The Bible That Oozed Oil
Slate’s Ruth Graham reports from Dalton, Georgia, on a prayer ministry whose growing fame was built on a Bible that oozed healing oil from God. The group’s founders, Johnny Taylor and Jerry Pearce, did not ask for money at the services, which were held in an old theater. Graham writes, “Anyone who came to Dalton for the prayer service received a free vial.” Soon, though, the miracle was revealed to be a fraud. Journalist Wyatt Massey of the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported that “Pearce was a regular customer at a nearby Tractor Supply store. And he’d been seen purchasing large containers of clear oil.”