The Passing of a Biblical Citizen

By Paul Parisi 5-29-2023
In the early evening of May 17th, our brother in Christ, Benjamin Brookhart tragically passed away in a head on collision near Picture Rocks Road in Tucson. He was just 45 years old.
Ben was famous in Tucson as a political activist who based all his values on biblical principles. I met Ben years ago as he attended many 4Tucson Governmental Literary classes. He was a sponge to learn all he could about how God’s finger guided our founding fathers as they crafted the US Constitution. Our rights coming from God and that governments job is to protect those rights resonated in him. He and I were planning for him to teach US Constitution classes for 4Tucson this July.
First and foremost, Ben was a citizen of heaven. That strong belief grounded him as a civic citizen with passion and zeal to spread God’s word as he championed biblical truth in civil government. Though he never went to seminary, I have known few who knew scripture and church history better than Ben. American history was also one of his passions. He shared his knowledge willingly, teaching many US Constitution and Biblical Citizenship classes throughout the region.
God prepared Ben for ministry in extreme conditions. He spent over 20 years as a corrections officer in Arizona’s toughest maximum security prison in Florence, Arizona. There, under prison rules, it was difficult to overtly spread the gospel. Yet through his gentleness and kind demeanor, God’s light shined through him as he witnessed to all he could. Throughout the prison, inmates put a hedge of protection around Ben as he ministered to those who were considered the most dangerous. Countless inmates in prison attributed their salvation to Ben.
Benjamin Brookhard is now with Jesus in heaven. For all of us who were blessed to have known him, we say “Job well done, good and faithful servant”.
2 Timothy 4:7-8 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing”..