Christian musician's son found dead

He should pray and raise him up by the name of Jesus!

 

You didn't really mean to say that did you?

 

He is not an Apostle, neither are you!

 

This happened here in my area. Ron Hamilton's parents in law are members of my church. I was not here in the area when this happened, and I did not make it to church this morning. I plan on attending the evening service.

This is a huge shock to much of our local Christian community.

I do know (and have known for a long time) that Jonathan Hamilton had severe emotional/psychological/spiritual problems, but I do not know all the specifics and thus I should not comment any further.

Evidently he committed suicide by jumping off a tall building downtown. That was the last I heard, and read in a news article, which I do not have handy right this minute.

Many people around the world are familiar with Ron Hamilton and his music ministry (whether you like or agree with his ministry or not) and this is a huge ripple among a very large audience of people who grew up as children listening to the Patch the Pirate recordings. Jonathan Hamilton was the long-running voice of the character "Peewee Pirate" who was implied but not necessarily stated to be Patch the Pirate's son in the make-believe dramatic recordings. He was, of course, Ron Hamilton's actual son. Ron's other children also had pirate names for the recordings and were part of the fictional singing "pirate crew" that thousands of children have grown up listening to for 30 +/- years. Though I never met Jonathan, both my wife and myself grew up listening to the recordings over the years.

My wife's brother and his family were members of Ron Hamilton's church and know the Hamiltons fairly well, having served in the music ministry of the church with them for many years.

 

My prayers go out to the family.

Being saved does not exempt one from having mental illness.

 

That is true, Mexdeaf. I will not give an opinion as to whether the young man knew the Lord or not. I hope he did.

Some people believe that suicide is proof that someone was not saved. I do not say that. I think that suicide is a sin, just like any other sin, and that a believer is capable of committing any sin there is. I do believe that in most cases, a believer will be stopped by promptings of the Holy Spirit. That was the case with me, as I had many suicidal thoughts as a teenager. The Lord carried me through, and I have not had many such thoughts since being married and growing closer to the Lord.

 

What Matters NOW...

The things you have spoken of are things that ONLY the Hamilton family really knows in regards to their son. The important thing now is that we all hold this family up in prayer. They must truly be hurting. I know the Hamiltons and the Garlocks from years ago at the now defunct Southside Baptist Church that used to be on Augusta St. in Greenville. That was where I attended after getting saved in 1977. Dr. Walt Handford baptised me there. Dr. Frank Garlock was the music minister there and both families were involved. Ron and Shelly were very kind to open their home to me as a place to stay for a few weeks when I was going through some problems in my early Christian life trying to gain victory over a substance abuse problem. I lost touch with them over the years but I never quit enjoying the wonderful music their ministry (Majesty Music) produced over the years. May God help, comfort and bless them in these difficult days.

Bro.Greg:saint:

 

Full Circle...

 

Greg, I had the pleasure of meeting Walt Handford a few years back through the Greenville Woodworkers' Guild, which he and I were both members of at the time. A really nice fellow. I lost track of him for a long time, but I spoke to his wife a few weeks ago after finding his phone number. She told me Walt has Alzheimer's now and barely knows who he is. She believes he will pass on to glory before long. I was glad to be able to spend a few minutes of encouragement with her. She is in good spirits and rejoicing in the Lord as she cares for Walt.

 

A truly Godly man...

Brother... Pastor Handford and his dear wife definitely rank high on the top 10 list of the most godly people I have ever been blessed to know in my life here on earth. It was sad to see the old Southside slide into what it is now. I presume you do know that Mrs. Handford is one of the late Dr. John R. Rice's daughters. Southside Baptist was a wonderful and strong church in that day back in the late 70's. It has been many years since I have seen Dr. & Mrs. Handford. The missionary John of Japan who posts here on the BB is one of Dr. Rice's grandsons and also related to Mrs. Handford. There are probably more than a few people that go to Faith Baptist who were at Southside in those days. The music of the Garlocks and the Hamiltons was very special then too. I still remember being there for the first performance of the Christmas cantata "Born To Die" written by Bro.Ron and arranged By Shelly. That music still blesses my soul to this day. I pray God's grace and comfort will abide on all these dear ones.

Bro.Greg:saint:

 

There are quite a few remnants of the old Southside at Faith Baptist these days.

My wife and I have been listening to the recording of the service that was held for Jonathan. It is very interesting. I will post the link here. It may answer many questions that some people may have.

http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?m=t&s=521131134273