The Spirit of Suicide.

Supplement to Chapter 20 of The Spirit Universe: A Christian View. 
 
Introduction
 Coping with suicide is extremely difficult  for those family members and friends confronted by the death of a loved one at his/her own hand.  Is suicide a sin? Clearly it is a sin because it breaks one of the basic commandments given to us by God:
¹³“You must not murder anyone. Ex 20:13
In this case, the word murder is used correctly and implies the premeditated killing of someone, including oneself. In other words, premeditated self-destruction is murder, and those who purposely murder do not go to heaven.

Complications 
What makes suicide so devastating is that it seems to be beyond repentance.  Even if a spirit, who committed suicide, should regret the action, he can not take it back. Death has shifted him from the realm of confession, repentance, and forgiveness to one in which nothing can be changed – the deed is done eternally.  For those who have friends and relatives who may have committed suicide, this is extremely bad news and difficult to bear. Is there no hope for the person who committed suicide?  We must go to Scripture to find the answer to this question. 

What Scripture Says 
While a number of Biblical characters actually committed suicide for various reasons, the most significant and informative Scripture is when Jesus was tempted to commit suicide at the urging of Satan. This temptation is found in Matthew 4:5-7:

⁵Then the devil led Jesus to the holy city of Jerusalem and put him on a high place of the Temple. ⁶The devil said, “If you are the Son of God, jump down, because it is written in the Scriptures: ‘He has put his angels in charge of you. They will catch you in their hands so that you will not hit your foot on a rock.’” (See Psalm 91:11-12)

⁷Jesus answered him, “It also says in the Scriptures, ‘Do not test the Lord your God.’”

This is an interesting Scripture because it gives us the insight that suicidal ideation is demonic in nature.  In other words, suicide may be the result of a spiritual attack – an attack that is indeed life threatening.  This also means that there is a spirit of suicide! A spirit or spirits that specialize in convincing people to kill themselves as a way out of their suffering and misery.

Operating Procedure for the Spirit of Suicide
We can understand the spiritual manipulations that are operating when a spirit of suicide claims a victim. There are three basic stages which we can see in the above Scripture.

1. Degradation: Jesus had been without food for 40 days. He was at his lowest both mentally and physically. It was at that point when Satan came to tempt Him to commit suicide. In the same manner, a spirit of suicide begins its attack by degrading the quality of life of its intended victim.  It will do this physically by introducing chronic disease, psychologically through the production of such mental conditions as depression, socially by isolating the person from the loving help of others, and spiritually by blocking the person’s perception of God or by convincing its victim that God no longer cares for or loves him and that he is alone.  The spirit of suicide will put the maximum amount of stress on its victim to drive him to the point of wanting to escape by self-murder.
2. Deception:  The spirit of suicide promotes three lies in order to make suicide a desired outcome. The first lie is that nothing the victim can do will change the outcome of his life. Essentially the spirit of suicide convinces its victim that the victim is helpless to change his quality of life. The second lie is that the degraded quality of life experienced by his victim is permanent.  This lie steals the hope of ever having a happy or content life.  If there is no hope then there is no reason to continue to live. Finally, the spirit of suicide lies to its intended victim by declaring that no one really cares about him and that even God does not love him. This final lie makes the victim feel rejected, alone and isolated both from his peers and from any spiritual strength he could find in God’s love. An alternative to this lie is that God loves him so much that he will be automatically forgiven for suicide. This is the lie used by Satan as he tried to get Christ to jump to his death. This alternative lie actually "tests" God as Jesus noted in verse 7.
3. Defeat: At this point the spirit of suicide actually begins to suggest plans by which the person can kill himself. Often these suggestions come in a compulsive manner through thoughts of death, or ways of killing oneself quickly.  Once these plans are accepted, the actual act of self-murder is close at hand.  You might notice that Satan suggested to Jesus that he should throw himself off of a high building. In the same manner, the spirit of suicide will suggest the means of destruction for its victim.

Even with the apparent finality of suicide there is hope for the victim of the spirit of suicide. That hope depends on a number of factors such as:
Once the spirit of suicide had manipulated the person to the point where he is defeated, it will sometimes remove itself from the victim and there will be a sudden realization of the sin involved and a deep desire to confess and receive forgiveness will emerge.
If a slow method of suicide was chosen there will be time for the person to confess and ask for forgiveness even if nothing can be done to prevent his death.  God is merciful and will readily accept the heart felt desire to be forgiven for self destruction if the desire is genuine. Unfortunately, this period of grace does not apply when an instantaneous method for death is chosen and the person has no time to ask for forgiveness.  Such an instantaneous method would be destroying the brain using a gun of some sort. A less instantaneous method would be the use of drugs or even hanging.  In the short period between the initiation of the method of death and the onset of death itself, the suicide victim can be forgiven and if originally saved, can enter into heaven.

  You might take into consideration the response of Jesus to Satan’s suggestion of suicide:
Matthew 4:8-11(NRSV)
⁸Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; ⁹and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” ¹⁰Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” ¹¹Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
By far the best approach is prevention. If the victim is a Christian, then he can command the spirit of suicide to leave him in the Authority and Power of Jesus’s Name.  It is also possible for other Christians to bring about freedom from the spirit of suicide by deliverance.  Christians were never meant to be victims of suicide because God has a plan and purpose for each life.
If you are contemplating suicide it is first necessary to realize that you are battling a demonic spirit who wants to see you dead.  You need to reach out for help from your pastor or other Christians whom you trust. You can also find help on the internet from such sites as: https://www.facebook.com/AFSPnational

Those Who Remain

If the person who committed suicide was a Christian, a member of your family or just a friend, the question as to whether that person will be waiting for you in heaven can become a torment.  With all your heart you want to believe that he made it and received the promise of salvation.  On the other hand, you recognize that suicide is a sin and may not have been confessed to the Lord before death. Trying to answer these kinds of questions will only produce stress and depression, and will certainly not result in peace of mind or heart!

In the case of suicide of a loved one, a Christian must leave all judgment in the hands of God. We know that God is merciful and just. He understands the influences that a spirit of suicide can have on defeating an individual to the point of death.  He will not punish a victim of a demonic spirit. Yet God is also just, some recognition must be made that the victim of a spirit of suicide had a way out of death just by believing in the Authority and Power in the Name of Jesus. So in the final analysis, judgment must be surrendered to God by placing the suicide victim in His hands, and by trusting Him for the best possible outcome for someone who committed suicide.

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Comments:
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