Peter's Trance

[aReformedPatriot]

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?

 

[SumTinWong]

Hmm. Unless we have an eye witness to compare the two how can we now for sure?

 

[rural_preacher]

I think they are using Peter's trance to justify their claim to something that is not found in Scripture.

We are not "slain" in the Spirit. We are born again by His power. We are filled (empowered) with the Spirit. We walk with the Spirit. But we are not slain by the Spirit.

Peter's trance was a trance.


JMO


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[aReformedPatriot]

Now this may be a dumb question, but what is a trance?

 

[rural_preacher]

Now this may be a dumb question, but what is a trance?

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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[aReformedPatriot]

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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Good Ol' Webster. What do you think RP, can one induce a trance or is this God Given?

 

[sobresaliente]

It is important to note that in the Old Testament when people were in the presence of God they always fell forward on their faces, but when 'slain in the Spirit' people always fall backwards...I have witnessed the phenomenom myself and even tried it when I was ignorant...I don't know if anyone else was, but I was PUSHED. I think for those that get 'into it' don't even notice. There are even some horror stories of old ladies who fell back and no one caught her....she got hurt pretty seriously.

Sobresaliente

 

[rural_preacher]

Good Ol' Webster. What do you think RP, can one induce a trance or is this God Given?

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.

Check out this website for a good analysis of the "slain in the Spirit" movement:

http://www.letusreason.org/Pent14%20.htm


Here is an excerpt from the website:

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 didn’t 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.

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[aReformedPatriot]

My Friend, Benjamin, a faithful pentecostal minister enjoys the term "Holy Ghost Fastballs" to describe Benny Hinn's style. He's reffering to when Hinn just throws his hands out in a sweeping motion at large events instead of tapping them on the head. People apparently still fall slain. Just a side thought to that article.

 

[ZiSunka]

Acts 10:10 And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance,
11 And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth:
12 Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.
13 And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.

Hmm, I've heard first hand accounts of "slain in the Spirit," and none of them started because someone was hungry, and none of them involved having a vision, so I don't see the parallel.

Slain in the spirit, from what I have been told by people who are proud that it happened to them, is brought on by dancing and singing, involves keeling over in a swoon, not a trance, and it isn't accompanied by a vision, the people are unconscious when it happens. The experience that Peter had was brought on by hunger, not by dancing and singing, and he didn't keel over in a swoon, he was in another consciousness, a heavenly consciousness in which God interacted with him. Slain in the spirit is an emotional reaction to a highly emotional situation, not a visitation from the Spirit.

 

[ZiSunka]

Good Ol' Webster. What do you think RP, can one induce a trance or is this God Given?

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.

 

[Crazy Liz]

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.

 

[ZiSunka]

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.

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.