Not until you tell me where your hands are coming from!

When I was about eighteen years old, I received my first job as a Library Assistant. I was new to the workplace, so I was very unprepared for its politics. I learned with experience.

There was a practice that I noticed among some of the workers at the Library that I hated with a passion. The men liked to touch, squeeze and hug the young ladies every opportunity that they got. They claimed that the habit was innocent and meant as a joke, but I did not like it, so I refused to allow any of them to touch, much more hugged me.

Consequently, these men and even my fellow young ladies used to laugh at me and told me that I was afraid of men. I remembered one day while I was shopping in downtown Kingston I encountered one of my male coworkers. Immediately he hurried to me grabbing my arms while he greeted me.

His action was quite unexpected, so I quickly brushed off his hands and told him in no uncertain terms that he could speak to me, but he must not touch me. He was very embarrassed by my refusal, and he walked away very annoyed.

As I stood by the roadside fuming in anger, an older gentleman came over to me. To my surprise, he told me that he saw my reaction to my coworker and he was very proud of the way I reacted.

The gentleman further stated that I should never allow those men to touch me because I did not have any idea where their hands were coming from. After all, they may have just urinated on the roadside, which was their usual practice, then they touched you with their hands filled with germs.

I felt justified by this man’s encouragement and so throughout the years wherever I attended college, or wherever I was employed, I did not allow anyone, male or female, to touch me unnecessarily while they speak to me.

Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to you all who are in Christ Jesus. (1 Peter 5: 14)

Nevertheless, I wish we would learn to greet each other without the careless touch. If you have to contact, try to offer a handshake. If you are greeting a close friend or relative, it is okay to greet each other with an affectionate embrace or kiss. It is the careless touching, squeezing and hugging that I detest.

A 1946 laying on of hands at the Pentecostal Church of God. Image courtesy of wikipedia.org

 I told you the above story to inform you that some leaders and pastors lay hands on you carelessly. When they touch you, they impart harmful spirits upon you. If they are laden with sin, you may become their scapegoat (Leviticus 16: 6-22).

Be Careful!

No one should lay hands on you unless God explicitly told them to do so. When they do, it is either to impart wisdom or other gifts of the Holy Spirit upon you to equip you in leadership or to heal you in the name of the Lord. The laying of hands to receive the Holy Spirit was something unique and different which I have to discuss in another post.

Let your hands offer the fruits and gifts of the Holy Spirit.

The Lord told Moses before he died that he should lay hands on Joshua so that he would be filled with wisdom to lead His people. Joshua was blessed by the word of God (Deuteronomy 34:9).

The Lord commissioned the elders of the Church to pray over the sick and anoint them with oil (James 5:14). He did not tell them to lay hands on you but to pray and anoint. Read more about the benefits of the oil here.

When God has given you the gift of healing, He will permit you to lay hands on the sick so that they are healed. God gave Paul and Ananias this gift (Acts 28:8; 2 Timothy 1:6 Acts 9:17).

Paul encouraged Timothy that he should not neglect the gift that was given to him by prophecy and the laying of hands of the eldership (1Timothy 4:14).

The Bible explicitly tells us that we should not lay hands on anyone hastily nor be a part of their sins (1 Timothy 5:22).

The Bible also gave us several examples of people who lay hands on others either to harm, persecute or kill them (Luke 21:12). They tried to lay hands on Jesus to kill Him before His time (Matthew 21:46)

Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. (James 5:14)

If you look carefully on many of these evangelical crusades, the ministers lay their hands carelessly and hastily and sometimes pushed down individuals so that they fall to the ground. The belief is that when many people fall to the ground by these prophets and evangelists, the more anointing they have.

This is a lie from the pit of hell!

When people fall backward on the ground, they call this slaying in the spirit. But is this Biblical?

Let us examine the word of God.

I have never encountered the term ‘slain in the spirit’ in the Bible.

However, some people believe that when you are touched, or you have an encounter with God, you will fall backward on your back. In other words, the Spirit of God temporarily murdered (slain) you.

This practice is dangerous and would hurt people if they did not have catchers to catch them. Ask yourself, will the Holy Spirit do anything to harm you or put you in danger?

Absolutely not!

Therefore, pressuring people to fall backward on the ground is demonic and is from the pit of hell, and I will make no apology for it.

Do not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in other people’s sins; keep yourself pure. (1 Timothy 5:22)

Let us examine the reaction of a few individuals in the Bible who had a powerful and revolutionary encounter with God.

While Saul was on his way to Damascus to persecute the Christians, he  suddenly saw a bright light and fell to the ground. How did he fall? Was it backward? The Bible did not state (Acts 9).

While John was on the Isle of Patmos, he saw the Lord Jesus Christ and when he saw His appearance he fell at his feet as dead (Revelation 1). The fact that he fell at His feet implied that he fell forward with his face bowed to the ground at Christ’s feet.

When Daniel saw the vision of the Lord Jesus Christ, His appearance was so overwhelming that he fell to the ground. The Bible stated that while Daniel heard the sound of the Lord’s words, he was in a deep sleep on his face with his face towards the ground. (Daniel 10:9)

According to the Bible when Christ returns every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Romans 14:11).

When you have a divine encounter with God, you must fall in a kneeling and face forward position in worship to Him.

As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God. (Romans 14:11)

If you fall backward when someone lay their hands on you, then it means that you are possessed by a demon, and you need deliverance.

Some pastors believe that while you are on the ground, slain in the spirit, you are receiving visions and revelations from God. This belief is total garbage.

Yes, you may lose consciousness when you encounter Christ because of His powerful presence, but He will never speak to you unless He revives you.

This fact was evident in the case of John where Christ first laid his hands on him and restored him before He gave him the message to the church (Revelation 1:17).

Before the Lord spoke to Daniel, He touched him and raised him to his knees and then to his feet and strengthened him (Daniel 10:10-20).

God will never speak to you while you are unconscious and not in your right mind. He has not given us a spirit of fear but power, love and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7).

So the Lord spoke to Moses’ face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. (Exodus 33:11)

My fellow brethren be careful of those who lay their hands on you because they can impart evil spirits from their lives unto you.

When you develop an intimate relationship with God and have renewed your mind daily with the Word of God, you will build your body into a holy tabernacle unto God. At this point, you do not want to defile it by allowing any and anyone to lay hands on you suddenly.

Only God can touch, heal, deliver, and strengthen you. Allow Him to do this. If He is going to do this through someone, He will first show you the person in a vision, dream or through your spirit.

Due to the fact that Satan has sowed his perverted and deceitful spirits among the body of Christ, it has become increasingly difficult for people to differentiate between the truth and lies.

Thus, the Lord has decided that the great deliverance move that He will do for the millennial generation will be through teaching and application of the Word of God in their lives.

God will not allow the enemy to destroy a whole generation so He is making a new and different move which Satan cannot infiltrate. If you want to be part of the mighty move of God, walk in obedience to His words.

Additional References: 2 John 1:9-11

Published by Beverley

Beverley has been serving the Lord since she was a child. At an early age, she recognized that God had a special plan for her life, but it was not until in her adulthood that she surrendered her total life to God and accepted the mandate that God placed on her life. The Lord called her into His Kingdom to be an encourager, intercessor, teacher, scribe, priest, and to proclaim the Word of God. Since then, Beverly has established a blog to teach us to become the oil and wine. The oil and wine are purified and mature products, which is the advanced level that the Lord expected of us. In 2017, Beverley published her first book, Harm Not The Oil And Wine. In it, she described her trials and how God helped her to overcome them, and to live more victoriously. The book also exposed the enemy of our souls with detailed information about his past defeats and future extinction. Wright spents most of her time studying the Bible to know the truth of God’s Word. She believes that only God’s truth can expose the deception of the enemy, and uproot and tear down spiritual strongholds. You can learn more about Beverley’s life and testimony on her website becomingtheoilandwine.com. You can also find her on Facebook and Google+ under the name of her blog, and on Twitter as @Theoilandwine. View all posts by Beverley