A Bible with Oil?

It utterly amazes me at times the things Christians might believe in. Take the latest scam, and I do mean scam, of a Bible producing oil. Yeah, you read that correctly, a Bible producing oil.

Josh Buice writes:

A couple of years ago, a ministry by the name His Name is Flowing Oil was hosted by a local church in our community for a series of special meetings. This caught my attention because the ministry was claiming to have a Bible that was producing oil. The claim was that oil was miraculously flowing out of the Bible into a container used to collect it, which was stated to be a manifestation of God’s presence and a manifestation of everything you think is impossible. As you can imagine, this caught the attention of many skeptics and religious people who adamantly defended the claims.

A little more than two years later, the ministry that developed under this alleged oil producing Bible based in Dalton, Georgia, has shut down following an investigation by the Chattanooga Times Free Press. The leaders of the ministry would travel to churches for special services where they would proclaim God’s miraculous power to heal the sick, grow arms and legs that had been amputated, and provide financial prosperity.

During the services, they would anoint people with this special oil straight out of the plastic container where the oil producing Bible was held. They would also distribute vials of this oil to people, in fact, they have distributed more than 350,000 vials of this oil throughout the nation. During the investigation, it was discovered that the oil is nearly identical to the Ideal brand oil—a petroleum-derived product found at Tractor Supply. Ministry leader Jerry Pearce has admitted to buying gallons oil from a local Tractor Supply Co., but he defends himself claiming to never put the oil on the Bible or in the container.

Here is Chris Rosebrough showing how this thing was exposed:



How are we to respond? Josh Buice concludes:

Any church or any pastor who diminishes the preaching and teaching of Scripture and majors on extra-biblical encounters, experiences, signs, wonders, and supposed miracles is not speaking for God. Furthermore, when men like Jerry Pearce and Johnny Taylor insist that God has spoken directly to them, yet they are later found out to be scam artists—it should further validate the problem of people claiming to be hearing directly from God. Whatever they’re hearing—we can be certain it isn’t God.

Do not be led astray by false teaching. We should look to Scripture and evaluate every word taught by the lens of holy Scripture—which can always be trusted (Ps. 19). When you see preachers and teachers trying to take our attention away from God and our confidence away from his Word—it should be like warning lights flashing on the dashboard of your vehicle—something is not right and must be evaluated immediately. We must remember that the Bible is sufficient, as Thomas Watson so eloquently stated, “The Scripture is the library of the Holy Ghost; it is a pandect of divine knowledge, an exact model and platform of religion. The Scripture contains in it the credenda, ‘the things which we are to believe,’ and the agenda, ‘the things which we are to practice.’”

2 Peter 2:1–3 – But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.