Satanic Pregnancies, Explained

Paula White leans into a spiritual mistake.

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If you spend anytime online at all, there’s a high likelihood that at some point last week you saw a rather, well, interesting video clip of Donald Trump’s religious adviser and the director of the White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative, Paula White. Here she is, praying for “satanic pregnancies” to “miscarry,” directly condemning the “animal kingdom” and even seemingly taking aim at the fish in the sea. Watch the clip. It’s short:

Immediately, Twitter erupted with condemnation. Here was pro-life Paula White seemingly calling for babies to miscarry. And what was a “satanic pregnancy” anyway? This was a common response:

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  1. Scott Kim

    This is very informative. I learned a lot. Thank you.

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    Sandra Edwards

    Thank you for furthering my religious education. I just brush her off as the prosperity gospel crowd. Instead, there was a lot to be learned in this case.

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    L L Cool A

    I can't tell you how much I appreciate your "Guide To The Religious Right" Mr. French (my alt title for your Sunday newsletter). As an Episcopalian with little exposure to the Charismatic Religions, I was mystified by the satanic pregnancy video, as I am all things Paula White. Thank you for filling in a few of my deficiencies. It is always a pleasure to learn something new. You may be an Evangelical, but you reason like an Episcopalian!

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    David V

    This was fascinating and illuminating. I've been around Adventists and Mormons a lot, but no Pentacostals that I know of so I had no idea. Thank you.

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    JohnF

    "the heretical prosperity gospel is a viral infection within the Pentecostal church, and I could write an entire separate essay on its malign influence"

    Please do. I'm learning a lot from your Sunday columns about subjects that I previously haven't thought much about.

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    Laurie Mitchell Dunn

    All of this brings up the question of why (and how) this woman, from what still feels to me like a fringe part of Christianity, gained such influence with Trump. I get why he publicly embraces Robert Jeffress and Franklin Graham. I don’t get Paula White.

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    Theirn Scott

    Thank you for the great explanation. I lived in Va. Beach for many years and had friends and business associates at CBN. We sometimes got into theological discussions but none of them understood the history nor explained it as well as you just did.

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    Paul Montagu

    It's not her Pentecostalism (if that's what she is) that bothers me, it's her heretical belief in the prosperity gospels, which is snake oil.

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    John Konya

    Mr. French provides some good background and insight into Pentecostalism, and that's all well and fine. In fact, thank you Mr. French! But the problem remains this: White's words in this sermon were quite unambiguous. While Mr. French provides a defense of Pentecostalism in general, Ms. White's choice of words were quite specific and cannot be wiped away as mere euphemism, rhetoric, or spiritual analogy. Moreover, if there's one thing I can say as a practicing Christian concerning God's words in the Bible it's that they do not require background and context to be clearly understood by those with eyes to see and ears to hear. God has no need for an interpreter.

    Thus far, all Ms. White has had to offer as a defense of her choice of words is the cover of one cherry-picked Bible verse and an excuse that she has been taken "out of context for political gain." My guess is that the real push for political gain began within Ms. White's sermon and not with the responses to it.

    I'm thankful for people like Mr. French but if the best defense for her words are not even her own then I have great difficulty accepting that they were not in fact exactly what she stated them to be.

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      Idontdocute

      Might I add a side thought. As far as I can tell, Ms. White was speaking to a congregation of like believing people, not at a political or government function. I think that makes a difference if we expect her to defend herself when she could easily just reply "I wasn't talking to you".

      Mr French, I do appreciate the background information having been raised in a family that is multigenerational without any religious consideration of any type (except my mother's brother's wife that was once an Episcopalian 45 years ago but, you know, she married in). Thank you.

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        John Konya

        I can appreciate that. I suppose, though, that as Christians we are still witnesses to the world around us, not just to each other (the Holy Huddle). It would behoove Ms. White to explain her position as adeptly as Mr. French did for her.

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    JDW

    I'm not surprised Sunday brings out the best. I love your Sunday articles. I appreciate all of theDispatch.com but these are gems. Keep them coming!

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About David French

David French is a columnist for the New York Times. He’s a former senior editor of The Dispatch. He’s the author most recently of Divided We Fall: America's Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation.
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