8 Christian Saints and Heretics Who Died in 2024

Following is a list of several notable Christian saints (and heretics) of varying degrees of soundness who passed away this year.

Hal Lindsey, 95.

Lindsey was a TV host, evangelist, and author of the infamous book The Late Great Planet Earth, which sold more than 36 million copies and became the most-read book of the decade. Here, he popularized dispensational premillennialism with a doomsday bent, tying modern events to biblical ancient prophecy and scaring the hell out of the masses while doing so. He was also a notorious bible prophecy teacher whose prophecies and predictions never came to pass.

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Henry Blackaby, 88.

Blackaby was perhaps best known for authoring the book ‘Experiencing God,’ the classic continuationist tome released over three decades ago that has sold over seven million copies. Despite its success, in actuality, it was one of the worst and most damaging books on Christian living ever produced, giving a whole generation of believers a misguided and unbiblical understanding of God’s character and the normative Christian experience.

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Tony Campolo, 89.

Known as the Father of the Progressive Left, Campolo was a popular teacher, speaker, and sociologist who founded the left-wing organization ‘Red-Letter Christians.’ His org quickly evolved into a liberal rag that eventually released articles supporting abortion and homosexuality. Notably, Campolo emerged as fully LGBTQ-affirming in 2015 and ditched the moniker ‘evangelical’ a year later.

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K.P. Yohannan, 74.

Yohannan founded the prominent missionary network and organization Gospel for Asia and was the founding Metropolitan Bishop of Believers Eastern Church in India. He later adopted the ecclesial name Moran Mor Athanasius Yohan Metropolitan. Gospel for Asia was embroiled in a major scandal that saw it settle a class action lawsuit and pay back former donors to its cause $37 million after they were accused of only sending 13% of its donations to the mission field instead of their promised and advertised 100% 

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Paul Pressler, 94.

The architect of the Conservative Resurgence and a prominent figure within the Southern Baptist Convention, Pressler spent the last years of his life embroiled in sex scandals.

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Mandisa Lynn Hundley, 47

The Grammy award-winning Christian music artist and ‘American Idol’ alum passed away from complications of obesity. The singer won a Grammy in 2014 for her album “Overcomer” but stayed out of the spotlight, not even appearing at the show to collect the trophy. 

After a friend passed away, she battled weight gain, depression, and suicidal thoughts for years, reemerging in 2017 to record her final album. She also wrote the book Out of the Dark: My Journey Through the Shadows to Find God’s Joy in 2022, which details that time post-2014.

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Pastor Ray McCauley, 75

McCauley was the founder of a 45,000-member South African megachurch Rhema Bible Church, one of the country’s largest and most influential churches. He was also a controversial figure that many of his critics alleged lived “he led a millionaire’s lifestyle. McCauley defended himself on numerous occasions with the argument that he only earned the salary of “a CEO of a medium-sized company.” (He earned around $3.8M a year).

The 2000 divorce from his first wife, Lyndie, caused great controversy, resulting in a schism in the church, with a large portion of the congregation breaking away.

According to the ministry, Lyndie McCauley’s divorce proceedings had no basis on biblical grounds. Shortly after the divorce, McCauley met two-time divorcee Zelda Ireland and they married in July 2001. In January 2010, Rhema Bible Church announced their separation, with Ireland filing for divorce. A few years later, the couple remarried in November 2013.

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Gustavo Gutierrez, 96.

Gutierrez was a progressive Roman Catholic priest and theologian with a soft spot for socialism and an even softer one for Marxism. Notably, he was the father and founder of the Liberation Theology movement, writing the literal book A Theology of Liberation, which became a seminal tome for proponents of his brand of activism.

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