“As a co-worker and friend who shared a residence with Michael Billings during the last year of his life, four virtues especially impressed me about him.

“First, he took to heart the prediction of Proverbs 13:20 that ‘[h]e that walketh with wise men shall be wise.’ Michael sought wise men to disciple and counsel him throughout his life. That is why he wanted to work under Doug Phillips at the age of fourteen. That is why he regularly spoke with men like Geoff Botkin and his elder Jim Zes. That is why he studied the lectures, debates, and writings of men such as Rushdoony, Bahnsen, and Sproul. He once shared with me a list of five men he hoped to disciple under before beginning his life ministry. They were each leaders of the faith.

“Second, he took to heart the admonition of I Timothy 4:12: ‘Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example to the believers, in word, in coversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.’ Michael conducted himself with a maturity that was far beyond his years. I often forgot that he was only nineteen. Michael Billings has been teaching the Vision Forum interns in regular classes on the attributes of God, both the communicable and the incommunicable attributes. With great care he articulated (to some men who were even older than he) doctrines of God’s nature that have baffled the ages.

“Third, he took to heart the command of I Peter 3:15: “[B]e ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” I Peter 3:15. One of the reasons Michael loved to read, hear, and watch the lectures of men like Bahnsen and Sproul was that he was preparing to be a Christian apologist. He had a warrior mind-set. He was constantly training for future battle to advance God’s Kingdom.

“Finally, he believed the revelation of Hebrews 9:27 that ‘it is appointed unto men once to die.’ He trusted that God was sovereign over all things, including the time of his death. Not only did he believe that God was sovereign over all things, but he trusted that God alone was worthy of ultimate sovereignty. On the night before his death, Michael and I prayed together with a group of other men. Michael prayed, ‘Lord, let us adore you not merely for what you have done for us but for who you are.’ Michael knew that he could commit all his ways to a holy God. For him, to live was Christ and to die was gain (Philippians 1:21).”

Nathaniel Darnell