Bertha, how wonderful it is to read your comment and believe you are at peace about your brother’s choice to end his life. I am sorry you had to experience that agony. Trust in God grows as we walk with Him and await His answers as we seek truth. A person is sick at heart when he or she takes their own life. When Jesus was here on earth He sought out those who were sick; healing was His daily work. This shows how much God loves and wants to help the sick. I have come to believe few who know Christ and read His word, gather with other believers regularly for growth and fellowship will take their own lives–except in instances of mental and emotional illness. A person can come to the end of themselves in these instances. I believe God catches us before we fall. That makes me think of the column I submitted yesterday for publication. It shows “we are not alone.” God and His angels are always with His own. I believe with all my heart God’s angels caught your brother as he “fell.”

It reminds me of an answer to the question someone asked Jimmy Evans, a leading end-times prophet, whether one who commits suicide makes it to heaven. In reply to this query, Jimmy Evans, said that Jesus paid the price for all sin, past, present and future, and that included suicide. He is speaking about people who have accepted Jesus as their Savior .I believe that your answer to this question attests to the mercy and love of God. Jesus is always the sole recourse. But humans are frail and sometimes doubt. God’s love is always there to meet us! The answer has given me comfort about my brother, who was saved, baptized in the Holy Spirit, prayed in tongues, etc. that he made it to heaven. My pastor wrote me to say that he believed that my brother was with Jesus.

Thank you for your insight into this matter. The most important decision is to accept Jesus in our hearts as our Lord nd Savior and trust Him to guide us through the Holy Spirit into all truth! May God continue to fill you with His wisdom.

Chery, your words, ” . . . only a presence of a person who will listen and pray with them, with belief that they will crack open the protective wall of certainty that there’s no other way but to end this earthly existence, and allow the Lord in to shore them up with strength to live another day, to find purpose, that may override the pain,” are so right on. The titled I used to interest readers via social medical postings could take a reader a different direction than I intended, meaning they may think there are specific ways to respond with words to a person who says, “I am going to take my life.” One day I will write about my own time of “rubbing shoulders” with suicide. God stopped it mid-way–and I am ever so thankful for that. I told that part of my story in my first book titled, The Chaplain is in: Journey to Health and Happiness,” page 12. Thank you for the blessing you left within your comment. You are my great friend who makes a difference in my life perpetually. Thank you for all your prayers! You are in mine. Our friendship is wonderful. I pray you will one day write your amazing story!