Will a psychedelic trip bring you closer to God?
That is the question raised by a recent New Yorker feature on a clinical trial involving 30 pastors and spiritual leaders who took psilocybin, the hallucinogenic compound in “magic mushrooms,” to experience what the researchers called a “sacred experience.” One of the study’s participants, a minister at an Episcopal Church in Washington State, said, “I looked completely different,” adding, “I was like a new creation.” Even so, a Protestant minister in the study said, “There was nothing particularly Christian about it.”
The study found, “96% rated their first encounters with psilocybin as being among the top five most spiritually significant experiences of their lives.” The results are undeniably striking for those of us in the Church and should stir caution.
Pastors and priests who turn to substances to feel closer to God risk leading their flock to confusion and counterfeit spirituality. The Bible clearly states that church leaders are held to a higher standard (Titus 1:8). What is at stake here is the integrity of the shepherds of Christ’s flock.
This is not just theological drift; it is spiritual danger.