September 2014
June 2012
How to Spoil Your Child
National Life Chain
Page 8
Page 9
The Plight of Christians in Iraq & Syria
Page 14
Finding Freedom Page 17
ES S S OE SI GO G IL LE R R E E T T N H H
WH
Seth Halpern He burst into our lives as the silly but sweet alien Mork from Ork leading a generation to say “ Nanu Nanu”. He had a long career making us laugh with lightning speed jokes that came faster than we could process them. He made us cry in award winning dramatic performances. Then he hung himself with a belt while his wife slept in another room. Robin Williams, the man many called the funniest man on the planet. killed himself in a horrible fashion. We wish it were just a prank, trying to get us to laugh, or maybe a tabloid gimmick for some PR. No, unfortunately, it is true and more than one generation of fans are stopped in their tracks wondering how this could happen. It wasn’t for lack of fame. Williams was
a household name for decades with no sign of fading away. He had a new TV series this past season. It wasn’t for lack of achievement. He managed to go from the #1 stand-up comedian to winning an Academy award for a dramatic role. Some have said it could be money. I’m not sure, but he certainly earned plenty and his work was still in demand (he has several films yet to be released). Not only did he do “well” but he did “good”. Raising millions of dollars for charity in many years of Comic Relief. Story after story tells of Williams’s kindness and generosity. He stated that fame and fortune wasn’t enough. So, what could drive someone who “had it all” to take his life and in such a drastic way? It was well known that Williams had
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G G U U EN E A A N T L L TH E HE
battled addiction for years. He had gone through several rehab programs and in 2006 spoke to Diane Sawyer in a network interview about his addiction. News of his hidden diagnosis of Parkinson’s have some thinking that he didn’t want to go through the pain deterioration of the harsh disease. Yet, another celebrity, Michael J. Fox, is publicly enduring Parkinson’s while enjoying career success. Some would say that He needed God and rightly so. He did say in a few interviews that he was glad to know “a loving God”. He spent some time in church through his life. Yet that didn’t seem to help. There is no record or evidence that he made a strong commitment to Christ. His friends tell of his struggle with depression and even some of his own jokes hint at
his sadness beneath the laughter. We don’t know when the problem began, but it seems clear that he did not have a happy childhood. Still most people, even suffering more difficult childhoods, don’t take such drastic and permanent actions. This was no simple bout of sad feelings. Williams battled clinical depression. This may have led to the substance addictions as a way of coping with the pain. Some in the Christian community might say that God will always heal depression, “After all, isn’t simply a lack of faith or trust in God that causes depression?”. NO! Many committed Christians suffer with clinical depression. Clinical depression is a physiological condition where the brain doesn’t produce the chemicals (Serotonin,
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Joshua House Annual Banquet! October 9th -- Page 10
The Ambassador
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