 Good afternoon Pastor David. Hey John. Welcome everybody to Unfiltered. Pastor today wanted to ask a question that I was asked that came in through one of our social media platforms in and it was regard to Christians and marijuana use and this particular question that came in had asked can Christians outside the medicinal purposes recreational can Christians smoke marijuana and still be considered Christians. And here's some of the argument. It's natural. It's the green herb. It opens my mind more to study God's word. Hear these things. It needs the spirit when you got smoke. What are your thoughts on that? I just said it. You know there's obviously a controversy related to it. We already know that we've been in conversation about that recently and all you know there is a controversy concerning the use of marijuana in a medicinal way and so I was told that there are jowls and things like that that will have certain marijuana properties you know the cannabinola whatever it is I'm not quite sure what the what it would be that's there that they're extracting from the marijuana plant and all of that but I've heard that there are certain things you rub on or whatever to help you with various things even cancer stuff like that I've heard that. So that's a difficult question from that perspective because if there's a medicinal purpose and non recreational you know and you're applying it as an ointment a salve of some sort that I would say is different than saying that you relax by smoking pot or that you can actually read your Bible and get in deeper now that to me is though it's it's wrong it makes me laugh to think that I my kids have asked me I'm real open with with this with my church and all as you know John my my my drug of choice was pot I mean I enjoyed it you know and then I had reasons to enjoy it it did relax me and you know how many times have you heard of a bunch of guys smoking a lot of pot then looking for a fight I mean that doesn't happen right maybe Twinkies but yeah they're looking for a liquor store to get something to eat normally you know and we laugh about that because there's truth to that you don't see people normally smoking marijuana and then getting angry and want to fight you there are other things that provoke that marijuana not being one of them but here's a problem recreational use is a problem you know even smoking marijuana as a way to to calm your spirit down or to help to diminish some of the pain you're feeling I have told people in this fellowship that I truly believe that there are other forms of medication that you can you can use that will more than likely and most probably alleviate those things so because I had a real not an addiction they didn't claim it could be addictive at that time but I most certainly had an emotional addiction to it I I smoked pot a lot um for me on a personal level I could never I couldn't do it I could never smoke a joint again I can't do it it's three times more powerful now than when I was a kid it can even be more more it could be dangerous in a different kind of way it most certainly contributes to a variety of things that that even tobacco does because they are researching it more there are those who research it more now John as you know who are finding properties even the causing of cancer in the lungs and things that they're discovering that there are properties in marijuana that are that are dangerous so recreational smoking a pot because it calms you down or helps you read the bible or gets you in touch with god that's that's that's just not true that is just not true recreational use of a drug is is not a good thing any more than recreational drinking is a good thing when Paul said be not drunk with wine wearing his excess but be filled with the spirit I think there's a general tone in that which is saying don't give yourself over to the influence of something else that will bring you to a point of no longer being in control because dissipation simply means to be out of control so rather than being brought under the control of something else where you yield yourself to something else in his day it would have been wine that he's referring to well when you extrapolate from that scripture and form a principle what is he saying he's saying don't give yourself over to the influence of something else give yourself over to the influence of the spirit of god and so from a recreational use perspective even if it's legal it doesn't make it right even if it's legal it doesn't make it moral because there are there are laws on the books that that are regarded as as moral because all laws are moral and I don't understand the argument that that restricting human behavior is not a moral thing it is a moral thing so that's why you don't drink and drive and and things like that I mean there's a morality involved in it that that here especially in the United States are civil laws based on so even if they have made it legal it doesn't make it morally right even if it's legal it doesn't make it spiritually safe so any person who who says that they connect better with god they're using the argument we used to use over 50 years ago I come in touch with the power of the universe or I I see the cosmic mind you can use a thousand one different ways to illustrate that that's what what I tried to do when I began taking acid as a kid you know I thought I would somehow connect with the universe and all of that when in fact it was it wasn't useful for that of course at all so in answer to the question you know if if it's something that's in the form of a salve that you would rub on because it helps to diminish and you're not getting high from it but actually being soothed I'd say that and again I'm no doctor but I would say that that is more acceptable right but for you to smoke it and say I'm getting high because I'm closer to God when I do that that's just not true and the the other component that people are also or researches and I'm a research expert that the removal of the THC in the salves or everything else aren't in that on those properties and so that takes that away what really kind of concerns me is the mindset or the heart set of some of the believers who are saying I want to get in touch with therefore I'm going to smoke and it's and it kind of bothers me a little bit with that because it's not that they're smoking and going to go listen to a Pink Floyd album this is God's word and it's the spirit itself that will lead and draw in that's deception I mean it's deception deception of the highest form if you say I get closer to God they're using a substance rather than opening my heart to the spirit that's deception of the highest form not only that there's no way that anybody's going to be able to convince me because I had years of use there's no way that anybody can convince me that you can understand and discern the scripture with the spirit's help while you're in sin while you're while you're doing something that is prohibited I am not to give myself to the influence of something else bottom line and so any person who is saying that one I don't want to say they're unsaved because God's the judge but that is certainly the behavior of someone who does not know Jesus Christ that is the behavior and to try and spiritually qualify it by saying God gave us the herb so that we can use it in the scripture all the herbs yeah all the herbs in the field yeah but he also gave you poison ivy and you don't use that for toilet paper it just makes no sense so I don't I don't agree with such an argument well thank you pastor that it's a comment and again people interchange that with even alcohol you know and a lot of different things and it's carnality and that's what it is an excuse to give into carnality we've had the arguments I have never seen an alcohol evangelist winning people to Jesus Christ they're winning them over to their argument that it's okay to satisfy my desires of the flesh it's okay and then they come up with convoluted argument to give them the opportunity or the permission to do that john you know what I know we've been around a long enough time to know it's just an excuse to cater to your flesh and don't judge me yeah don't judge me well you know what Jesus said judge with righteous judgment how am I going to be able to correct someone's behavior if I don't make judgment pertaining to it so once again it's just a twisting of scripture where people haven't got an idea because they're not reading their bible as much as they're they're looking to the alcohol content of this whiskey or you know how many joints they can get right well thank you pastor and thank you guys for tuning in and you know this is a topic that uh that comes in circles you know and again it's it's related to a lot of different things and so thank you for sharing with us a couple things that are coming up Sunday evening uh Sunday morning we have our services at 8 30 10 45 look for you to come on out as you're taking us through mark chapter 15 verses 21 through 26 the crucifix crucifix call it's entitled at the execution of Jesus it is a powerful portion of scripture powerful to imagine yes well we couldn't imagine a great opportunity to invite your friends and family to come out and join us uh min this sunday is our last sunday to purchase your Super Bowl breakfast ticket uh it's you can actually go to the gazebo or to our website or stop by the business office before sunday after sunday it's uh we'll just have uh admission tickets only look forward to having you guys come that's going to be saturday february 4th uh as anthony munez will be our guest speaker again pastor thank you so much for sharing with us thank you guys for tuning in and god bless you