Why People Fall Down In Church

For years I ridiculed and questioned everything that looked unfamiliar in the church. I believed we are called to prove everything, to test everything that seems to be novel in the church. True enough. But when we move into ridicule we are in Enemy territory and can be rebuked soundly for it.

So I do not approach this subject with animosity nor with a light heart. Rather I hope to be seen as the objective reporter.

No I have never fallen down in church. I have never even gotten weak and trembling. A vast amount of the church looks at such a confession with benign approval and pats me on the back. But many others question whether the Holy Spirit has ever manifested Himself to me. After all, they question, how can God Himself show up in the room or in your body, and not be felt in some dynamic way?

Whether I, or you, or any individual, has fallen, is not the point. People are falling, and it is probably important that we know why.

If I may leave Christianity for a moment, it is a known fact that people fall to the ground under some sort of power in pagan religions. Hinduism comes to mind. When the human creation, frail as it is at times, encounters a being of the other world, something has to give. Or so I am told.

Now, back to the church. You will normally not see someone fall in a “standard” evangelical church, a Roman Catholic Church, or a more liberal church. Most falling is associated with the Pentecostal/Charismatic/Third Wave movement that stresses the external works of the Spirit.

You will see even greater demonstrations than this in the meetings of world-acclaimed evangelists such as Benny Hinn. There, the speaker may wave his or her hand over a certain part of the audience and the entire section will be on the floor.

There are meetings where, to get from point A to point B in the building, you will be forced to step over several “fallen” bodies. A bit unnerving for the uninitiated.

The church has always lined up the possibilities when occurrences like this are present, so let me do the same. What could all this mean?

Satan. As before, we mention here that falling-down experiences are well known in pagan rituals. So are healings, tongues, and all the rest. But is it fair to give Satan credit for everything we do not understand? I realize that there are bogus signs and wonders, for example, in the Marian movement, but does that mean that all signs and wonders are from below? There were Satanic miracles in Paul’s ministry, but Paul’s were not Satanic. No, the “Satan” theory will not work.
Self. Auto-suggestion? Psyched up mentally deficient folks who fall for everything everywhere? Well, here we may be closer to the truth for some of the occurrences. People often experience what they have been told they will experience. There certainly is the “placebo” effect that can work here. When an entire new ministry called the “catchers” has been instituted in many churches, one has cause to believe that pastors know some of the people are just going to fall, period. And they certainly don’t want to be liable for any damage done. But if a person goes to church or to the altar after church already knowing he/she is going to fall, where is God in that? Yeah, and the “courtesy drop”, whereby a saint knows that the visiting preacher is trying hard to get people to the ground, and just goes along with the flow. The human flow, that is, not necessarily the flow of the Spirit.
God. Is anyone willing to say, on the basis of a word from God anywhere in Scripture, that no person anywhere at any time has ever fallen down to the ground because of the power of God? I mean ever? I’m surely not willing to say that. Paul fell. Some argue that the soldiers in Gethsemane fell. The power fell on some military folks in the days of Elijah! The Assyrian army fell. Pharaoh’s Kingdom fell. One day every knee will bow, willing or not. I’d say it’s feasible that a person overwhelmed by the love of God or the goodness of God or the joy of the Lord or the peace of the Lord, might just fall, wouldn’t you?

Nevertheless, if God truly is in it,

Let’s stop manufacturing the fall.
Preachers, stop pushing on people to create a sensation centering on you.
Saints, stop allowing yourself to be pushed.
Stop the “drop” because you feel sorry for the preacher or because you don’t want to stand out as the only un-dropped person in line.
Be real. Be honest before God.
Churches, let the catchers ministry be dissolved. Whom God drops, God props.

We must not ridicule, we must not quench the moving of the Spirit. We also must not allow, in these awful days of deception, for anything that is not of the Spirit in our midst. What a difficult job this is for pastors. Those who are worth their salt will take the challenge though, and have a church that is full of the Holy Ghost, and nothing more.

Of course the bottom line in all of this is not “falling down”, but rather being overwhelmed in some way by God.