My guest this week is… well, me. Sort of.
You see, today, Friday, January 31st, is my birthday. I think it’s probably the first time in this podcast’s history that a release date has coincided with my actual birthday. And I thought it might be fun to do something a little different this week.
So today’s episode is actually an interview of me, conducted during a recent Twitter Space, where I was the guest a couple of weeks ago.
I was interviewed by the excellent account @Darwin2Jesus, who has his own powerful story of coming to Christ after years as an atheist.
D2J wanted me to speak to his audience about the supernatural. His followers tend to come from a rational, materialistic background, so he thought it might be interesting for me to talk about psychedelics and New Age practices—things that would challenge the purely measurable, observable view of the world.
That was the plan. But what we got was far more than that. What we thought would be a two- or at most three-hour conversation ended up extending into four and a half hours. During that time, I shared the most detailed version of my testimony I’ve ever given.
Listeners of this podcast and those who follow me on other shows, like Cultish, may have heard bits and pieces of these stories before—at a more superficial level of depth. But with all the extra time in this interview, D2J and I covered a massive variety of topics, including my background in the electronic music rave scene, Kabbalah, my history with drug use (including psychedelics and ayahuasca), why Jewish culture often appears antagonistic to Christianity, Burning Man, Occupy Wall Street, my original conspiracy red pill, men’s groups, psychotherapy, overseas travel, the Kumbh Mela Hindu festival, and much, much more.
It was an incredible blessing to have the chance to look deeply into these memories and experiences, viewing them now through a Christian lens. God has been so gracious to me, giving me the opportunity to live the life I have, guiding me through it, and redeeming me from my mistakes.
Plus, DarwinToJesus is an excellent interviewer. He knows how to ask questions that cut straight to the heart of the things I was talking about, leading into memories and details I’d long forgotten.
You can find a link to his profile in the show notes. He’s absolutely worth your follow, and I look forward to returning the favor and interviewing him in the not-too-distant future.
Now, releasing an interview with myself, on my birthday, on a podcast that bears my name might seem a bit self-serving—perhaps even narcissistic. And, well, fair point.
But I know these are topics my listeners are genuinely interested in. And while Twitter Spaces are great, they disappear after a while. I’ve gotten a lot of encouraging feedback about this interview, and I thought it would be a shame for it to fade into the digital ether. So my prayer is that my story will bless those of you with friends and family who are walking some of these same roads.
Finally, I want to emphasize that this isn’t just my story—this is God’s story. If it were just mine, I would have fallen off the path a long time ago, in a thousand different ways. Only God knows the danger I was in—and the danger I unknowingly put myself in—every possible way.
And yet, here I am. I lived to tell the tale. I could be ashamed of my story and hide God’s greatness for fear of what you might think of me. Or I could put it out there and show you just how great God’s grace and mercy can be to sinners.
As you’ll hear, if there’s hope for me, there’s hope for all of us: your family, friends, relatives, siblings, even your husband or wife. If you had told me in January 2020, just five years ago, where I’d be today, I wouldn’t have believed you. That’s how quickly the Lord can work to change a heart, change a man, and change a life.
So please, let my story remind you to pray for your loved ones and give thanks for the blood of Christ that covers us all. The lost might be closer to the Kingdom than we realize. And really, my story, though unique, isn’t too different from any other idolater who went looking for God in all the wrong places—until the prayers for his salvation were answered, as they were for me.
Hallelujah!
Just a quick note as you may have seen, my Carl Teichrib podcast blew up on YouTube. It’s currently at 45,000 views in just three weeks, making it my second most successful piece of content ever.
This tells me there’s significant interest in the subject of Burning Man. So, I’ve worked with my friend Elijah Ellis to produce a mini-documentary about the festival, coming out on Saturday, February 1st.
The documentary features photos of me at the festival I’ve never shared publicly, and I hope it will equip you to minister to seekers and friends who are considering the festival and the worldview it promotes. We’ll be hearing more about this topic very soon.
You can find a link to the premiere of that documentary, plus an exciting trailer, in the show notes.
And please, enjoy this week’s episode of the podcast—a four and a half-hour interview hosted by DarwinToJesus featuring my testimony.
IMPORTANT LINKS
BURNING MAN MINI-DOCUMENTARY
Trailer
Main Doc:
The Greenbaum Speech:
My interview with Camp Spirit Dream
