Falling Under the Anointing: Is it Biblical?

Yemi Olakitan

‘Falling under the anointing,’’ one of the most puzzling concepts in Christianity today has remained popular in many Pentecostal circles, the late American Evangelist Kathryn Khuman described it as being ‘slain in the spirit.’  Many have asked why people fall down when some pastors touch them, blow on them or even get close to them.  

In Pentecostal circles, it is believed that the reason many people fall down is because of the presence of the Holy Spirit, which the Bible calls the anointing. An example of this is in the life of Jesus Christ himself, the phenomenon occurred in the garden of Gethsemane. A detachment of soldiers and some religious officials came to arrest Jesus. Jesus came out to meet them and asked, "Who is it you want?" "Jesus of Nazareth," they replied.   And when Jesus said, "I am he," the men fell (John 18:6).

In a chat with Reverend Father Francis Emene of the Saint Thomas Chapel, at the University of Lagos, he said, ‘‘there is an adage in Iboland, which says that those who are mechanics do not allow one to identify the madmen among us. This is because the madmen and mechanics all wear dirty clothes. The Bible says that in the last days, I will pour out my spirit; it also says there will be many false prophets. There are many men of God who operate the anointing of the spirit of God and there are many false, occult pastors as well, whether, they are Pentecostal or Catholic, they can be found anywhere. The bible says that the devil keeps transforming himself into an angel of light in order to deceive even the very elect, ‘’ he said.

Speaking further, Father Francis said, ‘‘people like things that are magical and phenomenal when a man of God acts like that, they say Oh! That man is powerful but the Bible says we should test all spirits.’’

 On the origin of the concept of falling under the anointing, he said, ‘‘when Jesus appeared to the soldiers who came to arrest him, he said, I am he and they all fell down. That is a classic example of what the power of anointing can do.’’

According to American preacher, Tom Brown the anointing is a tangible element that can be felt.  In the Bible, we see an example from the life of Jesus in the book of Luke chapter eight. There is the story of the woman with the issue of blood who suffered for twelve years. She went through the large crowds to touch the hem of Jesus' garment.

When she touched Jesus, He stopped and asked, "Who touched me?" When they all denied it, He exclaimed, "Someone touched me! I felt power has gone out from me" (Luke 8:46).  Jesus knew that power has gone out from Him? He felt it. According to Pastor Tom Brown, this means that anointing can be felt.  The anointing can feel like heat or electricity,

‘‘I have felt it on many occasions. Sometimes I don't feel it but others feel it when I pray for them. I remember several years ago, a young lady and I were discussing the Bible. The conversation was on divine healing. Later, she asked if I would pray for her sore knee. She lifted her knee in order to point out where the pain was. I quickly laid hands on her knee, prayed a short prayer and walked off. A short time later she came to me privately and said, "When you touched my knee something went inside of me and I became immovable for several seconds. What was that?" According to Pastor Brown, the girl was instantly healed.

‘‘I also believe that sometimes people fall down because they are preconditioned to fall down. They see others do it, so they do it also. I try to discourage this, because I want people to focus on receiving from the Lord, not on imitating the group. I do have ushers that catch people, and they are necessary for those who fall down out of psychological need. I don't want them hurt, but those who fall down under God's power do not need anyone to catch them. When our church first started, we met in a school gym, and one time I had everyone stand up, and I prayed a group prayer for everyone without laying hands on anyone. When I did, a woman fell down hard on the solid, wooden floor. You could even hear her head plop hard on the ground. People rushed to help her thinking she was greatly hurt, but when she stood up, she said she felt nothing—no pain. She describe to us, "I felt like I slowly floated onto a soft cushion."

Pastor Emmanuel Onoja of the Hope of Life Evangelical Church said, ‘‘there is a kind of misconception in it; people believe that it is until you fall before you are under the anointing. It happens when the Holy Spirit fall upon you, falling down, according to the Holy Spirit is not a major sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit.  The Apostles did not fall down at Pentecost at the Upper room when the Holy Spirit descended on them. The Bible recorded that they spoke in new tongues and those that were with them were amazed. I am not in support of pastors; laying hands on people and everybody will fall down, that looks like magic to me.’’

Speaking further, he said, during deliverance sessions, things like that can happen to the person being delivered. We understand that it is a deliverance session.  However, the person that falls down today should not be the person that falls down tomorrow. If it is deliverance and the person keeps falling under the anointing when will the person be finally delivered from the evil spirits?  Falling down is not a sign that someone is under the power of anointing.  It can be a deception. It looks like deception to me. All the healings that Jesus did which one of them happened that way? Why is it that people do not fall when Jesus was healing them? We did not read that Jesus conducted a service and people were falling under the anointing as he laid hands on them.’’

‘‘The example in the Bible when soldiers came to arrest Jesus and he said, I am he and they fell was a demonstration of power. To me, that was not falling under the anointing. Jesus was simply demonstrating that although they came to arrest him, he had the power to stop them if he wanted. When one of his disciples cut off the ear of one of the soldiers, Jesus put the ear back and healed the man. He said if he wanted to fight that he could have asked his father to send him angles. It showed that Jesus had the power to stop the arrest but he would not because he was destined to give his life in order to save humanity.’’

Speaking with Evangelist Ezekiel Keith of House on the Rock Church, Lekki, he said falling under the anointing is biblical because no one could predict how the Holy Spirit walks and we need to be careful about spiritual things.  The Holy Spirit walks in diverse ways to different people and no one could criticize the work of the Holy Spirit of God since it is God in action. In the Bible book of Joel 2:28 the Bible says, the Lord will Pour out His Spirit28  “And it shall come to pass afterwards,   that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,  your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. God had already told us that in the last days there would be diverse manifestations of the Holy Spirit of God so falling under the anointing is just one of them.

In another chat with Mrs Akpabio Eno of the Catholic Church, she said, ‘‘no one can question the Holy Spirit and no one can understand his ways. His ways are past finding out.  When it comes to spiritual things, I tend to be very careful because they are the things of God. One may be condemning something because they cannot understand it which is wrong. You see, the Holy Spirit is the power of God. If a person is touched by an electric current, he will feel it how much more; the holy spirit of God, people should be able to feel it when they are touched by it. This is why they fall under its power.’’