The Senior Pastor of Living Impact Christian Centre, Pastor Wale Olasoji, has admonished Nigerians, especially Christians never allow to depression steal their joy this festive season and even beyond. This is a reaction to the report of high suicide cases being reported in the Nigerian mainstream media.
According to the him, most of the suicide cases are linked to depression and other mental health issues. Celebrating the church’s 3-day annual December convention with the theme “Joy Unlimited”, and preaching a sermon titled “Deliverance from depression and oppression”, Pastor Olasoji has called on believers not to allow the devil steal their joy because that may consequently lead to depression, the major cause of suicide.
In his exact word, “I hate to see God’s people suffer under the devil. I have seen people suffer and I have seen the glory of Jesus Christ. I understand depression is the feeling of severe despondency and dejection. Depression is real. I saw recently on the internet how a young man plunged into the lagoon. Problems are everywhere no doubt but satan exaggerates people’s problem, tells them there is no hope and the best thing is to take their life. You won’t take your life because there is hope for everyone.”
Pastor Olasoji also admonished that at this material time when people live isolated lives, it has become imperative to be there for one another. He narrated a story “I met a pastor some years ago. And he said to me, man of God, I almost entered into depression. It was on a Christmas Day and there was no food at all. He didn’t have any food to eat.
People were cooking food and rejoicing, but nobody remembered him. He told me he just said Lord, bless my life like this. Lord, please. I want jollof rice. It’s funny to think he was praying for Jollof rice, but you don’t understand what it means when a man has been serving God. He has lived his life for people. He has lived his life for others.
And now he just feels alone that people cannot even remember him. This is a pain that can lead to depression. He told me that all of a sudden, he got a knock on his door, somebody brought jollof rice and meat for him. He told me how happy he was when he ate the food. He was happy. To someone, it’s nothing but to him, it’s everything. And that was how this man came out of depression”
He further asked that people who are not having a good time talk to those close to them. It is agreed that depression festers and consequently leads to suicide when people don’t have who to talk to. He made some instances how people suddenly want to be alone and then entertain suicide. There is nothing wrong with meditation but isolation should not be mistaken for meditation at all. Another thing is for one to be sensitive to each other’s plight especially if a particular person decides to open up about their state of mind. Not everything should be trivialized, joked about and waved off, especially in the era of social media.
While buttressing what the Bible says in 2nd Corinthians 10 Verse 5, he told the congregation that no believer in their right senses will take their own life. He said satan has delegated demons to feast on people’s mind and ended the sermon advising people not to stay in isolation because that is the last thing that triggers suicide when people begin to entertain the demonic thoughts that come to their mind.
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