Trump’s spiritual adviser says remark a metaphor
A Florida pastor and longtime spiritual adviser to President Donald Trump says she was speaking in metaphor when she recently prayed in a sermon for all “satanic pregnancies” to end in miscarriage.
In video of the Jan. 5 sermon, posted by the liberal advocacy group Right Wing Watch, televangelist pastor Paula White breathlessly calls on Jesus Christ to “command all satanic pregnancies to miscarry right now.”
“We declare that anything that’s been conceived in satanic wombs, that it will miscarry, it will not be able to carry forth any plan of destruction, any plan of harm,” White said before an auditorium of congregants.
As of Sunday morning, the clip, which was just under two minutes long, had been viewed more than 2.5 million times.
White’s words are largely being interpreted literally — that she wishes for evil women to have miscarriages — but she shared a rare response to the criticism in which she explained that she was speaking in metaphor, praying for evil plans to be foiled in her congregants’ lives.
“I don’t normally respond but clearly this has been taken out of context,” White tweeted Sunday. “I was praying (Ephesians) 6:12 that we wrestle not against flesh and blood. Anything that has been conceived by demonic plans, for it to be cancelled and not prevail in your life ...”
Ephesians 6:12, according to the King James Bible translation, reads: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
After watching the clip, André Gagné, a theological studies professor at Concordia University and expert on the Christian right, said White was probably speaking in metaphor when she called for the miscarriages. He pointed to a book by Nigerian evangelist D.K. Olukoya that describes “satanic pregnancies” as “the plans that Satan has against a person’s life.”
According to Gagné, “White is commanding that Satan’s plans be aborted.”
Still, many observers recoiled at White’s remarks.
“So Paula White wants everyone at @WhiteHouse to know she is praying for abortion,” tweeted Jennifer Gunter, an obstetrician and gynecologist who writes a column on women’s reproductive health for the New York Times.
“No pregnancies are satanic. Every child is a gift from God,” tweeted James Martin, a prominent Jesuit priest. “No one should ever pray for any woman to miscarry. No one should ever pray for evil or harm to befall another person. Jesus asked us to pray for our persecutors, not to curse them. To love our neighbors as ourselves.”
White did not respond to a request for comment sent Sunday morning.
The 53-year-old megachurch pastor, who recently joined the White House Office of Public Liaison as a religious adviser, delivered the remarks during a sermon in which she inveighed against a variety of forces, including anyone who sought to harm Trump.