“Swallow it!”: A Christian "prophet" told a teen to eat a Bible page to receive God’s blessings

A bizarre stunt at a West Virginia megachurch shows how easily religious leaders can manipulate children in the name of God

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A Christian “prophet” has just invented a new way for someone to receive God’s blessings: physically eating the Bible.

During a February event at “The ROCK,” a non-denominational megachurch in Parkersburg, West Virginia, Kevin Leal ripped a page out of a Bible and then told a teenager to eat it.

The segment was first brought to my attention by the Christian website Protestia.

… Is there a teenager that has a paper Bible here? Not your phone, but it’s a paper—it’s a Bible?

… [To an aide: Turn to the Book of Proverbs for me.] You won’t believe what I’m about to do. But it happened 15 years ago in Brazil… [Rips out page]. Eat it. When you eat this, the power of God is going to go inside of you. Go ahead. Take your time.

… Swallow it! The power of God’s coming on ya! The power of God’s coming on ya! The power of God’s coming on ya! Swallow it! You want some water? Give him my water.

… Father, mark him for the rest of his life. For wisdom is coming over your whole body right now. Raise the music up. It’s coming on. Just receive it right now, son. This is a life-changing anointing just happening to you. I see you with houses before other people have houses.

Usually, when people rip pages out of the Bible and destroy them, Christians consider it blasphemy, but who knew that it was acceptable during a supposed anointing? And who could have guessed Catholics won this particular battle when they decided to go with a bland wafer instead?

Obviously, this is all bullshit, but it’s a reminder of how religious leaders can convince gullible people to do damn near anything in the name of God. Leal brought this kid up in front of the audience before demanding he do something completely embarrassing. There was pressure and coercion—and emotional manipulation, too. Notice how Leal literally called for the music to get louder. The full clip also shows the audience being told to cheer this on with cries of “Wisdom to build.”

I don’t blame the kid for going along with it; it was arguably more embarrassing to say no in that situation. But we can absolutely blame the adults for playing along with this charade.

This was a stupid stunt. There’s no shortage of stupid stunts when it comes to so-called “prophets” trying to prove God is working His magic in the church. The best thing we can say about this stunt is that it didn’t involve rubbing spit on someone’s face or any kind of animal cruelty. It was a relatively harmless form of batshittery. Hell, it’s not even the worst thing a religious leader has ever done involving a child’s mouth.

Maybe you’re wondering where this idea even came from.

Lucky for you, we have that answer. A few minutes before Leal told that child to swallow, The ROCK pastor David Chisholm told that same kid he had a dream about him, involving the teenager sitting at a table and devouring the Bible:

… I saw you sitting at a table—a dinner table—knife, fork, spoon, and laying in front of you was a Bible. And it was open to the Book of Proverbs.

And I seen you reach down and you took Chapter 1, and you tore it out, and you crumpled it up, and you put it in your mouth, and you chewed it, and you swallowed it.

And then you went to Chapter 2. You tore it out of the Bible, you crumpled it up, put it in your mouth and swallowed it.

And I’m giving you a command: Every day, for the next several years in your development, you eat at least one chapter of the Book of Proverbs, the Book of Ecclesiastes, and the Book of Psalms, in at least 10 different translations. Find 10 different versions. And eat a chapter a day, because you’re gonna have to have the wisdom of God to do this call that God’s got on your life.

I did that when I was young. I read the Book of Proverbs, I devoured it. And, you know, when I was 26, I had 70-year-old men sitting at my desk for counsel, saying, “Why am I in front of you? You should be in front of me.” Amen? Amen? Deal? Book of Proverbs every day.

That’s… weird. But at least it’s just a metaphor. Chisholm was clearly telling the kid to read certain parts of the Bible regularly.

But Leal then took his language and just ran with it. Because when Fundies say you have to take the Bible literally, you have to take the Bible literally.

As one commenter said in response, that kid’s a day away from having the Holy Shits.

While people are rightly mocking this whole charade, let’s remember the real problem: This church is conditioning young people to believe what religious leaders say no matter how idiotic or harmful it may be. To them, obedience must always override their own instincts, dignity, or common sense. If you can train young people to do that, you’re creating an environment where every other form of spiritual abuse can also flourish.

So, yes, we can laugh at this spectacle. But we should also condemn it because no ethical person should be relying on a public pressure campaign to convince a child to do something this idiotic. It’s a perfect snapshot of performative Christianity: manipulative, exploitative, and desperate. And deeply, deeply unhealthy.

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