Depression, Happiness And Joy

The world populace has reached a point in which life for many has become much more complex and frustrating, and in some places much more dangerous than it was fifty years ago, where tens of millions suffer depression devoid of any sense of joy and happiness in their daily lives.

According to the American Psychiatric Association depression is defined as a major depressive disorder, a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how one feels, the way one thinks and how one acts. Depression causes feelings of sadness and/or a loss of interest in activities once enjoyed. According to Mayo Clinic, depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. Also called major depressive disorder or clinical depression, it affects how one feels, thinks and behaves and can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems. According to the American Psychiatric Association depression can be treated through a course of intensive counseling and the administration of psychotropic medications which are mood altering drugs. This approach is an effort to instruct the patient in how to get along with their demons coupled with what would formerly be considered witchcraft, and is comparable to putting bandages on a cancerous lesion while the cause of the problem remains undiagnosed and improperly treated via a temporary catharsis.

The opposite of depression is Joy, Happiness, Peace, Hope, Contentment, Comfort,and Cheerfulness. The world’s definition of Joy according to Merriam-Webster is the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires, the expression or exhibition of such emotions as delight, gaiety, felicity and bliss. A source or cause of delight. It becomes immediately clear even to the uneducated that the lack of these attributes is evidence of depression, however the actual cause is not being addressed because it is outside the limited purview of psychiatric and pharmaceutical communities. 

The problem of depression is spiritual, an area of understanding that is uniformly denied by the psychiatric community and directly related to the following causes; Failure to acknowledge the existence of God, or turning away from God, outright hatred of God, hatred of God’s Chosen, hatred of His Church, and refusing to acknowledge God’s own Son Jesus Christ. This is the ultimate cause of depression when one usurps the rightful role of the Creator thus enthroning themselves at the center of their own universe becoming their own god and master of their own destiny. The net result being a sense of growing internal delusion and of loss and foreboding, a life that eventually becomes devoid of any sense of personal future or reason for being. In essence that individual brings on their own spiritual death due to willful separation from God.

There is an otherworldly cure for depression and a resurgence of joy, happiness and well-being.

First by identifying causation: Here is the understanding of the basic reason and root cause of depression which leads to all the discontent, rioting, civil disobedience and misbehavior from various groups throughout the world today. This includes the delusion sweeping Europe leading to it’s destruction and eventual dissolution by invading Islamic hoards. 

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none that does good. (Psalm 14:1)

“Understand this, that in the last days there will come times of stress. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, fierce, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.”(2 Timothy 3: 1-4)

The prescription: We are advised to “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Matthew 7:12-14) 

What does this mean that the way is hard? It refers to removing Self from the center of the egocentric universe and giving God and His son Jesus that central place while denying Self the control over your own life while submitting to the will of God.

And he said to all, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 
(Luke 9:23-26)

Walk by the Spirit, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you would. But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us have no self-conceit, no provoking of one another, no envy of one another. (Galatians 5:15-26)

The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son. And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. (1 John 5:10-12)

The Cure: “If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved. (Romans 10: 8-10)

Then Finally: “Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all men generously and without reproaching, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways, will receive anything from the Lord.” (James 1:2-8)