REVERSED AND REMANDED - - This means that the charges indicting Ariel have been reinstated and he is to be tried again for Jessica's death. His appeal to the Tennessee Supreme Court to have the charges dropped was denied.

The Tennessee Supreme Court Judges decided Loudon County needs to do another trial. So there is time for former members to contact the District Attys in Loudon County to provide evidence how Ariel DOES control every detail of the lives of the people in his communes. There is time for those who witnesssed Ariel and Jackie have a "cult wedding" called an "entwinement" by Ariel, to come forward to testify to that.
There is time for those who know to come forward to testify how Ariel and Jackie began back in Oregon in 1996 (?) to have Jessica call Ariel "Daddy".

Jackie had another hearing and has now also made an appeal to the Tennessee Supreme Court. so she and Ariel each have another trial coming up in their near futures.

So then... I think of all the money Ariel has taken from his followers since Jessica's death and spent on his attorney fees and court and filing fees. This is no small amount, and each time he even calls his attorney, there is another charge, and each time he goes to court or files a paper there are charges. Each of these events is costing in the thousands. These followers are paying out their livelihoods so Ariel and Jackie can stay out of prison as long as possible.

Former members need to come forward. You know, Ariel has admitted that his followers have a stronger spirituality than he does. He claims that when they "conjour" bad thoughts toward him, it makes him sick and pass out and cough and choke. What god does he serve that can't protect him from his followers bad thoughts about him?
He keeps claiming he (Ariel) has his glorified body. If he is an example of a glorified body, I don't want one, the old wrinkled, choking, wheezing, passing out doesn't sound or look glorified or good to me.

They REVERSED and REMANDED, this tells Loudon County District Attorney's to redo Ariel's trial and this time do a better job so they can convict him.

Ariel did NOT GET IT DROPPED, but has to go back and be retried.

The more recent article is Jackie's hearing in January 2009

www.peacefrompast.com go to the hunted/wanted/beware page for specifics on ariel ben sherman

Courts face new challenges in faith healing cases
by Rose French

NASHVILLE, Tennessee - Most U.S. states have child abuse laws allowing some religious exemptions for parents who shun medicine for their sick children, but a few recent cases highlight thorny legal issues for parents following less-recognized faiths.

Existing laws have gradually accounted for more well-known and established faiths, such as Pentecostalism, Christian Science and Jehovah’s Witnesses.

But recent cases in the news have judges and child care advocates dealing with parents who claim adherence to lesser-known faiths, such as the Minnesota family following an Internet-based group’s American Indian beliefs and an independent church in the western state of Oregon that has been investigated in the past for the deaths of members’ sick children.

Legal and religious scholars say it’s becoming more difficult for courts to decide when to honor the religious beliefs of parents and when to order conventional medical treatment for extremely sick children.

The manslaughter trial of an Oregon couple who claim they were following their religious beliefs in the 2008 pneumonia death of their 1-year-old daughter began Monday. Carl and Raylene Worthington are members of Followers of Christ Church, which has been investigated for past child deaths.

In Tennessee, Jacqueline Crank and her minister Ariel Sherman face child neglect charges in the death of her 15-year-old daughter Jessica, who died in 2002 with a basketball-sized tumor on her shoulder. Prosecutors say based on Sherman's advice, the girl’s mother relied on prayer instead of medicine.

Related Content:
Man gets 20-year sentence for stabbing childPolice still looking for mother who left seven kids home aloneRelated to:
religion medicinereligion medicationChristians medicineCarl WorthingtonRaylene WorthingtonJacqueline CrankAriel Shermanchild neglect religionchild neglectSherman has been accused of being a cult leader whose Universal Life Church is not a legitimate religion. He has denied such charges and says the church is Christian-based and embraces the Bible.

Believers in faith healing point to a Biblical verse in the Epistle of James, which describes how church elders should be called in to pray over the sick. There’s no mention of doctors, and literalists interpret it to mean medical treatment should be eschewed over prayer.

Gregory P. Isaacs, an attorney for Crank, who is out on bond, argues that Tennessee’s religious exemption law is untested and too vague.

“It really has a tremendous amount of problems,” Isaacs said. “What is an organized religion and what is an ordained minister? What illnesses can you attempt to heal by faith? Those are the two pitfalls in the statute. That’s not what’s really clear.”

One needs to look up all the healings and prayers for healings in the Old and New Testament and READ the accounts.

What I have found is that healings took place within the hour. The persons are reported to rise up and resume or begin normal activity within the hour. In cases where healing was not given, I read that the physicians continued to administer whatever sympton relief and possible cures they had available.

So, IF EVERYONE, would do their homework, EVERYONE would find that healing is not a mysterious thing at all.

As far as who can pray for healing - the New Testament indicates that He who abides in Jesus and Jesus abides in him/her (for those who don't understand "him" can be used as a universal term for a human being) may ask what He will and it will be done for him.

There is also a part that says if a man gives a prophecy and it does not come to pass, that man is not speaking God's word and NO ONE should be afraid of him.

And as far as Ariel ben Sherman goes - he is just a man. He coughs and chokes is overweight addicted to cigarettes. He lives in fear and hides. He gives his followers credit for being more powerful than him or God as in the cases of when he suffers it is because one of them is "thinking bad thoughts about him". God tells me that He who is in me (Jesus) is greater than he who is in the world. So how could evil thoughts possibly penetrate his body to make him sick? Perhaps there is no power other than himself in him. Perhaps.

From all the sermons I have heard - I do not hear God's voice - I hear a man desparate to be safe from his fears of being alone and broke, and will say anything to make sure he is not left alone.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008
(Last modified: 2009-08-03 17:05:19)


Source: News-Herald


The Tennessee Supreme Court has upheld the neglect case against Ariel Ben Sherman, a Loudon County minister accused of contributing to 15-year-old Jessica Crank's 2002 death from cancer because he did not seek medical treatment for the child. Both Jessica and her mother, Jacqueline Crank were members of Sherman's Universal Life Church in Lenoir City.

The ruling does not address Sherman's guilt or innocence in the girl's death - it merely gives prosecutors the go ahead to move forward with the case against him.

The court issued a ruling Saturday that a Loudon County Criminal Court judge should not have dismissed the in-dictment against Sherman and reinstated the indictment against him. The case was remanded for further proceed-ings.

Prosecutors contended that Sherman's role as "spiritual father" to the 15-year-old makes him criminally respon-sible for her death. Crank suffered from a rare form of bone cancer, but her mother allegedly refused to get her medical treatment opting to treat her daughter with prayer instead.

The girl's mother, her brother and other members of Sherman's church were reportedly living together in Loudon County in 2002 when Jessica developed a huge tumor on her shoulder. Her mother took her to a local clinic that advised her to take the child to the University of Tennessee Medical Center for emergency treatment, officials said. Her mother allegedly did not follow through with that recommendation deciding to treat her daughter with prayer. The state Department of Children's Services finally intervened, but they were too late to save the girl's life, accord-ing to officials.

Both Crank and Sherman were charged with neglect. Crank, represented by attorney Gregory P. Isaacs, is report-edly relying on her constitutional right to freedom of religion. She has argued that it was her choice whether or not to rely on faith for a cure. Her case is pending in Loudon County Criminal Court.

Earlier in the case, Loudon County Judge Eugene Eblen threw out the case against Sherman, ruling that Sherman had no legal duty to seek treatment for Jessica, because he was not her parent or legal guardian. The state Court of Criminal Appeals overturned Eblen's decision and will allow the case against him to move forward. This case could set a precedent for deciding what constitutes a relationship when it comes to being responsible for a child's welfare.


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