well i plan to i am currently writing songs with an amazing guitar player, ( i play as well ) and i honestly belive with the whole band we will be a powerful voice, however our basic idea is to infiltrate the secular scene, we will be hopefully playing to secular crowds and amongst secular bands, how ever with in the lyrics, parables, verse form the bible all tied into songs that hopefuly with have a certain atraction to the philosophically minded, so that like i said before we will be planting seeds and as those people go through their daily lives in the months to come after seeing us, maybe a few of them will see the lyrics to one of our songs that moved them on the side of a Christian trucking companies big rig on the highway with a scripture on it, and then that seed growths, or maybe some other little event like that ( there are billions of possibilities ) with the seeds we plant we hope that other bits of truth along the listeners journey ca sues that seed to grow and for the light to be revealed to such persons through time. also i don't care what anyone says, psychedelics played a huge part in helping me find the lord, when i started using it i was falling away form my faith and by the end i was totaly bounced back towards his light, and the bad and good trips i had played a huge part in that, especialy the incredibly bad one, totaly changed my sourse, and there are alot of people come to the lord the same way, the only reason you dont hear as much about it, is because alot of us are afriad you christians who jump to condem us for doing such things.once again i dont thin anyone should try psychdeclics but i know that I am so thankful that i did and i belive it what was god used to get through to me and i know it does the same for others.

Also a big phish fan, actually they are my fav. I've been to over 30 shows. I don't see the problem in going if you understand why you are there. People all over this world do drugs, im certainly not going to lock myself in the house. Like i said there is alot of good comming from a phish show, but along with the good there is bad, it would be alot easier to get sucked in at a phish show then at a christian show. I say go to the phish show if you can see the good and feel jesus because he's there, but if you can't then you dont belong there. There are alot of christians there, actually there is a group (their name slips my mind) of drug free people that gather together at phish shows. The group ranges in the thousands, alot of whome are christians. I really don't think that you must have a "jesus is my homeboy" t-shirt on in order to go either. Enjoy music, don't do drugs and love jesus. peace, posternutbag

look no one has the right to tell me not to do drugs ( althought i dont use psychedelics anymore ) i do smoke marijuana, however in the book of leveticus, homosexulaity is a sin comparable to eating pork or fish, and i am sure watching tv be up there to, i dont watch to much tv, but i bet you and alot of people here do,i bet alot of you eat fish, and pork to well guess what i smoke herb, that ones of my sins i guess, but before you tell me what not to do, any who is so bold to do so should take a look at there own life and maybe take there own advice on what not to do and do. also i smoke herb because it helps me i truly belive that, if you read some of the reports about paxil, zoloft and prosac, turns out those subastaces are harming a alot more people than helping them, so if i choose somthing i know helps me in a way i need, i dont need someone trying to tell me what i need to do with my life, plus becasue i know smoke is not good for the body i have found there are vaious recipes of food that can be used to ingest the plant material with out any detrimental effects.

i overeat,but it isnt against the law of the land. smoking dope is. dont even try to justify smoking weed with eating pork, that is so ludicrous it makes you sound as if you DO smoke weed, and were stoned when you wrote it.I think it is clear you have your own view of what it is to be a Christian. You , like many others have created your own "religion" to be comfortable and claim Christ. On the one hand you claim what a good witness you can be to those at a Phish jam and on the other you are gonna tell me(and others) you are gonna witness for Christ while passing a joint, or smoking a bowl? You humiliate Jesus to even suggest that. "yeah man God is great, Jesus changed my life forever....gimme a hit.... yeah man the love of Jesus is so real , you should repent and come to God, he loves you.....hold on a sec....cough cough cough....whoa head rush dude.. so, you wanna get saved or what? look at me, man i am a new creation the old me is gone and you are lookin at the new me....pretty cool Huh......
here I got the next bowl...pass it over here...
YOU ARE INSULTING CHRIST WITH YOUR WITNESS.Like it or not, justify or not, that is truth. You will find people on this web site who will pray for you and lift you up and encourage you, but we , at least I, will not sugar coat the truth. you need to get right with god.
BTW, there is more psychosis and depression with pot smokers , there is much more respiratory probs with pot smokers , there is blood pressure probs associated with pot smokers, dont tell me it is better for the body... yes, it reduces stress temporarily and gives euphoria temporarily, but maybe the cause of the stress should be addressed not the symptom itself.
As for you using scripture out of context, the Levitical book of old testament Jewish law, was superceded by the new testament and specifically when Paul said in Romans, do not call something dirty which God has called clean, meaning food items . Pork and other foods are not law breaking or defiling of the body. Now , for you to say i should not call sin a sin because i have sin in MY life is a lame excuse to try and run from what you know is rebellion and sin. I sin daily, I repent daily. I do not willfully sin. I mess up, thank God for grace right? There is a difference. So if you are committing adultery, because i sin, i am not to correct you? Hogwash. As christians we are to help one another not judgmentally, but in truth and in spirit. My last post was just that. Now , solicited or not, i am offering correction to you, the fact that i eat pork, or wacth tv, or whatever, doesnt mean i dont have the right to offer truth to you.I would be committing a sin of silence if I didnt, yashuatree. I call it like it is. If one thing i have said is out of line with the Bible, i will apologize publicly and ask your humble forgiveness.
Nabster

ok first off you cna enjoy it with out smoking it, ie cooking it, secondly who are you to judge me, are you not sining in doing so? to me you seem self righteous, i dont want fight though i love you and i know chrsit, a lot christians smoke cigaretes which are proven to be considerably worse than herb, are they not wright with god, do you live with out sin YOU WANT ME TO CALL YOU OUT ON YOUR FAULTS? well i wouldnt cause i am not like that, and i dont want this, but just because you dont partake in the things i do, gives you no right to assume you know anything about my life, i have seen and experianced some things many dont, i dont calim to know more than you or anyone else, i know who i am and my walk with christ is not the same as yours, but your a sinner and have no right call me out as if you had the authority to do so, i am who i am, and i do my best, your standards have nothing to do with my life and my personal relationsship with christ, i am coming to this fourm and bearing my soul, i am and being honest, which i bet is more than i can say for you ( and maybe not ) either way, lets not fight, but please, lest you be jesus do not jusdge me.

I have spoken my peace, friend. I too smoked Herb, weed dope ,pot, whatever, everyday all day, for 10YEARS plus ...it is a complete waste of time.to speak truth is not to judge.i do not judge you. I will finish with this...a closer relationship with Jesus is found in the word, not the herb...

ok look, first off i am trying to not smoke it anyore and to COOK with it ( no harmful effects ), also i dont smoke or use it in any fasion to get closer to jesus, i smoke it cause i have fought drpression for years, depression that things like prosac and zoloft made worse, herb is a blessing to me, and becasue i love my lungs i am going to try to cook with it instead, i use it as a valid medicine, after the pharmisuitical companys medicines did not work for me i found somthing that has, it truly helps me deal with life in the way prosac, paxil etc dont. i get closer to christ through the word, i get through my personal war with my soul through a medicine i KNOW works for me. also i never said tripping would bring you closer to christ in the senes,of :if you trip maybe you will comune with the very essence of the holy spirit, i do belive that after seen demonic spirits and supernatural aspects of life through the third eye being pried open that one can no longer deny the spiritual realm and therefor must realize religion has a purpose, secondly that since evil is such a predominant force in that realm that there must also be a ploar force of good ( christ ). at least thats what happen for me and i know god spoke to me through abd trip so that the drug wouldnt lead me astray. thanks for listening to me and know that i only look for christ in the word and fellowship with people like you guys, thansk for understanding if you do. love for you all, peace.

Biting my tongue here. God Bless you and I've found that experience is the best teacher. While using I never listened either.

i dont wish to delve into what me depresions stems from but what docters have said would work for have not, in fact the opposite, what i have found that works for me does just that, it works wonderfuly and i can say it is a lot better of a medicine than anything the drug companys try to sell on tv. maybe this isnt the case for ever one, but i know myself and what i have experianced. lets not talk of this anymore, becauuse obvioulsy our differences in experiance, deem totaly differnt opinions, thanks for your concern, but know that i am at peace and as for who ever siad you couldnt witness to some one while sharing a puff, two of my freinds about a week ago during a small smoke, expressed interest for the first time in years of me talking about christ about being christian, one my freind bill went so far as to inquire about geting baptised and what the whole meaning of it in its relation to a walk with god. i know that it was my example that brought them interest and not us smoking togeather, but thats where they asked, and now both are moving in the right direction. thanks for consctuctive critisims and sympathy, i am sure some of you out there have similar situations, love you guys, peace.

hope you hang around awhile....
nab

OK... First of I know where you stand man... I don't smoke anything but I have downed a coupla Xanax and seriously struggled with drugs in my life. Currently God has released me of the chains they have on me and I'm so thankful for the freedom he has given me to share with others about all he's done in my life. Drugs are not in the Bible so don't even try to go there. They alter your mind and your perception to do things. Sure they make you feel good but they chain you to them. Do you like being chained to something? I for one know how easy it is to get addicted to something. You get hooked and you can't make it go away... not until you give it up to God. Honestly man you cannot get rid of this until you STOP trying to defend it and you say "Yes this is bad and it is wrong and I need to stop." and then you have to realize that only by God's help and grace can you.

"and a deeper relationsship with Christ will not come from drug induced experiences." this statement is completely correct. When you're doped up you're not in your right mind... you might "see" God but heck you don't know what you're thinking. The Bible says that whosoever "BELIEVES IN ME" shall not perish but have eternal life. That's the key... it's not going to come from the drugged up experience...

hoped this helped...
Rachel

look you cant compare being in a xanex hole to smoking a joint or eating cookies made from herb, i told you I DONT USE HERB TO GET CLOSER TO GOD, I USE THE WORD,I use herb because after using anti depresant drugs perscribed to me by a doctor that made things worse i tunred to herb and found it compleatly helps my depression and i am not unmotivated ( i have already finished two years of college sucesfuly, i got a good job recently, i recorded an entire album doing all the instraments my self, ) i am not unmotivated, i dont see why using herb opposed to some white powder ina blue capsule taht the medical companys produced that have show to cause teen suicide in certain people ( prosac ). you cant tell me i should have staid with a synthetic chemical perscribed by my doctor that was making things worse oposed to using a plant that grows from the earth. in the book of genesis god says that he gives man all seeded plants and hevr to use....just what exactly would the chemical componds in marijuana be used for besides as medicine? huh, how about salvia....what elese could salvia posibly be of use to man besides its chemical compounds eh? i think a lot of you are ingonorent just because these substances are illegal, and alchol is, does that mean alcohol is good no, in fact asprin kills and serioulsy harms thousands of people every year, there is not a single death recorded do two marijuana overdose. aslo abortions legal, its part of the law of the land, you gona sit there and tell me that its ok for that reason? i dont thik so.

The prescribed antidepressant may not have helped and even hindered your recovery but another may have worked. Antidepressants sure don't give the high that pot or other drugs do but getting high isn't the cure for depression. How you use it makes no differeence legally. Tokin or cookin it's an illegal drug.

You have a point that some teens and others may have suicidal thoughts. It's exactly why the warning is part of the advertising campaign. Those drugs are designed to help balance seratonin levels the brain produces. That's the physical side of depression. They aren't sedative in nature which is why they don't give a high that causes a false sense of well being like Xanax, Valium, Librium or pot. None of these helps with the psychological side either. Only hard work with a good therapist and the grace of God can accomplish that.

It's good to hear that you are a motivated young man. Don't for a second though think that pot is the source of that motivation. It comes to you from God NOT herb. At one time you may have had some validity to the medicinal claim you make of something that grows in Gods good soil. That plant isn't the plant you use. The chemical properties aren't at all similar to the pot that is laboratory raised usually anymore or by hydroponics. In an efort to keep the addict addicted, the growers have found ways to make todays version very much more potent and dangerous and more carcinogenic than tobacco. I bears the same name but isn't the same plant. Not to mention what it may be treated with to make addicts like it even more. They keep altering it since they know the addicts will become so habituated to it it will no longer have it's affects on them.

Some, the pure and wise may be ignorant because they haven't used. Others of us were you at one time. We all rationaized the same ways you do. We beleived most if not all the claims you make and probably made them ourselves. When pot no longer did it for us we switched drug or preference or added a little something to it to escape whatever the reality that caused us so much pain we decided self medicating was the answer to our problems.

Yep, alcohol is legal. That may have something to do with it being the nations largest drug abuse problem. Why it's so easily obtained and more affordable than street drugs are. One thing in it's favor though, it's production is controlled. When you make your choice you can be sure you're getting exactly what you are bargaining for. Formaldihide (enbalming fluid) and all.

It may be true that one doesn't OD on pot. That's because, by the time you could, you're unconcious and finally NOT a danger to yourself or others should you be stupid enough to drive while under the influence. However, impaired judgment and diminished capacity before unconciousness does kill many.

I know you don't realize it but comparing your addiction to abortion, pharmaceuticals, alcohol, or any other more heavy duty street drug doesn't have an ounce of validity. Legal or illegal makes no difference. All of your rationalizations to keep using are just what any addict does to reconcile their using. To cure myself of my depression and post traumatic disorder eventually I was shooting speed. Then went back to pot again. Have you chosen your next drug of choice for when pot doesn't do it for you? I beleive I remember you saying it was the bad drug expereiences that brought you tho where you are and taught you all you know and preach now. Apparently the lesson wasn't learned. The lesson was, DON'T USE. Until you are clean for a while will you realize how much you are missing. I too thought I saw more clearly stoned and was more in touch and aware. Not so.

The bottom line here kiddo, is, nobody is going to tell you anything sice you know better than everyone. If nothing else since you are so hellbent on testifying and reaching the unreachable it would be good for you to at least consider stoned testimony isn't worth squat except to another stoner you're supplying some hits on a joint for. For those around who aren't using and see and hear you and your disciples if they aren't already Christians, you're the poster child for never being Christian. I'm sure they wouldn't want to end up like that.

One last thought, yes, it's true, Jesus did go to the tough hearts and damaged souls, But you aren't Jesus. When he did minister to them he wasn't stoned. He was a shining example of how to be. I'm not at all saying that you or anybody shouldn't try reaching these people. But to have any integrity at all you need to be clean and sober.

Sorry guy, if it looks like an addict, if it walks like an addict, if it talks like an addict, it's probably an addict. Preaching doesn't change that.

i get my herb from a local organic grower whos been growing for 20 years and has supported his family doing so, also budanibinol...an active substance in herb, has recenlty been found by food and drug adminsitation of canada to be a very effect anti-depresant. thanks for your help but do your homework, mariijauana is actulay legal in parts of cancada and is currently being used for anti depresion.

try it's illegal... since when does God encourage you to break the law because it's what helps you. HE can get you through it!!! It's not the medicine. There is a right LEGAL one out there for you. DO NOT call it a HERB... it's a DRUG. I don't care how many times you call it that or if you cook with it or what... it is, was, and always will be a drug. And... if you get caught with it the consequences will be paid. Try explaining that one to God... not to us. You're held accountable to God and NO ONE else. It took me FOREVER to get my anxiety and depression under control. I honestly thought God couldn't do it. I almost got into witchcraft and I almost killed myself. But God pulled me through. NO matter HOW MANY STUPID things I do he ALWAYS pulls me through. So he'll pull you through, too. You can't justify what you do. You know in your heart that no matter what way you look at it it's wrong... What would Jesus do? honestly...

arent legal drugs also DRUGS?, and herb is legal in many countries, our government just doesnt want to be called out as being wron wiht the drug war

Since you want to testify and minister, why is it you only talk of drugs? Haven't really heard any God from you. Unless it's God's drug as opposed to mans.

After my conversation with you I find that you question God more than you testify to him.

You read High-times" too much Yashutree. Your arguments have been around for a long time. the fact still remains, youth who use herb suffer more mental illness....your use only offers temporary relief. in the end you will be more unstable. The potency of todays marihuana is so much more than even 10 years ago they cant even be compared. some of it actually approaches hallucinogenic,or heroin-like in its stupor. You know the original use for cannabis was hemp for clothing and rope etc. Not for getting high.God made grapes , he didnt make wine. god made st johns wort he didnt make valium or xanax, god made cannabis but he didnt make acapulco gold.get my drift. Man has changed the use and intent of many things god has made. god made barley and hops but he didnt make beer. he didnt make cocaine or heroine or any other manmade substance. i consider man made homegrown or intentionally grown pot to be a man thing and not a god thing. it is my argument the pot you would get from cannabis plants unaltered through time wouldnt even give you a buzz, probably just a headache and a cough.
The devil is at the root of the drug culture and has been since the beginning of time. He is a liar and the father of them. Sorcery in the bible is inclusive of drug use. the root word comes from the greek Pharmakopeia(look familiar).you are decieving yourself if you think you are using a substance God created for you to use in the manner you are using. The devil has perverted it plainly.
I will leave you with this, take it as you will...
1 samuel 15:23
"For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubborness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the Word of the Lord, thou hast rejected also thee from being King.
I only hope God is preparing you for ministry, through your depression and circumstance. hang in there and keep pressing in. you can find a deeper relationship and witness without the drugs.they are not NECESSARY. you are hurting your witness and the name of Christ even if you dont believe you are.
nabster

Hey man, you don't have to be so defensive; I wasn't telling you I was advising you not to. If you want to then that’s your own choice and it has nothing to do with me. But as I can see, like other people on this website I was addicted to some serious drugs, which started off with a joint, and even after I stopped the heavy drugs I continued to smoke pot. Trying to kick pot was just as hard in other ways. People say pot isn’t addicting, that’s bull, and it is a depressant much like alcohol. I’m not attacking you bro, your choice is your own just keep the peace and be real to yourself.