Yesterday was one of the toughest days that I’ve experienced in many years. It began at 4:45 a.m. when a close personal friend of mine called to tell me his 22-year-old son and had just shot himself. He survived for a few hours, but his wound was simply too grievous due to the bullet having traveled through both hemispheres of his brain. Tragically he died before the day was gone. My friend was praying for his troubled son at the precise moment that he heard the gunshot. He ran in and tried to administer aid but it was too late.
What made it doubly hard for me was I had just witnessed to this young man that afternoon. My friend had been telling me for some time that his son was heavily involved with drugs and had in fact been arrested and was out on probation. He wanted me to talk to him, because the boy was smart and could really be anything he wanted to be if he could get on the right road. I told him that I would be happy to do so and the opportunity came as I was returning from a trip to Tennessee for the Jesus Alliance Tuesday.
I met them at a restaurant and I spent a couple of hours talking to his son. We talked extensively about drug use and all that goes with it. I shared my testimony with him and we talked about God extensively. He had made a decision to accept Christ when he was ten and was baptized, but had lost his faith and didn’t believe in God at all anymore. Having been an atheist at one point in my life I was more prepared than most to counter the atheist mantra, (that he told me he learned in his science class), point by point. I talked to him about eternity, but he said he believed that when we die it is like turning off a light switch and there is nothing more.
Although I had no idea that he was suicidal I could tell he was disillusioned with life and sad. I told him that hope comes from God and Him alone. I related to him that I tried about everything the world has to offer including drugs, alcohol, sex, power, money, material things, and great achievements to find happiness, but all were lacking. I looked in his eyes and told him that the only time I’d been able to find peace, joy, and love was when I drew close to God. I told him that he could have the peace and joy that he so desperately wanted free for the asking through Jesus Christ. He told me that he didn’t believe Jesus was God, but simply a man. I tried my utmost to negate that, but all to no avail.
I told him I would be praying for him and to please contact me personally if he ever needed anyone to talk to 24/7. He smiled at me and thanked me for talking to him and went outside to smoke a cigarette while I said goodbye to his dad.
He committed suicide the following morning.
I have been praying almost continuously for his dad, mother, and sister as they deal with it. I know the pain and devastation that suicide causes all too well; my grandfather, two of my uncles, and my only sibling, my brother Jim, all took their own lives and I lived through it.
I’ve also been praying to God to relieve me of the guilt I feel for not having adequate words to dissuade this young man from taking his own life. It is one of the saddest things that has ever happened to me. I was ill equipped to meet this young man’s needs and say the things he needed to hear. My heart is broken today.
I suppose Satan is gleeful as are his minions that stopped prayer in schools, inserted evolution in text books, and the teachers that taught the insanity of atheism in our classrooms.
The war that we are involved in is real my friends. Satan wants to destroy us and as the Bible states he has been a liar and a murderer since the beginning. Please join me in praying for this family and pray that this young man’s ten year old acceptance of Jesus Christ was sealed in heaven and Jesus met him with a glorious smile as he entered those pearly gates.
Romans 8:38
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow – not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.
September 29 2016 – Click here to listen