Hi Folks

God has truly blessed me with so much to do for Him and He has blessed me
in giving me such wonderful friends as all of you.

Over the past 6 months I have seen numerous posts on Christian lists about
suicide - some people are for it, some people are against it, and yet
others decide to play it safe and say they're understanding of it but
wouldn't do it themselves.

Let me tell you right now: Suicide is a lie of satan. When we are feeling
down, sick, discouraged, burdened by the world, lacking finances, etc.,
etc., etc., it can be very tempting to think of the glorious Kingdom of God
and truly wish to be with Jesus. Well, satan knows that and with some
people he really gets a foot in the door by making them think that "it's
just so easy"; if they were to "end it all now" they would be with Jesus
and wouldn't have to put up with their troubles any more.

Folks, this is wrong! We are here to serve the Lord and He will take us
home to His Kingdom when He is ready to receive us. We do not know His
plans for our future and as His fellowservants (Revelations 19:10 and 22:9)
we are obligated to work until He decides we should stop. Folks, what so
many people fail to understand is that suicide is a form of pride and
selfishness, a form of hate against both God and man. If somebody commits
suicide, it is an act of selfishness; they are removing their trust from
God and saying "Lord, I don't believe you can handle this so I'm going to
take my own way out. I'm removing your authority over my life and I'm going
to make a choice of taking my own life". Suicide is a form of pride because
the person is claiming authority over God, they are rejecting the
possibility that He has a plan for the future; people are effectively
saying "I give myself power over life and death". Suicide is a form of hate
because of what it does to others. Folks, have you ever heard somebody who
discovered the body of a loved one who committed suicide walk around
joyfully praising what the other person did? No!!! They, and their
families, carry those scars with them for the rest of their lives. When
somebody commits suicide they are saying "I don't care about those who love
me, I don't believe God can sort out my problems"

Now I know that a lot of people who 'promote' suicide do it because they
think there is no biblical basis against it, but, believe me, there is. In
Leviticus 17:11 (and throughout Leviticus 17) God specifically states "For
the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the
altar to make an atonement for your souls:..." The life of the flesh (our
bodies) is in the blood. Folks, it is through the shedding of the blood of
Jesus that we are saved, that our souls are given eternal life. If we shed
our own blood, surely we are denying the sacrifice of Jesus. Philippians
1:20 states "According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in
nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now
also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by
death." Folks, look how powerful this single verse is - Christ shall be
magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by DEATH. If we commit
suicide, Christ's glory is definitely not magnified in our death. Instead
our death has shamed Him and dishnoured Him because that single, selfish
action has hurt loved ones and discredited our faith in God. It's not with
the "quick way out" that we bring glory to God, it's with patience and
longsuffering even through the worst of trials that we bring glory to God
(1 Timothy 1:16 "Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first
Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them
which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting." and Hebrews
12:1 "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily
beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,").
Folks, it is through overcoming our trials and suffering that we bring
honour to Him and if we put our trust and faith in Him and overcome the
lies that satan tells us, we WILL have everlasting life. That's not idle
talk, that is a definite promise (Revelations 2:7 " He that hath an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that
overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of
the paradise of God." and Revelations 2:10 "Fear none of those things which
thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison,
that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou
faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.)". Folks, God
will never try to tempt us into His Kingdom, He will invite us in.

My ramble for today. (Actually, I've often seen messages about this subject
but I've never felt I needed to say anything, but, for some reason, today I
did feel I needed to say something).

Have a blessed day!

-- 
Earl
<>< <>< <>< <><
May God bless you

blessing-a-day-owner@...

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