The Genesis II Church of Health and Healing was an American organization founded in 2010 by Jim Humble and Mark Grenon. Operating as an international distributor and promoter of a chemical solution called Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS), the group described itself as a “non-religious church.”
Its primary focus was promoting MMS as a treatment for a wide range of serious conditions, including cancer, HIV/AIDS, autism, malaria, Alzheimer’s, diabetes and COVID-19. Although it adopted an ecclesiastical structure, its own leadership acknowledged in official records and legal proceedings that this framework was not meant to serve a spiritual purpose. Instead, it was a legal strategy designed to shield MMS sales from government oversight, medical regulation and criminal prosecution.
Humble began promoting a precursor to MMS in the late 1960s before partnering with Grenon, who took the title “archbishop.” MMS is made by mixing a 22% solution of sodium chlorite in water with an acid activator such as citric or hydrochloric acid. The resulting reaction produces chlorine dioxide, an industrial bleaching and water-treatment agent used in textile manufacturing, wastewater processing and hydraulic fracturing. Genesis II marketed the mixture as a “healing sacrament,” claiming small doses were safe and non-toxic — a claim rejected by regulatory agencies, toxicologists, and medical professionals worldwide, who classified the substance as an industrial chemical capable of serious physiological harm.
The group’s philosophy blended religious language with conspiracy theories about the mainstream medical system. “Genesis II” was framed as a “second beginning,” moving humanity from disease into health. Central to its messaging was the claim that the pharmaceutical industry and government agencies were deliberately suppressing natural cures to protect profits and pursue a secret depopulation agenda. The organization claimed a presence in more than 135 countries and issued membership cards asserting an “unalienable right to medical self-determination,” which it claimed also exempted holders from mandatory vaccinations, medical scans, X-rays, and health insurance requirements.
To expand its reach, Genesis II ran paid international seminars charging attendees several hundred dollars to learn how to manufacture and administer MMS. Grenon and designated “bishops” led these gatherings, teaching dosing protocols, recruiting “health ministers,” and promoting conspiracy theories involving chemtrails, vaccine-related depopulation and government cover-ups. Attendees were shown anecdotal testimonials of recoveries from terminal illness, and some leaders taught how to exploit religious freedom laws to market MMS while sidestepping consumer protection requirements.
Public health authorities challenged the group’s claims almost immediately. In 2010, the FDA warned that consuming MMS could cause severe nausea, vomiting, life-threatening dehydration, acute liver failure and dangerously low blood pressure. Health Canada, the UK’s Food Standards Agency, and Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration issued similar warnings, all stating there was no credible clinical evidence for chlorine dioxide as a disease treatment. When consumers reported reactions like acute nausea or diarrhea, church leaders often reframed these as signs the body was “eliminating toxins” rather than being poisoned.
Reports of serious injury and death underscored the risks. In August 2009, before Genesis II’s formal founding, a retired teacher died after ingesting MMS aboard a sailboat off Vanuatu, believing it would protect her from malaria; she developed acute abdominal pain and vomiting before collapsing and dying before help arrived. The seller of that batch was later convicted of illegally marketing misbranded drugs and imprisoned in 2015. Similar poisonings followed in Australia, Europe, and North America, including cases of parents administering the chemical to young children to treat autism.
The organization’s structure and practices drew allegations that it operated as a high-control, cultlike group. Critics, journalists, and former adherents pointed to its rejection of established medical evidence, its members’ deference to Humble and Grenon, and its efforts to isolate followers from conventional healthcare. Within the group, questioning MMS’s safety was sometimes treated as succumbing to outside or evil influence, and members were encouraged to distrust family, doctors and government authorities who challenged the organization’s claims.
Scrutiny intensified during the early COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when Genesis II promoted MMS as a preventative and treatment for the virus; Grenon also wrote to prominent political figures touting chlorine dioxide, drawing national attention amid public debate over disinfectant ingestion. In April 2020, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida filed a civil action and obtained a preliminary injunction against MMS sales. The Grenon family defied the court order and threatened law enforcement with armed violence; federal agents subsequently raided their compound in Bradenton, Florida, seizing hundreds of gallons of raw acids, nearly 10,000 pounds of sodium chlorite, thousands of finished MMS bottles and multiple loaded, concealed firearms.
Mark Grenon and his three sons Jonathan, Jordan, and Joseph were indicted on charges including conspiracy to defraud the United States, violations of federal drug law and criminal contempt. Mark and Joseph fled the country, were captured by Colombian authorities in August 2020, and extradited back. In July 2023, a Miami federal jury convicted all four on all counts; trial evidence showed the family had earned more than $1 million selling industrial chemicals disguised as religious donations. That October, Mark and Joseph each received five-year prison sentences, while Jonathan and Jordan received more than 12 years each due to added contempt charges. The prosecution and imprisonment of the Grenon family effectively dismantled Genesis II’s U.S. operations.
Key Sources:
Agence France-Presse. (2020, May 13). Church fined for selling bleach as virus cure.
Mayorquin, O. (2023, October 6). Family Sentenced for Selling Bleach as ‘Miracle’ Covid-19 Cure. The New York Times.
Minear, T. (2014, November 3). Genesis II Church of Health and Healing’s ‘Miracle Mineral Solution’ slammed by AMA as ‘snake oil.’ The Sydney Herald Sun.
Ono, D. (2016, March 1). Eyewitness News investigates unorthodox underworld of Genesis II Church. ABC7 Los Angeles.
Pilkington, E. (2019, August 15). “Church” to offer “miracle cure” despite FDA warnings against drinking bleach. The Guardian.