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President Donald Trump has fired up a White House faith office, but what does that mean, what does it look like, and is that a good thing? This faith office may not be the deal you think it is.
This is not a new department. It was originally started by George W. Bush Jr., and when you look at how things were created across different administrations, you really get a feel for what the thrust and purpose of these initiatives were.
Under Bush, the purpose was to "strengthen faith-based and community organizations to expand their capacity to provide federally funded social services." Bush really did this on the state level when he was governor, and it worked out well because they worked closely with churches. As long as they didn't cross any lines, churches would help with federally funded services if they were capable, which created a bridge that would connect people to the church.
The Obama administration shifted the focus to "work to utilize these organizations' efforts to advance the administration's policies" - a little bit different, wouldn't you say? This approach raised concerns about what would happen if churches disagreed with those policies. Obama also said this was primarily to focus on poverty, which was concerning because the government and the church have completely different views on addressing poverty. The government wants a nanny state where eventually they're taking care of you, but the church doesn't see it that way.
During Biden's term, there was difficulty finding information about what they did through this department. Somebody was put in charge of it, but there's like no information about what they did or how they handled it.
In Trump's first term, he turned the focus to "help faith-based organizations get equal access to government funding." Now in his second term, he has renamed the department and turned the thrust to protecting religious liberty. He's done a few really good things in his second term, including pardoning many Christian pro-lifers who were thrown into jail and reinstating service members who were kicked out of the services because they weren't given exemptions for the COVID-19 vaccine even though they filed properly for religious exemptions.
Let's talk about this because there's some good things but there are some major concerns.
The first and biggest concern is that Paula White is a false teacher. She's been there for a while, but now this department is being given more oomph. If they stick to that very narrow purpose of preserving religious liberty and getting a friendly relationship between government and church, that's a really good thing - unless they're treating all religions equally like it doesn't matter what religious view you hold. We're seeing that with the Pope talking about how all religions lead to God - it's a disaster and absolutely awful.
Another concern is that whenever the government touches something they really don't have any business touching, it always ends badly. It will depend on who's in office and who's in charge whether this is going to be a good thing or a bad thing. Who knows who's going to end up in the White House next? The office can be changed very easily and quickly.
We should always be against a state-sponsored religion regardless of what it is. We were a Christian nation, but so was Germany when Hitler took over - he even tried to rewrite the Bible. The office of faith in the United States is eventually going to be part of making the antichrist attractive to people who have a faith that are stumbling into deception.
You can quickly draw the connection between this and the New Apostolic Reformation, which believes they have a mandate from God to take over every aspect of life. Authentic Christians believe we should be influencing every aspect of life, but not taking it all over. There's a very militant side to the NAR, and you can see where an office like this with the wrong people in charge could end tragically.
Let's get into Paula White because she is a false teacher. She's had a lot of storytelling through the years where she's claimed she went to heaven and talked directly with God, went into the throne room of God, and received this "mantle of blessing." She seems to believe this gives her authority to dispense blessings to people. For these people, the mantle of blessing is always wrapped up in cash - you find one blessing these people talk about that's not cash-related, and you won't, because they preach about money 95% of the time.
She's also been followed by scandal, shown up in foreign countries holding hands with Benny Hinn, and has said outrageous things like praying for miscarriages for "satanic pregnancies."
Her latest promotion for Easter is asking people to send her $1,000, promising that doing so will "unleash seven supernatural blessings" including assigning an angel to you, making God an enemy to your enemies, giving prosperity, taking away sickness, granting long life, causing increase, and a special year of blessing. She claims this is according to Exodus 23, but if you actually go to Exodus 23, it has nothing to do with any of that - it's about laws, honesty, and justice. Ironically, the very first verse says, "You must not spread a false report."
She's playing on desperate people. The more desperate people get, the more desperate things they do, and this is what's so disturbing - she's promising miracles to people if they send money.
This is not the time to stop praying now that Trump has taken office - it's time to continue praying hard and earnestly. We really need to be praying that whatever false teaching our president is either involved in or simply not aware of, God would open his eyes and ears, that he would see it and turn in a different direction. The hope is that salvation would come to him and he would have discernment that this is not a good thing.
Salvaged by God Deep Dive: The Last Apostle and Christian Honesty
I want you to consider that John is the last apostle. If you think there are people out here making themselves to be apostles, follow the money, follow the significance line - it's not true. John was the last one.
The letter of First John is one of the last letters of the Bible and one of the last apostolic letters. John wrote his gospel around that same time. Keep in mind the synoptic gospels - Matthew, Mark, and Luke - had already been out for 20-30 years, so they were well distributed. That's why his gospel is so different.
One scholar who's much wiser than me was asked, "What's the best way to understand Revelation?" He said, "Read the book of First John first." First John can be read in about 15 to 20 minutes - it's not hard. The book of Revelation is the last book of the Bible, and it's the timeless message, the letter that God is sending our way through First John and the book of Revelation.
One key point in all of this is honesty. In my message, I talk about how Christians have to fight off deception - that's the big one. Paula White is a deceiver. There's probably more pork in the pork and beans than authentic biblical truth in her teachings. I get tired of desperate people sending in their money and getting nothing from God, then turning away from the Lord. The response to those people is always "they didn't have enough faith" - they make you the problem.
Deceptions come in various ways - the "I'm my own god" mindset, guilt, fear, and emptiness. These are things born-again Christians are suffering through in this dark, deceptive time because the demons have been unleashed.
It comes down to honesty. Progressives trash simple faith and create doubt as a virtue. Word of Faith folks take seed time and harvest and bastardize it into "you send me money and God will bless you." The gay alphabet crowd is dishonest at their core - there are tens of thousands of testimonies of people who have come out of that lifestyle and say they are set free from bondage because of the love of Jesus Christ, but they don't get a say.
When you look at this in a very honest, matter-of-fact way, you'll see that the road narrows just like the Bible says it's going to. It comes down to "I'm surrendered to Jesus, I'm putting my full trust in Him, and I'm asking Him to bless me." That blessing, that prosperity blessing, is really this phrase: "it's well with you."
Right On or Way Off?
The biblical principle of seed time and harvest is legitimate - God loves a cheerful giver. But it's not all about prosperity; it's about being content with what you have. "Godliness with contentment is great gain." There's a blessing they don't talk about because it doesn't cost anything: when it is well with you.
The love of money is the root of all evil - follow the money, that can tell you a lot that you need to know. We see high-profile teachers and preachers living in mansions and wearing $2,000 sweaters. There's nothing wrong with that in itself, but they're playing on desperate people who could probably very ill afford to send them $1,000, and they're lining their pockets. This is awful to God - He's going to spew them out. Don't be a part of it.
Charles Spurgeon once received an invitation to speak at a church fundraiser. One of the elders sent a follow-up letter saying, "We want to make this as comfortable and attractive to you as possible. When you come down, you can use my main house with servants, my country cottage, or my villa by the sea." Spurgeon wrote back and said, "I'm not coming. Sell one of your properties and pay off the debt yourself."
There's nothing wrong with going and staying at a villa or having nice things. God bless you if you have a $2,000 sweater. But if you're preying on the less fortunate, trying to offer them things from God like you're a god who can uncork these blessings - that is evil, that is demonic, and it's not from the Bible. Mark and avoid these false prophets.
Many people I used to follow I can no longer follow because they've gone off the deep end - people I used to respect who have now changed their theology. We must call them out. Andy Stanley is one example, but even bigger for me is David Platt. I loved the radical message, and now he's gone off into some sort of manipulation money game. Anything they preach going forward is tainted.
It doesn't matter if you're trying to con someone with a lot of money or a little money - it's abhorrent either way. The fact that it affects some poor people makes it even more atrocious.
Trump is Trump. Phil Robertson actually shared the gospel with Trump just before the 2016 election, and Trump took it seriously. Other things that went down with the Trump administration led us to believe that he has a leaning towards faith - he allowed prayer in the Oval Office and missionaries who were in prison to come visit him. These things are very encouraging, but it's not really about Trump - it's about Jesus. The "Trump buzz" is going to wear off, and then what are we left with?
Keep praying for our leaders and for this Faith Office. There are some good things, but there are also concerns, so keep it in your prayers.