I’ve never heard of a suicide like this!

A missionary, over 70 years of age, hanged himself because he was so depressed and had been recently put on some type of medication. He had been a missionary in Africa for most of his life and was filled with the Holy Spirit and had seen many souls saved and healed. He had been beaten, shot at and had escape many times by the Holy Spirit protection. A minister had asked him about a year ago when he was going to retire and he told him never, because there were so many souls that needed to be saved.

He recently had to come home from the field because of heart trouble and was taken to the hospital and died on the table twice and was brought back both times. He went back to the mission field too early and had to come back home and then he got depressed and nobody really understood what was happening to him. Someone told me today that he got so depressed, because he didn’t think he would ever be able to go back to the mission field, and that his family found him in the back yard horrified over seeing that he had hanged himself.

I knew the missionary and had spent some time with him on a few occasions and his love for God and people was extraordinary. I don't understand what happened to him or if the medicine had too much of a strong affect resulting in his suicide but I believe God has him now because I believe he was sealed by the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption. He was totally sold out to God.

I was wondering if anybody else has ever heard of anything like this ever happening before. Blessings...rbanks

Hi! Rbanks
Your question greatly intrigued me; for the simple reason that I presumed the answer should have been immediately obvious.

Firstly, I have no personal knowledge of a similar incident as you described. So, it's not as if I can pretend to be an expert on the matter 'er anything like that.
But what I can offer by way of answer is insight derived from my own spiritual journey and of learning concepts and principles of the Word.

The first that must be said is that one must hurry to put away the "outward" signs which you explained. What we are dealing with here is something "inward" ... a crisis occurring within the inner man ... the secret places of the heart.

Having done that, we can more accurately discern between good and evil in the events which you related.
We are living in a day and hour when the enemy is becoming increasingly enraged. The beast is rising out of the sea with severe ferocity seeking to devour and destroy those treasures reserved for God.

There are two predominant problems which continue to cripple the a vast majority of Christianity today: 1. The existence of God 2. The existence of the heaven(s).
Now, I can almost hear people scream saying, "But I believe that God exists!". Yet I differ with some of these because the God whom they have imagined in their hearts and minds does not exist. They have an image of God that does not belong to Him; they have ascribed characteristics and behavior to Him that are alien to His only good and perfect being.
And, there are some who have little clue about the "heaven". A lot of Christians have a limited view about heaven and think of it as something near the 'Happy Hunting Ground' of the native Indian ... or a place of reward ... of harps and pious activities. Of course, this is an exceedingly limited view of the heaven(s) and serves only to stunt spiritual growth and maturity.

It seems to me that this missionary was well trained and equipped for his vocation; at least after the flesh.
But when a flood of damaging injurious powers arrived at the door to his inner man, they were able to hurry past his supposed spiritual armor and devour him inside-out.

Thankfully, the Christian church is being taught a new song in these days; a song of victory and triumph over the enemies of both God and man. We are not as ignorant of the devices of the enemy as before. We have learned to put on the armor of God and no longer need to be found treading water ... finding false comfort in the refrain "Even so, come Lord Jesus!" ... because some are very unprepared for His presence and arrival.

Now I want to say that this missionary is greatly loved by God. Irrefutably so! It is not for us to judge the man nor to speculate about the secrets of his desires and heart. These are only open to our heavenly Father. We have the absolute assurance that God is all just and all forgiving and all tenderness and compassion and this gives us confidence regarding the eternal situation of this man.

Just goes to show that no matter how holy and righteous and used by God any mere mortal becomes he is still just human.

rbanks,

Just by going on what you have written here, it seems that there was no safe harbor for this man (spiritually speaking) and satan took full advantage of the moment.

This is my opinion but I think this is one more reason why the ALL gifts of the Spirit need to be in operation in the church today because of the sheer amount of people who are weakened by age and depression... we need to allow the Spirit to use His gifts to encourage them and to run off the demons that oppression them.

It’s very sad to see this type of end to this wonderful man of God’s life especially when we know the power of God.

God bless,
Lisa

Thanks for the replies!

Lisa, you are right this is very sad! I really feel for his whole family and only pray for their encouragement in the Lord.

I hadn't seen him in a few months and did not know he had gotten depressed. This has deeply hurt a lot of people whom he had ministered to over a many of years.

Blessings to all!

My position about the eternal destiny of someone who died is that it is all in God's hands and we cannot change that outcome. This also means we just have to let it lie and go on. The reality also is that there are those who have been active in ministry who will find themselves in the pit, Jesus says so. Do we know who these miracle workers are who went there or who will go there? I doubt it.

Some things are best left to God to judge - he is always just and fair, we are not. In the meantime I suggest the saints gather around the family to give them moral and spiritual support because they certainly will need it.

I googled Side Effects of Anti-Depressants and found this on the first site I looked at:

Antidepressant medication and suicide risk
There is a danger that, in some people, antidepressant treatment will cause an increase, rather than a decrease, in depression—and with it, an increased risk of suicide. While this is particularly true of children and young adults on antidepressant medication, anyone taking antidepressants should be closely watched for suicidal thoughts and behaviors. The suicide risk is particularly great during the first one to two months of antidepressant treatment.
Monitoring is especially important if this is the person’s first time on depression medication or if the dose has recently been changed. Signs that medication is making things worse include anxiety, insomnia, hostility, and extreme agitation—particularly if the symptoms appear suddenly or rapidly deteriorate. If you spot the warning signs in yourself or a loved one, contact your doctor or therapist immediately.

Chances are this man agreed to medication or was talked into it. The description of this case makes me think that at least two risk factors could be true here: First time on those meds and in the first two month. Very sad, I feel for the family.

Thank you SolaVeritas and others for your thoughtful replies!

I went to the memorial service today that lasted over 2 hours. There were several hundred people there even all the way from Africa. He was a missionary to Southern Africa for 50 years. There were a few hundred that had been supporting him and his family on the mission field and his wife has told those in Africa to stay encouraged in the Lord and keep going forward with the gospel that she would be there shortly.

I’m telling you there was hardly a dry eye in the place as the pictures of his work in Africa and the many souls he has lead to the Lord. One minister told how he was so humble and loved the people of Africa. How he would go to villages preaching the gospel to people who had never heard. One time he was poisoned by a witch doctor and he lived through it and won the witch doctor and his wife to the Lord. He could preach in 4 different languages. He went to an area one time to preach the gospel and he didn’t know their language so he got a school teacher to go with him but the school teacher didn’t know the Lord and it wasn’t working out so he dropped to his knees and God filled him with His Spirit to speak their language and for the next 30 minutes he preached in their language and lead several to the Lord and even the school teacher eventually got saved. After this he couldn’t speak in that language again so he trained the school teacher who had gotten saved and he became a minster to the people.

I could go on and on with so many incredible stories and SolaVeritas what you have stated does make sense to me because it has been about 2 months ago that he got sick and I don’t know what type of medication he was on but only a few knew of his recent depression.

I have heard of John G. Lake and Reinhard Bonnke great work in Africa but I did not realize until today that this man had such an amazing ministry to Africa. He never boasted about his ministry, he only boasted about the Lord.

Blessings to all!