Commentator Mike Cernovich claims God used ayahuasca trips to reveal his 'folly and delusion'

Right-leaning political commentator Mike Cernovich claimed during a Monday interview on "The Tucker Carlson Show" that he believes God used his trips on the potent hallucinogen ayahuasca to reveal to him his pride and the reality of the spiritual realm.

"For Christians, ayahuasca is strictly forbidden," said Cernovich, who claims to believe in Jesus Christ.

"So I don't want to seem like I'm glamorizing it in any way, shape or form. But I have gone on multiple ayahuasca journeys over the years, and, for me, it's completely transformed my heart. It's transformed how I see my children, the way I interact with the world. It got me interested in Christianity again."

Ayahuasca is a tea brewed using a South American plant of the same name that contains dimethyltryptamine (DMT), which is a strong psychedelic and Schedule I controlled substance in the U.S., though some religious organizations have secured exemptions to use it as a sacrament in their ceremonies. It remains fully legal in Peru, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia and Bolivia, where indigenous populations have used it religiously for centuries.

Claiming "God can meet you wherever you are," Cernovich — who has written about his experience on his blog — said when he first partook of ayahuasca in South America, he was an atheist, but quickly changed his mind as he was "catapulted" into the spiritual realm. While there, he said he was given private revelations regarding his own life and behavior that reoriented his view of the cosmos and his relationships.

He said he believed he had died and left his family behind, but that his only concern was whether he had left them enough money, which a voice reportedly told him was a "foolish" way to think.

"I was just left with this sense of, 'I'm a fool, and I live my life foolishly, and I can't believe that I was such a fool. I'm dead now, and it's too late.'"

Another revelation he said he received was seeing an image of his childhood home, which he hated. He said a voice told him that, despite his childhood unhappiness and his parents' financial struggles, they nevertheless loved him and did their best.

He said he came to understand that his worries about money stemmed from the trauma of growing up poor, but that the love of one's family and the love of God are significantly more important than money.

Cernovich also claimed demons appeared to him during his trip, who showed him grotesque, horrifying images and taunted him for "running from himself," which revealed to him how little power he had.

"In the spirit realm, you're nothing. You are nothing, and you're so arrogant," he said he was told.

He later learned about the identities of some of the demonic "entities" he encountered, such as the image of a woman's face in a mountain was Pachamama, an entity worshiped by indigenous Andean cultures as an omnipresent deity.

Cernovich acknowledged he at first did ayahuasca "for the ride," which he said was "the wrong reason," but noted it still helped him and could potentially help others who have unresolved trauma, such as veterans. He said he has taken it "nine or 10 times."

Cernovich said he believes he was "pushed" to take ayahuasca "because I was living in such a state of folly and delusion."

"In my belief, I think God pushed me there. I think it was God, and He showed me, 'This is the only way that I can show you that you are just not who you think. You are just a delusional fool, and this is the only way that we're going to get through to you.'"

Carlson, who has been open about how he had a negative experience when he experimented with hallucinogenic mushrooms as a young teenager, expressed a cautious attitude toward such substances, noting how he has known people whose minds and lives have been destroyed by them.

He also floated the spiritual danger of potential demonic possession while under the influence.

"My concern is if the demons are real, aren't you afraid they'll enter you?" Carlson asked.

Cernovich acknowledged such a fear remains debated, noting that some Christians consider consuming ayahuasca to be an example of "pharmakeia," a Greek word used in Galatians 5:20 that is often translated as "sorcery" and negatively refers to using drugs for occult purposes.

"My position is, I always warn people away from it, because it's a monumental undertaking. It's not just like [taking shrooms and hiking]. It's not in the same world. A lot can go wrong, and it can disrupt a person's life," he said.