DUMPSTER FIRE: Paula White's Divine Protection Racket

Welcome to Fighting for the Faith Dumpster Fire for the second week of January 2018. If you've ever been told that you have to send your money into a church or a televangelist because it's under a curse and you have to redeem it from the curse by sending in a first fruits or seed offering, go ahead and click on the subscribe button below.

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Subscribe below. Today we're going to be talking about a topic that actually gets me a little bit hot under the collar. So if I seem a little bit impassioned at times, my apologies, but this is one that kind of grinds my gears.

Today we're going to be talking about Paula White and her recent shakedown of her congregation and what we're going to call it Paula White's scumbaggery. It's this weird video that has made it into the media and people are talking about it.

But we're going to do something that a lot of people are not equipped to do, and that is we're going to break it down for you biblically so you can see for yourself that she is literally teaching for shameful gain and twisting God's word in order to manipulate people and get.

Money.

I mean, this woman, clearly her Botox injections are expensive, so she has to shake her congregation down by twisting God's word. We're going to begin with a biblical text. We're going to take a look at two texts right now and kind of lay the foundation and talk about how the Bible itself warns us about false teachers who literally teach for shameful gain things they ought not to teach and who manipulate and exploit people for gain within the church.

False Teachers Who Teach for Shameful Gain

Two passages where this is explicitly laid out for us is Titus chapter 1, which is one of the pastoral epistles, and Paul laying down the qualifications for a pastor says this, starting at verse 7. An overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach.

He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. He—and this next part is the part that everybody seems to ignore nowadays—he, that pastor, must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and to rebuke those who contradict it.

And then he goes on to explain why. For there are many who are insubordinate. They are empty talkers. They are deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. And Paul here is referring to one of the first heresies within Christianity, the Judaizing heresy.

And he says these are empty talkers, they are deceivers. They must be silenced. Yeah, that's right. God wills for people who are teaching false doctrine in Christ's Church—it's his, not theirs—that they be silenced.

And here's what he goes on to say. They are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. Now one of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons.

Well, this testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith and not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of those who turn away from the truth. Now ironically, although Paula White is not a Judaizer, she is twisting the Mosaic Covenant and teaching stuff from the Mosaic Covenant in a way that not even the Judaizers of old would have done.

So she's kind of engaging in that type of chicanery, scumbaggery, if you would. But we're going to note, she's going to be teaching for shameful gain. The whole motivation here is money, lots of money.

And then 2 Peter, and Peter himself warns us that in the Church, he says, false prophets also rose among the people—talking about the people in the time of the Old Testament—just as there will be false teachers among you—yeah, they're coming and they're here—who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.

Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And I hate to say this, because Christianity has not cleaned house regarding people like Paula White and the televangelists, who are obviously manipulating people for money.

There are many unbelievers who think that's what Christianity is, and the way of truth is being blasphemed because of them. It's time for Christianity and Christians to rise up and silence these people, as God has made clear that's what he wills to happen in Titus chapter 1, which we just read.

But here's the last part of this. So in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle. Their destruction is not asleep. So yeah, two very clear passages warning how false teachers teach for shameful gain the things they ought not to teach, and exploit people with false words.

This is exactly what Paula White did, and we're going to look at the video that everybody's talking about in the media right now, and we're going to break this down biblically so you can see what she's doing.

So let's get to it. Here's Paula White.

It's often not that we're doing something wrong, it's that we're not doing enough of what is right. God says in his word that my people, good people, perish because of lack of knowledge.

Yeah, that's true. But that, by the way, is like the setup. She's going to claim, oh, I'm going to save you from perishing by giving you the knowledge that you lack. Yeah, so if you want to look that passage up, you can see what she's doing.

But this is the whole setup. I'm going to protect you from, well, destruction. I'm going to protect you from perishing because you didn't know that you had to send me money at the beginning of the year.

That's really what's going on here.

The Firstfruits Racket and a Misused Old Testament Pattern

Entering into a new year, a new beginning, and God has great things for you in 2018. In fact, the number 18 means to be alive. It means life.

18 means life. When did numbers mean things like that? That's weird.

Um, okay.

Yeah, you know, normally I think of numbers numerically, like, you know, if I had 18 of something, that's a little bit more than a dozen. You know, it's like a dozen and a half. What do I know? It's a little less than a dozen and a half.

But you get the idea.

I believe that God has life for you. Like the woman who was bowed over for 18 years, but that year, at 18, she was loose from that spirit of infirmity.

Right, so because after 18 years of infirmity, 18, poof, you know, that means 2018, poof, you're going to be set free from spirits of stuff and things.

Uh-huh.

Total manipulation.

I believe this is going to be a supernatural year for you.

Oh, Carly, wait. I could really use a supernatural year.

You've seen God's goodness and God's greatness, but God has a way of doing things.

Oh, yeah. See, God wants you to have a supernatural year and greatness and stuff, but, you see, that's a big but, but, yeah, you know, God has a way of doing things, and you got to do things the way God wants them done, or else you don't get the supernatural thing.

God himself, all throughout his words, said, hey, all first belong to me.

Um, really? All throughout his word, he says that? No, I'm not familiar with that. I'm familiar with several things that were first that belonged to God in the Mosaic Covenant, but we're not under the Mosaic Covenant.

We're under the New Covenant established by Christ.

He lays claim to it. He says that first are holy. It's the irrevocable giving over to God, things that belong to him that he lays claim to.

Uh-oh, yes, irrevocable. You got to give the first stuff to God, because, you know, it's all over the Bible and stuff.

Uh-huh.

We're going to show you how she's twisting scripture here in a minute.

What we call the principle of first fruits.

Yeah, the principle of first fruits? Principle. Not a command, because in order to come up with this principle, she has to twist the.

Scripture.

Yeah, beware of principles, by the way.

There's a first fruit season. There's a first fruit offering.

Yeah.

There's a first fruit feast.

Yeah, those are all part of the Mosaic Covenant. We're not under the Mosaic Covenant anymore.

This is the first fruit of many brethren. First fruit literally means chief. It means essential, fundamental.

It is the first.

Yeah, what's the Hebrew word for that?

And can you show me in context where first fruits means essential, fundamental, choice of the harvest thingy?

The choice part of the crop.

Again, this is Mosaic Covenant, not New Covenant.

It also comes from a root word of Bekor, which means birthright.

Oh, yes, it's birthright. See, God, he owns the birthright thingy. Notice she's not showing where these words show up in context, and she can't because she's manipulating God's word to teach a doctrine that God's word does not teach.

That your money's cursed until you send her stuff.

Firstborn belong to God. All first of harvest belong to God. All first of new beginnings belong to God.

You know, it's all first of new beginnings. You see, she kind of slipped that one in there. So here we are, the beginning of the year 2018. So the first of this year, that all belongs to God. The new beginning stuff thingy.

Yeah.

Everything that is a first belongs to God.

Everything. Everything. That's a first belong. You see, yeah, it's not yours. It's his, and it's cursed unless you redeem it, you know.

In Joshua chapter 7, the children of Israel have just entered in and they've conquered. They've gone across the Jordan. They've conquered. And now they're getting to their first city. It's called Ai. And suddenly where they were having victory after victory, they get.

Yeah, the first city was actually Jericho. Yeah, that's weird.

Defeated. Why do they get defeated? The Bible says that Joshua falls down and he begins to cry out and he's praying. And God says, Joshua, stop praying. Stop crying. He said, listen, the problem is with Achan.

He's touched the accursed thing.

Well, see, the thing is, is that that's a historical narrative. And Achan had taken things from Jericho that didn't belong to him. In fact, all of the plunder of Jericho, God said that belongs to me. Achan took some of it and, you know, he suffered the consequences.

And some of the people of Israel also suffered the consequences of his sin. But again, what she's doing, she's taking this historical narrative and pouring into it her own theology. And we're going to demonstrate in just a minute just how duplicitous this woman is.

What's accursed mean? It means devoted things. And devoted is the same word as a first, a first fruit. So anytime you touch something that is first, something that belongs to God.

Uh-oh.

Yeah, see, there it is. If you've touched something that belongs to God, uh-oh, you're like Achan. Oh boy, you've touched the accursed thing. You're in deep trouble, deep Kimji here.

Bring some kind of destruction.

Oh yeah, so you don't want destruction to happen to you, do you? So you better obey this principle of the first thingy, or there's lots of destruction coming your way.

Order into our life. As we enter into January, we recognize that there are two calendars in the earth. But January is the first, the beginning of a new year for us in the Western world. Let us give to God what belongs to him.

Yeah, it belongs to him, which means it really, she's saying it belongs to her, because who do you think is going to profit from this?

First hours of our day. The first month of the year.

The first month of the year. That's her laying the foundation, because she's going to ask the people here very shortly to send in the first month's wages to her.

First of our increase. The first in every area of our life. It's devoted. When you devote something to God, then whatever devoted, here's the principle. The principle of first fruits is that when you give God the first, he governs the rest and redeems it.

Yeah, no text says this. Not one. This is Mosaic Covenant, and this is a twisting even of the details of the Mosaic Covenant.

Curse on all of mankind. We know that Jesus, which is why he became the first fruit of many brethren. We understand that.

He's the first fruits of the new creation. The first to rise from the dead.

The principle of first is so important that whatever you give God first, because it already belongs to him, it redeems the rest. So in the beginning, it's very important. Deuteronomy 16.

Now watch what she does here. We're going to take a look at this text. She claims that Deuteronomy 16, 16 says, Don't appear before the Lord empty-handed, as if somehow this has something to do with January 1st, and it doesn't.

God says, Do not stand before me empty-handed. Leviticus chapter 3, God says,.

Now let's take a look at Deuteronomy 16, shall we? And we're going to note something here. Deuteronomy 16, 16, she just says, she gets to the bit that says, They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed.

She left out the rest of the bit. And here's what it says. Deuteronomy 16, 16, one of the requirements of the Mosaic Covenant. Three times a year, all of your males shall appear before Yahweh your God at the place that he will choose, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths.

They shall not appear before Yahweh empty-handed. Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of Yahweh your God that he has given you. So you're going to note, Deuteronomy 16, 16, when are they to not appear before the Lord empty-handed?

Answer, when Jewish males under the Mosaic Covenant show up at the place that the Lord had picked, and that place, by the way, is Jerusalem, and the temple there in Jerusalem. And they are to appear before the Lord for three festivals.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is Passover, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Booths. And every man shall give as he is able. So you're going to note, Deuteronomy 16, 16, has nothing whatsoever to do with, you know, the beginning of the year in January, which is part of, you know, a calendar that isn't even in the Bible.

But yeah, fascinating here. So she's created this principle of the first, and now she's twisted Deuteronomy 16, 16. Don't appear before the Lord empty-handed. Here we are, it's the first of the year.

Are your hands empty? Yeah, this woman is so sick. Okay, she continues.

All first belong to him, all the way through...

Now I'm going to back this up a little bit. I want you to see what she does here with this Leviticus text, because Leviticus 23 doesn't say this.

Chapter 3, God says, all first belong to him, all the way through the new...

Yeah, go ahead and read Leviticus chapter 23 in context, and you're going to note that Leviticus 23, and I think I have it over here, this is a bunch of details regarding the Mosaic Covenant. We're no longer under the Mosaic Covenant.

The Mosaic Covenant has been fulfilled. It is gone. And so if you just kind of do a cursory look through this, the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the people of Israel, say to them, these are the appointed feasts of Yahweh that you shall proclaim, and as holy convocations, they are appointed feasts.

And then it goes on to describe what comes up first. Six days you shall work. Shall work be done. Seventh day is a Sabbath. Then you talk about the appointed feast. You talk about the Passover, the feast of booths and stuff like that.

And then you got the feast of the first fruits, the first fruits of the harvest that are then brought, and they are waived. The first fruit sheaped is waived before the Lord as part of the Mosaic Covenant.

So what she's doing is basically falsely saying, well, Leviticus 23 says all first things belong to God. All, it's here we are.

It's genuine.

No, no, no. That's not what scripture is teaching at all.

There was a practice of first fruits. Anytime there was a first of something, it belonged to God. In fact, when you get into the book of Acts and you start to really study Ananias and Sapphira, you understand that had to do with the first fruits.

No, it didn't. Let's take a look at that. By the way, the story of Ananias and Sapphira is found in Acts chapter 5. And watch, this has nothing to do with the first fruits. Watch this. Acts 5, 1. A man named Ananias and his wife Sapphira sold a piece of property.

And with his wife knowledge, he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet. Now, here's what was happening earlier in the context. People were selling property and giving the entire proceeds to the apostles and to the church.

Ananias and Sapphira, they sold a piece of property, and they were basically putting on the pretense that they were giving all of the proceeds to the apostles. But Peter's having none of that. So Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?

See, the issue is that they're lying to the Holy Spirit to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land. While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? Of course it did. And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal?

Yeah.

Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man, but to God. You see, they lied by saying, oh yeah, this is all of the proceeds. They could have said, no, this is 50 of the proceeds.

We kept out some for ourselves, and they would have been fine. The issue is, they lied to God. So when Ananias heard these words, he fell down and he breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it.

The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him. And after an interval of about three hours, his wife came in not knowing what had happened. And Peter said to her, tell me whether you sold the land for so much.

And she said, yes, for so much. Yeah, she lied about the amount, just like her husband. Peter said to her, how is it that you have agreed together to test the spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.

Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And when the young men came in, they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard these things.

So the story of Ananias and Sapphira has nothing, nothing whatsoever to do with the principle of the first fruits. She's lying. She's manipulating the people of her church in order to ingratiate herself.

She's exploiting them with false words for money.

All of it was given to the Lord. So at the beginning of this year, I want you to make a commitment. The first hours of your day, give to God. I want you to spend time in prayer. I want you to spend time in his word.

But it's crucial because he says, do not come before me empty handed.

Yeah, whatever you do, don't come before the Lord empty handed. Deuteronomy 16, 16 is talking about Jewish males during the three feast days that were required as part of the Mosaic covenant. Has nothing to do with January 1st.

You see, what you do in January, no matter what happens in July or August or September, you literally are sending a signal for the promise which is to come.

I'm sending a signal by sending you money? The only signal I can think that that would signify is that I am deceived, that I have no clue what God's word says, and I refuse to actually investigate to see if what you're saying squares with scripture.

It doesn't mean you can dictate or manipulate what's going to happen in July or August, but it means this, that you have put God first.

Yeah, if you put God first, you would never send money to Paula White. God nowhere wills for you to send money to a false teacher. And by the way, scripture forbids women from being pastors. That's absolutely the case.

So that should key you in that this is not a woman who values what God's word says. She is a parasite. She is a false teacher. She is exploiting the people in her congregation in order to make her wallet fat.

Aspect of this year. So by doing that, and by bringing him an offering, a firstfruits offering, and presenting to him an obedience to the word, you are redeeming the rest.

No, I'm not. No text says that.

So I hope there's so much I want to get to you. There's just so much to study.

Oh, I'm sure there is. Yeah, what you really want is just to scare them to think that God is basically into, you know, the business of offering protection. You know, this is like the mafia dons, you know.

It's like, you know, hey, you know, we just don't want anything bad to happen to you,.

You know.

And so we're gonna, we're gonna, we'll protect you. But you know, we need a little bit of something for to make sure that, you know, a safe doesn't fall on your head or something.

Uh-huh.

Go, well, how do I do it? Well, for your firstfruits offering, because I don't even want to say gift because this is so holy.

Oh, yeah, this isn't a gift. No, this already belongs to God. So send it to Paula White.

Mm-hmm.

It belongs to the Lord for your firstfruits offering. And firstfruits is the full of. It's not the tithe. Tithe is one-tenth of your grossing.

Yeah, this is above and beyond that. Yeah, this one's got to hurt.

It's the first-tenth, not just any tenth. That's why it redeems the curse. But the firstfruit is the whole of. Many of us bring one day. Some of us bring one week. Some of us bring an entire month's salary.

Mm-hmm.

So there you got it. I mean, this woman, just send in one month's salary because it belongs to God. If you don't do this, well, something bad might happen to you. Curses and stuff, and you don't want to touch anything that belongs to God.

I mean, remember poor Akin, yeah. So to make sure that you don't suffer his fate, send the first month's wages that you earn to Paula White. Let's come back to our initial text that we took a look at from Titus and from 1 Peter.

Titus, there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers, and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. They must be silenced since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach.

That's exactly what she just did there. And in talking about the false teachers, Peter writes in 2 Peter, in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Yep. This is a woman who is manipulating God's word in order to have money.

That's what Paula White is about. She has no love for God. She has love for money and for herself. And she is abusing and manipulating the Christians that are under her care as a pastrix—although God's word forbids women from being pastrixes—in order to make money.

It's all about the money. And believe me when I tell you this, God does not will you to send a penny to her. Instead, God wills for you to rebuke her for her false teaching and to expose her and her dark deeds to the church so others will not be manipulated and exploited by her.

Final Exhortation and Program Sign-Off

Yeah.

Dumpster fire indeed.

All right.

We're at the end of our dumpster fire edition for this week. Just a reminder, we are listener or viewer supported. And so if you don't already support us, please consider joining our crew. It makes it so that we are able to continue to bring these resources to you and to the broader body of Christ to warn them and protect them.

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