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Liberty Advocate http://www.libertyadvocate.com
Psychedelic
Christianity:
by Karen Pansler-Lam, J.D. Psychedelic Christianity preaches Jesus was a hippie. Briefly, Psychedelic Christianity is loosely based on Christianity. For the most part, it preaches the hippie doctrines of humanitarianism, environmentalism, socialism, globalism, and other –isms. Psychedelic Christians interpret the Great Commission as social activism, not preaching the Gospel of salvation. Therefore, a psychedelic Christian is a person having Jesus’ qualities, as they perceive them - a gentle social activist. They reject evangelical missionary work that preaches the Gospel that men are sinners who must be saved. Instead, they teach that good works and sacraments result in salvation. And they reject the Bible as the sole authority in religious matters. And there is no mention of holiness. Good works are sufficient for salvation. According to psychedelic theology, Jesus’ mission was to teach the message of peace, love, and freedom. Hence, Jesus is portrayed as a radical that rejected authority, existing institutions and conventional attitudes toward morality. It portrays Jesus as an effeminate pacifist whose mission was to feed the poor and do other good deeds. And it teaches Jesus condemned judging others and preached tolerance. In other words, Jesus is portrayed as hip – a hippie. "Hippie" comes from "hip." Hip means embracing and practicing "advanced" tastes and attitudes. And a hippie is "a member of a loosely knit, nonconformist group generally characterized by emphasis on universal love, withdrawal from conventional society, and a general rejection of its mores, especially regarding dress, personal appearance, and living habits" (American Heritage Dictionary, 1980). Doesn't this sound like "progressive" Christians preaching "advanced" tastes and attitudes: universal love (ecumenism/polytheism), rebellion against conventional society (hatred of Biblical church/family), and a general rejection of its mores (don't judge), especially regarding dress (no modesty and dress like a slob, even for church), personal appearance (sissy preachers with spiked hair), and living habits (again, don't judge homosexuals, whores, or other sinners)? And doesn't this sound like "progressive" Christians who hate "religion" but claim they have a "personal relationship" with Jesus? This "progressive" or "evolved" Christianity is merely the intermarriage of hippieism and Christianity. Christianity has married a whore. And the result is Psychedelic Christianity, a perversion of Christianity. It's false Christianity preaching a false theology. Generally, psychedelic theology does not mention
Jesus as the Messiah or Savior that delivers us from our sins. Why? Because psychedelic theology preaches denouncing sin is
judgmental, and we're not supposed to judge.
However, there
are different variations of Psychedelic Christianity: each church
customizes its own form of Christianity to suit the desires of the pastor,
church staff and participants. In other words, they create their own form
of Christianity loosely based on the Bible. Moreover, according to psychedelic theology, we must interpret the Bible in the light of our personal experience, not our personal experience must be interpreted in the light of the Bible. And as part of our personal experience, we must consciously expand our awareness and seek the light of truth from within ourselves. Progressive or psychedelic theology preaches we must liberate our minds from ordinary thinking and established doctrines and gain understanding from personal revelation and enlightenment. These new states of enlightenment may be elicited by various techniques such as meditation, sensory stimulation or deprivation, and most commonly by the use of psychedelic experiences, including psychedelic music and dance and drama, and even hallucinogenic drugs such as marijuana. In other words, enlightenment through psychedelic experience supersedes Bible study. These psychedelic experiences will be discussed further in the upcoming message "Feeling Awesome." Specifically, Psychedelic Christianity is a religion based on feelings, not Biblical authority. It is not Biblical Christianity. It is hedonistic Christianity. In other words, it is a religion of doing what makes us feel good and is rooted in hedonism. This psychedelic hedonism combines personal hedonism and communal hedonism. First,
personal hedonism regards our happiness or pleasure as the chief good
while that of other people is either a matter of indifference, or else is
important because it makes us feel good. This is expressed in the motto of
hedonistic personal freedom: “Do your own thing.” Psychedelic
Christianity expresses this hedonistic personal freedom by freestyle
worship, freestyle living, and freestyle beliefs.
In other words, Psychedelic Christianity is the merging of hippie
theology and Christianity in which we may worship and live and believe any
way that pleases us. For example: Christian
music may be any style: sacred or profane; Christian living may be any
lifestyle: heterosexual or homosexual or bisexual; Christian beliefs may
include or exclude Bible doctrines; and so forth. Psychedelic
Christianity also embraces communal hedonism.
To explain, psychedelic Christians promote social causes because it
makes them feel good as a group. As
to whether there is genuine goodwill depends upon each person.
But the good works of social causes are carried out, not to glorify
God, but to build communal self-esteem: we feel good about ourselves. In
other words, organized social works are a communal act based on having a
good opinion of us as a group, not necessarily true care and concern about
others. To illustrate: At
Christmastime, the pastor boasts the Salvation Army received more money in
their kettle when attendees of their church rang the
bell … the participants applaud themselves.
This applause expresses their self-glorification: “We are
awesome.” The
word “awesome” has replaced the 1960s “groovy.”
“Awesome” means to inspire awe.
And awe is a feeling of deep wonder and respect for overpowering
grandeur. However, modern
Christians trivialize “awesome”:
“This is an awesome dessert.” And youth and adults wear
T-shirts proclaiming: “I Am Awesome.” And
“I Am Awesome” is the root of psychedelic theology.
Theology is a pseudo-science that studies God or gods, including
religion and morals. Theology
is a term compounded of two Greek words, theos (God) and logos
(word) and means a rational discussion about God, or gods.
In fact, in the West down to the time of the Abelard (1079-1142),
the term “theology” was associated with heathenism.
Abelard, a French philosopher and theologian, changed the meaning
of the word. For him theology
was as much a study of the Christian doctrine of God in the Bible as of
the doctrines of God found in writers outside the Bible and the church. Unfortunately, many Christians wrongly believe theology is a systematic study of the Bible. In other words, they think theology is scholarly Bible study. And they equate theology with Bible knowledge and wisdom, or having a true understanding of the Bible. But some theologians have never read the entire Bible. And many theologians are not professing Christians. The truth is many
theologians are atheists and agnostics who purposely create doubt and
confusion about the truth of Christianity by interpreting Christian doctrines in the light of
human reason and emotionalism and experience. But Biblical
Christianity believes in Jesus’ divinity and reveres the Bible as a sacred
and authoritative text. And a Bible Christian believes in the doctrines of
the Bible, including holiness, and strives for Christian character. Simply
put, the Bible Christian bases his beliefs and actions on the Bible, not on
other religious writings. On the other hand,
psychedelic theologians and religious leaders generally cite themselves or
other theological writings as religious authority. They may politely refer to the Bible to cloak hippieism, but
it is not declared as an authoritative book. Furthermore, psychedelic theology does not mention the Holy Spirit unless it is in reference to the Trinity. The guidance of the Holy Spirit is replaced with reason and inner enlightenment, or intuitive knowledge of the divine. For example, purpose-driven churches are guided by reason: what actual or potential attendees desire in a church program. Hence, if we use reason - the ability to think logically, to understand, and to draw inferences - it will show us the right way to attract churchgoers. Evangelical preaching and witnessing to others is considered outdated and wrong methodology: A new age demands new theology and new methodology. Like the hippies, psychedelic Christians reject mainstream organized religion in favor of a personal spiritual relationship with Christ. They denounce "religion" and promote a "personal relationship" with Christ devoid of doctrines and obedience. It is a "Do your own thing" relationship where we are not exhorted to holiness and righteousness. This is not Christianity. It's hippie paganism that hates and rebels against true Christianity. Why do psychedelic Christians hate true Christianity? Because true Christianity is a holy covenant between God and man. And in this covenant God dictates the terms of the covenant; they are non-negotiable. On the other hand, in a "personal relationship" there are no doctrines or terms dictated by God that must be obeyed. One psychedelic "Christian" smugly replied to his concerned mother: "Things between me and God are good." Well, that's the perverted opinion of a sinner who is in bondage to drugs, booze, pornography, and other sins in defiant disobedience to God's express laws and commands in the Bible. Psychedelic Christians are deceived. Christianity is a religion with doctrines and laws. The New Testament means "new covenant." And this New Covenant is a conditional covenant: the promises of God are limited by conditions. In other words, man must meet certain conditions. And one condition is being born again. Not
every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, Many
will say to me in that day, And
then will I profess unto them, Jesus makes it very clear that good works do not make us true Christians. Good works do not absolve sin. But many psychedelic Christians believe feeding the homeless and other social activism means they're on good terms with God. But we must be born again and bring forth fruits of repentance: righteousness and holiness. Jesus declares: "Ye must be born again" (John 3:7). Notice Jesus says "ye must" be born again. This condition is non-negotiable. On the other hand, psychedelic theology preaches we are born right the first time: there is no need for a second birth. They teach man has evolved and we have a better understanding today of Jesus than the apostles, the early church, or past Christians. Irrefutably, psychedelic theology is contrary to God's Word: Ye must be born again.
April 2013
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