SUICIDE: Story about my Daddy

This is a copy of what I posted on THE BIBLE site on facebook in response to others discussion notes regarding a discussion page about: SUICIDE.

My father committed suicide in 1986 at age 64. He used a gun to the head. Five years before that he tried to OD on medication, but that failed due to the cold temperatures. He loved the LORD and served every Sunday in church. My father was the closest example to Jesus walking the earth that I knew and loved. He was diagnosed with "schizophrenia" at the time he was discharged from the ARMY in WWII with honorable discharge, (however they denied causing the disabling illness). He was involved in "secret" missions during the war, which we will never know the facts of what those involved. He was tormented with voices daily, constantly. The medicications would cause him to be "drawn" into the bed to sleep to the point he could not function as a husband or father to his 3 children or work at the job he loved. When he was doing well, he would stop the medications. Then shortly thereafter, the torment grew worse. His life was up and down, up and down, controlled by medications or voices.

For anyone that is not familiar with the "voices" they hear, pretend you and I are in a room alone talking, and you have head phones on and you hear the 1 Million other voices continually talking to you at the same time I am talking with you and you are trying to carry on the conversation with me. Frustrating is a very light term .... torment best describes this.

When my father died the Lord led my older sister to this verse, and since that time I have heard other preachers minister this same scripture when suicide occured.

My father was saved when he was young and served the LORD all his life. He was easy going and never said an unkind word to or about others. Is suicide a sin? YES and so is gossip, and so is envy, and so is jealousy, as is murder, as is lieing, but yet we murder with our tongues daily. There is life and death in the tongue. I am not the judge, and neither are you. God is our judge, and we will all stand before HIM.

If you have never lived with or been involved with someone that suffered with "schizophrenia" I encourage you to learn more, until you have compassion for those millions that fight battles daily to have a "sound" mind and function in their daily lives. God only knows the heart of man. How is your heart? Do you have a heart condition? God is still in the business of giving "heart transplants." Let God be the judge, love your neighbor, love your enemies and pray for them, and have compassion for those "neighbors" you meet on this road called life. Jesus Christ is our hope!

Isaiah 57:1 ¶ The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.
2 He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness.

http://www.nami.org/template.cfm?section=About_NAMI

Visit NAMI, National Alliance on Mental Illness

Prevention is the best medicine, but mental illness is a disease that requires medication. Most medications for this have numerous side effects and what works for one person will not work for the next. WE have billions of neuro transmitters in our brains and if they "misfire" a chemical imbalance in the brain occurs. A medication that corrects certain neuro transmitter chemical imbalances in a person can at the same time destroy others that are working properly.

While you walk this earth living your life, please remember that almost everyone you encounter has some battle going on in their life or in their mind. Pray for them, and ask GOD to give you compassion and understanding in your heart. Please join me in praying for MIRACLES for all those that are suffering now. God Bless you!

Thank you Lord that I have a sound mind, according to your word in
II Timothy 1:7 "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." AMEN! ♥ ♥ ♥