Jim Morrison of The Doors
Hi Jane,Thanks for writing and sharing your opinions. I hope your heart is open to our response. I read your email and still have no doubt in my mind, that Jim Morrison was steeped in the occult; he was being manipulated by demonic forces to do Satan’s bidding. Personally, I believe the evidence is more than overwhelming. Even Morrison’s biographers admit that Jim Morrison was involved in the occult and in the spirit world.
Jane, you wrote:
“As far as The Doors' exposé is concerned, to begin with, you were not entirely forthright with the quotation from Wilderness. You posted "...an appearance of the devil on a Venice canal. Running, I saw Satan." In actuality it reads "...an appearance of the devil on a Venice canal. Running, I saw a Satan or Satyr, moving beside me, a fleshy shadow of my secret mind. Running. Knowing.”
Before I comment on this, later on in your email you acknowledged that Morrison believed that spirits possessed him. His repeated identification with Satan and satanic imagery, whether it is in regard to the inspiration of his music or antichrist position, is quite revealing. The fact that he mentions a “Satyr” along with “the devil [and] Satan” does not detract from our point that he identified with dark satanic forces, but accentuates it all the more. Morrison’s usage of a Satyr reveals more than a poetic flair, but reflects Morrison’s knowledge of Bacchius occult ritual and his own experiences, along with how he interpreted them.
Dionysian Worship and the Demonic Realm
The primary rite of the Dionysiac cult worship was ecstatic and frenzied mountain dancing that culminated with the demonized dancers tearing apart and devouring raw animals such as goats and fawns. These two acts are called sparagmos, which means 'tearing' and omophagia, which referred to the 'act of eating raw flesh’, which was meant to facilitate the worshiper’s identification with Dionysus himself.
The spirits being invoked at Dionysian orgies through the altered states of consciousness, facilitated by alcohol inebriation, were simply demonic entities establishing a foothold in order to blind the masses from worshiping the one true God. The apostle Paul warned that the Greek gods being worshipped by the pagans at their temples were in fact demonic entities, and alerted Christians that they were forbidden to participate in such worship. Paul stated that the idols in themselves were nothing, but the danger was in the reality that demonic beings were using such idols, and were in fact the real objects of worship:
“What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? –1 Corinthians 10:19-22
The true God had long ago revealed to His people that the gods of the nations were in fact demons:
“They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods; with abominations they provoked him to anger. They sacrificed to demons that were no gods; to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come recently, whom your fathers had never dreaded. You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you, and you forgot the God who gave you birth. For a fire is kindled by my anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol, devours the earth and its increase, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains” –Deuteronomy 32:16-18, 22
The Psalmist also bares witness to this truth:
“They served their idols, which became a snare to them. They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons; they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted they became unclean by their acts, and played the whore in their deeds” –Psalm 106:36-39 .
Demons were invoked in Dionysian orgies in the same manner that they were invoked by shamans, sorcerers, voodoo priests, medicine men and witch doctors all over the world. One of the ways that demonic entities were invoked was through alcohol or the use of mind altering drugs. It was in this way that the shaman entered into an altered state of consciousness, which allowed spirit entities to take control of his body and brain. Jim Morrison was fascinated with Dionysian worship. He was steeped in the occult and shamanism, and viewed himself as the electric shaman.
Jim Morrison: The Electric Shaman
Doors biographers, Danny Sugerman and Jerry Hopkins acknowledge that Jim Morrison believed the way of his success was paved through drugs and shamanism. Shamanism often involves the invocation of demonic power on the part of the shaman, and then the transmutation of this same demonic power to his or her audience. Shaman's typically state that this process is good, but the reality is that demonic spirits use shamans as mere puppets in order to gain a foothold in the lives of others, and bring them to destruction. You state in your email:“Now I'm not saying that Jim didn't delve into things that brought about different influences. The drugs used in the 1960's, LSD and the like, (which were legal drugs at the time--you could go into any head shop and buy them) are known to expand one's consciousness and creativity.”
Jane, the Bible warns against the usage of hallucinogenic drugs because of their mind altering affects, and the fact that they open one up to the demonic world; such drugs can open one up to demonic possession. Nobel scientist, Sir John Eccles acknowledged that the human brain was “a machine that a ghost can operate.” New Age channeler, Jon Klimo acknowledges:
“….if your own mind can affect your own brain, then the similar nonphysical nature of another mind might also be able to affect your brain, giving rise to your hearing a voice, seeing a vision, or having the other mind speak or write by controlling your body the same way you normally control your own body ” –John Klimo
Channeling: Investigations on Receiving Information from Paranormal Sources (Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc., 1987), p. 249.)
I have studied the drug gurus of the last hundred years, i.e. Aleister Crowley, Carlos Castaneda, Timothy Leary, Albert Hofman, Aldous Huxley (The Doors of Perception, from Blake, which inspired the naming of the Doors), William Burroughs, etc., and all of them acknowledge that such drugs are a doorway to the spirit world.
LSD and Demon Possession
In his book, LSD: My Problem Child, Albert Hofman, the drug research scientist who developed LSD, recounts how his first controlled experiment with the drug opened him up to what sounds again like classic demon possession:
Albert Hofman
Incredibly, Hofman acknowledges that the sense of becoming possessed by a demon after ingesting LSD is a common report among most researchers:
“Both the estrangement from the environment and the estrangement from the individual body, experienced in both of the preceding experiments described by Gelpke - as well as the feeling of AN ALIEN BEING, A DEMON, SEIZING POSSESSION OF ONESELF - are features of LSD inebriation that, in spite of all the other diversity and variability of the experience, are cited in most research reports. I have already described the possession by the LSD demon as an uncanny experience in my first planned self-experiment.”(Ibid.)
God warns us in His word that those who use mind-altering drugs, geared toward opening one up to mystical experiences, will not inherit the kingdom of God. Not only this, but the Scriptures indicate that there would be a marked increase of such phenomena in the last days, just prior to Christ's return to judge the world. The Greek word translated “sorcery” in the following biblical texts is translated from the Greek word “pharmakeia” and its various Greek cognates. It is from the Greek word “pharmakeia” that we get our English words “pharmacy” and “pharmaceutical.” “Pharmakeia” is translated “sorcery” rather than drugs because sorcerers used mind-altering drugs to facilitate altered states of consciousness, in order to invoke and manipulate demonic entities. Here are the New Testament warnings:
"Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality...SORCERY...and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." –Galatians 5:19-21
"and they [the final generation of this age] did not repent of their murders nor of their SORCERIES nor of their immorality nor of their thefts." –Revelation 9:21
"for your merchants were the great men of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your SORCERY." –Revelation 18:23b
"But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and SORCERERS and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." –Revelation 21:8
"Outside [God's holy city] are the dogs and the SORCERERS and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying." –Revelation 22:15
Jim Morrison & Demon Possession
Jane you state:“When Jim Morrison speaks of hearing songs in his head and then writing them down, you put a demonic spin on that.”
“When the Siberian shaman gets ready to go into his trance, all the villagers get together... and play whatever instruments they have to send him off [into a trance state and possession]. … It was the same way with The Doors when we played in concert... I think that our drug experience let us get into it... [the trance state] quicker.... It was like Jim was an electric shaman and we were the electric shaman’s band, pounding away behind him. Sometimes he wouldn’t feel like getting into the state, but the band would keep on pounding and pounding, and little by little it would take him over. God, I could send an electric shock through him with the organ. John could do it with his drumbeats.” –Jerry Hopkins and Daniel Sugerman, No One Here Gets Out Alive, pp. 158-60
Jane, you seem to acknowledge that Morrison knew he was possessed by at least some kind of spirit entity, and further state. “It was not a choice he made. Where does that leave him and the condition of his soul?” Here are your words and your quotation of Morrison from his first possession experience:
“There was an episode early in Jim's life that had a profound impact on him. He said, "Me and my mother and father and a grandmother and grandfather were driving through the desert at dawn and a truckload of Indian workers had either hit another car or just--I don't know what happened--but there were Indians scattered all over the highway bleeding to death. So the car pulls up and stops. That was the first time I tasted fear. I must have been about four... the reaction I get now thinking about it, looking back, is that the souls of the ghosts of those dead Indians, maybe one or two of them, were just running around, freaking out, and just leaped into my soul. And they're still there." If this really happened, it was an occurrence beyond a young boy's control that impacted his life forever. “Indians scattered on dawn's highway bleeding; Ghosts crowd the young child's fragile eggshell mind.” It was not a choice he made. Where does that leave him and the condition of his soul?”
We know that Jim Morrison was not possessed by the souls of dead Indians because the Scriptures are clear that upon death, one’s soul either goes into hell or into the presence of God (2 Cor. 5:8; Rev. 6:9-11 and Luke 16:19-30 ). The Bible always recognizes possession as demonic and does not teach that good angels possess human beings. As to whether or not Jim Morrison had a choice, I know in my own life I had opened myself up to the demonic world at a very young age. This was through my hard-headed rebellion against authority. The Bible teaches, “rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.” Later, when I was older, the Lord in His grace revealed Himself to me and set me free from sin, death and the devil through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible teaches that Jesus enlightens the heart of everyone who comes into the world (John 1:9 ), and that we are “without excuse” if we reject Him (Romans 1:18-32 ). If Jim Morrison would have sincerely called upon the name of the Lord, the Scriptures are clear that he would have been saved and delivered (Romans 10:9-14 ).
Jim Morrison, Hell & the Resurrection
Jim Morrison knew the truth and rejected it; he preferred temporal fame, power and eternal torment in hell, the house of detention, rather than eternal life and the resurrection of the righteous. Morrison sings:
Demonic spirit entities possess human beings not only in an effort to destroy them, as was the case with Jim Morrison, but to also influence the masses. The Scripture reveals that Satan himself was created with musical abilities, as were the angels (Isaiah 14; Ezekiel 28; Job 38 and Revelation 5 ). Such spirits use music to seduce us and teach demonic doctrines:
“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,” –1 Tim. 4:1
The apostle Paul warned:
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” –Ephesians 6:10-12
Morrison’s music, sadly, was used to seduce and indoctrinate his audiences into utter tragic lifestyles. Along with other rock gods, Morrison led millions of impressionable youth into destruction through his advocacy of drugs, sexual perversion, the occult and violence. When describing the Doors’ music, Morrison said, “Right now I’m more interested in the dark side of life, the evil thing, the dark side of the moon, the night-time.” Morrison also said, “I am interested in anything about revolt, disorder, chaos, especially activity that seems to have no meaning.” At times, Morrison would tell his young impressionable fans while in concert, “There are no rules; there are no limits.” This was a mere echo of Satanist Aleister Crowley’s satanic maxim, “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.”
Jim Morrison & Satanist Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley
“I bind my blood in Satan’s hands, all this that lieth betwixt my hands, too thee, the Beast, and thy control, I pledge me; body, mind, and soul” –Aleister Crowley, Satanic Extracts, Black Lodge Publishing, The Estate of Aleister Crowley, 1991, p. 1
Jane, I am not sure how you would even attempt to exonerate Morrison’s exaltation of Aleister Crowley and his teachings. Crowley taught repeatedly the sacrifice of children to Satan. He stated:
“For the highest spiritual working one must accordingly choose that victim which contains the greatest and purest force. A male child of perfect innocence and high intelligence is the most satisfactory and suitable victim.” –Aleister Crowley, Magick: In Theory and Practice, 1973, p. 219
In our exposé, we show an audio clip of Morrison speaking of sacrificing to the gods, which we have seen really are demons. This is not to say that Morrison ever made such sacrifices, but he glorified the idea and participated in a Wiccan wedding ceremony, wherein he smeared blood all over his girlfriend. Incidentally, Gerald Gardner, who started Wicca was a member of Crowley’s O.T.O., and met with Crowley for guidance when he organized the ceremonial magick of Wicca. He developed the Wiccan rede. “An it harm none, do what thou wilt,” which was a kinder, gentler form of Crowley’s earlier slogan, “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law”; it was sure to gather more adherents under the guise of a kinder and gentler form of Satanism, at least from Gardner and Crowley’s perspective. Crowley also taught that one was to sacrifice little girls to Satan, and mutilate them by dismembering them and writing the names of different demon gods on their lifeless limbs.
Jane, you state of a clip we use of Morrison:
“The media is the message, and the message is me," [that we use it] as if Jim was referring to himself. He said that during an interview with Tony Thomas of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1970 (Available on CD at The Doors website). The two of them were discussing music; Jim was saying he enjoyed blues and early rock and roll.”
Jane, I am sorry, but this is another example of where you misjudge us while not having all of the facts. First of all, we simply play a clip without any of our own comment there. We found the clip from a pro Doors video that only plays that part of the clip. Moreover, the context in the interview itself bares out that Morrison applies the saying to himself and believes others should do the same. He says,
Obviously, Jim Morrison concurs with the statement and is pushing his own personal philosophy on others. Obviously, Morrison knew he was an icon and that he himself was a message and in many ways he played this role to the hilt and preached his diabolical and destructive views from his shaman pulpit which was the concert stage. Morrison was well aware that he and the Doors were a huge influence upon his fans, and in the same interview states, “they're being programmed by their radios,” and to the degree that the Doors were getting airplay was the degree in which they too were programming their fans along with albums, concerts, and interviews. Sadly as we shall see such programming by so many rock stars, Morrison included has had a devastating affect on our culture.
Jim Morrison & the Family
I just talked to a dear sister in the Lord, named Rosalind, who last week shared her heart wrenching story with me. She grew up in Watts in Los Angeles and was abandoned by her mother who she has seen, sadly, only a couple of times in her life. She told me that her mother was deluded into actually believing that Jim Morrison was a prophet. I could not help but think this was interesting timing in light of your letter defending him. She said that her mother bought into the lifestyle that Jim Morrison was glorifying to the impressionable and easily led hippie youth culture. Morrison’s lies and Crowleyan philosophy ended up destroying her mother and would be family. This should not be a great shock as Satanist Aleister Crowley who influenced Morrison said that “The family” is “public enemy number one.” Thankfully, Rosalind’s grandmother raised her and led her to the Lord Jesus Christ. Rosalind ended up becoming a social worker in Los Angeles and has since gone on to marry and begin a family of her own. Thankfully, she did not follow Jim Morrison but rather found true freedom that comes through knowing Jesus Christ, the Son of God! I hope and pray her mother finds that same freedom and they are united in the future.No doubt, as Crowley taught Morrison in many ways treated his immediate family as public enemy number one. Morrison shut his parents totally out of his life. Even though his father had paid for his schooling at UCLA, he refused to talk to him after he became a rock star. In a dire attempt to talk to her son, Jim Morrison’s mother attended one of his concerts, which Jim Morrison closed by singing “The End.” According to Doors biographer, Jerry Hopkins, in No One Gets Out of Here Alive, when he sang the words about wanting to kill his father and have sex with his mother, “Father, ‘Yes son’, I want to kill you, Mother...I want to...f@#$ you”, Morrison “gave his mother a vacant stare, and then he screamed again, this time showing his teeth” (Jerry Hopkins, No One Gets Out of Here Alive).
Morrison’s Tragic End
The fifth commandment is to honor our parents and with it comes the promise of long life:“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you” –Exodus 20:12
Tragically, so many rock stars have died young because of their rebellion against authority, whether it be God’s or parental. God’s Word declares:
“But You, O God, will bring them down to the pit of destruction; Men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. But I will trust in You.” –Psalm 55:23
“Crowley finished his life as a sick, wasted heroin addict given to black rages and doubts about the value of his life’s work. His last words as he passed into a coma on December 1, 1947, were, “I am perplexed…”
–Steve Turner, Hungry for Heaven, pp. 92,97,98
Jim Morrison’s life before his death was characterized by wanton destruction. There is no evidence that he ever renounced his involvement in the occult and turned to the Lord Jesus Christ for forgiveness and eternal salvation. Whether it was beating and bludgeoning his “girlfriends,” stealing from even his “friends,” blaspheming God, repeated LSD inebriation, public nudity, endangering the lives of others while running several red lights on Sunset Boulevard at 100 miles per hour, Satan had his way with Jim Morrison. Sadly, as the electric Shaman, the demonic world used him like so many other rock stars to influence millions of young people toward destruction as well. Jane, in your email you state:
“My moment came about three years ago and I never felt such a sense of relief as I did then and still do. So much of what Jim Morrison wrote and spoke speaks volumes to me and helped me to break free from my chains.”
Genuine Freedom verses Counterfeit Freedom
Jane, I believe that you have substituted Jim Morrison with the place in your heart that only God should truly occupy. Jesus said that He is the one who has come to set the captives free (Luke 4:18-19 ). Jesus is the fulfillment of the message that God gave through the Old Testament prophets; that the Coming Savior would deliver those who are lost and enslaved to sin from death, the devil and eternal damnation. Jesus declared:“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free...."I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.....You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies....if anyone keeps your word, he will never taste death.” –John 8:32, 34-36, 44, 52b
Jane, I was sorry to read about your experience when you stated:
“I resolved myself to the fact that I was never truly called and just figured I should have been because everyone around me seem to believe it with every fiber of their being. But after a while I just couldn't pretend anymore.”
I thank God that we don't need to pretend but can have a relationship with God through the shed blood of Christ that was poured out as payment for our sins. Jesus rose from the grave and conquered sin, death and the satanic forces that would hold us bound. The evidence all around us of the spiritual world and its affects on the masses is just one more confirmation to the veracity of Scripture; only the Bible reveals the darkness in the spiritual world for what it is, and the evil eschatological designs as to just where these spiritual rulers of darkness are leading the world. My hope and prayer is that you will realize that you are incredibly loved by God (John 3:16-17 ) and that perhaps God has allowed us to dialogue to reveal the truth to you. Jesus declared:
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” –John 10:10
I believe the Lord wants you to know that if you turn to Him, He has open arms to receive you to Himself. Jesus, who cannot lie, promised, “whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:37b ). Jane, our sin has consequences. Sin is transgression of God's moral law. All have sinned (Romans 3:23 ) and the wages of sin is death, but thanks be to God that the free gift of God is eternal life to those who turn to Him in repentant faith (Romans 6:23 ). Jane, you only need to come to Him in faith. The prodigal son returned to His father’s house expecting to be rejected as a son but hoping to perhaps be accepted as a servant. Much to his great surprise and eternal delight, he was treated as a son and forgiven and blessed beyond his wildest dreams:
"But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants."' And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate.” –Luke 15:17-24
Jane, the Lord’s arms are open and he is ready to forgive you. The question is, will you turn from the broad road that leads to destruction and receive His eternal love and grace? I have already prayed for you a few times, and we are here to help you if you have sincere questions and desire our help. I hope this response clarifies our position. May the Lord draw you to Himself and I pray that you will respond:
“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself" –John 12:32
In Christ's love and truth,
Joe Schimmel
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