There are multiple levels of fundamentalist Christians.

Some evangelical Christians simply use their church as a community and their faith to do charitable works. They exist but are a minority now.

Far too many now identify with a political cause pushed among their followers like a cult.

But there exists an even more evil layer, that level which seeks to make money of the rubes that follow their “ministry.” One would like there is a special place in hell for those who loudly proclaim their virtue while making money off the poor and uneducated.

This last group is, of course, that with which Trump finds a particular kinship. Most of the tactics used to separate “believers” from their money are merely manipulative. But even that falls short of those efforts which combine manipulation with downright dangerous “advice.”

I give you the Reverend Jim Bakker and his latest efforts at “spreading Jesus’s message.” by selling quack cures for coronavirus:

The Jim Bakker Show is suggesting that the silver solution it sells can kill the coronavirus within 12 hours. pic.twitter.com/kbUGnUp69m

— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) February 12, 2020

Strangely, the panel admits that the product has not been tested upon “this strain of the coronavirus,” which to normal people would end all interest right there, with refreshing clarity. But the group goes on to maintain that it has been tested upon “the other strains of the coronavirus” and has been effective. I am not going to waste time even learning if there even exists other strains of the coronavirus, because there is no point.

“Well, let’s say it hasn’t been tested on this strain of the coronavirus,” said his guest. “But it’s been tested on other strains of the coronavirus and has been able to eliminate it within 12 hours. Totally eliminate it, kills it, deactivates it. And then it boosts your immune system, so then you can support the recovery, because when you kill the virus, then the immune system comes into action to clear it out. So you want a vibrant immune system as well as an ability to deactivate these viruses.”

If this product or any other had shown some efficacy in the treatment of the coronavirus – of whichever “strain,” this one or other ones, (I still doubt there is more than one straing) – that efficacy or effectiveness would have first appeared in The Lancet, or the The New England Journal of Medicine and would be highlighted by the CDC with news crisscrossing the country right now as a tool to ward off the viral infection.

Indeed:

The National Institutes of Health warn that “scientific evidence doesn’t support the use of colloidal silver dietary supplements for any disease or condition,” and that while silver does have some medical purposes in treating burns and preventing conjunctivitis in infants, “there are no legally marketed prescription or over-the-counter drugs containing colloidal silver that are taken by mouth.”

There would be crates of this stuff being loaded onto cargo 747s on the way to Shanghai and other parts of southern China if this stuff worked.

Given that we do not see these commensurate actions?

I am left to guess that this is just another pathetic attempt to squeeze money out of the rubes that watch these programs and enrich the faux-Christians whom Trump has so warmly embraced.

We often wonder why Trump followers cannot see that the man is a fraud. Well, right here is an excellent lesson as to why so much of our reasoning flies right over their viral-stuffed heads.

It isn’t quite as light-hearted when one considers that the people who send this money are often the very ones who can least afford to send it. They are confused and very manipulated. Moreover, if there were to be a widespread pandemic, some of these purchasers might feel protected, invulnerable, when they are anything but.

In case you wondered, Jim Bakker remains as big a snake-oil salesman as ever.

*****

Peace, y’all

Jason

[email protected] and on Twitter @MiciakZoom