Singapore City Harvest Church pastor Kong Hee is givng out bottles of olive oil that can be used to anoint the sick while praying for their healing.
The controversial pastor, who got involved in allegations of illegally misusing church funds, announced on his Facebook page last week that the church will distribute small bottles of olive oil to the leaders.
Kong said the idea came to him one day while he was driving. He said the Holy Spirit impressed upon his heart to embark on this project.
"I was driving. I dropped Dayan off at school. I was driving back in the midst of the heavy traffic, and suddenly I thought, you know what, why don't we just get little bottles and just fill it up with olive oil and give it to all our leaders," he said in a video posted to Facebook.
Kong emphasized that the church is for "signs and wonders to the world." The anointing oil and the prayer of faith will heal the sick, he said.
"The Bible says that we need to, as leaders in the church, we need to anoint those that are sick, those who are going through a hard time, with oil," Kong said. "And the prayer of faith is gonna turn the situation around. That's James chapter 5."
Kong encouraged the leaders in his church to pray against problems at home, to anoint such situations and pray for those involved. He exhorted the church to believe God for supernatural manifestations and for miracles as they pray.
"I want you to take this bottle of anointing oil, and the prayer of faith will raise the sick," he addressed his church leaders.
Kong said the anointing oil in itself is not "magical."
"There's nothing magical in this, but our faith in the anointing of the Holy Spirit is gonna bring us into signs, wonders and miracles, and I know that is God's will for you, and that is God's will for our church," he said.
The video has been viewed more than 500,000 times so far, and the post has been shared almost 4,000 times. The comments section showed how varied people's reactions were regarding Kong's idea of handing out bottles of olive oil.
"Could do me a great favor, if you could pass me a bottle. Need it for my pasta," one commenter said.
"Come on guys it works OK at least now I open my door and don't have those funny sound," another one remarked.
There was also one person who said he applied to oil on his sick dog, but the dog died after two days.
Someone said Kong's idea was "nonsense" and put too much emphasis on only the "leaders" praying for the sick when anybody who belongs to Christ can do it.
"Nonsense, by the powerful name of Father Jesus, the sick were healed, demons driven out and oppressed were set free. No material medium is needed," the commenter said. "He instituted that only leaders can have oil to do healing. But Father Jesus said 'All who received ME are empowered to pray for healing' ... There is no need for anointing oil!"
Still, there were some who gave a reminder that anointing the sick with oil was indeed commanded in the Bible, specifically in James 5:14-15, and there was no need to make fun of the CHC pastor's idea.
In 2015, Kong was sentenced to eight years in prison after the Singaporean court found him guilty of misusing and misappropriating up to $35 million in church funds and channeling them to support the Hollywood career of his wife, CHC pastor Sun Ho, under the church's Crossover Project.
Kong and the other persons involved have filed an appeal.
