It’s the kind of story the establishment media love.
“Religious leaders,” including Christian pastors and Catholic and Orthodox priests, are participating in a study in which they take psilocybin, the ingredient in so-called “magic mushrooms,” to see whether it “makes the leaders more effective and confident in their work.”
The very existence of the study, taking place at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, implies drug use is a legitimate part of the spiritual experience.
But Carl Gallups, a former law-enforcement official with decades of experience, a pastor and the author of several books including his most recent, “When the Lion Roars,” says he believes the scientists and religious leaders are meddling with dark forces.
“I firmly believe that drug abuse can be a gateway to the demonic,” Gallups told WND. “I have spent many combined decades in law enforcement and ministry. I have seen the demonic side that is directly connected to the use of mind-altering drugs. In those decades, I have spoken to a myriad of drug users who give almost the very same stories of ‘voices’ and ‘seeing things,’ and ‘contacting beings from the other side,’ and demonic urging to commit heinous crimes or even suicide.”
William Richards, a psychologist at Johns Hopkins University who is taking part in the study, told the left-leaning British publication the Guardian it was a “no-brainer” these drug-fueled “profound mystical experiences” “might be of interest, if not valuable, to clergy.”
Two-dozen religious leaders are involved, including Christians, Jews and a Buddhist. However, no Hindus or Muslims agreed to participate. All participants are anonymous.
Though the study will not be completed for a year, Richards reported in the Guardian that the experience does not appear to be weakening the religious beliefs of participants. Indeed, he is quoted as saying they “seem to be getting a deeper appreciation of their own religious heritage … they discover they really believe this stuff they’re talking about.”
However, Richards also claims many of the religious leaders’ concept of faith becomes less sectarian and “more universal.”
Gallups suggests such experiments, if they can even be given that term, present spiritual dangers, including some described in the Bible itself.
“Historical sources are replete with the evidence of pharmaceutical substances being used in satanic/pagan rituals – for the purpose of ‘contacting the other side,'” the pastor told WND. “The word we often translate as ‘sorcery’ in the scriptures comes from the Greek word farmakeÃo – the same word from which we derive the English word pharmacy. I am also deeply connected to professionals in the fields of drug counseling and rehabilitation, and they often give the same testimonies and insight. So, no, I am not a fan of these ‘experiments’ in mind-altering drug use to enhance or explore one’s ‘religious experience.’ The Bible specifically warns against the practice of witchcraft and sorcery – which is exactly what this is.”
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More than 70 million Americans are now taking mind-altering drugs, which doesn’t include the tens of millions of Americans self-medicating by using alcohol to excess.
David Kupelian, managing editor of WND and the author of “The Marketing of Evil” and “The Snapping of the American Mind,” has condemned the “creation of a nation-state wherein a massive part of the population – including much of the functional, productive middle class – is dependent on mind-altering drugs to get through life.”
Kupelian blames the spiritual collapse of the West and an aggressively secular culture for cutting people off from God and leading them into mental instability, forcing people to essentially drug, drink and poison themselves just to get through what have become chaotic, meaningless and painful lives.
“[A]s America approaches the final stage of metamorphosis into a totally godless and drug-dependent state, legal and illegal merge, the border line disappears, just as the line between drugged and normal, and between sanity and insanity, becomes increasingly blurred,” Kupelian has written. “Finally, all becomes drug-induced madness wherein man, cut off from true life and direction and meaning from within, becomes his own stupefied god.”
Gallups also says the loss of faith explains why so many people are turning to drugs. However, Gallups also suggests a more direct supernatural and nefarious reason why so many people believe they must drug themselves to get through life.
“People are lured to the world of mind-altering drugs for a plethora of reasons,” the pastor said. “Some turn to them after dabbling in lighter, recreational drug use. Others are seeking an escape from various painful life experiences, and some become ‘hooked’ by starting with legitimately prescribed drug use after surgery, or during prolonged periods of pain management. Regardless, drug abuse has become an absolute scourge, not only in our nation, but one which sweeps the planet. I also believe that in these prophetic times in which we are currently living, there is an increased level of global demonic activity and influence. I truly believe that the increase in drug abuse, and the plagues of heartache and destruction related to it, are demonic in origin and proliferation.”
And part of that influence, Gallups argues, includes journalists cheerleading the inclusion of drugs as part of an ostensibly Christian life. He believes Christians need to be especially on guard against such suggestions and recognize how the corruption of the church and the culture is just another sign the world is hurtling toward the end times.
“There can be no doubt that the lion’s share of the mainstream media are in bed with the spirit of Antichrist – denying Jesus Christ and the Word of God as humanity’s final authority,” the pastor said. “We should not be surprised to see the Christ-denying world and its agents of information exchange to be directly engaged in espousing the great ‘scientific value’ of such biblically forbidden activity. It all seems to fall neatly in line with the Bible’s clear prophetic utterances concerning the outpouring of demonic influence in the last days before the return of Jesus Christ.”
Extraordinary events predicted centuries in advance are unfolding now. Here is your guide to the prophecies being fulfilled before our very eyes. Don’t miss the bestselling sensation from one of America’s most prolific and beloved pastors. “When the Lion Roars: Understanding the Implications of Ancient Prophecies for Our Time” by Carl Gallups, available now in the WND Superstore.
