April 29, 2008

Nothing fails like prayer

From a Weston, WI police department case activity report:
Randall Wormgoor ... became involved in what he described as a bible study group with the Neumanns which was held at the Monkey Mo Coffee Shop on Monday evenings. Mr. Wormgoor said that along with he and his wife were approximately five other people along with the Neumanns involved in this bible study group.

Randall Wormgoor said that one of the things that did concern him that was mentioned at the bible studies by Dale Neumann who led those bible studies is that Mr. Neumann stated that physical illness in an individual was due to sin and the only way to cure that illness was to ask for forgiveness and to pray that God would cure you from that illness.

Both Randall and Althea Wormgoor said that it was obvious that the Neumanns had no intention of seeking medical help for their daughter and that this was a test of faith for the Neumanns and that through prayer Kara would be healed.
Rather than seek medical attention, the Neumanns solicited, via e-mail, additional prayers from the god fearing individuals at an online "ministry" called AmericasLastDays.com. Those prayers, intoned via return e-mail, also failed spectacularly. And tragically.

Kara Neumann, age 11, died March 23 after slipping into a diabetic coma following her noticeably suffering from the affliction for at least three weeks. Kara's parents, Dale and Leilani Neumann, are charged with second-degree reckless homicide, party to a crime.

AmericasLastDays.com calls these penultimate Last Days the Neumanns' "time of persecution by the world."

For now, its only their time of prosecution by Marathon County.

7 comments:

Tom said...

God helps those who help themselves.

capper said...

The scary thing is the part not being reported. Due to the high amount of publicity this case is receiving, Marathon County is being forced to pursue the charges all the way. If it weren't for the publicity, the odds are very high that the case would have been plea bargained way down, if not altogether away, by the parents agreeing to the child welfare proceedings. At least now, the children are (hopefully) safe with relatives.

3rd Way said...

The guy from this online ministry makes his living off his faith-healing mumbo jumbo. If there is any semblance of a case the authorities should go after him and charge him with fraud.

As health care becomes less affordable "faith-healing" could become a booming business.

Tom said...

3rd way: It only can become a viable "booming business" if you have repeat customers. Fortunately, I think (at least I hope) most people are not into snake oil salesmen.

3rd Way said...

There are at least enough customers in our region to fill an arena.

Check this out:

http://folkbum.blogspot.com/2008/04/magic-show-at-us-cellular.html

Tom said...

3rd way: That link doesn't work for me, sorry. I guess I'd like to distinguish between those people who are hoping that they can be faith healed, while still submitting to traditional medical practices ... and those who eschew all medicine in the hopes that God will bestow upon them a miracle. I'd like to think that a majority of the people are the former.

Then of course, there are those who go to chiropractors. I think they fall under the latter category as well.

AutismNewsBeat said...

An autism cure industry has sprung up over the last ten years that offers unproven, implausible, and potentially dangerous treatments based on the premise that the condition is caused by mercury poisoning from vaccines. One clinic in Franklin offers hyperbaric oxygen therapy to help "heal" the autistic brain. A doctor in Maryland uses a chemical castration drug called Lupron to cure autistic children. A physician in Florida used to counsel exorcism. And on and on.