The Confessions Of A Psychedelic Christian

These are exciting times for a psychedelic Christian. Psychedelic research is experiencing something of a renaissance, ayahuasca shamanism is booming, and there even appears to be renewed interest in Christianity as a viable spiritual path in a supposedly post-Christian world.This book charts my own adventures with psychedelics and Christianity, as well as visiting a range of other wisdom traditions, including Tibetan Buddhism, Bengali Tantra, Kashmir Shaivism, Advaita Vedanta and Zen, in an attempt to uncover the essence of man's true relation to God. It is a passionate and serious call for the renewal of belief in a cynical age. The book also explores the ways in which we sabotage our spiritual development and looks at the cultural forces that mitigate against it. Scientific materialism, postmodernism, political radicalism and religious fundamentalism are just four of the prime suspects. Although inspired by psychedelic experiences, which are generally associated with the counter-culture, the conclusions and prescriptions offered here are oriented towards a more traditional, conservative understanding of our place in the world. Central to this vision is the centrality of Christianity to our self-understanding and to the integrity of Western civilisation. Carefully researched and elegantly written, with a wealth of exciting new ideas, insights and spiritual practices, this book is one of a kind. It will appeal to anyone with an interest in religion, psychedelics, philosophy and the present state and potential future of humanity. Avoiding the worn-out platitudes of a facile New Age or the clichés of an exhausted Christianity, "Confessions of a Psychedelic Christian" makes religion live again for a new generation.

Psychedelic Christianity discusses what we should hope and believe about the ultimate goal of living and uses psychedelic experience and Christianity as its guiding stars. The book reconciles three seemingly inconsistent claims: that we have already attained the ultimate goal; that there is more than one ultimate goal; that there is and always will be another ultimate goal coming. Psychedelic Christianity also argues that Jesus taught that worldly politics will never lead to the kingdom of heaven.

This book is the first published statement of the fruits of some years' work of a largely philological nature. It presents a new appreciation of the relationship of the languages of the ancient world and the implication of this advance for our understanding of the Bible and of the origins of Christianity.

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER As seen on The Joe Rogan Experience! A groundbreaking dive into the role psychedelics have played in the origins of Western civilization, and the real-life quest for the Holy Grail that could shake the Church to its foundations. The most influential religious historian of the 20th century, Huston Smith, once referred to it as the "best-kept secret" in history. Did the Ancient Greeks use drugs to find God? And did the earliest Christians inherit the same, secret tradition? A profound knowledge of visionary plants, herbs and fungi passed from one generation to the next, ever since the Stone Age? There is zero archaeological evidence for the original Eucharist – the sacred wine said to guarantee life after death for those who drink the blood of Jesus. The Holy Grail and its miraculous contents have never been found. In the absence of any hard data, whatever happened at the Last Supper remains an article of faith for today’s 2.5 billion Christians. In an unprecedented search for answers, The Immortality Key examines the archaic roots of the ritual that is performed every Sunday for nearly one third of the planet. Religion and science converge to paint a radical picture of Christianity’s founding event. And after centuries of debate, to solve history’s greatest puzzle. Before the birth of Jesus, the Ancient Greeks found salvation in their own sacraments. Sacred beverages were routinely consumed as part of the so-called Ancient Mysteries – elaborate rites that led initiates to the brink of death. The best and brightest from Athens and Rome flocked to the spiritual capital of Eleusis, where a holy beer unleashed heavenly visions for two thousand years. Others drank the holy wine of Dionysus to become one with the god. In the 1970s, renegade scholars claimed this beer and wine – the original sacraments of Western civilization – were spiked with mind-altering drugs. In recent years, vindication for the disgraced theory has been quietly mounting in the laboratory. The constantly advancing fields of archaeobotany and archaeochemistry have hinted at the enduring use of hallucinogenic drinks in antiquity. And with a single dose of psilocybin, the psychopharmacologists at Johns Hopkins and NYU are now turning self-proclaimed atheists into instant believers. But the smoking gun remains elusive. If these sacraments survived for thousands of years in our remote prehistory, from the Stone Age to the Ancient Greeks, did they also survive into the age of Jesus? Was the Eucharist of the earliest Christians, in fact, a psychedelic Eucharist? With an unquenchable thirst for evidence, Muraresku takes the reader on his twelve-year global hunt for proof. He tours the ruins of Greece with its government archaeologists. He gains access to the hidden collections of the Louvre to show the continuity from pagan to Christian wine. He unravels the Ancient Greek of the New Testament with the world’s most controversial priest. He spelunks into the catacombs under the streets of Rome to decipher the lost symbols of Christianity’s oldest monuments. He breaches the secret archives of the Vatican to unearth manuscripts never before translated into English. And with leads from the archaeological chemists at UPenn and MIT, he unveils the first scientific data for the ritual use of psychedelic drugs in classical antiquity. The Immortality Key reconstructs the suppressed history of women consecrating a forbidden, drugged Eucharist that was later banned by the Church Fathers. Women who were then targeted as witches during the Inquisition, when Europe’s sacred pharmacology largely disappeared. If the scientists of today have resurrected this technology, then Christianity is in crisis. Unless it returns to its roots. Featuring a Foreword by Graham Hancock, the NYT bestselling author of America Before.

Unknowingly to me, the writing of this book commenced decades ago while traveling my thirty-five state territories as a tractor trailer driver. Listening to volumes of the Bible on cassette tapes, I often felt compelled to pull over and write on various issues as they occurred to me. Across the years, I improved, but not until I became a serious reader did I develop my present style through the influence of various prolific authors: GK Chesterton, C. S. Lewis, John MacArthur, and others. This book is a collection of theological essays, poetry, and short stories, some of which are true stories of my road trips and life experiences. In a backsliding state, however, some old bad habits revisited, landing me in prison. As I entered my first jail cell, it was vacant except for a beautiful leather-bound NKJ version of the Bible and a copy of a Strong's Concise Concordance of the Bible still sealed in cellophane wrap. That, my friends, I needn't say but I will anyway is an unheard of incident in 10 million vacant jail cells. So now I had just what I would need to polish my previous work, the time, pardon the pun, and the equipment. For my familiarity with the Bible was exhaustive, but only on tape so the concordance was what I would need to find my way around. This was to me a sign from God clearer than words. In addition to reading and writing, I lead Bible study in county jail, and eventually in state prison I shared my work from the pulpit at our chapel. It was then that I felt lead to compose this book; however, it was the Holy Spirit's help and energy who made it happen. I pray that it produces the ends to which it is sent multiplying the faithful among men in Christ Jesus. Remember to pray for the men and women who have lost their way.

David Johnson examines the Christian spiritual life using the Book of Confessions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) as a guide.

Reveals evidence of visionary plants in Christianity and the life of Jesus found in medieval art and biblical scripture--hidden in plain sight for centuries • Follows the authors’ anthropological adventure discovering sacred mushroom images in European and Middle Eastern churches, including Roslyn Chapel and Chartres • Provides color photos showing how R. Gordon Wasson’s psychedelic theory of religion clearly extends to Christianity and reveals why Wasson suppressed this information due to his secret relationship with the Vatican • Examines the Bible and the Gnostic Gospels to show that visionary plants were the catalyst for Jesus’s awakening to his divinity and immortality Throughout medieval Christianity, religious works of art emerged to illustrate the teachings of the Bible for the largely illiterate population. What, then, is the significance of the psychoactive mushrooms hiding in plain sight in the artwork and icons of many European and Middle-Eastern churches? Does Christianity have a psychedelic history? Providing stunning visual evidence from their anthropological journey throughout Europe and the Middle East, including visits to Roslyn Chapel and Chartres Cathedral, authors Julie and Jerry Brown document the role of visionary plants in Christianity. They retrace the pioneering research of R. Gordon Wasson, the famous “sacred mushroom seeker,” on psychedelics in ancient Greece and India, and among the present-day reindeer herders of Siberia and the Mazatecs of Mexico. Challenging Wasson’s legacy, the authors reveal his secret relationship with the Vatican that led to Wasson’s refusal to pursue his hallucinogen theory into the hallowed halls of Christianity. Examining the Bible and the Gnostic Gospels, the authors provide scriptural support to show that sacred mushrooms were the inspiration for Jesus’ revelation of the Kingdom of Heaven and that he was initiated into these mystical practices in Egypt during the Missing Years. They contend that the Trees of Knowledge and of Immortality in Eden were sacred mushrooms. Uncovering the role played by visionary plants in the origins of Judeo-Christianity, the authors invite us to rethink what we know about the life of Jesus and to consider a controversial theory that challenges us to explore these sacred pathways to the divine.

In this moving autobiography, Zig Ziglar puts to test the notion that born-again Christians should wander through lifebearing long faces and short pocketbooks. Dynamic, charismatic, and a spectacular success by any standard, Zig and his life story are proof positive that you don't "pay" the price for serving the Lord but, instead, you can enjoy the NOW benefits of serving Him.