In this video YouTube Prophet, John Crowder, shares his testimony and explains that during an acid trip, he committed himself to Jesus and was immediately sobered from the drug. From that moment on he never did drugs again. He says that the high he was seeking through drugs was actually a valid search. It was just the wrong way to get it. Now he gets high on God. He says using drugs as a metaphor puts the Holy Spirit in a cultural context that people can relate to. Being ‘baptized in the Holy Spirit’ means nothing to the average person; but smoking some ‘Jehovah-juana’ is something that people in our modern society can understand and accept.
This logic assumes that everyone has done drugs and/or has a desire to get high particularly through the use of drugs and drinking. Once these people have found the real high (i.e. God) they don’t need drugs or alcohol anymore but they can still get high. But, what about the people who have never used drugs or drank alcohol? Would they relate to this metaphor? What about young children who are completely ignorant to drug related comments, actions, and behavior? Most importantly, did Jesus send us the Holy Spirit so we could feel the physical effects of a drug induced high? Is flailing around on the floor ‘high on Jesus’ the purpose for being filled with the Spirit?
In his book Unfashionable: Making a Difference in the World by Being Different, Tullian Tchividjian makes a good point. He says that "as believers, being relevant makes us irrelevant." In other words, when believers adopt secular culture* in order to attract non-believers it doesn’t work. In addition, when we look and act like the rest of the world we water down the message of Yeshua. Why would non-believers want to join the ranks of the God’s Remnant if we are essentially just like them? What attracts the non-believer is the fact that we are different. We shouldn’t compromise our beliefs in order to fit in because we are called to be Holy and set apart; we are in the world but not of the world.
The video ends with the narrator/director concluding, “Who am I to judge”. He didn’t see any problems with the message and practices taught by John Crowder and his crew of Christian Mystics. Should their movement continue to spread, it will only be a matter of time before you hear someone referring to their morning devotions as ‘getting whacked up on the Holy Ghost.’
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* Namely those practices and traditions that go against the very nature of a Torah lifestyle.
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1 comment:
Let me qualify what i meant when I said '...when believers adopt secular culture in order to attract non-believers it doesn't work.' He obviously has a huge following and has attracted many people to his message; so what he is doing is working in acquiring a following. My point is this, his message is not bringing the people to a place where they realize that their former lifestyle was wrong. Instead of getting high on pot, now they are getting high on God. They are still after their selfish internal feeling of ecstasy. The gifts of the Spirit were not for us but to be shared with the Body, to build up the Body.
We are called to come out of the world and not to act like the heathen. Some religions actually use drugs in their ceremonial practices. This is not how we are supposed to act as Believers. This is not how we are to act toward our God.
What if this behavior was okay for former drug addicts. This is how they can relate to God because of their former life. What about the sex addict? What would their expression of being 'filled' look like? What about violent people? Men who abuse their wives or parents who abuse their children? What would their expression of being 'filled' look like? We could go on and on. What it boils down to is this - it's wrong what John Crowder is preaching, it's blasphemy, and it's heresy.
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