Is taking drugs a form of Satanic worship?
Before we take a look at the only word in Scripture which may be related to “drug use,” it is important to know that many “Satan worshipers” reject the use of drugs. I could give you many quotes from their websites but here are two emphatic statements which confirm this:
“The official stand of the Church of Satan on the subject of drugs is vehement opposition” (from “Letters From the Devil”)…“Contrary to religious propaganda, drugs are not part of Satanic ceremonies or life” (from “The Church of Satan” by Blanche Barton).
In fairness, there are different groups of Satan worshipers and some “may” use drugs while worshiping him but the word related to drugs in Scripture does not imply using drugs to worship him. This does not minimize the evil of worshiping Satan, for he is, according to Scripture, the archenemy of God and man. This simply means that Satan does not need to use drugs in order for men and women to worship him. We will see this truth clearly in a Scripture passage that I have in mind.
The “only word in Scripture related to drug use” is the Greek word PHARMAKEIA. We get our English word PHARMACY or PHARMACIST from this Greek word and we know that these words do indeed speak of “drug use” for once we get a “prescription for drugs” from a doctor he/she then sends us to a “pharmacy” where they will sell us the drugs. These drugs are hopefully to help meet a medical condition we have for our bodies or our minds. They surely can be “used for evil,” but not necessarily for “Satan worship.”
The word PHARMAKEIA (or terms from the same root word) are found 5 times in the Bible and are normally translated SORCERY or WITCHCRAFT. See Galatians 5:20 and Revelation 9:21; 18:23; 21:8; 22:15. This is misleading though, for when we think of those words today, we think of someone having supernatural power. You may have heard of tribal witchcraft (i.e. voodoo) where they have a “medicine man who conducts religious rites.” He is, they believe, able to CAST SPELLS at times; perhaps by using a “voodoo doll.” There were, and may still be, those who use mind-altering drugs in these religious practices, but we need to keep in mind that the word PHARMAKEIA simply refers to drugs and not to “supernatural power.” The word would suggest the use of drugs administered by one person to another in order to control them. That these were used in pagan religions by their leaders to control their followers seems logical, for the drug would dull their senses and make them easy prey for those who desired to manipulate them. In other words, drugs were used to “deceive people.”
I would like to close by quoting a passage which involves “Satan worship” and we will see that drugs are not involved in the actual worship. I’m speaking of Revelation 13:4 which reads, “And THEY WORSHIPPED THE DRAGON which gave power unto the beast: and THEY WORSHIPPED THE BEAST, saying, who is like the beast? who is able to make war with him.” The “dragon” is Satan (see Revelation 20:20) and the “beast” is the head of the Roman Empire which will be revived in the coming Tribulation Period. There is nothing said in this verse, or any other verse in this chapter, about the “use of drugs.” Men will be worshipping Satan and a man, though it may be that by worshipping the man they are unknowingly worshipping Satan who gives the Beast supernatural power. Either way, Satan is receiving the worship he has always coveted from man and drugs are not needed to move men to worship him. When they see a man with such power they will be in awe and believe he is God, and this will compel them to bow to him and they will also “worship the image of the beast” that will stand in the temple in Jerusalem (see Daniel 9:27 and Matthew 24:15). (DO) (549.1)