For release: 04/01/25
A heretic in the White House
By Cal Thomas
Tribune Content Agency
For the Evangelical Christians who have given – and still give – overwhelming support to President Trump while refusing to criticize him for language and behavior they would presumably denounce in a fellow church member, here’s an easy one for you.
There’s a heretic inside the White House. For those not familiar with the term it means “a professed believer who maintains religious opinions contrary to those accepted by their church or rejects doctrines prescribed by that church.”
Paula White-Cain heads the White House faith office and fits that definition. She is a heretic.
White-Cain is soliciting donations before Easter of $1,000 or more to her “ministry.” In exchange she promises “7 specific supernatural blessings.” They include God assigning an angel to the donor, being an enemy to your enemies (contradicting Jesus’ command to “love your enemies”), promoting prosperity and curing sickness.”
None of this is new for White-Cain and other “prosperity gospel” ministers, but the difference is that she associates, advises and presumably has influence over the president of the United States. In 2020, White-Cain said that God was going to send an angel from Africa and South America (why not Cleveland?) to make sure Donald Trump won that election. The angel must have been delayed by TSA for further screening given the way the election turned out.
Asking for money in exchange for blessings is reminiscent of the old and discredited practice of the Roman Catholic Church, which once sold “indulgences” for forgiveness of sins.
White-Cain is a grifter (“a swindler, dishonest gambler, or the like”). She’s not alone. One can find many examples of what Jesus called “false prophets” going back to biblical times. A modern favorite of mine is the Mexican church reportedly offering to sell land plots in heaven for $100 per square meter. The pastor of the church claims he spoke directly to God in 2017 and was granted divine permission to sell this celestial real estate. I wonder if the church waives the realtor commission and closing costs? A minister in Zimbabwe a few years ago practiced the same scam, offering “tickets to Heaven” for only $500. He was arrested. Maybe inflation is the cause of White-Cain’s price increase, or the addition of land in the bargain could explain the price difference.
Some of the reactions to White-Cain’s offer have been fierce. Stella Parton, country singer Dolly Parton’s sister, wrote on X: “Paula shut up with your grift. I’ve met you and worked on the same show with you. You need to go repent and stop this charade. I’m a Christian and this is not at all Christian. It’s a grifter scam. STOP.”
Another reaction was equally direct. A man calling himself Stephen Simpson ProperGander wrote on X: “This is wicked blasphemy. As a Christian minister for 44 years, I reject her heresy. Total manipulation.”
White-Cain’s statements are what Evangelicals call “anti-biblical” and ought to be an embarrassment to the authentic church. She is giving non-Christians more material with which to mock the Christian faith and reject it. According to Scripture, severe judgment awaits such people.
All of this is wrapped up in what some call the “Christian nationalist movement,” which advances the belief that people who take as gospel their (mis)interpretation of the Bible should control the government and have authority over everyone else. This, too, is heresy.
Their “doctrine” seems to be “let us prey.”
Readers may email Cal Thomas at [email protected]. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book “A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America” (HumanixBooks).
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Thank you for calling this scammer out. Vengeance belongs to our Lord.
THANKS
OK Cal. You’ve done a good job but now you are in error. So I’m going to correct you in good Christian charity. Indulgences by the Catholic Church have not been “discredited“. Indulgence still exist. Number two. Indulgences have never, ever been sold. Ever. This is a lie, procured up by Martin Luther. The biggest thing that looked like it was “selling” indulgences was that a church member could make a donation to the building fund of a new cathedral. They would receive a small indulgence from the action. Now… Here’s the money shot. The Catholic Church does not teach that indulgences forgive sins. Jesus forgives sentence. End of story. Always has always will. Indulgence refers to taking off some of your time in purgatory. Purgatory is also a part of heaven. When a person does not die in an exactly perfect state of grace, but dies as a friend of God they have to have what is known as on Christian things burned off. As stated in the book of Philippians. Saint Paul tells us that things that are not of Christ will be tested by fire and that which is of Christ will remain. These are the fires of purgatory. Purgatory is a Latin word that comes from the word to purge. so that’s what that’s all about. It’s not about forgiveness of sin. Indulgence has nothing to do with forgiving sins. It is about shortening your time and making it a little easier in purgatory. Purgatory is never place you want to shoot for. You wanna be able to bypass it. But purgatory is a blessing for those that do not die in exactly perfect state of grace. for nothing on KLIEn shall enter heaven. Think of it is a big hose down of Jesus‘s blood. Cleansing us of our sin, urging us of our sins forever. Saint Augustine talks about this. And he is a widely regarded on both Protestant and Catholic sites. This is nothing new so… Please stop claiming that Catholic Church sold in jail is to pay for since it’s a lie. The only reason Protestantism even succeed to this point of 500 years in my believe was for one of two things first one was faith alone. Salvation without having to do anything without having to live out your faith just believe and think happy thoughts about Jesus. Nowhere in the Bible does say this, in fact in the book of James, which Martin Luther regarded as a epistle of straw… James 224 says that there is Salvation not by faith alone. The next reason Protestantism became popular amongst the aristocracy was the matter of marriage, divorce and remarriage. Martin Luther wanted marriage become a matter of the state. A civil matter. He did not believe that marriage was a sacrament, indissoluble until death. The reason why we have so much divorce and remarriage to this day… Or should I just say divorce has a lot to do with what the protestants did to the sacrament of marriage. Marriage is a sacrament it needs to be even when things are going well. Jesus needs to give us grace is to be able to make it through a marriage. The aristocrats wanted to be able to divorce and remarry as much as they wanted with impunity. The protestant ism is nothing new. The Moravian started protest before Martin Luther even showed up. He just made it cool. And by enlisting the aristocrats interest, he got a lot of civil protection so that it could flourish. Without the civil protection, the cookie ideas of the Moravians would’ve never spread around. That’s right Protestantism is actually glorified Moravian. End of story. I encourage you to look up history in an area that you may not always agree with. for it’s not just the protestant side of the story but the Catholics have a side too. I don’t expect you to convert because I told you all this, but perhaps maybe just maybe you can come to a better understanding. The Holy Ghost does the conversion not me
Google “Did the Catholic Church ever sell indulgences?” None of this is biblical.