Nathan Leal – December 14, 2008
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
…A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;” Eccl. 3:1,4
According to Scripture, a child of God is never promised that every single day will be filled with happiness. There is a time for everything, including sadness.
When we examine the lives of our spiritual forefathers and patriarchs, we observe that at times they experienced sadness, grief, and tears. The writings of King David chronicled many occasions of intense emotional struggle.
“I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.” Psalms 6:6
“My tears have been my meat day and night…” Psalms 42:3
“…put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?” Psalms 56:8
Jeremiah has been called the weeping prophet. Job testified with tears. Peter denied Christ in a moment of weakness and he went out and wept bitterly.
Jesus wept when he saw all of the people without a shepherd. He also travailed in the garden, when He faced the coming night of betrayal that was upon Him.
Struggles of Life
Many people in the Scriptures endured heartache and pain. Since the days of Adam, people of God have known this. Throughout time, it has been understood that humans are born into a world that makes no promises. This means that at times there will be struggle and tears.
Job said, “Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.” He said this while staring at his campfire.
Paul stated in Acts 14:22 that “we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”
Unfortunately, this biblical truth has been lost in today’s modern gospel. The voices behind the pulpit today deliver a strange message that “success in life” is the stated goal of the Gospel. They teach a new gospel of happiness that eliminates trials and tears.
I was in Barnes and Noble bookstore yesterday, and as I walked down the main aisle, I came upon a table that was displayed with many popular Christian “motivational” books.
Every book that I saw had titles about success: Loving this Life, Being Happy, How to be Purpose Driven, it was a buffet of positive clichés garnished with a Scripture here and there. The authors were all popular ministers and preachers; Joel Osteen, Victoria Osteen, Joyce Meyer, TD Jakes, Rick Warren, etc.
The Smiley Face Gospel
Out of curiosity, I thumbed through several of them. Their words in print confirmed something that I have been thinking about lately: Today’s message of the Cross has been hijacked by the Gospel of “The Smiley Face.”
Millions of Christians today are being taught to expect a perfect, happy life with no tears, disappointments or struggles.
This new gospel is a lie! In this life, we can expect to be dealt the cards of frustration and turmoil. Sometimes the turmoil will be from our circumstances or from the circumstances of others.
Experiencing dark times, unhappy moods, and fears should lead us all to one place. That place is the altar of God and the foot of the cross. God allows these dark moments into our lives so that we can run to him and like King David, pour out our hearts to Him.
Sometimes the Holy Spirit will place a burden for others in our hearts. Sometimes that burden is accompanied with the desire to weep. A mature discerning Christian realizes that these burdens are visited upon us so that we can pray for the people that are on our heart.
Other times, the Holy Spirit might place a feeling of sadness in our heart because He wants us to repent of something. This is called – Holy Ghost conviction.
Unfortunately, the pulpits of today have brainwashed the people to believe that we should only be happy. People have not been taught how to repent or travail for others with weeping while in prayer.
Enter the Doctor
Today’s Christians have been influenced by this gospel of happiness to the point of associating burdens and sadness with a bad medical condition. So what happens? Those who are experiencing sadness often times go to the doctor and to inform him that they have been sad and depressed.
Which results in a prescription of antidepressants. And a kickback for some of the doctors
The Christian Epidemic of Drugs
Today in America, we are experiencing an epidemic of Christians dependent on legal drugs: Anti-depressants. These drugs go by a variety of names including: Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Sarafem (Prozac in a pink pill), Lexapro, and Luvox, among other names.
Today’s American government is in an adulterous relationship with corporations including drug companies. The drug companies lobby politicians and doctors to shove these chemicals down the throats of the willing.
Drug ads plaster television commercials and magazines telling us that the answer to sadness in is a little pill.
The result, these drugs have become so commonplace and accepted in our society that they now shackle a large portion of Americans with dependency.
The Untold Story
This topic concerns every one of us because there is a probability that some of you are on these drugs or you know someone who is.
Why am I concerned?
Brethren, I am not just concerned, I am very, very concerned! Why? Because these drugs have a way of making prisoners out of the people that are taking them. Anti-depressants place the person in a zombie state and dissolve the barrier between reality and fantasy.
These drugs also cause numbness to life. The “Kodak Moments” and “Hallmark commercials” that at one time might have brought a tear to the eye, become meaningless images and chatter.
The side effects of these drugs are so dangerous that they have been responsible for hundreds and hundreds murders, murder suicides, and suicides in this country. (Read!)
The majority of school, college and church shootings that have horrified us over the years have been carried out by children and adults who were on antidepressant drugs: The Columbine shootings in Colorado, The Virginia Tech Shootings, The New Life Church Shootings, etc.
Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold during their Columbine Rampage
I have heard testimonies from many people who have told me that while they were on these drugs, they battled thoughts of suicide. I have also heard testimony from others who told me that they battled thoughts of murdering their children while they were on these drugs.
Andrea Yates who drowned her five children in her bathtub was also on antidepressants.
This is a photo a Andrea Yates and her five innocent babies that she murdered!
Folks this should not just be a casual concern for us but a red level alarm that should be shouted from the emergency broadcast system!
There have been some stories about this problem but for the most part it is a story that remains buried and that has been silenced because the FDA is in bed with “Big Pharma.”
For those of you that may think that I am shouting in an empty room, try Googling the words antidepressant and suicide. I did it and I got over one and a half million hits.
There is a website that has been chronicling thousands of suicides and murders that were carried out by people on these antidepressant drugs. These stories are chilling – Read
Another concern that I have in these end times, is the biblical warning from Scripture that in the last days evil will increase. That means that we can expect demonic and evil forces to infect our society.
These antidepressant drugs have a way of removing the barrier that we all have to resist evil. I’ve heard testimony from people who say that they heard voices to destroy themselves. Folks, these are demonic voices of destruction. And in the days ahead this dark evil is only going to get worse!
Cleanse Yourself
Brethren, if you are on these antidepressant drugs, I ask that you seriously consider weaning yourself of them.
Warning, Warning, Warning!
Please Note. A lot of the suicides and murders that occurred happened when these people stopped taking their drugs cold turkey or they missed their prescription for a few days.
Trying to get off of them cold turkey is very, very dangerous! Or taking them sporadically is also very dangerous. If you have been taking them for any length of time, your brain chemistry becomes reliant on the chemicals in these pills: Trying to stop cold turkey results in a brain chemistry imbalance that pushes people over the edge.
So please, be aware that getting off of these drugs is possible but it has to be done slowly over time. The people that I knew that weaned themselves were able to do it by cutting part of their pill off. Perhaps they cut one third off, and only took two thirds of the pill for a while. Later they took another third off, and so forth and so on.
Steps to Freedom
Weaning yourself of these drugs can only be accomplished by a commitment and some hard work.
Step one: Educate yourself. Get on the Internet and research this topic. Google the words “weaning + antidepressants.” You will be surprised at how many websites there are about this topic. Inform yourself so that you know what to expect. Read the testimonies of others. But bottom line, educate yourself.
Step two: Find support. Ask your loved ones if they will support you in trying to do this. Find Christians that will believe with you and who will support you with prayer. Please know that during the withdrawal process you may become moody, angry and unreasonable. But ask your loved ones to have patience and pray for you during this time.
Step three: Get nutritional supplements. There are some natural supplements that can help your brain chemistry; ( 5 HTP, Fish Oils, Saint John’s Wort ). Ladies, there is a progesterone cream that can be purchased that allows you to rub the needed hormone into your body. Research this topic as well.
Step four: Begin reducing your dosage. Research the testimonies of others to see how they did it. Most likely reducing your dosage by a fourth or a third and sticking to that for a while is the way to start.
Step five: Learn to pray. As you’re going through this withdrawal, there will be times where you feel like weeping uncontrollably. Use this time and this season to go to the cross and the altar of God. Pour your heart out to God in tears just like David did. As you begin to do this regularly, you will find yourself looking forward to spending time with God. At first it will be a discipline but after a while, it will become a delight.
Brethren, I am aware that this topic is not easy for you to read. But it’s the truth and you need to hear it. The enemy of your soul wants to destroy you. It is beyond debate, that these drugs have been used as his tool to destroy.
The answer to life’s problems is not found in a pill. The answer is Jesus!
If you have loved ones that are on antidepressants and you are concerned for them, ask them to read this article. But before you do, pray and ask God to soften their hearts and to open their eyes so that they can receive these words.
I pray that these words do not fall to the ground.
In His Service,
Nathan Leal
Watchman’s Cry
Watch an ABC News Expose on these drugs
