Anointing With Oil

One of the most fascinating and bizarre practices in the charismatic movement is anointing people, objects, and even places with oil. To be fair, this idea comes from when Samuel anointed King David with oil in 1 Samuel 16, and also anointing people when praying for their healing, like in James 5:14. In the context of both these passages, there are things we need to understand biblically.

First, David was an Old Testament king being anointed and marked by God as chosen. This was customary in those days and not something we see as a pattern or a command in the New Testament church. Then, in the context of James 5:14, you have two potential positions. The first position is that it was medicinal oil being used in tandem with prayers for healing that would bring comfort to the sick. Second, it was purely symbolic and represented a spiritual consecration and a dedication of the sick person to God, much like it would represent somebody being separated by God for service, like King David was. I find the first position most convincing.

In any position one would take, there's no model for what we see today when people anoint hotel rooms, houses, cars, church buildings, or people with oil. Nor is there evidence for people keeping a bottle of extra virgin olive oil in the front row of the church, just in case the Holy Spirit moves in power and leads you to anoint people all over the place with it.

I'll never forget one of the most dangerous applications of this bizarre practice in a service I was in, back when I believed some truly blasphemous and heretical things. One of our leaders began to anoint offering envelopes with oil, and told people from the stage to give their biggest offering, sow their best seed, and then come up so they could lay hands on it, anoint it with oil, and then God would consecrate their home and their life for a double portion. I watched in horror at that time, knowing that what was being done was even too far for our own heretical ministry. Thousands poured out of their seats in Helsinki, Finland, that night, desperate for the anointing they had been falsely taught about.

Now, I know this is a highly debated issue, but I think it's easy to find biblical clarity. If you look to the Scriptures, you will find a great deal of safety and protection from abusive practices and spiritual manipulation when the text is rightly interpreted in the right context. More than that, you can be free from fear and bondage, wondering if you are anointed or blessed. You don't need to be touched by that person or get oil put on by that supposed anointed leader. All of that can be gone from your mind and you can be freed from those burdens.

Perhaps most helpful of all, for some of you who engage in charismatic superstitions, you don't need to exorcise the demons in the walls of your new house. You don't need to wonder if you're going to catch an evil spirit from the hotel room unless you pour oil all over the place. Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. When you understand anointing with oil biblically, you can use your olive oil for cooking and not for charismatic superstitions.