Acts 10:10 tells us that as Peter was praying he fell into a trance. I've seen some of our pentecostal brothers tell me that this is evidence for being slain in the spirit. What are your thoughts?
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The Lord's Envoy said:Now this may be a dumb question, but what is a trance?
Good Ol' Webster. What do you think RP, can one induce a trance or is this God Given?rural_preacher said:trance - a state of altered consciousness, somewhat resembling sleep, during which voluntary movement is lost; a condition of great mental concentration or abstraction, esp. one induced by religious fervor or mysticism.
(Webster's Dictionary)
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I think we can (and should) set aside time for voluntary, concentrated meditation on God's Word and prayer. But I think that Peter's trance was something that God brought on him. God had a specific purpose for that trance. I don't think we should attempt to go into trances, rather, we should be alert and self-controlled as we are told to be many times throughout the Epistles. God works in and through us as we are mindful of His Word. We should be very careful not to try to "empty" our minds in an attempt to be influenced by the Spirit. Part of the Fruit of the Spirit is self-control.The Lord's Envoy said:Good Ol' Webster. What do you think RP, can one induce a trance or is this God Given?
What do we find? We do not see any of this practiced or even hinted in the Scripture. When the Spirit came upon Jesus at His baptism He came up out of the water; He didnt collapse and sink down! The Lord Jesus had power to heal even the worst cases of disease, blindness and crippled limbs, and yet no one who Jesus ever touched fell over slain. Nor do we find Peter or John touching people and causing them to fall over. They did not ask other disciples to stand behind those they were going to lay hands on, to catch them as they toppled backward by the power. The New Testament has no people lining up waiting for the anointing to be passed on from another, not even the Apostles. Can you picture any of the Apostles running up to people and slapping them on the forehead, or lining people up to be slain? No soft music or repetitive choruses were sung to set an atmosphere for the anointing to fall. No one yelled repetitive phrases like, Fire! or touch or More, Lord! So where does this all come from ?
Those who advocate this practice need to consider what they are really attributing to the Holy Spirit. There is no Biblical precedent for being slain in the Spirit as we see practiced today.
Followers of mystic eastern religions induce trances by starting at medalions of complex geometric patterns until they become unconscious and often hallucinations ensue. I don't know of God giving a trance to anyone, and I think in this case, he merely used the altered state that Peter went into because of his great hunger to get an important message across to Peter.The Lord's Envoy said:Good Ol' Webster. What do you think RP, can one induce a trance or is this God Given?
Christian mystic? Sounds like an oxymoron! When I think of the word mystic, I think of spiritualism, shaman, mediums and soothsayers. Christianity doesn't have anything to do with any of those.Crazy Liz said:Lots of Christian mystics have been known to have ecstatic experiences. Usually, these are like Peter's - while alone praying. Ecstatic frenzy in groups has always been much more suspect.
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