After a lifelong battle with mental illness, the youngest son of Pastor Rick Warren has committed suicide, his family said. Matthew Warren, 27, died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound on Friday, said Deputy Daniel Aikin, with the Orange County Coroner's Office.
The family shared news of his death in an e-mail to church staff.
Rick Warren and his wife founded Saddleback Valley Community Church, a mega-church in Southern California. "No words can express the anguished grief we feel right now," the pastor wrote in the note..."*
To say that any family would be stunned by such tragic news would be an amazing understatement. To lose any loved one that is close to you is a horrific blow; but to lose a child is something that I cannot even begin to wrap my mind around. This family is hurting, and if there was ever a time when kindness, support, and prayer were needed for them...it is now!
I'm not sure that many people in the world were quite prepared for some of the vitriolic comments that were made toward this grieving family during their darkest hour. Many nasty remarks have especially been hurled at Pastor Warren in apparent retaliation and disgust for some of this or that doctrinal stance that he has publicly over the past 20 years.
I sat in shocked silence with tears in my eyes this morning as I read insult after insult that spat towards this man and his family, and I was reminded once again just how ugly the world that we live in can be.
I was emotionally yanked back into reality as I was reminded of the following verse from the scriptures:
"And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." Matthew 24:12
As I watched this painful chapter unfold for a colleague in ministry (no, he's not from my denomination, but he IS my brother in Christ, and in the ministry,) I thought about how our "example" (Jesus) would deal with a situation like this.
Would He hurl insults back? Would He do His best to intellectually wrangle those who disagree, and shoot down the nay-sayers with something clever and equally venomous? Hardly!
If we are to call ourselves Christians, as painful as it might be for us to contemplate, we must agree that Jesus would rise above the fray and actually forgive those who were most brutal in dishing out their angry insults.
"Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do...' Luke 23:34
This type of forgiving behavior flies in the face of conventional thinking. Every fiber of unconverted humanity wants to tell people who treat others like this to shut their mouths and get a life. Jesus wouldn't do that; and if we are to follow His example, neither should we.
Pastor Rick and Kay Warren & Family, I'm praying for you all as you grieve this tragic loss. May your loving Savior's arms be felt in a very special way as you travel this lonely road of sadness.
Please keep this family in your prayers today.
Pastor Mike / The Open Word
