Paula White’s Passover Promises
An Old Testament professor responds.
Paula White, televangelist and spiritual advisor to President Donald Trump, has suggested to donors who give at least $1,000 to her ministry between April 12 and 20 that God will release seven supernatural blessings upon them.
“[W]hen you honor God on Passover…you can receive these seven supernatural blessings, for you and your house, according to Exodus 23,” White said in a video.
The blessings she claims donors can release from God with their gift include:
- An angel assigned to them;
- God being an enemy to their enemies;
- Prosperity;
- Sickness removed from them;
- Long life;
- Increase and inheritance; and
- A special year of blessing.
She ties these blessings to a passage from Exodus 23 where God commands the Israelites to celebrate the Passover (verse 15).
“God gave us His best, Jesus Christ, our Passover Lamb, at Calvary. I encourage you in obedience to give God your [b]est Passover [o]ffering today. Let’s believe God will unlock the windows of heaven and release all seven supernatural blessings into your life!” White’s website states before listing the “resources” the ministry will give to donors.
Talbot School of Theology Associate Professor Dr. Carmen Joy Imes told MinistryWatch that the keeping of the Passover is not specifically tied to the blessings listed in the latter part of Exodus 23. Imes is the author of “Bearing God’s Name: Why Sinai Still Matters” and has been immersed in Exodus for more than a decade.
Exodus 23 begins with a continued elucidation of how the Israelites are to live in the world based on the Ten Commandments God delivered to Israel at Sinai, followed by a shift in the chapter at verse 20 where instructions are given to that generation of Israelites for their travel through the desert. There is no connection between keeping Passover and the “supernatural blessings” in verses 20 through 33, Imes said. The actual Passover, when the Israelites left Egypt, was probably about three months earlier.
Photo courtesy of Carmen Imes.
Imes said the instructions in verses 20 through 33 were given to the community of Israel, not as an individual promise to a single believer. She urges Christian listeners to be wary of any reading of scripture that is self-centered.
All Scripture, including Exodus 23, should be read within the framework of its historical and cultural context.
“We can’t just claim everything for ourselves,” Imes said. While Exodus is still relevant today, believers must ask what their relationship to ancient Israel is and what the purpose was of the original instructions.
White’s exegesis isn’t historical or contextual.
For instance, God promised to send the angel referred to in verse 20 to protect the community of Israel and guide them to Canaan—not as a personal bodyguard for an individual believer. Imes also emphasized that Christians have the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives daily.
In her exegesis of the passage, White made no mention of God’s instruction to the Israelites to demolish the idols of the land. “Her selective reading offers blessings with few demands except to send a check. Where is the call to obedience?” Imes asked.
“The Bible calls us to die to ourselves,” Imes said, adding that faithfulness to God doesn’t come with a guaranteed result.
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The “full life span” referred to in verse 26 is not necessarily a long life, as White suggests. It is a promise that their lives will be consistent with God’s purposes for however long He ordains that to be.
The special year of blessing White cites isn’t consistent with Exodus 23:29, which says God will “not drive [Israel’s enemies] out in a single year” or else the land would fall desolate and the wild animals would become too numerous.
“It was probably a rough year for the Israelites,” Imes said.
While Imes isn’t discouraging Christians from celebrating Passover, she also noted two New Testament passages in Romans 14 and Galatians 4 that urge Christians not to make keeping festivals a divisive issue. “I think we should be careful about how much we mandate it” she said.
“Church history has typically connected communion with the Passover, so that those of us who are celebrating communion regularly are participating in Passover. Jesus is our Passover Lamb, as Paula White acknowledges,” Imes said.
While Imes agrees God encourages generosity to Him, it is “deeply problematic” to connect a gift to a particular ministry to specific promises and results.
“It’s a kind of spiritual abuse to suggest that if [donors] give to you, that God will bless them,” Imes said.
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