A Spirit of Suicide

My husband had a friend who committed suicide and we were devastated. Later we talked to a mother whose young son had committed suicide many years ago. She said, “You never get over it.” I believe that suicide affects everybody.

The shocking fact is that there is an epidemic of suicide cases all over the world. The highest rate of suicide per 100,000 people or population is Belarus with 63 males and 10 females. Next are Lithuania and the Russian Federation with 54 males and 10 females per 100,000 people each

In America approximately four people take their own lives every hour, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, non stop. In 2007, 34,598 people in America committed suicide.  The 11th. ranking cause of death in the United States is suicide. It ranks third for young people in this country

Why?  What is going on? I know that people commit suicide in an emotional state; some feel guilty, some suffer the loss of someone they love, lose a job, etc. But that is just scratching the surface. I believe that in many cases there is demonic oppression at work. Some people don't believe in God and they don't have a clue that the devil exists. Yet he is hard at work destroying lives everywhere.

Jesus told the unbelieving Jews plainly, "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth," (John 8:44a). Most people who kill themselves are not listening to the Lord Jesus. They are listening to the devil and he wants to destroy the gift of life that God has given them.

There are accounts of people committing suicide in the Bible. Do you remember when Judas Iscariot betrayed the Lord for 30 pieces of silver? He didn't really think they would kill Jesus. He probably thought he would back the Lord in a corner and then the Lord would have to perform some huge miracle or maybe he wanted Jesus to set up His kingdom immediately. The Jews were tired of being under Roman dominion and wanted to be free of oppression. When Judas saw that Jesus was condemned, he tried to give the money back to the chief priests and elders. They refused to take the money.

Judas felt remorse for what he had done to the Lord. But he made a second fatal mistake. Instead of asking the Lord to forgive him, Judas, in an emotional state, went out and hanged himself. (Matt. 27:3-5). He was inept in trying to hang himself, and somehow the rope must have broken and he fell to the ground and his intestines spilled out. (Acts 1:16-19). Thus Judas committed suicide. It is interesting to note that in John 13:2 it states, "And supper being ended, the devil  having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him;"

There are other cases of suicide in the Bible. Ahithophel hanged himself in 2 Samuel 17:23.  Abimelech was an assisted suicide in Judges 9:54; Samson in Judges 16:30; Saul in 1 Samuel 31:4; and Zimri in 1 Kings 16:18.

When I taught teens in church, I told them that being born makes you a winner. No one is a loser.

A healthy male discharges 50 million sperms in a single ejaculation. Imagine the possibilities! When your mother and father came together, when you were just a twinkle in your mom's eye, one out of 50 million babies could have been born and you were the one born.  How can anyone feel like a loser? What a lie of the devil. Just being born makes you a Winner! That should make you feel special and you are special to God. And now that you have beat incredible odds to be born, what a travesty to kill yourself.

We watched one lady on T.V. Her husband chose to have an assisted suicide. After he died, his wife stated, "It is immaterial where he is now." If he could come back he would tell her that he made a terrible mistake. It does matter where you spend eternity.

The devil and demonic oppression pushes people to commit suicide. It can be an overwhelming compulsion. He tempts people to end their lives. He is actively trying to convince them to do it. Yet they still have a free choice. The Gadarene was demon possessed, but the devil could not keep the man from coming to Jesus. The Lord gives every person a free choice. Our soul is in our own hands.  We can choose to give our heart to Jesus and to live, or we can choose to take our own life and die. The choice is ours.

The devil can tempt anyone. He tried to tempt the Lord Jesus to commit suicide. (Luke 4:9-13).

Listen well to what the Lord says to you. "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:" (Deuteronomy 30:19).