{"id":15092,"date":"2026-05-29T09:47:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T13:47:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?p=15092"},"modified":"2026-05-29T09:47:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T13:47:18","slug":"prophet-sparks-debate-after-telling-teen-to-eat-bible-page-to-receive-godly-wisdom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2026\/05\/prophet-sparks-debate-after-telling-teen-to-eat-bible-page-to-receive-godly-wisdom.html","title":{"rendered":"Prophet Sparks Debate After Telling Teen to Eat Bible Page to Receive Godly Wisdom"},"content":{"rendered":"
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YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A controversial moment involving longtime charismatic minister Kevin Leal<\/a> is drawing strong reactions online after he instructed an 18-year-old aspiring businessman to eat a page from the Bible during a church service.<\/p>\n

The unusual scene unfolded earlier this year during an Encounter Conference at The Rock Family Worship Center in Parkersburg, West Virginia, where Leal publicly prophesied that teenager Ethan Soucy would one day become a millionaire who uses his wealth to advance God’s Kingdom.<\/p>\n

Leal, who describes himself as a prophet with more than 30 years of ministry experience, called Soucy to the front of the church and spoke over his future before the congregation.<\/p>\n

“I told him a couple of years ago, \u2026 ‘You’re going to be a millionaire \u2026 and God’s going to do the work in your heart that you don’t become a flaky millionaire,'” Leal said.<\/p>\n

The minister explained that he had previously prophesied over others who later became wealthy, but claimed many of them lost their spiritual footing after success.<\/p>\n

“They became jerks,” Leal declared. “They became drunks, rebels, lawless, and God’s about to snatch what he gave them out of their hands.”<\/p>\n

Leal insisted Soucy’s future would look different, predicting the teenager would become a generous supporter of ministries and churches around the world.<\/p>\n

“You’re going to be one that writes big checks for ministers,” Leal proclaimed. “You’re going to build church buildings in third-world countries. You’re going to pay the salaries of preachers around the world.”<\/p>\n

Soucy, who previously gained attention in Naples, Florida, for his impressive weightlifting accomplishments as a teenager, currently serves as an instructor at Culture Architects, a nondenominational Christian ministry founded by his uncle, Pastor Lance Garduna.<\/p>\n

During the service, Leal encouraged Soucy to pray aloud for God to make him a “kingdom businessman.”<\/p>\n

“Make me a Kingdom businessman,” Soucy prayed. “Make me money so I can give it to the Kingdom.”<\/p>\n

Several businessmen in attendance were then invited to speak blessings and declarations over the teen’s future. One man declared he saw “millions and millions” in Soucy’s future.<\/p>\n

The service took an even more unusual turn when Senior Pastor David Chisholm shared what he described as a spiritual vision in which Soucy consumes Scripture like food.<\/p>\n

“I saw you sitting at a table,” Chisholm said. “Laying in front of you was a Bible.”<\/p>\n

According to Chisholm, he envisioned Soucy tearing pages from the book of Proverbs, chewing them, and swallowing them one by one as a symbol of taking in God’s wisdom.<\/p>\n

Chisholm then encouraged the teen to spend years reading Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Psalms daily in multiple Bible translations.<\/p>\n

“I devoured it,” Chisholm said of his own experience studying Proverbs as a young man. “When I was 26, I had 70-year-old men sitting at my desk for counsel.”<\/p>\n

Moments later, Leal asked someone in the congregation to hand him a physical Bible. He ripped out a page from the book of Proverbs, handed it to Soucy, and instructed him to eat it.<\/p>\n

“When you eat this, the power of God is going to go inside of you,” Leal said.<\/p>\n

Video from the service shows Soucy chewing and swallowing the page with water while the congregation watched.<\/p>\n

The clip has since circulated online, prompting widespread debate among Christians. Some defended the moment as a prophetic illustration rooted in biblical symbolism, pointing to passages such as Ezekiel 3 and Revelation 10, where prophets are instructed to “eat” God’s word in a vision. Others criticized the act as unbiblical, performative, and potentially misleading.<\/p>\n

The moment has also reignited broader discussions within the church about modern prophetic ministry, discernment, and the line between symbolic acts and sensationalism.<\/p>\n

Despite the backlash, supporters of Leal argue the service was intended to encourage a young believer to pursue wisdom, generosity, and a life fully surrendered to God rather than personal wealth or fame.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A controversial moment involving longtime charismatic minister Kevin Leal is drawing strong reactions online after he instructed an 18-year-old aspiring businessman to eat a page from the Bible during a church service. The unusual scene unfolded earlier this year during an Encounter Conference at The Rock Family Worship Center in Parkersburg, West Virginia, where Leal…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":15095,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nProphet Sparks Debate After Telling Teen to Eat Bible Page to Receive Godly Wisdom<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Kevin Leal sparks controversy after telling a teen to eat a Bible page during a prophetic church service about wealth and wisdom.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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