fides quaerens intellectum
Sep 13 2009
In this chronicle of mutations within the Pentecostal movement, we learn to distinguish among the Prosperity Gospel, Word of Faith, and New Apostolic Movements — and we learn why it matters.
One of the worse ‘mutations’ of Pentecostalism is the Prosperity Gospel -
Continue reading “Are Paula White and Creflo Dollar still Pentecostals?”
Jul 24 2009
eBlast – July 14, 2009 – Pastor Paula White from Without Walls Int’l Church on Vimeo.
Not to pick on the WOW Pastor, but isn’t that video a little, oh, general? What if, say, Bin Laden was watching it? Do you really think God wants to see him increased? Maybe she should be more selective with who she ‘increases.’
Continue reading “Paula White, the New Old Pastor of WOW (sans Bishop Randy) has a Word for you”
Jul 15 2009
I was out all day, working, and didn’t get to read my daily dose of blogs – so, I thought that I might read a few now and share some with you. By the way, I am now collecting a retirement fund so that I can sit and read blogs all day long. Please feel free to donate.
Jul 15 2009
First, from here:
Given that so many powerful Pentecostals and Charismatics, like Senator John Ensign and Sarah Palin, are embroiled in high profile scandals, one might expect to hear more about the movements that unite them. Anthea Butler, a leading scholar on Pentecostalism and American religious history, traces the various movements and their theologies of wealth, healing and dominion.
And then, from here:
I was reading this piece in Slate asking how the Prosperity Gospel — the idea that God wants you to get rich, if you want to — is faring in hard times, and thinking, “This is really good and well-informed; wonder who wrote it?” Turns out it’s my friend and former Dallas Morning News intern Clint Rainey. Check it out. Excerpt:
The Prosperity Gospel is not my theology, nor will you see me step foot inside the door at a megachurch which teaches such things – but what really bothers me are those people which are taken advantage of. That is why I continue to post of this stuff.
Jul 12 2009
Jul 11 2009
One week after her ex-husband resigned as senior pastor of Without Walls International Church, Paula White plans to take the pulpit Sunday as the church’s new leader, the Whites said in separate interviews late Friday.
White, who held her first staff meeting Friday and spent time looking for a place to live, said she will officially take the reins when she preaches at its two morning worship services. The services will also honor Bishop Randy White, who founded the church with her 18 years ago.
“Did I see it coming? … I can say that Without Walls has never been out of my heart or my being, and I’ve never been out of theirs,” she said. “But I have stopped trying to figure out sovereignty and destiny.”
Word of Paula White’s new post seeped out Sunday when Randy White preached his last sermon as senior pastor at the church and resigned. White, 51, said he was stepping aside because of health concerns. He declined to elaborate on his condition, although he said he had been ill and in and out of the hospital for much of the last seven months.
“I have some serious health issues right now,” White said in an interview Friday. “I’ve had six different doctors say that I had to take the stress, the pressure out of my life. So I’ve resigned, and Paula’s taking over.”
Read the rest here.
Apr 22 2009
AMPA, Fla. — Bishop Randy White and his wife, pastor Paula White, once headed up one of the fastest growing Christian congregations in the country. In its heyday, Without Walls International Church boasted more than 23,000 members, took in as much as $40 million a year in donations and attracted dozens of professional athletes to its high-energy services.
Some of the athletes were so moved by the Whites’ message of prosperity through faith that they donated hundreds of thousands of dollars — one former player even donated a World Series ring — and showered the couple with lavish gifts, such as designer shoes and expensive suits.
In the decade leading up to 2007, the Whites amassed wealth and attained a lifestyle not unlike the star athletes who came to their church. In July 2005, the couple purchased a luxury condominium in New York City’s Trump Park Avenue building for $3.5 million. In 2006, they bought a home on Tampa’s exclusive Bayshore Boulevard for $2.1 million, according to real estate records. Randy White owns or leases several luxury vehicles, including a 2006 Bentley, according to Florida motor vehicle records. For years, the couple had access to private jets, either leased or owned by their ministry.
Major League Baseball players Gary Sheffield, Darryl Strawberry and Carl Everett and NFL players Michael Pittman, Hardy Nickerson and Derrick Brooks were among those who attended services at a converted Canada Dry plant in Tampa, Fla., a short drive from the Buccaneers’ Raymond James stadium, according to Randy White.
Today, however, most of the big-name athletes are absent from the reserved front-row seats they once occupied as VIP members, and in recent years the church itself has undergone significant upheaval. The Whites divorced in 2007 after 18 years of marriage. Without Walls, according to several former staffers, is mired in debt and bleeding membership. The church recently staved off foreclosure proceedings, and has been the subject of a Senate investigation into its finances. Church leaders have had to contend with the resulting media scrutiny.
It’s a stunning reversal of fortune for a house of worship that was built on the prosperity gospel message — a controversial evangelical Christian doctrine that teaches members that through tithing, the practice of donating 10 percent of one’s income to the church, they’ll be rewarded, not just spiritually but financially.
“If you’re the guy flipping hamburgers or you’re the quarterback, I don’t care who you may be,” White said, “we teach that you have to tithe.”
Several former Without Walls members and staffers, some of them professional athletes, have spoken out against White’s prosperity message, calling it the “gospel of greed” and questioning whether their flamboyant former pastor targeted athletes and used church donations to bankroll what one former staffer called a “rock star” lifestyle.
“A lot of guys are brainwashed,” a former NFL player, who once attended Without Walls, told ESPN on the condition of anonymity. “They’ve been told to honor God, you’ve got to give.”
White insists every church member, himself included, must abide by what he considers the bedrock biblical principle of tithing. And despite being faced with a Senate inquiry, the evangelist who built his ministry with the help of star athletes said he and the church have done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide.
“I think people feel like you get up to preach for gain,” White said, referring to his wealthy lifestyle. “If I were in the ministry for gain I could make a lot more money outside of the ministry.”
Mar 21 2009
Marsha West writes another excellent article, from here:
It’s understandable that free-market conservatives are deeply troubled that Barack Obama has taken the reins of power. Already we see America moving even closer to socialism than before. But to me what’s even more troubling than what’s going on in Washington D.C. is the clear and present danger in Christendom. Let me spell out the problem as I see it: A-p-o-s-t-a-s-y.
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