( A ) Slain in the Body, Not in the Spirit ----------------------------------------------------------------- [5] And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things. - Acts 5:5 [10] Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. [11] And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things. - Acts 5:10-11 [7] And Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD slew him. [8] And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother. [9] And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother. [10] And the thing which he did displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him also. - Genesis 3:7-10 [3] The sons of Judah; Er, and Onan, and Shelah: which three were born unto him of the daughter of Shua the Canaanitess. And Er, the firstborn of Judah, was evil in the sight of the LORD; and he slew him. - 1 Chronicles 2:3 10. And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man into his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen. 11. And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain. - 1 Samuel 4:10-11 [1] And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. [2] And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. - Leviticus 10:1-2 [61] And Nadab and Abihu died, when they offered strange fire before the LORD. - Numbers 26:61 21. And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them. 22. And the people gave a shout, saying, it is the voice of a god, and not of a man. 23. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost. - Acts 12:21-23 In the cases of Er, Onan, Nadab and Abihu, Ananias and Sapphria and King Herod, scripture specifically demonstrates examples of persons being slain in the body by the Lord Himself or His angel, but not in the spirit. It is in these unique situations that a man and/or woman falls down dead, physically, because of judgement by God. Therefore, with the help of this scriptural information, it can be concluded that God has slain people. God can and has in the past, slain people when His judgement has determined that such action needs to take place. However, clearly these informative examples from both testaments of scripture do not fit nor support the " slain in the Spirit " experience as is embraced by many the church because in these scriptures the slaying is a physical death and not a spiritual death. With this scriptural evidence in mind, let us next look at scriptural examples of those persons who fell to the ground due to Gods' presence and those who did not. ------------------------------------------------------------- |