The ''Toronto Blessing'' is not new. Identical manifestations have been found in pagan religions for ages and now the New Age movement, as well as heretical sects like the Shakers (who believed their founder, Ann Lee, was the female incarnation of God and Savior).

Toronto Blessing leaders know this. Rather than repent, they claim that those are ''counterfeits'' and they have ''the real thing,'' or that these others just unknowingly stumbled on the way to ''tap into the Holy Spirit,'' as if He were just an impersonal ''force'' available for anyone who figures out how to ''tap in.'' He is often described as a ''river'' one can ''wade into.''

The practice of Kundalini Yoga is one of the well-documented pagan practices which produces these same manifestations. It is avoided by all but the most serious practitioners of yoga because it is known to be dangerous- when the manifestations start happening, though they can be exhilarating, it is not unusual for them to also bring about mental illness, psychosis, serious depression and suicide.