Pastor Rick Warren’s 27-year-old son, Matthew, has died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
According to official reports, the body of the young man, who had suffered most of his life from mental illness, was found at his home in Mission Viejo, California. Pastor Warren and his wife founded Saddleback Valley Community Church, a megachurch in southern California.
In a statement sent to the media, Pastor Warren said, ‘No words can express the anguished grief we feel right now. Only those closest knew that he struggled from birth with mental illness, dark holes of depression, and even suicidal thoughts. In spite of America’s best doctors, meds, counsellors and prayers for healing, the torture of mental illness never subsided’.
In a report by US news agency CNN, it was revealed that Matthew once told his father, several years previously, ‘Dad, I know I’m going to heaven. Why can’t I just die and end this pain?’
