"Slain in the Spirit" (slain in the Holy Spirit) is a very common term primarily used in Pentecostal and Charismatic circles.
While attending Bible college in Pensacola, Florida, at a Holy Spirit Filled Baptist Church, people being slain in the Spirit was a common occurance. It was usually when people went forward to have someone pray for them, at the end of a church service.
"Collapsing under the power of the Holy Spirit," sounds less dramatic, and perhaps more accurate. There's got to be many ways to describe this phenomena.
If Pharisees and Sadducees were still around today, they probably would say something like, "That's not scriptural, and it's nowhere in the Bible."
Checked myself, through every book of the Bible, cover to cover, and found loads and loads of bizzare things the Holy Spirit did, or things happening as a direct result of the Holy Spirit's movement, influence, or force. One of the strangest was when Elijah called down fire from heaven and instantly roasted alive 50 soldiers, who were trying to capture him (twice). So, the Holy Spirit overwhelming a person, and causing him/her to collapse on the floor, is comparatively minor compared to many other Holy Spirit events in the Bible.
On a personal note: My brother had gotten Baptized in the Holy Spirit, describing it to me as an intensely emotional life-changing experience, and he also started speaking in tongues. I wanted it too. Went to the Bible Study, listened carefully, and my heart was like, "AMEN" to everything. Prayed the prayer with the teacher, expecting to get blasted by the Holy Spirit, as my brother was. Nothing happened - blah. The teacher told me, "You must accept it by faith." I did just that.
Two weeks later, at the Bible study, while sitting on the floor, the Holy Spirit started filling me up (from within, felt very cold, and hot at the same time) until I was completely incapacitated, and couldn't talk or move for about 5 or 10 minutes. No one even knew what was happening to me, but I knew what had happened. After that experience, when I went to pray, by myself, I started speaking in tongues.
A week or two after that, heard this guy preaching about, "hearing God's voice." Really wanted that, desperately. Followed all the instructions, also did the faith thing, and after praying in tongues for 30 minutes, every day, for one week, heard God's voice for the first time (a still small voice).
God told me that he loved me, then he told me unbelievable things I would do in the future. Everything he told me then, actually happened. Through time, the Holy Spirit has done and keeps doing amazing things, on His own, and sometimes through friends and I - not just making people pass out and collapse onto the floor, but things like in the Book of Acts, when the very 1st Christians started doing miracles by the Holy Spirit.
In the church I'm attending, it's quite textbook - a person goes forward for prayer. They first discuss the prayer request quietly, and the pastor or elder lays hands on the person's head or shoulders. After a few minutes, the person's knees start buckling, and they start teatering backward. Ideally, someone is behind them, to catch them, before hitting the floor. That can be a really hard impact on our rough cement floors, in our "Tent Church." Someone brought a large carpet rug, but people don't always fall over where they are supposed to.
A noteworthy observation: people started falling over in the Holy Spirit about the same time as when the church atmosphere changed. Starting in November (I could be wrong on the month), when you enter the Tent Church to get your seat, you immediately get a strong presence of the Lord vibe, which is hard to describe to anyone who hasn't experienced it (almost tangible). As we sing and praise the Lord, it's like the Holy Spirit moves among us, and around us. Then when people are invited to go to the front for prayer, it's like at a Billy Graham Crusade - some invisible force gently pulls you to the front (we believe that to also be the Holy Spirit).
Have a good friend, who had a vision (the Holy Spirit does that too) - lots and lots of people lying on the ground, slain in the Spirit. When I first heard it, something inside me is like saying, "start praying for that." The Bible is also telling me God will answer our prayers.
It's like, reading the Bible, and the Holy Spirit makes verses jump out, with your heart burning, and ice-cold, all at the same time.
So, call it what we like - slain in the Spirit, collapse under the power of the Holy Spirit, pass out from God's power, fall over in the Spirit, whatever.
Really like how Jesus describes the Holy Spirit in the Gospel of John.
Most importantly, Jesus said He would give us the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, who would teach us all things. He also said that all the things (signs and wonders) he did, we would also do, and more. Of course, we can do nothing without Him. That's what faith, trust, humility, and loving God wholeheartedly is all about.
Amen
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