In the following chapter, I will describe the phenomena which I used to regard as sure signs that it was God Who was at work in the Faith movement. Later on I came to realise that I had been subject to a destructive influence, and then I also realised fairly quickly that it could not possibly have been God that was working through these signs! I have since read things that show that it is not unusual for people to be led away from the true Jesus by such experiences and manifestations.

The Anointing

While in the Faith movement, I encountered a kind of spirituality, or an anointing that some people entered into. I saw people get into ‘laughter in the Spirit’ (also called holy laughter). They could be lying on the floor convulsed with laughter for half an hour or more. Apparently, they were influenced by a power which I thought had to be the Spirit of God. Others were so affected by the power that came upon them by prayer and laying on of hands that they were unable to lift themselves off the floor. They sometimes had to be dragged away to give room for others. They looked as if they were very drunk. In some cases people fell to the ground or back on the seats without anyone touching them. It seemed that an invisible power had affected them.

Once I saw a visiting preacher who was affected to the extent that he had to be supported in order to enable him to stretch his hand out over those who came forward for prayer to get an anointing to preach. The people who stood in the direction of this preacher’s outstretched hand fell to the ground without being touched by any human or visible means of contact as if touched by an unseen power. It certainly looked very impressive