On Tuesday, Dec. 15, Pastor David Jeremiah from Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon (suburb of San Diego), CA broadcast a sermon on Fear from his Turning Point radio ministry where he spoke about a man in CA who died from the fear of Lyme Disease. This is a nationally broadcast radio ministry and here is the link to the broadcast http://www.davidjeremiah.org/site/radio.aspx?id=4608
I emailed him a letter after speaking with a person at his church and his radio ministry. The radio ministry person I spoke with assured me that if I emailed to [email protected] that they would make sure he got it. And that if I wanted a reply I would have to request in the letter that he reply.
I shared this with the secretary of my Lyme association, Lyme Association of Greater Kansas City, and she has been in contact with many of the leaders in the Lyme associations on the west coast, and they also have emailed letters to him. We requested that he publicly retract the statement that he made saying the man died from fear of Lymes Disease on his next broadcast, but that has not happened (although I must say that he has not had 24hrs to decide on this).
I tried to stress in my letter to him the profound effect that his statement will have on those of us who have Lyme as our only hope of support many times is our church family. I also gave a few basics about Lyme and the CA Lyme Assoc. website as well as the ILADS website, urging him to become knowledgeable. All of us who wrote yesterday tried to keep it short (3 or 4 paragraphs of about 3 sentences) and we did not attach anything so as to make sure he would get it and read it. One person later sent another email with Lyme Info attachments.
Please listen to the broadcast and send him an email. We need to take this opportunity to educate a man who is usually very compassionate and who could be an advocate once he is educated.
12/17/09 I have removed the period at the end of the link so it should work now - thanks everyone! Please help get the word out. Pastor Jeremiah, as of today, still has not retracted the story and his conclusion.
[ 12-17-2009, 12:28 PM: Message edited by: KMP ]
-------------------- God's mercies are new every morning.
Karla Posts: 85 | From KANSAS | Registered: Jul 2006
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posted
We need people to send an email to this minister at [email protected]. Let him know that people can have many negative tests and still have Lyme disease, and people are often told by many doctors that it is all in their heads. Be polite. You can still hear Tuesday's sermon at www.davidjeremiah.org. It's his sermon on Fear, Part 2. He mentions Lyme about 10 minutes into the brodacast. You can get to that part quickly by moving your cursor about 1/3 of the way on the line that monitors progress of the program. Here is word-for-word what he said:
"I read a story this week about a guy who thought he had had been bitten by a tick, and he read somewhere that this particular brand of tick would cause him to get Lyme's disease and that he would ultimately die. He began to get all this literature, and he would go and have tests, and they would tell him he didn't have Lyme's disease, but he didn't believe it. He ultimately died. He worried himself. He was so fearful over this he died. And when he died, they went to his mailbox and they found it was stuffed full of all kinds of new studies on Lyme's disease, and a copy of his appointment for the next doctor who was going to check him out to see whether he had it, after he had been checked dozens of times and told he didn't have it. He was so fearful of death, it killed him." I didn't find any news article about this story on the Internet. Perhaps the minister read this story in a letter he received, perhaps written by a relative who was not sympathetic and thought it was all in the man's head. There is no way to prove that he died from fear. He could have died from undiagnosed Lyme, without getting any sympathy or support from family members. This program is broadcast all over the country. The minister's statement that he died from fear may have a devastating effect on people with Lyme disease who have struggled to get diagnosed and may now doubt their diagnosis. People who have not yet been diagnosed may think it is all in their heads and that they should stop trying to find a doctor and stop worrying, or the fear could kill them. Friends and relatives of Lyme patients may now think they are really just imagining the disease. Dr. Jeremiah needs to be told that Lyme tests are not reliable and that the disease is supposed to be a clinical diagnosis, not based on tests. He also should be told that people can die from Lyme disease. If enough people write to him, perhaps he can be persuaded to publicly retract his statement on the radio. His staff can be contacted by phone at 1-800-580-0863.
Posts: 18 | From Kansas | Registered: Jun 2005
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"I read a story this week about a guy who thought he had had been bitten by a tick, and he read somewhere that this particular brand of tick would cause him to get Lyme's disease and that he would ultimately die. He began to get all this literature, and he would go and have tests, and they would tell him he didn't have Lyme's disease, but he didn't believe it. He ultimately died. He worried himself. He was so fearful over this he died. And when he died, they went to his mailbox and they found it was stuffed full of all kinds of new studies on Lyme's disease, and a copy of his appointment for the next doctor who was going to check him out to see whether he had it, after he had been checked dozens of times and told he didn't have it. He was so fearful of death, it killed him."
Really? That's very irresponsible. Educate yourself before spreading rumors. A reverend should know not to intentionally bear false witness, which is what you do when you speak such unsubstantiated nonsense. It's not hard to check the facts.
Very sincerely,
XXXXX (a lyme disease sufferer trying to live a godly life)
carly
Posts: 797 | From New York | Registered: Feb 2008
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ping
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 6974
posted
Although Dr. Jeremiah is the only TV Evangelist who has actually named Lyme Disease, to date, in this negative way, unfortunately, he is yet another ominous example of the "All in Their Head" preaching that has taken over numerous, high-profile TV pulpits.
The pastor of the largest non-denominational congregation in the US, located in Houston, TX has been preaching a "hypochondria mindset" for many months now, based on the premise that a person who complains of on-going, chronic illness (that can not be plainly seen by all, of course), violates God's positive thinking principles and literally "attracts negativity" which manifests itself physically in the person's life. After watching his program for about 2 minutes a couple of Sunday's ago I became so appalled that I couldn't help but wonder if he might be secretly working for the IDSA.
The "Health and Wealth" doctrine that is popular with many right now is so dangerous that I ask you to consider a boycott of these programs and the various materials that they offer for sale to the public. Instead, please donate the money to Lymenet, your State/Local LDA, Turn The Corner Foundation or other groups that support the true facts of TBD's and work toward open treatment and a cure.
[ 12-18-2009, 12:46 PM: Message edited by: ping ]
-------------------- ping "We are more than containers for Lyme" Posts: 1302 | From Back in TX again | Registered: Mar 2005
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Thanks to everyone who has written Pastor Dr. David Jeremiah. I have not heard anything back from him as I had requested. I have also been in contact with others who have not heard back.
I have listened to the first few minutes of most of his broadcasts since Dec 15, 2009 and have not heard a retraction...also no retraction on his website.
If you have not seen this post before and written please consider writing to him at: [email protected] or snailmail at P.O. BOX 3838, San Diego, CA 92163
-------------------- God's mercies are new every morning.
Karla Posts: 85 | From KANSAS | Registered: Jul 2006
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Tincup
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5829
posted
Thanks for making the effort to stop bad info from getting shared.
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