Daystar TV Founder ‘Dies Of Covid’

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

(Worthy News) – Marcus D. Lamb, the co-founder and CEO of the Christian Daystar Television Network, officially died of COVID-19, but his wife defended his televised anti-vaccination views. He was 64.

“He 100 percent believed in everything we talk about here on Daystar, things that help so many people around the world with early protocol treatments for COVID,” said his wife, Joni, on their daily Ministry Show. “We still stand by those, obviously.”

She suggested that his diabetes also played a role in his death on Tuesday. “His blood sugar spiked, and he needed oxygen,” she stressed. Most people dying of COVID-19 are elderly persons with underlying health conditions, according to hospital records and experts.

Lamb passed away on November 30, the same day that evangelist Paul Crouch, the founder of the Christian Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), passed away in 2013 at age 79.

A brief statement said Daystar was launched in 1998 and grew to more than 100 television stations worldwide, potentially reaching two billion people. “[Lamb] will always be remembered for his fierce love of God, people, and his family.”

Lamb, whose network is headquartered in Dallas, was also praised by prominent evangelicals Tuesday, who didn’t mention his anti-vaccine activism.

CHRISTIANS PRAISE

Among them were Jentezen Franklin, a Georgia pastor who was on then President Donald Trump’s faith advisory board, and evangelist Franklin Graham, son of late preacher Billy Graham.

“For all those who put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have that assurance of being with God for eternity in heaven,” wrote Graham on social networking site Twitter. “Marcus is now in the presence of His Lord and Savior. He had preached about heaven, taught about heaven, and now he is experiencing heaven.”

In a statement, the family asked that their privacy be respected “as they grieve this difficult loss.” Besides his wife Joni and son Jonathan, Lamb is survived by daughters Rachel and Rebecca.

Last week his son, Jonathan Lamb, told viewers that his father’s COVID diagnosis was a spiritual attack. “There’s no doubt in my mind that this is a spiritual attack from the enemy,” he said about his father’s COVID-19 illness in the Ministry Now program.

“As much as my parents have gone on here to kind of inform everyone about everything going on to the pandemic and some of the ways to treat COVID — there’s no doubt that the enemy is not happy about that. And he’s doing everything he can to take down my Dad,” he added.

Daystar aired a series of programs featuring vaccine skeptics such as Robert Kennedy Jr., Sherri Tenpenny, and Del Bigtree, as well as a group of physicians known as America’s Frontline Doctors (AFD). The AFD supports the use of hydroxychloroquine and other alternative treatments for dealing with COVID-19.

ANTI-VACCINE FILM

An episode featuring Bigtree, best known for his anti-vaccine film “Vaxxed,” and Kennedy began with Marcus and Joni Lamb sitting with their young granddaughter.

They defended their efforts to help people research vaccines amid concerns about reported side effects and deaths.

The issue of COVID-19 vaccines has been controversial for Christian broadcasters such as Daystar.

In August, the spokesman for the National Religious Broadcasters, a trade association, was fired after encouraging evangelicals to consider vaccination.

His employer claimed the comments violated the NRB’s neutral stance on vaccines.

Latest Worthy News