In October 2015, 64 people were killed in Bucharest when fireworks ignited a nightclub fire in the Romanian capital. The majority of those died in hospital, many as a result of preventable infections. The resulting scandal brought down the health minister and revealed a multimillion-euro medical fraud. At the heart of it was watered-down disinfectant.
It turned out that Hexi Pharmacy, one of Romania's major disinfectant suppliers, had been watering down its disinfectant, sometimes to only 10% of its advertised strength. The Guardian reported that one ingredient, which was meant to make up 25% of a surgical hand wash, was diluted down to 0.01% instead.
Hexi Pharmacy's owner died the day before he was due to face fraud charges when his car hit a tree, a death later ruled to be suicide. The death toll caused by his company's watered-down products could easily be in the thousands.
I first heard this tragic story from a missionary in France. The reason he shared it was to point out that a similar thing has happened in churches, with even greater consequences. In this case it's not disinfectant that's been watered down — it's the Bible's teaching.
When the Hexi Pharmacy scandal broke, devastated doctors spoke to the media about people who'd died under their watch — because they trusted that the operating theatres in which they were working had been disinfected properly. If they had turned up for work and been told that there was no disinfectant, they wouldn't have operated. But as it was, they went ahead, because they trusted that what it said on the bottle was true.
In a similar way, if the Bible had simply been removed from Scottish churches 100 or 150 years ago, people would have been up in arms. They wouldn't have stood for it. Why would anyone go to a church where there was no Bible?
But instead, while the Bible was kept around, its teaching was watered down. As in the days of Jeremiah, it could have been — and still can be said in many places: "the prophets prophecy falsely" (5:31). “They have spoken falsely of the LORD and have said, ‘He will do nothing’” (5:12). In particular, "They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace" (6:14). Did those in the pew not realise? Many didn't. Some trusted in the professionals. "The minister says it", so it must be true. Between June 2010 and May 2016 Hexi Pharma sold watered-down biocides to 340 healthcare institutions, including most of Romania’s large hospitals. They were trusted; but those who trusted in them were badly let down and faced terrible consequences. Even when those in the pew had a sense that what they were hearing diverged from traditional Christian orthodoxy, it could often be added, as Jeremiah does: "my people love to have it so".
The legacy of this is seen today. What the Bible says about who can preach, who can be an elder, who can be a church member, who can be baptised, and how we are to live is routinely ignored. Worst of all, the gospel message has been distorted. Jesus is no longer proclaimed as the only way to God. Churchgoers don't hear Jesus' call to repent and believe the gospel. The message that funeral-goers are invariably left with is that everyone will get to heaven in the end. A man visited our church one Sunday evening and said: "My elders never talk to me about the Bible." It's no surprise — its authority has long since been rejected, in favour of a watered-down message.
But a watered-down gospel is no use to anyone. Jeremiah goes on to ask: "what will you do when the end comes?". One day Jesus is coming back, and there will be no hope for those who have trusted in a watered-down gospel. On that day they will be as alarmed as Felix was, when the Apostle Paul began to speak about "righteousness and self-control and the coming judgement" (Acts 24:25).
It doesn't have to be that way. And yet the story of many human catastrophes is the story of warnings being ignored. Romanian health officials had been repeatedly warned about high levels of hospital-acquired infection, and a parliamentary commission even established that the health ministry had been alerted to the rogue disinfectants. Yet they closed their eyes to reality until it was too late.
Better not to use disinfectant at all, than use a watered-down product and think you're safe. Better to have churches close than them continue to utter an "indistinct sound" (1 Cor. 14:8).
When it comes to matters of life and death, watered-down alternatives are deadly.
Published in the Stranraer & Wigtownshire Free Press, 8th October 2026