Marcus Lamb, a televangelist and founder of Daystar Television Network, has reportedly died of COVID-19 subsequently maligning vaccines and allegedly taking ivermectin to prevent infection.

Daystar Television confirmed Lamb'due south death on Tuesday, although the network'southward announcement didn't mention a cause of death. Even so, Marcus' married woman, Joni Lamb, confirmed her husband died from COVID-19, saying that he had been hospitalized after his oxygen dropped and alternative treatments proved ineffective.

Lamb, according to Joni Lamb, was diabetic, which made him a high risk for condign seriously ill from COVID-19 and the 64-year-onetime was just on the cusp of existence considered high risk because of his age.

Franklin Graham, president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, also posted that Lamb died of COVID-nineteen complications and his decease came about a week after his friend, Perry Stone, asked for prayers for Marcus, who he said was battling a "astringent case" of COVID-xix.

Newsweek reached out to Daystar Television set Network for annotate but did not receive a response in time for publication.

Marcus founded Give-and-take of God Fellowship in the early 1980s and created Daystar Television Network in the late 1990s. It's since get the second-largest Christian network in the world, reaching more than than 2 billion people worldwide.

marcus lamb covid-19 pandemic died
Televangelist Marcus Lamb died of COVID-19 complications on Tuesday morn. Pictured, patients rest in a hallway in the overloaded Emergency Room area at Providence St. Mary Medical Center on Jan 27 in Apple Valley, California. Mario Tama/Getty Images

Throughout the pandemic, Daystar has hosted prominent anti-vaccine voices, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was barred from Instagram for spreading misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine. On the network's website, Daystar called vaccines the "most dangerous affair" children face, and Daystar filed a petition to cake President Joe Biden'due south vaccine rule from going into place.

In a court filing Daystar filed alongside the American Family unit Association, the 2 nonprofits chosen implementing a vaccine mandate a "sin against God's Holy Word."

A rule from the Occupational Condom and Health Assistants (OSHA) requires employees at companies with at least 100 employees to exist vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit to weekly testing and wear a face mask when around other employees.

Daystar argued in the courtroom filing that they have a "religious objection" to forcing employees to "test their conscience" about getting vaccinated. If the visitor was required to implement the policy, they claimed they would "wound the consciences" of employees and "potentially crusade them to sin."

People claiming a religious exemption to vaccine mandates frequently cite the fact that vaccines were developed and tested on fetal cell lines, which are based on aborted fetal cells but grown in labs. Fetal prison cell lines take also been used in the development of multiple other mutual medications, including Claritin.

Tributes began pouring out after news broke of Marcus' decease and Graham posted on Facebook that he was "shocked" to acquire Marcus died from complications of COVID-19. Stone asked for continued prayers for the Lamb family unit.

Ahead of his death, Marcus' son, Jonathan, said there was "no uncertainty" in his mind that his father's COVID-nineteen boxing was a "spiritual attack from the enemy."

"As much as my parents have gone on hither to kind of inform everyone about everything going on to the pandemic and some of the ways to treat COVID — at that place'due south no doubt that the enemy is not happy most that. And he's doing everything he tin to take down my dad," Jonathan said.

Earlier in the yr, Marcus said he was taking ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug that's not an approved COVID-xix handling, to prevent COVID-19.

Correction 12/2/2021 9:55 a.k. ET: An before version of this commodity incorrectly said fetal cells were used in the development of Tylenol and Benadryl.