Slain In The Spirit
Francis MacNutt addresses many of the dangers and misconceptions associated with being slain in the Spirit that some of you mention in this discussion.
The power of suggestion there are a percentage of people who respond to suggestion strongly, but he doesnt think that accounts for the majority of people who are knocked out by the Power of God.
resting in the Spirit cannot be due altogether to the power of suggestion, since people so often fall without ever having heard of it before. Francis reports that many ministers and some priests, too, were surprised when they saw this happening to people in their prayer gatherings.
Some ministers who need proof of their holiness probably give off that message to folks who comply by falling down. Also, people feel falling is a sign of their holiness and may be tempted by this pride issue to fake fall. Francis recognizes this but concludes:
I believe that if the minister of prayer is a committed Christian, with reasonably pure motives, and if the people seeking healing have a basically pure motivation, most of what we see take place will be under the influence of the Holy Spiritaccompanied by the mixture of psychological phenomena that we will always find in our fallen human condition. p. 26
What is the fruit of being slain by the Spirit?
Francis has received hundreds of letters and personal testimonies of people sharing about the great blessings they felt they received by being overcome by the Spirit. Many report great peace and love and communion with God. Many report receiving instant healings or important revelations. A young woman told me she realized that she should forgive her father and felt graced to do so during the few moments she was resting in the Spirit. She was near tears just telling this story as it was obviously a deeply transforming experience for her.
Deliverance from Evil Spirits Most extraordinary of all is when we find evil spirits departing as someone is overcome in the Spirit. As I said earlier, resting in the Spirit is ordinarily quiet and peaceful, but occasionally we see an eruption of demonic resistance. There is often crying out and convulsions as in Mark 1:26: The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.
When we pray briefly for people in a healing line, perhaps one in fifty will exhibit such manifestations. Afterward, however, twice that many will report that they felt something lift off or depart at the moment of prayer, even though there were no outwardly observable signs. p. 64
I witnessed this one time during a Mahesh Chavda meeting in which he had invited Chris Harvey to pray for us. I was standing in a long line with about 3 dozen others. I went down like a ton of bricks when Chris came near me (I dont even think he touched me). The man immediately to my right fell down beside me and then, to everyones surprise (even horror), he began wailing and wailing in the strangest way Ive ever heard, a mix of wailing and roaring. It was like a deep, supernatural cry, not merely a human cry. Oh my God, it sends chills through me just remembering it. He was clearly being delivered, it felt to me, of some deep torment. I wanted to talk with that man, but he never returned for the rest of the conference. That night, I tell you the truth, I slept in the Spirit for the entire 6 hours of sleep. There is nothing like it
being literally asleep but aware of floating in heaven at the same time. And I felt an incredible peace for a few weeks after that.
Francis writes: In summary, I find that resting in the Spirit is a marvelous ministry gift that often leads people to experience the love of Jesus, lasting healing and deliverance. Evangelists Charles and Frances Hunter reached a similar conclusion
We do not pretend to understand this supernatural manifestation of Gods power
The first time it ever happened to us was shocking! While we were praying for a woman at the alter
she had been touched by the power of God and was lying on the floor. A short time later, this recurred. Again, only once during a service. Then a few months later it happened again. Each time it came as a complete surprise to us. Neither of us felt any special anointing
nothing. Then came February 27, 1973, El Paso, Texas. The power of God fell in a mighty way. The power could be almost heard crackling as a Southern Baptist church had its own day of Pentecost. Somewhere around 100 people fell under the power of God. Probably the most surprised of all the people there were the Hunters. We had never seen anything like this happen in our ministry and certainly couldnt understand it, but we discovered an interesting fact. God often does a supernatural work in healing, delivering or cleansing while a person is under the power. p. 73.
John Wimber was not then nor has he ever been "the Vineyard" and not every member of the Vineyard always agreed with him. 
