Is Suicide OK with God?

by Frederick Hoehn, copyright 2013, all rights reserved.

Chapter 1

Brother G. was getting up in years, mid-seventies, and having health problems.  He asked me whether God allows suicide.

I told him that Jesus said, "He that endures to the end shall be saved." (Matt 10:22)  And I told him Jesus said, "Be faithful until death, and I will give you a crown of life." (Rev 2:10)

You're not enduring to the end if you cut your life short by suicide.  Being faithful until death means a normal death, not suicide.

But if someone has health problems, I have good news.  "I am the Lord that heals you." (Ex 15:26)  You don't quit living, you get your healing from Jesus.  Psalm 103 tells us God forgives our sins and heals our diseases.

One of the foremost authorities on healing was Kenneth E. Hagin, who wrote nearly a hundred books while he was on earth.  I've seen his books at Christian book stores (go to the "Charismatic" section of the store), or go to www.Rhema.org.

Charismatic is another word for full-gospel, Pentecostal, tongue-talking (baptized with the Holy Ghost.)

Christians should ask Jesus to baptize them with the Holy Ghost.  The evidence that that has happened is that you'll speak in a language that you never learned.

The Holy Ghost gives you the words, and then you add your voice and speak those words out in a strange language you haven't learned.

And that will help you use your faith to get things from God.  It will help you be a better witness for Jesus.

K. E. Hagin was born with an "incurable" heart disease that doctors expected would kill him before age 21.

But Hagin found Mark 11:24 in the Bible, which says, "When you pray, believe that you receive the things you ask for, and you shall have them."

Hagin prayed, and believed, and was healed.  In his case, it took about a year and four months from the time he started seeking the Lord for healing until he received.

Those doctors who expected Hagin to die before reaching age 21 forgot about Jesus.

After being healed, the Lord told Hagin, "Now go teach my people faith."  So Hagin taught faith for about seven decades, and healed a lot of people, and cast out a lot of demons, and got people born-again so they would go to heaven and not hell. (John chapter 3)

We read in 1 Cor chapter 6, verses

19 What?  Don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost that is in you, that you have from God, and you are not your own?

20 For you've been bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

Now that passage is talking to Christians.  If you're not a Christian, step 1 is:  Become a Christian according to Romans 10:9,10.  You confess with your mouth that Jesus is your Lord, and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead.

In another passage Jesus says, "Him that comes to me I won't cast out."  Tell Jesus you want to be a Christian, and he won't turn you down. (John 6:37)

But in the above Corinthians passage, we are not our own, we're bought with a price.  And that price is the precious blood of Jesus, shed for the sins of the world.

Seeing then that we're not our own, it's not up to us to decide when our lives on earth are over, it's up to the Lord.  The Lord may have some souls for you to win before you leave this earth.  If you don't win them, perhaps no one else will.

In Matthew 6:33,34, Jesus says,  "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore, don't worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow shall take thought for the things of itself.  Sufficient to the day is its own evil."

Just live for the Lord who bought us today, and then tomorrow do the same thing.  Don't worry.

"Casting all your cares on him (Jesus) for he cares for you." (1 Pet 5:7)

It is the devil and his demons that go around trying to get people to commit suicide.  Don't cooperate with the devil, cooperate with God.

The devil wants you to think you have a hopeless situation, but you see, there are no hopeless situations with God.

If you need money, the Lord has the cattle on a thousand hills, the silver and the gold, the beasts of the forest, and the beasts of the field, and the fowls of the air.

And in Phil 4:19, "My God shall supply all your needs, according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."  Say out loud with your mouth, "My God shall supply all my needs."  We must speak words of faith, not words of doubt.

Isaiah 1:19 tells us that if we're willing and obedient, we'll eat the good of the land.  Stay in faith, and keep the switch of faith turned on, to quote Hagin.

Josh 1:8 tells us to speak the word of God, meditate on it and do it, and we'll have good success.

Chapter 2

In Mark 11:23, Jesus said you can speak to the mountain and tell it to go, and it will go, if you believe that what you say will happen, and don't doubt in your heart.

Whatever your problem is, that's your mountain.  Command it to go, in Jesus' name.  Put your faith with your words, and expect to get what you've said, and don't doubt in your heart.

There have been some good teachings on this in recent years.  Kenneth E. Hagin, Charles Capps, and Norvel Hayes have written about this, and in Ephesians chapter 4, God says He has given us teachers.

Since God thought it important to give us teachers, I choose to be smart enough to listen to the best teachers.

But I heard one teacher teaching on faith.  He was talking about a mother with a misbehaving child.  He told her to just stay in faith.  We should always stay in faith, but the Bible says, "Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him." (Prov 22:15)

Another scripture says, "He that spares his rod hates his son, but he that loves him chastens him at times." (Prov 13:24)  The rod applied to the backside of the child when the child has done wrong puts the child back on the right road.

In fact, parents who won't punish the child when he needs it, hate the child, according to the Bible.

That same teacher was talking about a case where a healing was needed.  He said just stay in faith.  We should always stay in faith, but if someone needs healing, apply James 5:14,15,

14 Is anyone sick among you?  Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord,

15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he has committed sins, he'll be forgiven.

Another scripture tells us that faith without works is dead.   In James chapter 2, verses

17 Even so faith, if it doesn't have works, is dead, being alone.

18 Yes, a man could say, "You have faith, and I have works, show me your faith without your works, and I'll show you my faith by my works."

Another scripture tells us to pray without stopping. (1 Thes 5:17)

Jesus said, "Men ought always to pray and not faint." (Luke 18:1)  Jesus doesn't want you to be overcome by your situation, he wants you to pray and overcome your situation.

Jesus is the friend who sticks closer than a brother. (Prov 18:24)

If you look at Revelation chapters 2 and 3, Jesus makes promises to each of seven churches of giving them good things if they'll be overcomers.

I expect to get good things from the Lord for being an overcomer.  And the Lord's not going to run out of good rewards for his people who are overcomers.

Scriptures quoted are from the Holy Bible, Hoehn Version and the New Testament, Hoehn Version, both available as ebooks for the Kindle readers from Amazon.com.

The Lord bless you.  Frederick Hoehn

www.FredHoehnMinistries.com

___James chapter 1

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes that are dispersed around, greetings.

2 My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into various temptations,

3 Knowing this, that the testing of your faith works patience.

4 But let patience have its perfect work, so you'll be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God for it, who gives to all men liberally, and won't find fault, and it shall be given to him.

6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.  For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and tossed.

7 For let that man not think that he'll receive anything from the Lord.

8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted,

10 But the rich, in that he is made low, because as the flower of the grass he'll pass away.

11 For the sun has no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withers the grass, and the flower of it falls, and the grace of the fashion of it perishes, so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

12 Blessed is the man that endures temptation, for after he's been tested, he'll receive the crown of life, that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

13 Let no man say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God," for God can't be tempted with evil, nor does he tempt any man,

14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.

15 Then when lust has conceived, it produces sin, and sin when it's finished, produces death.

16 Do not err, my beloved brothers.

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, nor shadow of turning.

18 He chose to father us with the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

19 So, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger,

20 For the anger of man doesn't accomplish the righteousness of God.

21 So, lay apart all filthiness and the unnecessary naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like a man seeing his natural face in a mirror,

24 For he sees himself, and goes his way, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

25 But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues in it, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

26 If any man among you seems to be religious, and doesn't bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is for nothing.

27 Pure religion and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

___James chapter 2

1 My brothers, don't have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

2 For if a man with a gold ring comes to your assembly in fancy clothes, and a poor man in dirty clothes comes in also,

3 And you have respect to him that wears the fancy clothes, and say to him, "Sit here in a good place," and say to the poor, "Stand there, or sit here under my footstool,"

4 Aren't you then partial in yourselves, and have become judges with evil thoughts?

5 Listen, my beloved brothers, hasn't God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?

6 But you have despised the poor.  Don't rich men oppress you, and bring you before the judgment seats?

7 Don't they blaspheme that worthy name by which you're called?

8 If you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor like yourself," you do well,

9 But if you have respect of persons, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as sinners.

10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

11 For he that said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not kill."  Now if you don't commit adultery, yet if you kill, you've become a breaker of the law.

12 Speak in such a way, and do, as those who'll be judged by the law of liberty.

13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that has shown no mercy, and mercy rejoices against judgment.

14 What does it profit, my brothers, though a man says he has faith, and doesn't have works?  Can faith save him?

15 If a brother or sister needs clothes, and lacks daily food,

16 And one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you don't give them the things that are needed for the body, what good is that?

17 Even so faith, if it doesn't have works, is dead, being alone.

18 Yes, a man could say, "You have faith, and I have works, show me your faith without your works, and I'll show you my faith by my works."

19 You believe that there is one God, you do well, the devils also believe, and tremble.

20 But don't you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

21 Wasn't Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son on the altar?

22 Do you see how faith worked with his deeds, and by works faith was made perfect?

23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God."

24 You see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

25 Likewise also wasn't Rahab the prostitute justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?

26 For like the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

___James chapter 3

1 My brothers, don't be many masters, knowing that we'll receive the greater condemnation.

2 For in many things we offend all.  If any man doesn't offend in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

3 See, we put bits in the horses' mouths, so they'll obey us, and we turn around their whole bodies.

4 Look also at the ships, which though they're so large, and are driven by fierce winds, yet they're turned around by a very small helm, wherever the captain wants.

5 Even so, the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things.  See how great a matter a little fire kindles!

6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of sin, so is the tongue among our members that it makes dirty the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire by hell.

7 For every kind of animals, and of birds, and of snakes, and of things in the sea, gets tamed, and has been tamed by mankind,

8 But no man can tame the tongue, it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

9 With it we bless God, the Father, and with it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God.

10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing.  My brothers, these things ought not to be.

11 Does a fountain send out at the same place sweet water and bitter?

12 Can the fig tree, my brothers, produce olive berries?  Or a vine, figs?  So no fountain can yield both salt water and fresh.

13 Who is a wise man, possessing knowledge among you?  Let him show out of a good lifestyle his works with meekness of wisdom.

14 But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, don't glory, and don't lie against the truth.

15 This wisdom doesn't descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be reasoned with, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

18 And the fruit of righteousness is planted in peace by those who make peace.

___James chapter 4

1 Where do wars and fightings among you come from?  Don't they come from your lusts that war in your members?

2 You lust, and don't have, you kill, and desire to have, and can't obtain, you fight and war, yet you don't have, because you don't ask.

3 You ask, and don't receive, because you ask wrongly, so you can consume it on your lusts.

4 You adulterers and adulteresses, don't you know that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God?  Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world is an enemy of God.

5 Do you think that the scripture says for nothing, "The spirit that lives in us lusts to envy?"

6 But he gives more grace.  So he says, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil, and he'll run away from you.

8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded.

9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and cry, let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he'll lift you up.

11 Don't speak evil about each other, brothers.  He that speaks evil about his brother, and judges his brother, speaks evil about the law, and judges the law, but if you judge the law, you're not a doer of the law, but a judge.

12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy, who are you that judges someone else?

13 Go on now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we'll go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and make a profit,"

14 Actually, you don't know what will happen tomorrow.  For what is your life?  It is a puff of steam, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.

15 For you ought to say, "Lord willing, we'll live, and do this, or that."

16 But now you rejoice in your boastings, all such rejoicing is evil.

17 Therefore to him that knows to do good, and doesn't do it, to him it is sin.

___James chapter 5

1 Go on now, you rich men, cry and howl for your miseries that shall come on you.

2 Your riches are corrupted, and your clothes are moth eaten.

3 Your gold and silver are rusted, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire.  You've heaped treasure together for the last days.

4 See, the wages of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which you've kept back by fraud, shouts, and the shouts of those who've reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath.

5 You've lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton, you've nourished your hearts, like in a day of slaughter.

6 You've condemned and killed the just, and he doesn't resist you.

7 Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord.  See, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and has long patience for it, until he receives the early and latter rain.

8 You also be patient.  Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is getting near.

9 Don't grudge against each other, brothers, so you won't be condemned, see, the judge stands at the door.

10 Take, my brothers, the prophets, who've spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.

11 See, we count them happy that endure.  You've heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

12 But above all things, my brothers, don't swear, not by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath, but let your yes be yes, and your no, no, so that you don't fall into condemnation.

13 Is anyone among you afflicted?  Let him pray.  Is anyone merry?  Let him sing psalms.

14 Is anyone sick among you?  Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord,

15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he has committed sins, he'll be forgiven.

16 Confess your faults to each other, and pray for each other so you'll be healed.  The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man is does a lot of good.

17 Elijah was a man subject to the same kind of passions that we are, and he prayed earnestly that it wouldn't rain, and it didn't rain on the earth for three years and six months.

18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

19 Brothers, if any of you strays from the truth, and someone converts him,

20 Let him know, that he that converts the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.