“I had the privilege of meeting Michael Billings for the first time in August of 2004 at a Uniting Church and Home Conference in St. Louis. He impressed me then, and every subsequent time I saw Michael and conversed with him, my respect for this young man increased and increased. In him, I beheld a man who had a keen mind, a warm heart, and an irrepressible zeal to know the truth of God’s Word.

Most of our conversations began by Michael approaching me with a question on some difficult point of theology or on the meaning and application of God’s law. The depth of his understanding and intellect were reflected in his questions, questions that strained my ability to answer to the limit — not only were his questions penetrating, he was not satisfied unless the answer was focused, logical, and biblical. In addition to his notable intellectual gifts, Michael was always a complete gentleman who conducted himself with humility and showed appropriate respect to all around him. His love for God and His law-word was deep and real. I... had great hopes that he would rise to articulate and defend the law of God to his generation. His loss strikes my heart deeply. It is my prayer that God will use the testimony of Michael’s life and his zeal for the law of God to raise up hundreds of young men who will take up the cause of truth and righteousness that he so passionately loved.

Michael was a young Ezra: “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments” (Ezra 7:10). God in His all-wise providence has called his young Ezra home, but the witness of Michael’s remarkable life will carry on in the lives of those who like him prepare their hearts to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach and defend it in their generation.”

Bill Einwechter, Pastor, Immanuel Free Reformed Church