Mega-rich televangelist Paula White is telling her followers they should start off 2018 by giving their “first fruits” to God (translation: to her). White is asking her followers to send their entire January salary to God (translation: to her).
Her admonishment comes with both a carrot and sharp stick. According to the false prophetess, doing so will result in God blessing you over the rest of the year. The rotten carrot of greed and materialism is held out in front of her followers in order to entice them to give their hard-earned money away.
Failure to give your money to God (translation: to her) will bring with it the wrath of God. Apparently, the god that Paula White worships is similar to Ebenezer Scrooge but with the added dimension of having the ability to punish those who refuse to continue to enrich him. If you do not give your hard-earned money to White’s god, he’ll beat you with the stick holding the rotten carrot. Thankfully, I do not worship that god.
On her website, Paula White explains her god’s greed: “There is a specific principle that I am deeply convicted about and MUST share with you after years of studying the Word of God,” she writes. “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.”
After taking the reader through some weird, mystical numerology nonsense, White puts forward her heretical version of Christian astrology and declares that the year 2018 is the year of the dog “is a year of life and deliverance from struggle. It begins right now with First Fruits.”
Stealthily slipping her sticky fingers into her readers’ wallets, White further explains: “When you give your first fruits offering, you are planting a seed for the remainder of the year. There is a greater portion that awaits you- Your sacrificial offering will be a seed for blessings the remainder of the year. According to Ezekiel 44, when you present your First Fruits offering, it will cause a blessing to rest upon your house!”
“As you remember the Lord your God, according to Deuteronomy 8:18, through your first fruits offering, He gives you the power to acquire wealth to establish His covenant,” she says. “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! Every year many others join us and sow a month’s pay, a week’s pay, others give a day’s pay, but everyone gives their best- The results are miraculous! First Fruits has impacted my life personally and the lives of countless others! But First Fruits is more than just an offering… it’s a principle.”
In summation, because White has unlocked the numerological secret that 2018 is supposed to be a year of great blessing, her god wants you to give her money so that he can give you money back. Remember, the more you give, the more he gives back.
One thing White and I do agree on is that “First Fruits has impacted [her] life personally.” She’s become quite rich off of this heresy.
I would be remiss if I ended this short article without a brief theological pushback on White’s heresy. 1 Corinthians 15:20-28 tells us that Jesus is the full and final “first fruits” that all of the Old Testament’s “first fruits” pointed toward. For those who are repenting of their sins and placing their faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, their debt is clear before God. Jesus paid it all. God doesn’t want our first fruits. He wants our submission through faith in Jesus. The blessings that God has promised His children are spiritual in this age, and will one day be brought to full completion upon the return of King Jesus. On that day, the final day, Christians will enjoy God’s material blessings for all eternity. Angling and scheming for God’s material blessings before Jesus returns is idolatrous.
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves” (Matthew 7:15).
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