My partaking of this type of anointing started out as “holy laughter” and falling involuntarily under the power of God after the laying on of hands by a Faith preacher. Once having experienced this anointing, it was possible to go further “into the Spirit,” experiencing drunkenness without alcohol or taking drugs, levitation, leaving the body, and finally supposed visits to heaven.
Whereas, I believe that God in His sovereignty is able to cause any of these experiences, if it is His will, I do not believe that God is behind the anointing in the context I have described. The experiences are more akin to occultism and demonic powers. Some of the experiences could possibly be explained by psychology and are not necessarily either divine or demonic. Other experiences, such as levitation (provided they are not imagined), have to have a supernatural source. It is, of course, possible that some things can be imagined in a hyped atmosphere, but I do not believe that the levitation I witnessed was merely imagined.
The important point is that I was so impressed by these power encounters that I stopped questioning the teachings and practices that were connected with them. I was unaware of the fact that I accepted doctrines and practices which, on closer examination, turned out to be deeply unscriptural. I have to warn against trying to produce this kind of phenomena on one’s own accord, and to penetrate into the hidden (occult) spiritual world.
I do not believe that the people described in this chapter are necessarily deliberate occultists or shamans. It is more probable that they have been seduced into believing that they are doing the works of the Holy Spirit, just like I was. In my own case, I believe that I was a Christian who was deceived by these powers.
