Do Faithful Christians Die from Terrible Diseases?

We received this letter in response to Billy Joe Daugherty - Highly Esteemed by Men:

I read you article about Billy Jo Daugherty......I don’t understand how you knew this man’s heart and could judge him.....only God knows the heart of man. Many wonderful christians have died preaching the gospel and living Godly lives. Did you ever think that maybe God was saving him from something even more horrible? He went to live with Jesus which is our ultimate goal as a christian. I am appalled that you would write something so hurtful for the world and his family see. May God forgive you for your judgemental heart. Satan gets great pleasure from people who do this.

Victor and Paul’s reply:

Lainey, allow me to take you to the Scriptures to alleviate your troublesome lack of understanding as to how we could know Billy Joe’s heart and judge him:

1 Corinthians 2:13-16 MKJV
(13) These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
(14) But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
(15) But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is judged by no one.
(16) For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.

All true Christians have this power and know the things that are plainly declared in the Holy Scriptures, but the tares do not know them because they do not have the heart and mind of God, not being born again.

You say, “Many wonderful christians have died preaching the gospel and living Godly lives.”

Very true! That includes all the fathers of the faith - Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, all the prophets but for Enoch and Elijah, and all the apostles and disciples since Christ’s day in the flesh. But you miss this one important fact:

None of those died of a terrible disease or tragedy, even as God promised would be.

“And he said, If you will carefully listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and will do that which is right in His sight, and will give ear to His commandments, and keep all His Laws, I will put none of these diseases upon you, which I have brought upon the Egyptians; for I am the LORD Who heals you” (Exodus 15:26 MKJV).

Show me anywhere in Scripture where a believer walking in true faith died of a loathsome disease. Show me any example (testimony) or doctrine that teaches such a thing. You won’t find it, Lainey.

But you are talking about people you have believed to be Christians who died while preaching and appearing “wonderful” and “living godly lives,” aren’t you? Are you talking about those who died a natural death and martyrdom, or are you talking about those who died by accident and loathsome disease? All die - preachers, believers, unbelievers - but true believers do not die by tragedy or disease; they die by natural death or martyrdom. (Not that unbelievers do not die by natural death or persecution.)

You make a very foolish statement here: “Did you ever think that maybe God was saving him from something even more horrible?”

If God’s intent was to save a man from “something even more horrible,” why would He have to resort to something almost as horrible? He translated Enoch and Elijah, didn’t He? He has taken billions away by a natural death, hasn’t He? Why must He break His own Word, Law, and principles to deliver someone, especially one who is presumably His child, and one who preached healing and freedom from disease?

God has exposed Billy Joe as a false teacher, a liar, and a hypocrite for all to see, but you aren’t getting the message.

Is premature death by cancer “deliverance”? I’d hate to see what destruction would be, wouldn’t you? You are being really silly now.

You say something that also proves you are not a bona fide born again Christian (not that you haven’t said enough already to prove it - and I don’t condemn you for it; I only show you your wrong so that you may consider, believe, and repent). You say, “He went to live with Jesus which is our ultimate goal as a christian.”

What makes you think he “went to live with Jesus”? How do you know that? You don’t; you only judge after the appearance, seduced by a man’s profession of faith; but what does the Lord say about profession? Here it is:

“Many will say to Me in that day, Lord! Lord! Did we not prophesy in Your Name, and through Your Name throw out demons, and through Your Name do many wonderful works?” (Matthew 7:22 MKJV)

Will you believe man (Billy Joe) or will you believe God (the Scriptures)? If man, you are not a Christian; if God, you are a Christian.

You are wrong, so wrong, in saying that the ultimate goal of a Christian is to go live with Jesus. True Christians live with Him here and now, because they are born again of Him; He dwells within. Can He get any closer than that?

But your stated goal tells us you don’t know Him, and only those who don’t know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior will defend Billy Joe and fault us for speaking the Truth in Christ concerning him. Billy Joe didn’t know the Lord. And if he taught you what you believe, what further proof do we need of his fruits?

By the way, the ultimate goal of the Christian is to be one with Jesus Christ in all respects. It is to believe and obey Him, to love Him with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength. It is not about saving your skin, as you suppose, but of pleasing Him. You have fallen prey to a false gospel and false Jesus, those Paul warned against.

You may be appalled at what we have written, but that is because you think we have written something false. Yet if we do speak the Truth, Jesus says the Truth makes one free, and that is our desire, that men be made free by the Truth, including you and Billy Joe’s family. As for hurtful:

“Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful” (Proverbs 27:6 MKJV).

You see, Lainey, you have believed lies and have been destroyed by them. That’s why you are “appalled” at the truth.

In that deception, it is you who has offended against God by judging after the appearance; it is you who has the judgmental heart; it is you who are condemning the work of God, which we work by Him, as commanded.

So now who do you think is pleasing Satan?

Repent, or you will also suffer Billy Joe Daugherty’s fate. And should you doubt anything we have said, see the Scriptural proofs of men’s works, which destroy:

The True Marks of a Cult

See where you fit in.

Victor Hafichuk
Paul Cohen

Lainey’s response:

I feel very sorry for you. I AM a born again christian. How dare you question that. I just know that I would never ever judge someone’s death as you have. God have mercy on your soul. Lainey

Victor and Paul’s reply:

Lainey, we are not questioning that you are a born again Christian. We are telling you that you are not. Those who are truly born again can spot you as a counterfeit Christian as easily as a money expert can tell a three-dollar bill is not legal tender.

You needn’t feel sorry for us. We are seated on the throne in Heaven with the Lord, ruling with Him. If you were born again from above, you would know it; but you are deceived, and that is why we speak to you now. You can fool yourself, your church, your family, and other men, but you can’t fool God. Repent, or as we have said, you’ll perish as did Billy Joe.

Victor Hafichuk
Paul Cohen

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