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Posted on 05/13/2011 2:57:33 AM PDT by Gamecock
Pastor Paula White broke her silence Thursday night, addressing all the scandals that she has been associated with since her divorce in 2007.
"We’re letting our hair down," White told thousands at the 2011 Pastors and Leadership Conference in Orlando, Fla. "I'm not here to look cute ... I came to let the devil know ... I'm stronger than I've ever been."
Though the two-hour message began with shouts of encouragement and notes of affirmation for the participating leaders who may be facing challenges or opposition, by the end of the night it was apparent that the popular charismatic pastor was also preaching to herself.
"I have a word to those who have all odds stacked against them," she preached. "You're about to get your bounce back."
"The enemy strategically plotted against you, hunted you like prey, set out to destroy you, tried to wreck your mind, destroy your heart, jack up your family, take your ministry, ruin your reputation ... and he thought that he had you. He set you up and thought this is what will kill them.
"I came to put every devil on notice ... I'm getting my dream back, I'm getting my prophesy back, I'm getting my vision back, I'm getting my anointing back, I'm getting my strength back."
White, who calls herself the "former messed up Mississippi girl," let the audience know that she would be "very vulnerable and very open" that night.
Before walking back through her tumultuous past few years, she told them, "I think it's time we stop being hypocrites in the pulpit. I think ... it's time that we take the mask off to this generation and show them that we have the same issues and the same struggles."
"We (sic) going public with all our stuff. Somebody's got to get real in the church now."
She did just that, opening up about the pressures that piled up and the crises in her life that the media was all over.
It all began in 2004 when the IRS launched a nine-year investigation into the personal and organizational finances of White and her then husband, Randy.
Just two years earlier in 2002, White had written in her journal: "I'm living heaven on earth. Life cannot get any better."
"I'm above the struggle and beneath the radar. I love my husband and my husband loves me. And we do. The kids are doing good. And millions of dollars in the bank. Not sick," she recalled feeling at the time.
White had risen to prominence as a preacher, motivational speaker, author and TV personality after co-founding what is now Without Walls International Church with her husband and starting her own ministry.
She was living her dream life, as she described to pastors at the Orlando conference.
But after the IRS investigation began, she began to face challenge after challenge to the point where she wanted to and even tried to quit.
"You can handle something if it's for a short season. But how do I praise Him when my days turn into weeks and my weeks turn into months and my months turn into years and my years turn into decades?" she said. "How do I praise Him under that continual pressure? That kind of pressure wears you out."
Listing the numerous trials she went through, White said she experienced a midlife meltdown, compassion fatigue, her friend being falsely accused and sent to prison, a stroke, addiction to the prescription medication she was given following her stroke, and problems in her marriage.
Continuing, she added that her church staff split in the middle with some turning on the Whites and going to the media.
She maintained that the articles written based on allegations from former church staff were "mostly, totally unfounded" and "lies." The Whites were accused of being all about money and fame.
She also indicated that the staff turned on the church because they couldn’t "supply the staff with the lifestyle that they were used to."
Family problems were added when White found out that her son had a drug addiction and was sexually abused by another male at a staff member's house. She then had to experience the pain of her non-biological daughter battling brain cancer. Kristen, Randy's oldest daughter, died in 2008 at age 30.
In the midst of all this, White said she was being pressured to preach and prophesy and fulfill her role in the church.
"[Bishop] Randy, Pastor Paula, give me a word, marry me, bury me, pay these bills, prophesy. Why aren't you doing this? Why isn't it like it used to be? We don't like the music. We leaving the church because you didn't know our names and you didn't come have lasagna with us," she said, mimicking the demands and criticisms she was met with.
White noted that it was under "that kind of pressure" and "in a really weak moment" that she and her husband made the decision to divorce in 2007. The split was amicable.
According to White, her husband closed up to her. While she traveled the world preaching, she pondered, "Why can I win the world and not go home and win the one that I love?"
She recounted a time when Randy took her into a dark room, placed a mask on her, spun her around and told her to find her way out. With tears, White said she sat there for half an hour, scared and calling out to him. He took off her mask and informed her that that is what he felt like he was going through.
When the two announced their split, Randy had agreed to take the responsibility. And "God told me to keep my mouth shut," she said.
Randy, who no longer co-pastors Without Walls, is now writing a book, she noted.
But she added, "I'm proud of him. He never quit .... God or anything else."
The trials continued even after the divorce when White and televangelist Benny Hinn were pictured last summer in The National Enquirer leaving a hotel in Rome holding hands. They were accused of having an affair and being engaged.
On Thursday, White flatly denied that she ever had an affair.
"They're going to talk about you and write ... because it sells ragtag magazines," she said. "They're going to lie on you but God's going to tell you to keep your mouth shut."
There was also the so-called Grassley investigation. Sen. Charles Grassley launched a Senate probe in 2007 into six influential ministries, including White's, following complaints of opulent spending and possible abuse of nonprofit status.
The probe came to a close in January of this year. With little cooperation from most of the ministries, which called the investigation an attack on their religious freedom and privacy rights, Grassley's office was unable to make any conclusion about the spending of the ministries and handed out no penalties.
White interpreted that to mean her ministry was cleared.
"The church better recognize, it should be thanking six ministries for fighting for the body of Christ for saying 'we are not going to let you dictate to us how we interpret Scripture' and you can't tell us 'because Jesus rode in on a donkey' because if you start telling us how to interpret Scripture in one way, you'll tell us how to interpret it in every way," White said in frustration. Grassley had referred to Jesus' humble entrance into Jerusalem to make the point that ministers today don't really need Bentleys and Rolls-Royces to spread the Gospel.
"I preach in countries if I say 'Jesus Christ is the only way, the truth and the life,' they'll arrest me. And don't think America's that far away. Unless the people of righteousness stand up and say 'we're not going to allow for this because you cannot take what is our First Amendment rights. You can't do that!" White asserted. "We pay taxes. We work hard. We do it by the books. We have integrity. But you're going to make a public misery and mess out of it like something's wrong!"
Stressing that her church gave $9 million to mission in January 2007, built education centers in Pakistan, put students through college, fed and continue to feed thousands every week, and helped transform countless lives, White said, "Are you serious? You want to fight over a $50,000 what? Excuse me?!"
Her long, emotional testimony was met with applause and support from the thousands of pastors in the conference room in Orlando.
Though at the time, she wondered whether she would be able to overcome the trials, she now says what the devil meant for bad, God has turned around to work for the good.
"God uses every enemy, every lawsuit, every lie, every betrayal, all the brokenness," she stressed.
"It's not over. I got my bounce back. That's my message."
The three-day Pastors and Leadership Conference, hosted by Bishop T.D. Jakes, kicked off on Thursday.
Are the sins of Paula White the same sins committed by this one? Is that the reason for the avoidance of condemnation here? Inquiring minds want to know.
Good points.
I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?
--Paul of Tarsus, II Cor. 11
"[Bishop] Randy, Pastor Paula, give me a word, marry me, bury me, pay these bills, prophesy. Why aren't you doing this? Why isn't it like it used to be? We don't like the music. We leaving the church because you didn't know our names and you didn't come have lasagna with us," she said, mimicking the demands and criticisms she was met with.When Jesus said, "By their fruits you shall know them" he wasn't talking about million dollar bank accounts.
-- Paula White
—A list of other guilty in the RC hierarchy
—a list of other Pentecostals and other Evangelicals"
I thought you were against rock throwing? Or rock throwing is okay depending on your target?
Donald Grey Barnhouse, late pastor of 10th Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, used to ask "what would a town look like if Satan ran it? The lawns would be perfectly manicured, there would be no gum on the sidewalk, children would say yes sir and no ma'am. The churches would be packed on Sunday morning with Bibles open, but Jesus would not be preached."
A single individual made the following two comments in an online discussion about religion. The comments were made in separate posts, within a relatively short time of each other.
1) I have no need to throw rocks at her. Rock throwing tends to be a pretty hazardous hobby.
2) She said a lot more stuff that was more vulnerable than —The Pope
—A list of other guilty in the RC hierarchy
—a list of other Pentecostals and other Evangelicals who parade around in the stinking finery of their own self-righteousness and self-justifications.
Answer the following questions. Answers should be double spaced and any references used must be cited in the usual format.
1) Is it possible to reconcile these two statements? Explain.
2) From which disorder is the author likely to be suffering? Include in your discussion the terms "short memory", "bipolar disorder", "over medication", "under medication", "schizophrenia", "attention deficit disorder", "multiple personality disorder" and "booze".
3) Given the author's condition, do you consider him/her to be rational?
4) Discuss the respective importance of face-to-face versus anonymous cyberspace encounters, in diagnosing psychological disorders.
.. and millions in the bank..
posted upstream a bit..
Paula White rallying with Donald Trump for Christian support
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2719235/posts
HOLY ANGER: American Evangelist, Benny Hinn Leaves Nigeria In Annoyance
Ghana Home Page/May 13, 2005
American evangelist, Benny Hinn left Nigeria in annoyance, saying $4million went down the drain in 3-day crusade. When the charismatic American evangelist, Dr. Benny Hinn arrived in Nigeria on April 28, he was looking forward to a quintessential crusade that would be attended by about six million people.
His expectations were high because he had already sunk $4million dollars (about N600million) into the 3-day crusade that is now being trailed by controversy. Dr. Hinn could not hide his disappointment on the third day of the crusade when he said with regret that the money he pumped into the project could have been put to better use.
“Four million dollars down the drain!” he reportedly shouted during the crusade, with his voice cracking with emotion. Giving a breakdown of the money spent after the crusade, Jon Wilson, vice president of the Benny Hinn Ministries said $3million was spent on hotel accommodation, transportation, technical infrastructure and other items, while the remaining money running into about N140million was used up by members of the local organizing committee.
Hypes and great expectations had heralded the coming of the world renowned healing evangelist to Africa’s most populous nation, but the organisers were reportedly scored very low by Hinn, who insinuated money business and told organisers that they got many things wrong. More was his anger when he learnt that the organisers collected N1,000 each from pastors who turned out to attend the Ministers Conference, which was part of the three-day programme.
This and many other discoveries allegedly led the preacher to pronounce publicly that no further fund will be provided by his organisation after the programme, to settle outstanding bills. He asked that the offering collected on two of the three days be used for that purpose.
Did he go to Nigeria because of an email promising him the cash?
Yeah. The email promised to deposit $100 million into his bank account if he spent $4 million in Nigeria. Guaranteed!
On that point, I couldn’t agree with Dr. Barnhouse more.
Speaking of 10th Presbyterian, I miss Dr. James Boice.
Matthew 7:23 (King James Version)
23And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Barnhouse and other OPC members would be well advised to examine how the gay community is infiltrating all the Presbyterian sanctuaries to extinguish the words of Our Savior.
CS Lewis said much the same thing in Mere Christianity.
Barnhouse and other OPC members
Barnhouse was not OPC. His old church left the forerunner of the apostate PC(USA) over theological liberalism.
...OPC members would be well advised to examine how the gay community is infiltrating all the Presbyterian sanctuaries
Regardless of your ignorance of the OPC, they are not ordaining gays. They are very conservative.
Praise God for His faithfulness . . .
to Himself
to His Word
to us.
. . . AMEN!
True. True.
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