Faith is the substance of things not seen, the evidence of things hoped for.
Faith is the steady companion of love, the twin components of the Christian breastplate of 1 Thessalonians 5. Faith is the animating strength of obedience, escorting us to Him who is our Reward (Hebrews 11:6; Genesis 15:1). Faith is pleasing to God. And faith has a counterfeit.
Presumption
Presumption seeks to please self under the guise of pleasing God. Presumption assumes that God is obligated to honor us apart from obedience or humility (James 4:10), and presumption arrogates the attributes of God to humans. What might that look like? It looks like this,
Paula White is a Pentecostal preacher, and senior ‘Pastor’ of New Destiny Christian Center in Apopka, Florida. She is also an author and teacher, according to her website. She is associated with the “prosperity gospel,” a belief which holds that God wants his followers to be healthy and wealthy. Many Christians consider this belief to be heretical, due to its lack of emphasis on faithfulness and obedience.
In November 2019, President Trump appointed White as special advisor to the Faith and Opportunity Initiative at the Office of Public Liaison.
Paula White recently said, in a sermon,
“Wherever I go, God rules. When I walk on White House grounds, God walks on White House grounds. I had every right and authority to declare the White House as holy ground, because I was standing there. And where I stand is holy!”
Today, Paula White is facing criticism after praying for the miscarriage of “all Satanic pregnancies” during a sermon earlier this month. During a Jan. 5 sermon, White asked Jesus Christ to cause the pregnancies to miscarry so they will “not be able to carry forth any plan of destruction, any plan of harm,” according to a Time Magazine article. She later tweeted that the statement was taken out of context.
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“But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence” (1 Timothy 2:12).