“Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.”
Hebrews 2:1-4
Craig Gross co-founded XXX Church in 2002, around the same time that Blazing Grace got started. Craig was everywhere. XXX Church had booths at Adult Conventions and they led porn actors and actresses to Christ. He initiated the Porn and Pancakes men’s meetings. Craig was interviewed in the national press and spoke in churches. He wrote books. Craig toured the US holding the “Great Porn Debate” with Ron Jeremy, the former, non-repentant porn actor to debate the “merits” of porn. He was everywhere. In 2011 I wrote several blog posts for XXX Church; I believed in what they were doing.
Then, in 2021 Craig left XXX Church to begin Christian Cannabis to extol the spiritual, medical, and recreational benefits of marijuana.
Regarding the spiritual side of smoking pot, Craig writes:
“We are so grateful to have experienced this potential of cannabis, and time and time again, we have witnessed the way it can transform lives when used as a tool or in support of spiritual practices like prayer, meditation, worship, dancing and writing. We believe it is our responsibility and a great honor to share with others the fantastic potential of plant medicine. We believe that cannabis is spiritual and we can show you how. Cannabis is amazing for physical health, mental and emotional balance, and fun. It’s also an incredible way to connect to yourself and God.”
In Craig’s LinkedIn profile he wrote that he “found liberation through the transformative power of cannabis and other sacred plant medicines, which helped him break free from traditional religious constraints.” These other plant medicines include hallucinogenic mushrooms and taking acid, also known as LSD.
Craig built a psychedelic retreat center in the Santa Cruz mountains where he led “healing plant ceremonies” involving magic mushrooms and the mind-melding mysteries of psilocybin.” He also divorced his first wife and changed his last name to Rose.
In my teens and early twenties I took LSD, what was then called magic mushrooms, and smoked pot, and yes these do open the doors to a spiritual experience, but to the wrong side of the aisle.
I couldn’t help reading Craig’s story and wonder what happened. I can’t speak for him, but I do know what can cause The Drift, especially when a public platform is involved. If we buy into the attention and adulation of man we can buy into the lie that “we’ve got it” and don’t need God as much as we used to. It’s very subtle at first; Satan knows how to slip his lies in there gradually, over time. We stop praying and reading the Bible. We’re done with prayer meetings, going to church. It’s full of hypocrites anyway, we think, so why go. We surround ourselves with friends who have no interest in God. “Bad company corrupts good morals” (1 Corinthians 15:33). As we strip ourselves of all Christian influence, The Drift accelerates. Our heart hardens. We make compromises with sin. Pleasing Self and all its whims becomes paramount.
We wake up one day and discover we’re miles away from God. If we’re fortunate, God will do His work of scourging us (“For whom the Lord loves He chastens and scourges every son He receives,” Hebrews 12:6) and bring the pain needed to reverse course.
We live in a dangerous, desperate time when many are falling away from the faith, even publicly. Some might step in and say this means they were never saved, but you can’t fall away from something you don’t have, God didn’t warn unbelievers about The Drift (why would an unbeliever care about losing something they never had?), and the warnings in the Bible are written in letters to the church – “brothers,” as stated in the letter to the Hebrews.
Then there is Jesus’ warning.
“And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.”
Matthew 24:10-12
I have never heard a warning in a church about The Drift, but we surely need it. The problem is that many of our gentle, soft, comfort-driven churches have lost their spiritual spine and avoid warning their people. This is a big mistake and can’t be backed up with God’s word. Think John the Baptist, or the many times Jesus warned of an eternity in hell.
All the chaos, arrogance, strife, and instability in the air right now are enough to seduce people to start looking for relief or comfort in the wrong places, buy into Satan’s lies that God isn’t there, is cruel, or doesn’t care, or just check out.
Be very careful what you allow in your heart. I’ve started spending less time in the news lately because there’s so much in there to make me angry, and it’s extremely difficult to know who to trust in a post-truth culture.
“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”
– Proverbs 4:23
If you’re making compromises with sin, cut it off, today, no matter what you need to do. If your prayer life has faded and your rarely open the Bible, go hard after God, today, and every day. If your heart has hardened, ask the Lord to grant you the blessing of a soft and tender heart. This is so critical in this dark hour.
There are no guarantees that any of us will be alive in several months.
Don’t play game with God. Beware The Drift.
“One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Luke 23:39-43
This passage in Luke is one of the most encouraging in Scripture. After the thief merely confessed his sin and showed a tiny seed of faith – “Remember me when You come into Your Kingdom” – which showed He believed in the truth of who Jesus is – the Lord opened the door to him to enter the paradise of Heaven.
If you have drifted from God, there is still the hope of the blood of the cross. Run from sin, go hard after God, and never stop moving forward until the day of your last breath.
