I have question about anointing with Oil. Should any one be anointed with oil - for example in a situation where a Pastor makes a call and converted souls comes forward but no place for baptism. The reason why I am asking this question is because we have a pastor who came to a camp meeting in my town, but because his cridentional were withdrawn by the General Conference because of his bold stand against General Conference - He cant baptize any soul in any church around here, so he asked to anoint the new believers with oil - is this biblical! Please Help.
The only inspired writings i know that talk about anointing with oil, are for 2 situations. 1. When a sick person calls the elders of the church to pray and anoint them for healing. 2. When the king (including Jesus of course) was anointed.
Notice that both of these situations are to show that the Holy Spirit is coming down in a special way on that person, and is not to be done to just everybody.
I understand this particular problem was resolved when the suppositions regarding the pastor's use of the oil proved to be mistaken, and all he wanted the olive oil for was his own personal use
Is baptism of divine origin or human origin? If it's divine origin, as scripture would have us believe, then whether or not some denominational body says he "can't" baptize doesn't make a baptism invalid. God is doing the work in the baptism, not the pastor. Scripture associates baptism with water for its connection to cleansing, to drowning, etc., so I would encourage the use of water. Furthermore, God's grace and action isn't limited by the amount of water being used--while the imagery is clearer if one is baptized in enough water to drown in, God is still baptizing whether your immersed in it or whether it's poured on your head.
