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I N S I D E This Issue
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How’s Your Dad’s Health?
Help Local Nonprofits in Challenging Times What Are You Eating to Stay Healthy? Grilled Basil Chicken and Tomatoes Music to Soothe the Soul Televangelist Facing Legal Trouble After Selling COVID-19 ‘Cure’
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A ‘SILVER’ BULLET ATTORNEYS GENERAL STAND FIRM AGAINST SNAKE OIL
Jim Bakker dominated headlines in the late 1980s with his legal troubles, and now the televangelist is facing a new lawsuit in 2020. The original story of Bakker’s fall begins on a TV set. Bakker and his wife at the time, Tammy Faye Messner, hosted the popular evangelical talk show “The PTL Club” from the mid-1970s to the late 1980s. However, their reign came crashing down when Bakker resigned after being accused of offering money to church secretary Jessica Hahn to cover up rape allegations. Bakker was later convicted of scamming thousands of viewers out of millions of dollars, and he spent several years in prison. Today, Bakker hosts “The Jim Bakker Show” and leads Morningside Church in Missouri. While freedom of religion is protected in the U.S., a recent promotion on Bakker’s show caught the attention of attorneys nationwide. In 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic found its way to the U.S, many people stocked up on emergency medical supplies. For some, this meant purchasing colloidal silver “cures” that
were promised to kill the virus. Supplements, pills, and oils with no scientific evidence of their efficacy were sold to consumers until the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent cease-and-desist orders to seven manufacturers in March 2020. One such product involved was Sherrill Sellman’s Silver Solution. Sellman, a self-described naturopathic doctor and mind-body psychologist who appeared on Bakker’s show on Feb. 12, proclaimed Silver Solution is a cure for the coronavirus. Bakker promoted the product and later sold it through his website. The Missouri and New York attorneys general caught wind of this scheme and immediately filed cease-and-desist orders, and even a lawsuit, against Bakker. NPR explains that Bakker and his church are in violation of state laws by “falsely promising consumers that Silver Solution can cure, eliminate, kill, or deactivate coronavirus.” Bakker stopped selling Silver Solution in mid-March 2020. Even as the lawsuit continues to move through the court system, the message is clear: The justice system is cracking down on the sale of snake oil.
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