In Part One of Vindication, I reported some social interactions I had with Betty Benson and the controversy that arose between us about the Bible and Its Authority as a Trustworthy Document and Sure Witness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Of itself, the Bible says:
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip His people to do every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17 New Living Translation).
The message is essentially the same in all translations of the Bible.
While on earth in human form, Jesus constantly quoted the Scriptures as His Authoritative, Inspired Source of Truth and information. Constantly, He answered Satan and his minions with “It is written.” He taught His followers to do the same.
When I became a True Christian through prayer and fasting in 1973 at age 27, I was blessed with repentance and deliverance from the power of sin. The Bible came alive. Though I had red it before I met Jesus as my Lord, the Bible now became a New Book I had never understood. Suddenly, it was supercharged with Life. God was Real and at hand with me for the first time though I thought I had been a Christian all my life as a devout Catholic. Whereas I had religion as a Catholic, now I have the Life of Christ Himself, just as He promises in Scripture to all who believe.
My case wasn’t unique. This is the natural, automatic experience of every true believer. You can’t believe the Bible without being a Christian, and you can’t be a Christian if you don’t believe the Bible. It’s that simple.
The previous issue ended with Betty telling us she didn’t believe what I was showing her in the Bible and I told her that she therefore wasn’t a true believer.
In the days to come, as we passed one another on the path, not another word was spoken between us on this subject or any other. We just gave each other perfunctory greetings.
In July 2020, the Moon River Estates community brought sheep to graze the noxious Leafy Spurge weed, not that it worked; it didn’t. The sheep escaped their fencing and were on the loose in our community’s private yards, including our yard and the adjacent Brinks’ acreage. Betty came into our backyard to help chase them away.
After some small talk, she informed us that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. We were sorry to hear that. So, we mentioned to Betty that we might be able to help her.
Here’s my journal entry on July 27, 2020.
Betty Benson breast cancer: The Hutterite sheep assigned to Moon River came into our yard. We went out to watch for potential damage. We were fine. As we stood watching, Betty came by. Small chatter at first, then she broke the news to us that she was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer.
I told Betty she likely had nothing to fear from “the big C” if she believed the Truth. I told her about some of the options we could provide, with examples of healing, including Etta Taylor who lived in Moon River years ago, and George Cairns in Wisconsin. She didn’t believe me and brushed it off, saying, “People talk about all kinds of sure-fire cures for this and that. I don’t know what to believe. I’m praying to God for healing.”
I replied, “He expects us to avail ourselves of down-to-earth solutions, of things we can do that are possible. Only when it’s impossible are we justified to ask for a miracle. He wants us to learn.”
Betty went on to tell us she already had surgery and her doctor was recommending radiation, and as a last resort, chemo.
Marilyn brought up a story of how somebody was stranded on an island and prayed for a miracle. There came a rowboat to rescue him. “No,” he replied, “I’m trusting God to save me.” A motorboat showed up offering help; same reply. Finally, a helicopter came and again, the person rejected the offer, saying, “I have faith. I’m waiting for God to rescue me.”
The person perished and met God, saying, “God, I prayed and you didn’t answer me!”
God replied, “I sent a rowboat and you refused. I sent a motorboat, and finally, a helicopter, and you refused them all.” End.
Betty laughed. “I’m not that dumb. I have faith.”
I said to Betty, “How do you know God isn’t speaking through us right now and using us to help you?”
I said, “You don’t believe, Betty.”
“But I do!” she insisted.
“You don’t believe the Bible,” I replied.
“Yes, I do! I believe in God and the Bible, and that Christ died for our sins!”
“Then when I open the Bible to Isaiah where it says, ‘I, the Lord, create light and darkness, good and evil,’ how can you say that you don’t believe it?”
“Well, I don’t believe He creates evil!”
“Betty, I didn’t write the Bible. I’m not making this up. Any true believer believes the Scriptures, God’s Word. You don’t believe. You’re not a Christian as you say.”
Betty was quite upset. She said she wanted no strife or debate, only to keep things friendly.
This conflict was not between Betty and Victor. It was a conflict in the spiritual realm between the false Jesus and the True, the false gospel and the True. The apostle Paul warned the saints about “another Jesus.”
I said, “What kind of friend would I be if I remained silent on something so important as your life, just because you didn’t want any controversy?”
“Victor, I respect your position and admire your passion and I hope you respect MY beliefs.”
I replied, “How can, why should, I respect your beliefs when they’re false? And you certainly have no respect for my beliefs because you don’t believe them! What kind of respect is that?”
She turned and walked away. END OF JOURNAL ENTRY
A couple of weeks later, on August 9th, I made this journal entry:
Benson altercation: Marilyn and I did 3 short videos of me singing in the backyard for Instagram posts. She returned to the house, leaving me in the backyard.
Along came Dell Benson up to our property line in a rage, cursing, shouting, blaspheming, falsely accusing, and threatening. He called me a hypocrite for having offended Betty without cause while claiming I was a man of God. He repeatedly shouted that he was a violent man and threatened to “wrap my guitar around my neck.”
Betty came after him to intervene, trying to calm him down, likely fearing a physical altercation between him and me. I tried to defend myself and explain to both of them what happened previously. But she had things twisted and neither of them would let me say anything, constantly shouting over me, interrupting, accusing me of trying to take advantage of her, and calling me a liar. I was stunned and speechless. Finally, I said, “I’m done.” I saw it was useless trying to reason with them and walked away.
When I returned to the house and briefly told Marilyn I just had an altercation with the Bensons, the word she received from God to summarize the whole event was “vindication.” We pondered the application of that word in this situation and finally received an understanding of it only recently in 2024.
Within the hour, the Bensons publicly posted a rant against me on the Moon River Community Facebook page. Why did they do that? Did everyone need to know what happened?
Well Victor, you claim to be a proponent of truth and Justice and bringing the truth to light then how do you explain your actions when my wife Betty came over to your house to visit you and your wife and was attacked with verbal assaults and shouting by you when she mentioned that she has had an operation for breast cancer and was praying to God to be healed.
A true man of God like you claim to be or a prophet or whatever it is you think you are would never yell at a woman that was crying and scared and praying to the only God she knows. She came home and was in tears and told me the story and was visibly shaken.
Now I try hard to get along with everyone no matter their race or beliefs but I can tell you this Victor with 100% certainty, If Betty ever comes home again in tears because of you and your vile temper and you thinking your are justified in making a woman with cancer cry, then I can no longer be that peaceful man and I will come and confront you, and you had best be ready to justify what you have done and said and be ready to defend yourself because NOBODY makes my wife cry for no good reason and gets away with it.
I let this slide once and once only, do it again and we go hand to hand battle I promise you !!!!
Victor Hafichuk, as I have said to you before, I have zero desire to verbally spar with you on any subject, but I really take your third paragraph as a personal slight. How can you say that I am your most ‘ardent foe’ when I have never tried to be unkind to you in anyway. [I had written an article on the MR Facebook page but it was not directed specifically toward her.]
In fact, when we had a little set to in the past, I thought we had mended that fence and could be good neighbors.
I do not think that you have the right to tell me that I am a Christian or not a Christian. That is for my Creator to decide, not you.
I have no idea what provoked that outburst from you. I only wandered into your yard to deal with one of the times the sheep were wandering through our yard, Brinks’ yard, yours and Kronlunds.
I try to conduct myself the way that Jesus would want me to. Do I fail lots? I sure do, but thankfully, He forgives me.
I know the dogs have been a concern in the past, and we have done everything we can to try and remedy that problem. I can appreciate that not everyone feels the same about animals that Dell or I do. So, when we walk past your place, I am hyper diligent to make sure if there are any doodles, I pick it up. I can totally respect that you do not want poo in your yard. If we see people on the trails, I have the leash with me at all times and use it.
I am sad that you have referred to Val Berns in such a negative way. She fought a hard battle with cancer, how cold and callous, Victor, to say, “where is she now?” Like you had anything to do with her passing. I hope Andy does not see what you have written as it would hurt him so badly.
I am praying for healing even though you tell me God will not heal me because ‘you’ think I am evil. I have been called many things in my life, but never evil, until just the other day when you said it. What a thing to say to someone who is battling an illness.
Having a positive attitude means so much and I can assure you, when I walked back to my home after you yelling at me, I felt anything but positive.
Makes me wonder what you would have to say about me. Would you say the same? “Where is she now?”, like you have some arrogant form of authority in that matter. I meant what I said as I was leaving, I try to be kind and friendly to people, would rather have harmony than strife.
I will still say hello, I will still be kind. And if you find that to be ‘your most ardent foe’, well,…then I am not even sure what to say to that. I just truly hope that people can get along, for all our sakes.
Sorry Jayne Christine Bury, I realize you didn’t want these sorts of rants on here and I’m sorry, from now on, will try and only keep it to community stuff. 😔
Betty J. Lynn-Benson, reasonable people will know there are two sides to every story.
“Never explain – your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway. ”
I was not permitted by the Moon River Community FB page administrators to reply, according to the definition of their required standards of subject matter and conduct. Yet, the Bensons’ posts were not only posted but also permitted to remain for some time. Was it an oversight? Could be. Were the administrators absent some? Could be. I can only say what happened, and not jump to unproven conclusions.
END of Journal entry.
I have met several who can attest to what it means to be a true Christian. Betty Benson is not one of those. And by her husband’s raging outcry against me personally and on the Moon River Community Facebook page while she is by his side, encouraging him, Betty proves what I say. Her fruits tell, even as the fruit of a tree tells what kind of tree it is. She’s got the wrong Jesus.
Dell had no idea what he was talking about, and she supported him in his ignorance and rage, not because she sought to establish the Truth but to defend herself in pride and self-pity. Why? I had told her the Truth about herself as supported in Scripture. And Dell follows her in her error. Her belief has nothing to do with what it truly means to be a Christian.
And that is the issue here. It’s about the battle between the True Jesus Christ and the counterfeit Jesus; between the True, Reasonable, no-nonsense, Biblical Jesus bringing people to surrender their lives of selfishness, waywardness, and pleasures so that they might have life and healing, while the “nice, beautiful, kind, sweet, gentle, religious bullshitter promises peace in the Lord’s Name at no cost to the lustful and gullible who only want to have their ears tickled, their consciences salved, and their lusts satisfied. The True Former saves one’s life and the latter destroys it. At the end of the day, we will know these things by their fruits.
Jesus said: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10 English Standard Version).
In the next issue, Part 3, I’ll respond to Dell and Betty’s erroneous thinking, false accusations, and misinformation.
You’ll have to wait for the report of the RCMP visit we had from Corporal Kevin Kaspirski as requested by the Bensons.
Victor Hafichuk