Which Way Are You Falling? Backwards or Forward?

The pastor pushed hard on my forehead as he prayed for me. He pushed as he prayed, and he prayed as he pushed. And I pushed my forehead with all my might right back against him. He wanted me to fall over backwards like the people that lay strewn around the altar of the church. He wanted me to fall under “the power of God”. I wish I could say all these years later that my stubborn refusal to fall backwards was because I knew that falling backwards under “the power of God” is one of the devil’s countless ways of deceiving God’s people through false teaching, but the truth is that I couldn’t stand the idea of a man trying to push me. So I pushed right back. The truth is that I fell backwards at plenty of other churches – as long as the pastors weren’t pushing me. But I didn’t just fall over backwards in churches. I had fallen utterly, and dangerously, and potentially deadly, for what the Bible warns about time after time after time. False teachers. False prophets. False teaching. False religion. False gods.

If you have ever done a deep study of the Bible, you will discover that people fell all the time. Over and again. Most of them fell forwards. They fell at the feet of the Lord. They fell in love. In adoration. In awe. In astonishment. In fear. In conviction of their sins. In reverence. In respect. In praise. In desperation. In worship. In crying out to the Lord. In desire. In need. In hope. In trust. In faith. In amazement at His majesty. In submission. In honor. In surrender. The actual definition of the Greek word translated into “worship” includes “to lie prostrate”. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary online defines prostrate as “lying with the front of your body turned toward the ground.”

Some people call falling over backwards “slain in the spirit.” The Merriam-Webster dictionary online defines “slay” as to kill (someone or something) especially in a battle or war.”

Which way are you falling?

29“I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31“Therefore be on the alert,… Acts 20:29-31 NASB

But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:13-17 NASB

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 1 Peter 5:8 NASB

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