6 March 2024 |
“The Barbara O’Neill health seminar which was scheduled for March 19-23 has been CANCELLED,” says an announcement on the Kernersville Adventist Church Facebook page.
This event was originally to be held at the Winston-Salem First Seventh-day Adventist Church, but that church felt their space wasn’t large enough, and asked the church in nearby Kernersville to host the program—until Kernersville, too, decided their church wouldn’t be large enough to accommodate the expected crowds. “She… has obviously developed a much larger following than what was expected in the past, even outside of our church doors,” said the Kernersville announcement, “making this particular endeavor significantly more challenging to plan. Again, we thank you for your understanding.”
An Australian alternative medicine personality, Barbara O’Neill has become infamous in and out of the church for outrageous health and healing claims. She opposes vaccinations; claims that cancer is a fungus that can be treated with baking soda injections; that “Children can be naturally vaccinated against tetanus by drinking plenty of water, going to bed early, not eating junk food and running around the hills”; that antibiotics are bad because “no baby has ever died from Strep B catching out of birth”; and suggest that women give newborns unpasteurized goat milk.
She ran the Misty Mountain Health Retreat near Kempsey, Australia with her husband, charging clients up to A$8,800 per stay. She also provided paid telephone consultations. According to O’Neill’s website, she provided detox services claiming to aid recovery from heart disease, diabetes, hormonal imbalance, chronic fatigue, candida/fungus, drug addiction, cancer, heartburn, and obesity.
In 2019, New South Wales’ Health Care Complaints Commission “ruled that [Barbara O’Neill] is prohibited from providing any services or education” in that country. Barbara has since taken her program on the road; she has presented her “cures” in the United States and Europe, where she appears to be received eagerly.
The Kernersville communications team writes that “There were obviously miscalculations, and we are very sorry that things did not work out on this occasion.”
