts 9:3-4, where the disciples and Saul are genuinely terrified. These are not instances of willing, ecstatic worship but moments of unspeakable awe or blinding revelation. And then there’s Ezekiel, who repeatedly falls on his face when he encounters divine visions (Ezekiel 3:23, 43:2-3, 44:4). Notice how Ezekiel wasn’t in a collective frenzy. He was encountering the majesty of God—a majesty so overwhelming that it naturally forced him to his knees, then to his face. It was a reaction to the weight of God’s glory, not an artificially-induced spiritual high.

All these accounts describe people falling to the ground in contexts of divine revelation, transformative change, or profound conviction. None of these are flimsy, momentary experiences induced by the laying on of hands in a highly charged environment. They are the polar opposite of what happens in a charismatic service where being “slain in the Spirit” is touted as the ultimate spiritual experience.

So, let’s not be duped by the smoke and mirrors. “Being slain in the Spirit” as practiced in the charismatic movement has as much in common with genuine biblical experiences as astrology has with astronomy. In Scripture, falling down before God as you’re moved and convicted by His word is an awe-filled, life-changing experience. But when it’s packaged as a weekly, replicable event, it becomes nothing more than spiritual theatrics, a pantomime that mocks the true gravity of encountering Christ. If we’re serious about biblical integrity, let’s not lend credence to a practice that’s so blatantly at odds with Scriptural truth. Instead, let’s fall to our knees in true reverence, discerning the weight and wonder of who God really is. Anything less is spiritual fool’s gold.