People Are Hurting and Turning to Suicide – By Chick Publications
On January 25th, the Mayor of Hyattsville, Maryland, died from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A few days later, a former Miss USA committed suicide by jumping from a high-rise building in New York. Both events happened less than one week apart.
Americans continue to experience stress, depression and anxiety as the pandemic approaches its third year, negatively impacting the emotional well-being of both men and women.
The latest published statistics on suicide from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) list suicide as the 10th leading cause of death in the US. On average, there are 130 suicides per day and 1.38 million suicide attempts each year.
These statistics are shocking, and they should be especially for us Christians. We have the answer to the problems haunting them — THE GOSPEL — and while the problems that lead people to make this terrible decision are often temporary, that “solution” is all too permanent. The root is always a spiritual problem.
As Bible believers we know the cause of this suicide epidemic. And we also have the solution. For two generations our young people have been taught that they are just an accident in a uncaring cosmos. One young man put it: “Life is absurd and then you die.” When that message is pervasive in their home, their schools and their university, this worldview, which is set in early adolescence, colors everything. As they move on in life and do not encounter the gospel, early exit from this life becomes increasingly attractive.
Over the years, we have received many testimonies from people who said they were contemplating suicide but found a Chick tract at just the right time, and it helped change their mind.
In 2016, Jack Chick shared the testimony below in his bimonthly letter:
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“We got a call one day from a man who had picked up a hitchhiker. The driver wasn`t a Christian, but the young hitchhiker was. He gave the driver a Chick tract, which he just threw into the glove box of his car. Not long after, he came home devastated from a doctor visit. He had terminal cancer and would soon die. Rather than face the pain of that death, he decided to exit on his own terms.”
“He closed the car in his garage, got in and started the engine. While the fumes built up in the garage, he reached into the glove box to get paper to write a suicide note and found This Was Your Life. Fortunately, it did not take long to read it. He quickly turned off the car and gave his heart to Jesus.”
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Gospel tracts are proven to work, and God has used them to reach people in their most dire circumstances. However, He can only do so when we are faithful in getting them out there where people can read them.
The message is the same for everyone: “There is hope in Jesus.”