Some Christians consider running aisles, and barking like a dog to be a form of worship.
Do you believe people barking like dogs, rolling, running, and jumping are forms of worship?
Having attended a church like this for approximately a year (sometimes every other weekend), I can say with great certainly in my own mind that this is indeed NOT worship of any kind, not in any way.
It is, at best, a complete delusion, and at worst, the work of demonic possession of unbelievers. I am more likely to believe that it is the former, although it could be both.
Many studies have been done, and I just saw one on a TV program that was designed to study this phenomenon. The study found that people's brains entered into, at the least, a hyper-relaxed state. This relaxed state helps to reduce and inhibit the use of logic/reason. It does not eliminate it, however, because most people would refuse, at this point in their consciousness, to attempt murder, strip naked, or cause themselves self-injury.
They would, however, be willing to do something that they believe in firmly, such as glossolalia ('speaking in tongues') and exorcism (being on the receiving end).
This relaxed state can be achieved best by using repetitive music, repeated suggestion, and mass-hysteria.
It's actually a pretty simple formula. You take people who desire
for something to happen, believe that it can and does happen, add in elements of pre-hypnotic procedures (repetitive music, repeated suggestion), and mix in the effects of group-think, and you've got your basic rolling, barking, and 'slain in the spirit' service, just add water
. Kidding, of course, about the water; forgive the slight.
Seriously though, it only takes one person who starts to do something, and then another, and then another, and then those who were more resistant (i.e., shy/reserved) will slowly begin, since they can have confidence in the midst of the turmoil that they are not the spotlight. However, sometimes these people can quickly become the spotlight, especially if they seem to exhibit demonic possession. At this point, once the individual is fully involved, it is highly unlikely that they will break the cycle; it would require a complete reversal of their current conscious state.
The practice of
glossolalia, referred to by the biblical gift of 'speaking in tongues,' is the practice of speaking in an unknown language. It is referred to by this complicated G-word because it must be differentiated from the gift that appears at Pentecost in Acts 2, where the believers speak in known, earthly languages in order to propagate the gospel.
The gift of speaking in tongues (languages) found in Acts 2 is generally quite easy to verify; you simply find a speaker of the language to determine if it is being spoken. Because this gift can be easily and wholly verified through empirical means, there is virtually NO reliable situation since the days of the apostles when we can say such a gift was practiced. Although many have believed fully in the gift, and really thought they could do it, all attempts have been failures thus far.
However, the supposed movement of the Holy Spirit through people during worship to cause erratic behavior, including barking, glossolalia, twitching, falling, etc., is impossible to verify. It is impossible to prove that it isn't from the Holy Spirit of God, because proving a negative in this case is simply an impossibility. However, trying to prove that it is from the Holy Spirit is almost as difficult, but such attempts can be evaluated.
When evaluated, all of these supposed manifestations of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of our wonderful Lord and God, reveal nothing supernatural in the least bit; they are entirely natural movements/sounds. The twitching, barking, howling, shouting, rolling, etc., are easily repeatable by those who neither believe in such things, and who don't even believe in the existence of a god.
However, one area specifically is often touted as proof of the Spirit's work -- being 'slain in the Spirit.' This ambiguous phrase does not refer to actual death, but refers to a sort of temporary spiritual 'knocking down,' in order for God to do some special work on the individual, or for the individual to experience a vision or word of prophecy, or for the individual to be exorcised.
Being slain in the Spirit has taken many varying forms and degrees, from the standard preacher touching a person and the individual falling prostrate on their back, to the strange and even comical behavior of some 'super preachers' who rock people in their seats by supposedly throwing the Holy Spirit out into the crowd like a baseball.
Aside from the obvious sac-religious nature of some of these manifestations, the claims have been believed and practiced by various churches throughout the world, from big to small.
The studies done have shown a lot of different results, but, as expected, none of our studies can prove any supernatural work is going on. We can prove, however, that most of these individuals are indeed not unconscious at all, or even semi-unconscious. Though nearly all of them are in a hyper-relaxed state that borders on hypnotism, virtually none studied are completely unconscious.
Many who come out of these movements, generally those who leave churches bearing the Pentecostal name, have stories to tell. Their stories can be read on forums specifically designed for ex-Pentecostals and their families/friends. I was a member of one of these forums for a short time, working through some issues I had with my then fiance's parents (who are now my in-laws). I heard a lot of incredible stories, things that I at first didn't want to believe.
These stories include:
1) People who purposefully faked their way through glossolalia (tongues), slayings in the spirit, prophetic words, etc., all in attempts to look better to everyone.
2) People who knew everything was false but did them because they were pressured by parents/family/friends. These individuals were fully believed to be genuine until they revealed themselves.
3) People who were told that they weren't saved unless they 'spoke in tongues' (which was defined as glossolalia). Some were even pressed to the point where they were demanded to speak in tongues. Others would tell them to say some random syllables, and make them repeat until it 'worked.' This was done in front of the church.
4) One church locked its doors and prevented anyone from leaving until all 'repented and experienced the Spirit's moving.'
It goes on, and certainly there are exceptions that ought not to be considered the standard, but 1-3 were pretty common and regular.
Here are some of the few things I experienced in my time there, with my relationship with my now in-laws:
1) I was told in various ways and with various words that I was a bad Christian, or not even a Christian at all. It was hinted many times that I would suffer punishment for not believing in God's 'prophets' (those self-declared in the church I attended), and this punishment was indicated to be here on this earth, and imminent.
2) I was told that I would be judged more harshly by God for not believing in his miracles and works.
3) Any attempts to verify claims, regardless of how innocently and non-judgmentally I approached it, were met with opposition; the opposition increased the more I tried to get any information I could.
4) Several prophecies were made about various peoples and the church, none of which came true (all of those that I heard in fact specifically did NOT come true).
5) Prophecies were made about me, one of which was a warning that if I didn't attend a deliverance/spiritual healing course held by my fiance's parents, my marriage was guaranteed to fail and end in divorce and misery.
6) When it became clear that I wasn't a 'holy roller' like the rest of the church, I was treated with a certain benign neglect; if I asked questions of anyone about anything, they would brush me off. When I approached the pastor to ask him an uncontroversial question about Christ, he gave an unrelated answer and removed himself from my company. When I approached the church's official 'dream interpreter' and genuinely wanted to see if my dream had a meaning, she, peering over my shoulder and looking entirely uninterested in me, gave me a quick, pat answer and then ignored me, preferring her more Pentecostal friends.
7) When the church was clearly experiencing a split among the Pentecostal/charismatic group versus the traditional/less-Pentecostal group, I was constantly barraged by the Pentecostal/charismatic group to side with them and defend their caused.
8) After numerous people left the church, one after another being displeased with the goings-on there, I finally, when the church had dwindled to less than half its original size, decided to talk to my at-the-time girlfriend about finding a better church. She was more than willingly, but feared what her parents would do to her if she left. Her fears were justified; after she finally gathered up the courage to leave, she was verbally assaulted almost daily, being told day after day how she is slipping into wickedness and godlessness, how she is being perverted from the truth by demonic possession and the teachings of Satan. Although she was faithfully and otherwise joyfully attending a local Baptist church close to home, she was treated as if she had completely abandoned the faith. She was constantly told that she was being prayed for, that she would come back to the 'the truth,' as if she had left it.
Even though her new church home was much closer to where she lived, had many more people that she got to know, and she was more involved there than she had been at the Pentecostal church, her parents treated her as if she had abandoned the faith altogether. Accusations that her new church was a 'dead church' quickly surfaced, as well as did accusations that I was leading her away from the truth because I was demoniacally possessed.
9) My fiance's (now wife's) stuff was routinely destroyed by fire, accusations of 'cursings and demonic possession' being used as the reason for their destruction. When my brother and law and his wife came over one time, they were led outside in the cold of winter, secretly without my or my fiance's knowledge, in order to burn old clothing that was part of a bad memory that my brother's wife had. This was in order to destroy the curse that was on the clothing (or other articles.
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This was certainly unnecessarily long and slightly veered from the original topic at points, but I think it's important that people know the common experiences of many who are/were involved with these kinds of churches. Behind what you see on the surface is often a far more sinister world.
