Drugs & the Christian
By Rev. Dale A. Robbins, D.Min.


Today in America, the widespread abuse of drugs and narcotics is a cancer that has devastated our nation. Drugs are linked to virtually every evil and criminal activity within our society. While it should be obvious that the use of mind-bending drugs is inappropriate for serious followers of Christ, yet there are Christians who occasionally attempt to justify their continued use of drugs. Let us be reminded that if any person has genuinely become a “new creature in Christ” the Bible says that old things are supposed to pass away... that all things should become new (2 Cor. 5:17). Therefore, every believer should seek to put on the new creation of Christ, and to put off the old life, including the continued use of mind altering drugs and narcotics. Christians should not do drugs for the following seven reasons:



1. Drugs have a Proven Connection with Sorcery and Witchcraft


Revelation 21:8 “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”


According to W.E. Vine’s expository dictionary of New Testament Words (page 1074), the word SORCERY comes from a Greek word, PHARMAKIA - used as a noun, it “signifies a sorcerer,” one who uses drugs, potions, spells, enchantments, as in Rev. 21:8.


The english word for drugs, pharmacy, comes from this same root. Drugs and potions have traditionally been used in witchcraft and satanic rituals to induce deeper subconscious states which enable persons to have fellowship and communication with demons. Realizing the satanic relationship with drug use helps us to understand why abusers of drugs experience such bondage and depravation. No where in the Bible or in history have drugs been used to bring people closer to God - they have always been used in relation to bringing people closer to evil powers and demonic influences.



2. Drugs have an Obvious Affiliation with the Desires of Satan


In the daily newspaper reports, the ravages of drugs are continually linked with the headlines of Death, Robbery and Destruction. If this sounds familiar, it should. According to the Bible, these happen to be the identical characteristics of Satan.


John 10:10 “The thief [Satan] does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”


Satan is the evil inspiration behind the destructive nature of drugs. They are his own tools which, when persons are under their influence, accomplish his goals and fulfill his wicked desires. Understanding the satanic relationship with drugs, Christians should find it easy to understand why drug use doesn’t mix with a Christian life-style.


1 Corinthians 10:21 “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons.”



3. Drug use will Cause Others to Stumble


According to the Bible, believers are accountable to avoid anything which would lead our brethren astray or cause them to stumble in their relationship with God.


Romans 14:21 “It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak.”


For the sake of our brethren in Christ, and for our own protection from temptation, the Bible tells us to refrain from anything that may even “appear” sinful. “Abstain from every form of evil” (1 Thes. 5:22).


Those who are mature in the Lord are supposed to use their life-styles as an example for others to follow. They deny selfish desires and personal preferences in order to minister to those who are less mature.


Romans 15:1-3 “We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
{2} Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification.
{3} For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.”



4. Christians are no Longer Their Own


The Bible says that we belong to the Lord and we are to glorify Him with our body and with the way we live.


1 Corinthians 6:20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.


1 Corinthians 10:31 Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.



5. We’re not to be Infected by Mind Bending Stimulants


The Bible warns believers to not be intoxicated by alcohol, and (by implication) others stimulants such as drugs1 which distorts our thinking or alters our ability to control our behavior. Instead, the scriptures teach that we should be under the influence of God’s power -- that is, we should be filled with His Spirit which gives us the “buzz” of His power, His peace and strength.


Ephesians 5:17-18 “Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.


{18} And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit...”



6. We are Warned not to Defile God’s Temple


1 Corinthians 3:16-17 “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
{17} If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.”


Once again, we are reminded that Christians are God’s possession, and in fact, they are the dwelling place of His Spirit. For this reason, we must consider our bodies something sacred -- not something to be trashed or abused. The word defile means to “pollute, foul or corrupt.”



7. Addictions Are Not Pleasing To God


An addiction is anything we cannot free ourselves from, which overrules our freedom to choose, whether physically or psychological. As Christians, we are given power over habits and behavior - they should not have power over us.


1 Corinthians 6:12 “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”



Jesus Can Set You Free!


If you are addicted to drugs, ask Christ to give you power to overcome them, and He will. Don’t seek to justify your addiction, but keep reaching toward full and complete freedom. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name:” (John 1:12). Seek the anointed prayers of church leaders and other Christians -- God promises to honor their prayer of faith to help you (James 5:15).


Be encouraged. God will never condemn the person who keeps reaching out to Him -- who keeps trying to grow and make progress in Him. If you sin, ask Him to forgive you (1 John 1:9), then get up and keep moving on and growing closer to Him. And be assured, the closer you draw to Him, the further He will withdraw you from the old life of sin and bondage to drugs!

A response to the article by Rev. Dale A. Robbins from Derek Potter.

Introduction

Robbins has provided seven reasons why Christians should not take drugs:

Drugs have a Proven Connection with Sorcery and Witchcraft
Drugs have an Obvious Affiliation with the Desires of Satan
Drug use will Cause Others to Stumble
Christians are no Longer Their Own
We're not to be Infected by Mind Bending Stimulants
We are Warned not to Defile God's Temple
Addictions Are Not Pleasing To God
Of these, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 all amount to the same thing: "Drugs are harmful and Christians have a special responsibility, so don't do them." 1, 4, 5, 6 and 7 touch on the spiritual aspects of drugs.

Hard Drugs
It is, of course, debatable whether even hard drugs are particularly harmful in themselves. Much harm is caused by the fact they are illegal, which immediately puts supply into the hands of criminals and forces the addict into a deplorable lifestyle. This might not happen if smack were freely available without stigma! However, the scenario of a nation of happy healthy hop-heads is probably as repugnant to most people as one where "drugs are linked to virtually every evil and criminal activity". This reaction should not be dismissed lightly and is Christianised - quite legitimately - in reason #7.

Soft Drugs
If the "drugs=crime" equation needs qualification in the case of hard drugs, it comes completely unstuck with non-addictive ones. Many are legal, many are physically harmless and many do not pose any more personal risk than competitive sports. Robbins is clearly mostly concerned with addictive drugs but the majority of readers are probably more interested in recreational and psychedelic/entheogenic use. Robbins does not help his arguments by lumping all such materials together under the perjorative term "drugs" which he then equates to criminalised addictive narcotics.

Recreational Drugs
As far as recreational use of drugs is concerned, although Christians are often shy about mentioning it, the fact is that our experience of God can and does lead to continuous deep-felt joy and occasional hilarity. Indeed, the first account of the Holy Spirit coming upon the Disciples specifically states that onlookers thought they were drunk. Peter, however, quickly showed his clear-headedness with an impromtu sermon. Reason #5 is fully applicable to recreational drug use: Christians have a better high than any artificially induced one. Furthermore, it comes directly from the Most High and therefore always has a point to it even if we don't know what it is immediately. Seeking euphoria for its own sake indicates there is something amiss. For the Christian, a desire to get stoned should be a warning bell: get back to your roots in Christ, draw close to Him and then see whether you still want anything else.

Entheogens
"every believer should seek to put on the new creation of Christ, and to put off the old life, including the continued use of mind altering drugs and narcotics."

The new life is undoubtedly the core reason why Christians should not take drugs. However I do not think that Robbins adequately explains why drug use is to be regarded as part of the old life. Indeed, many people regard drugs as a gateway to another world - and therefore as a way of casting off something which could easily be termed "old life". Clearly Christians need to explain why drug-assisted spirituality is a sham.

For our purposes, a herbal DMT/MAOI mix (ayahuasca) typifies the witch's brew, despite the fact that in temperate Europe witches probably used atropine-laden plants for a very different psychological effect. Nevertheless, the principle objection in the Bible to witchcraft is the invocation of spirit beings. It's probably fair to say that whether you trip in order to get help from animal spirits for a specific situation or whether you fool around on the first bardo bartering memes with machine elves (!), either way you are effectively calling on spirit beings outside yourself.

"I can call spirits from the vasty deep" "Why so can I, or so can any man; But will they come when you do call for them?" (Glendower and Mortimer in Henry IV Act III Scene 1). Well, they'd better not come and you had better not go to them either! Christianity raises the distinct possibility that they are purely out to deceive you. Unfortunately, psychedelic experiences are pretty convincing and it's not possible to be dogmatic whether all such experiences are pure fantasy out of the mind alone, a meeting with real demons pretending to be something else or a total fantasy obligingly provided by a malevolent intelligence - in order to persuade you that the cosmos is radically different from the created world believed in by Christians. (There are other possibilities, but these are the ones that would be plausible to a Christian.) It seems more than likely that if you call upon spirit beings you will get them but they will hide themselves from you. If you experience such beings it is probably an illusion. In short, the problem with this kind of drug use is not so much the drug but the fact you actively seek to meet with spirit entities despite being warned that they are malicious.

God
For many people the prize jewel of entheogenic use is a profoundly spiritual experience of God Himself (as against any lesser entity). It seems far-fetched to attribute such a thing to malicious spirits - especially if the experience is unsolicited. However, it's not ruled out and, in any case, the possibility of our wrongly interpreting a state of mind when highly suggestible is as strong as ever. We need an independent measure of the experience's validity - it may be unquestionably valid subjectively, but is it true in an absolute sense? Have you really experienced God or was it just a vivid hint with quite mundane causes? (On a trip the distinction may become meaningless: this should tell us something...)

St John provides an acid (!) test: "Every spirit which acknowledges that Jesus the Christ has come in the flesh is from God; but any spirit which will not say this of Christ is not from God." Unless an experience points directly to belief that Jesus was God made flesh - and by implication that he came as man to die for our sins - then it is not God. LSD has been described as making a "run around Jesus Christ" bypassing the need for Calvary and faith in Christ. For the Christian this is simultaneously absurd and blasphemous.

Psychedelics
Where does this leave the experimenter who regards extreme states of mind as interesting or enlightening but who doesn't actively seek contact with external non-corporeal intelligences - other than as a fantasy sequence that can be dissed at any time? Well, probably in a much safer place! But the fact remains that most drugs produce overwhelming impressions of being in another world or state and these are bound to excite spiritual ideas. Simultaneous feelings of oneness and otherness, of empathy and alienation - even at quite low levels of intoxication - are breeding grounds for a pantheistic mysticism which is diametrically opposite to the Biblical concept of a creator God. Of course, some people think their philosophy can transcend and encompass the Biblical view, but the Biblical theology claims to be a monopoly so they can't both be right. The Christian should have made up his or her mind. It may even be with some regret that we have to say we won't experiment with mind-expansion. After all, it's a fascinating subject, yet at its heart is a world-view that is incompatible with Christianity - as I can vouch for out of my own experience.

Redemption
Christianity is quite clear about this. We are redeemed as a free gift through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Robbins is absolutely correct to say that addicts can be set free through Christ - there are many well-documented examples. It is also true that Christ will set you free from the illusory spirituality provided by entheogens. However, redemption is not merely a matter of changing your mind-set, it is a rescue operation in which God replaces your very heart.

Summary
The Christian does have specific reasons to avoid all drugs that have a significant effect on perception - which would include most "highs". These reasons are to do with the nature of the experiences and their effect on our relationship with the creator God who submitted to death by torture - in our world - in order to undo the evil within us.

A person can choose to believe on faith or he can choose to discover truth in his own way. If he chooses the former, then he is faced with the problem of choosing from among competing faiths (Catholicism, fundamentalist Christian, Suni Islam, etc.), and among competing interpreters of scripture. If he chooses the latter, then he must decide on a basis for knowing (epistimology).

I suggest that the problem of choosing the correct faith is similar to the problem of choosing whether or not to submit to faith in the reveald truths of others. After all, the holders of many opposing faiths assert that their own faith is correct and that believers in other (incorrect) faiths are damned or otherwise unfortunate.

Being that this choice of belief is such an important decision, I suggest that a person is well advised to choose to start fresh and discover the truth in his own way. A secular humanist might say that reason is a good way to start, on the grounds that Man can know what is right and good without the unreliability of the revealed truths of others.