Oddbean

they believe it is a hallmark of being filled with the Spirit, much like when they speak in tongues but its just gibberish no one understands. I guess you could say they believe they are overwhelmed with his power and cant control themselves which leads to the shaking and convulsing or running up and down the aisles, wailing, and all manner of stuff. I grew up in this stuff, always felt awkward to me. Im not saying it isn't possible for it to happen, but I am of the inclination now days after stepping out of denominational lines that this stuff isn't God. I can find no clear example that this stuff ever happened to any of God's people back then. The closest I can find is them lifting up their voices and praising God, and speaking in actual tongues (languages they didn't know of themselves). However those are far cries from wailing, speaking gibberish and acting out like this. The thing that most mirrors this is when they came across demon possessed individuals. One example being when Jesus cast out the devil from the little boy. 20 And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. 21 And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. 22 And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us. 23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. 24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. 25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. 26 And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.

oh yea, they get plenty of converts. IIRC Pentecostalism and the related charismatic/NAR sects are the fastest growing branch of modern Christianity. Many of the services are geared towards inducing an emotional response with a lot of upbeat music, promises of healings, blessings or all sorts and general acceptance of all things under the guise of "love". In other words, it mirrors the world at large's message of acceptance and diversity couched in feelings and emotional appeals. Grant it some of the churches withing these denoms are more strict and adherent to more sound doctrine, but that is the over arching theme of them. Especially the charismatic and the newest one on the block, the NAR. A really really big tell tale sign is some of the buzz lines they commonly use. "Take dominion" "Declare and decree" "Prophetic word" and so on. Some of these wackos who claim to be modern day prophets actually think they can command angels and can "release" God to do something. They think they have some super secret knowledge from God. Some names that come to mind that are obscure but still large are Robin Bullock, Kat Kerr, Timothy Dixon, Hank Kunneman, Kent Christmas among many many smaller ones Julie Green is another one that pops in my head. Then of course you got your high profile weirdos like the Osteens, Billy Graham, Joyce Meyers, Creflo Dollar and all their ilk. tl;dr yes, and its growing fast.

I watched a service for one of these mega churches once. It was about 80% their "rock band" singing songs, with people waving their hands in the air, and maybe 5% o the entire 2 our production was reading from the bible, but it wasn't even that. He took maybe a paragraph from I believe an acts chapter, then "explained it" in his bastardized way. And this wasn't a speaking in tongues church either. It's sad that people are so lacking God in their life, they will seek out anything that appears to fill that void.