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His Name Is
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Grace Church
257 Kendall Street
Burlington, WI 53105

(262) 763-3021

Email:
Pastor Scott Carson

Secretary Patti Hall

PASTOR'S PENS 2005

Grace Church of Burlington August 21, 2005 “There’s a sucker born every minute.”     P. T. Barnum             Kevin Trudeau has no medical training and is a convicted felon. Add to that, he’s been banned from hawking products and services on TV that federal regulators charge have no merit. Yet in spite of all of that, his book, Natural Cures, is currently one of the best selling books in America. The former used-car salesman's book, Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About  has vaulted to the top of most best-seller lists.             Natural Cures which Kevin Trudeau pushes on TV infomercials, purports to offer natural remedies for many diseases and provides advice on avoiding illnesses. It lambastes regulators, drug makers and marketers for promoting and monitoring what Trudeau says are harmful foods and medications. And it directs readers to Trudeau's naturalcures.com Web site, where the hopeful can pay $9.95 monthly (or $499 lifetime) for access.             While no reputable publisher would touch it, the book still sold 1.5 million copies just in July. Much of its success hinges on Trudeau's talk-show-style infomercials, which even feature former televangelist Tammy Faye Messner (now there’s a reliable source if there ever was one). One product, Coral Calcium, made from Japanese sea coral even drew a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit in 2003 accusing Trudeau of making unsubstantiated claims that it was a cure for cancer, heart disease and other maladies. And he’s even up front about his two-year prison term for a conviction in 1991 on credit-card fraud. A federal indictment accused him of stealing more than $128,600, using credit cards from consumers who had bought his products.             P. T. Barnum was on to something. But sadly, it’s not just the lost who are naive and easily sucked in. Christians can be just as easily duped. I wouldn’t go to a cardiologist who got his degree over the Internet or accept advice from a lawyer who went to “Mail Order U.”             If I wouldn’t trust someone who had not done the hard work or who had the credentials on temporal, secular matters – then why would I trust someone who has not done the strenuous work of study, working through the original languages, church history, theology, etc., when it comes to spiritual matters.    Yet it seems that often believers are the most gullible. We are enamored by crowds, novelty, positive vibes and even warm fuzzy feelings. Periodically, someone hands me a book or a tape with some new view or perspective. After a little research, I quickly discover that the author has never even been to Bible college and has no knowledge of the original languages . . . yet he/she is an “expert.” If I wouldn’t let someone with so few credentials help me with a hangnail, why would I let them operate on my soul?             And even those who have credentials can be mistaken and some are just false teachers. The cold, hard facts are that 50% of the doctors graduated at the bottom half of their class and so did half of the preachers and Bible teachers.  Each of us has a Biblical responsibility to open our own Bibles and do some hard work. Acts 17:11 is an interesting and insightful verse, “Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true”.             While every Bible teacher at Grace seeks to accurately interpret and teach God’s Word, we are still only human...and make mistakes. Each person at Grace has a responsibility to study God’s Word for themselves to make sure that what we are saying (or anyone else is saying) lines up with the final authority, God’s Word.             The religious world, particularly the Internet, has a lot of hucksters of false teaching. You and I have a responsibility to personally dig in and then apply God’s Word to our lives. “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the Word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).