Apostasy Alert: Trump Spiritual Adviser Paula White Pushes Viewers To Give Her “One Month’s Salary”

Word of Faith Heresy “Pastor” Paula White is hustling her First Fruits financial false doctrine once again.

In one of the most brazen pleas for money of the early year, Presidential Spiritual Advisor and Prosperity Gospel promoter Paula White implored her followers and fans to give her ministry a “first fruits offering” of as much as one month’s salary – even though there is absolutely no Biblical basis for such an offering whatsoever. This type of shameless greed in the church, all based on heretical doctrines, are just one sign of the growing apostasy in the church today as it moves from sound, Biblical teaching, in favor of man and woman-made false doctrines and New Age witchcraft.

The False Teaching of “First Fruits” – the Prosperity Gospel Strikes Again

According to reports:

Popular televangelist Paula White is urging her followers to donate a “first fruits” offering of up to their entire salary for the month of January to enjoy “blessings” for the rest of the year or suffer the “consequences” of failing to follow God’s command.

“Each January, I put God first and honor Him with the first of our substance by sowing a first fruits offering of one month’s pay. That is a big sacrifice, but it is a seed for the harvest I am believing for in the coming year. And God always provides!” White explains on her website.

She explained the difference between the tithe, usually 10 percent of earnings, and the first fruit donation.

“The difference between tithe and first fruit, first fruit is all of it,” she told congregants at the New Destiny Christian Center in Apopka, Florida, according to the Orlando Sentinel. “All of what? Well, if you want to bring God all of one day’s salary, one week’s salary or one month’s salary, that’s between you and God. … I try to bring a month’s salary, but at the very least every year I give God a week’s salary.” (source).

Here is a video where White attempts to make a compelling case for “The Principle of First Fruits”:

This entire teaching is based on the false and unbiblical Prosperity Gospel heresy. This idea teaches that by giving money to a pastor’s ministry, a person can “unlock” and “release” amazing blessings from God in the form of money, material items, career success, health and better appearance. In other words, it makes the blessings of The Lord contingent on how much money a person is willing to give to that particular pastor.

Beginning and End has given extensive coverage to this heretical teaching as it emboldens false pastors to manipulate their congregations into giving them their hard-earned money to support the luxurious, extravagant lifestyles these millionaire pastors lead.

Paula White has made her First Fruits teaching an integral part of her sermons and numerous products.

Oftentimes, the way this doctrine is established is by taking Old Testament verses from the Mosaic law out of context. White does this in her video marketing campaign and her website:

“There is a specific principle that I am deeply convicted about and MUST share with you after years of studying the Word of God. This principle is found from early on, throughout the Bible, and it supernaturally unlocks amazing opportunity, blessing, favor and divine order for your life. It is the basis or underlying support for your success in 2018. It is GOD’S PRINCIPLE OF FIRST FRUITS. All Firsts belong to God. When you honor this principle it provides the foundation and structure for God’s blessings and promises in your life, it unlocks deep dimensions of spiritual truths that literally transform your life! When you apply this everything comes in divine alignment for His plan and promises for you. When you don’t honor it, whether through ignorance or direct disobedience there are consequences. “(source).

From the onset, White sets up “The First Fruits Principle” as the key to unlocking “amazing opportunity, blessing, favor and divine order in your life.” Giving money to her is the key to having any type of material success or happiness for the year 2018. She also warns that if one does not give their first fruits offerings (even through ignorance) “…there are consequences.” (source).

According to White, those “consequences” are found in Joshua 7:

“The principle of FIRSTFRUITS is all about honoring God by putting Him first IN EVERYTHING. The reason is God lays claim to all firsts. So, when you keep for yourself something that belongs to God you are desecrating what is to be consecrated to God. It reminds me of Joshua chapter 7, “But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan took some of the devoted things. And the anger of the Lord burned against Israel.”

Devoted things and First things have the exact same meaning; they are the irrevocable giving over to the Lord. They are the things that belong to God and God alone. Again, honoring God with the principle of FIRST FRUITS will open up something powerful I have seen consistently in my own life and the lives of those around me since I received revelation and was mandated by God to teach it. It releases GENERATIONAL BLESSING, OPPORTUNITY, FAVOR, & SUPERNATURAL BLESSINGS.” (source).

White has become a figure on the global stage as a key adviser to President Donald Trump.

This is a very dangerous teaching. It is essentially telling the viewer/congregant: “if you do not give your first paycheck or series of paychecks to God you are desecrating your earnings and offending The Lord.” This is essentially scaring people into giving. In Joshua 7, the Israelites were entering the Promised Land by force, as God commanded the mighty military leader Joshua to do. Having just conquered Jericho (thanks to The Lord’s supernatural miracle of bringing the impregnable walls of that city down), the Israelites found themselves defeated by the people of Ai, the second city they attempted to conquer. Before the battle of Jericho, God gave Joshua a very specific battle plan and forbade the Israelites from taking any of the material goods of the people of Jericho because the city and its goods were to be “accursed” or devoted to God (Joshua 6:17). However, they failed at this:

“But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel. And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Bethaven, on the east of Bethel, and spake unto them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai.

And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; and make not all the people to labour thither; for they are but few. So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai. And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water. And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads. And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan! O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies!

For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name? And the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff.” – Joshua 7:1-11.

Understanding Descriptive vs. Prescriptive Passages

The Bible predicts the apostasy – the falling away from sound, Biblical teaching to doctrines of demons.

What Paula White (and many other Prosperity Gospel false preachers) tend to do is look at a passage like the one above and extract a universal principle from it, such as: “Since Achan was clearly in disobedience as he took an item from Jericho, we as Christians today should be sure that never touch any “first” payment or item we receive because it belongs to God.” However, this is not the proper way to interpret and teach the Bible. The account of the battles of Jericho and Ai are descriptive passages: historical accounts in which we as believers are to learn from the general principles in how they relate to the Lord Jesus Christ and living one’s life as a believer.

In the case of the battle of AI there are very powerful lessons to be learned. Before the battle of Jericho, Joshua consulted with God on every detail of the plan for battle. Before Ai, Joshua consulted only with his spies and military advisors who assured him they did not even need their full forces because it was a small city. The Christian life is one of continued reliance on God through faith in Jesus Christ.

When the battle was lost, rather than “re-strategizing” or marshaling the full might of the Israelite army, Joshua “rent his clothes” and fell on his face for hours in repentance (and the elders of Israel joined him in this repentance). This is a foundational teaching. It is when one recognizes their sin before God, that they can be saved: “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation…” (2 Corinthians 7:10).

The question in life is not if you will sin, but when. All people are sinners (Romans 3:23). But what can bring salvation, God’s blessing and Spirit is having a heart that feels sorrow over your sin. This is what The Lord wants from all people – repentance. Understanding your guilt before God and trusting in the sacrifice He sent – Jesus Christ, The Son of God – for your forgiveness. And as soon as Joshua repented, God responded and told him of his error and the sin of Achan.

This passage is NOT a prescription for giving. It is not a universal command that every time a person receives their first paycheck they should give it to their pastor. The command to leave every item in Jericho for God was a specific instruction for that event, not a command for all believers for all time. These are descriptive passages. A prescriptive passage is one that is intended for all people for all time, for example:

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” – Isaiah 53:6.

^“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” – Romans 10:13.

“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;” – Ephesians 5:25.

These are passages that are intended to direct all believers at any time. They have clear universal application and were not directed towards one specific person in Scripture. And when we look to the Bible’s prescriptive teaching on giving we find:

“Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.” – 2 Corinthians 9:7.

Christians give based on how they feel in their heart to give. Offerings in church should not be done reluctantly or because of “necessity.” There is no required giving amount in church. But that has not stopped the apostate preachers all over the world from fleecing their fans and viewers using Scriptures ripped from context.

The Biblical Meaning of First Fruits

“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the Lord.” – Leviticus 23:9-12.

The first fruits offering accompanied the feasts of the Mosaic law. It was a command to reserve a part of the first reaping of the barley harvest for God and the priesthood. While this was indeed practices, Christians are not under the Mosaic law or the Old Covenant. Born again believers are under the New Covenant, which was founded upon the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross (for a detailed explanation see our article: “Are Christians Understanding The Law And Gospel”). The Bible explains that the feasts and rituals of the Mosaic law were all a foreshadow of the work and person of Jesus Christ, the Messiah:

“Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” – Colossians 2:16-17.

When John the Baptist saw Jesus for the first time He made a direct connection between Jesus and the Passover feast:

“The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” – John 1:29.

John taught that the Passover – which commemorated the blood of a lamb being put over the doors of the Israelites so that the avenging angel would spare their lives during the Exodus – was a foreshadow of Jesus Christ. Just as the blood of the lamb saved the lives of the Israelites at that time, Jesus Christ is “The Lamb of God” whose blood provides eternal life for everyone in the world who believes. This is foreshadowing or commonly referred to as a type and shadow.

Similarly, Jesus Christ, in His resurrection from the dead is the first fruits of the true harvest – God’s Church:

“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.” – 1 Corinthians 15:20-23.

Jesus Christ is the true First Fruits (and just as His crucifixion took place on the Feast of Passover, His resurrection took place on the day of the feast of First Fruits). False teachers like Paula White are forced to basically ignore these passages because they refute whatever type of financial scheme they are trying to hustle on their unsuspecting fan base.

The End Times Apostasy – False Teachers Invade The Church

Many churches are misusing the feast of first fruits for shameful gain.

“But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.” – 2 Peter 2:1-3.

The Bible prophesied that false prophets and teachers would infiltrate the church as the end times approached. And they could be identified by their lust for money and material wealth. Notice the scripture says that these wolves in sheep clothing would use “feigned words” to “make merchandise of you” – employing false teaching to pimp their followers for millions of dollars.

Beginning and End has detailed the excess of Word of Faith heretics like Creflo Dollar (who had congregants literally dropping cash at the pulpit which he then danced on top of, in addition to requesting $65 million in offerings to purchase a new jet), I.V. Hilliard who flaunts his numerous luxury cars, pressured his followers to buy him a new helicopter and charged $100 for a “ticket” to his wife’s birthday party, Joel Osteen and many others.

The Bible says:

“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.” – 1 Timothy 6:6-11.

Note that the passage emphasizes that Christians “gain” by being content with whatever they have in life – no matter how great or how little. And it exposes the focus on money and material gain as evil. Word of Faith false teachers repeatedly emphasize earthly wealth and “increase” with “sowing seeds” of money and using “power words” – as the key to unlocking God’s power and attaining blessings. This not Biblical doctrine but are the basic foundation of New Age witchcraft – where specific actions on our part initiate superantural results. In Christianity, God blesses us on His own. The Lord does not need us to “activate” or “unlock him.”

Many churches are promoting the “health and wealth” false teaching to compel payments from their followers. (source)

Jesus Christ said:

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” – Matthew 6:19-21.

Time and time again, the Bible teaches Christians not to focus on money and material gain. There is no “secret” to “unlocking” financial blessings in the Bible. A Christian may be rich and well off, or they could be poor and struggling all their lives. The true reward and riches are heavenly ones – because their souls are saved, and they have eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. Do not be deceived.

Pray for Paula White

Pray for Paula White and the many other Prosperity – Word of Faith false preachers to repent. Rather than twisting God’s Word for shameful gain, they should be on their knees, begging God for forgiveness for their heretical teachings and leaving the pulpit.

And pray for their congregations and the millions of tv/internet viewers who follow these false teachings on the hope they will receive their “harvest” or “breakthrough.” Many churches are in desperate need to understand the Biblical Gospel – that God has redeemed us freely. No down payment, deposit or “seed money” is required to be blessed by The Lord. Pray for discernment and God’s Spirit to fill the hearts and minds of those caught up in the Prosperity Gospel. And that rather than giving their hard-earned salaries to false teachers that they instead put their faith, trust and hope in the true First Fruits of all who believe – Jesus Christ.