Todd White, as our polemics resources have chronicled over many years, is one of the most notorious parlor-tricksters, mentalists, and miracle-hustlers in extremist charismania. And starting earlier this week, he has many people convinced from a recent sermon that he’s seen the light and is repentant for teaching a false gospel.
HOPE
Anyone can be saved. Anyone can be redeemed from any sin. Any transgression can be forgiven. And like the Apostle Paul, God can save the “chief of sinners.”
Christ’s blood is more powerful than every fake miracle Todd White has ever performed. It is more efficacious than any leg that Todd White has supposedly lengthened. It is more powerful than any ecstatic utterance of gobbledygook passed off fraudulently as a move of the spirit.
A REMINDER AND A CAUTION
At PNP News, we’ve covered White extensively. He recently compared the Holy Spirit (just weeks ago) to a pooping dog. White said that the American Gospel film, which laid out the errors of the prosperity gospel, was “demonically inspired.” White put a Bible on his head and told the congregation that they could become the Word of God (this title belongs to Jesus). These are articles from just the last few weeks.
PNP News requested information trying to substantiate problematic parts of his testimony and also requested information from anyone who had been actually healed by White. We have received over a hundred inquiries to see if anyone has come forward, but no one has contacted us to say they’ve been satisfactorily healed of any single physical ailment.
Leading figures in Christian discernment like Justin Peters and Chris Rosebrough have suggested that Todd White is demon-possessed. I absolutely concur, and I believe strongly that along with Kenneth Copeland and Todd Bentley, the extent of demonic possession over this man is more profound and apparent than most.
White, unlike the misled youth pastor down at the Assembly of God who might get carried away with old wives’ tales of the goofy-miraculous, is not an ordinary charismatic. White engages in parlor-trickery that must be learned, practiced, and honed. His leg-lengthening stunts, his mentalism and cold-readings, his street-level “healings” are all tricks learned and mastered by secular magicians. He has not just ignorantly bought into a Sid-Roth-Style charismaticism, he has had 100% knowledge that the tricks he regularly employs to make him famous are manufactured and manipulative.
When Todd White walks up to a person with a limp and says, “The Spirit tells me you have a hurt ankle” and then rubs his hands together violently (to create heat from friction) and then “lays hands” on the cripple’s skin he 100% knows what he’s doing when he then asks, “Does it feel warm? It’s working! It’s working!” and claims a miracle took place.
In short, Todd White is the worst of tricksters and miracle-hustlers. His career has been to dupe religious types and gullible people into believing he is sincere. That is his entire schtick.
That being the case, any claim White makes regarding his conversion (or whatever you call it) needs to be regarded with healthy, Biblical skepticism.
BIBLICAL DISCERNMENT APPLIED TO TODD WHITE
Just as Christians are to judge all things (1 Corinthians 2:15) and train the powers of our discernment with constant practice (Hebrews 5:14), we are not obligated to take White’s “confession” (more on that in a moment) at face value. As wise Bereans, we need to do the following:
QUESTION:
When the Pharisees came out to John the Baptist, ostensibly to be baptized themselves, the Baptist asked, “Who told you to flee from the wrath to come? (Matthew 3:7)”
What the Baptist meant was clear; he had not told them to flee from the wrath to come, or he would have known them. John perceived that they were coming for the wrong reasons. They turned around and left, and ended up plotting the crucifixion of Christ.
Todd White has answered this question already. In his sermon, he spoke of his new influences, including Charles Spurgeon (colloquially known as the ‘Prince of Preachers’), a favorite of Calvinist Baptists, including myself.
Was White serious? Or was he merely dropping the names of theologians to disarm his theological opponents? As someone who the Twelve Tribes Cult targeted by infiltrating someone into my inner circle who name-dropped Charles Spurgeon (it succeeded in lowering my guard), I’m naturally skeptical. The tactic has worked before, and it continues to work (Rick Warren told John Piper he was greatly influenced by Jonathan Edwards, earning Piper’s seal of approval).
WATCH:
The Baptizer told the Pharisees to go and “bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8). In other words, he told them to prove it.
Anyone at this point in the game who would presume that White’s confession is genuine and would do anything but encourage him to get out of ministry is foolhardy. If genuine, he must fully repudiate the prosperity gospel by action as well as word. If converted, he’s a babe-in-Christ, and babes shouldn’t preach (1 Timothy 3:6).
Todd White has not admitted to parlor-trickery and mentalism. He’s not admitted to intentionally fooling the masses by knowingly-false magic tricks carefully learned and practiced over many years. This is necessary.
Todd White has not fully repudiated his doctrinal falsehoods, merely claiming instead to have not taught the “full gospel.” But Todd White needs to clarify that it is the only gospel and what he had previously taught was a false gospel.
Zacchaeus showed repentance by giving back all that he had stolen (Luke 19:8). While it might be unreasonable to expect White to give back the millions he has stolen from gullible Christians and lost people who believed his mind-freak parlor tricks (no doubt, most of it is already spent), it is not unreasonable to expect him to do everything possible to lead those people out of the charismaticism he brought them into.
WAIT:
I will remind the reader that the “I repent of the prosperity gospel” shtick was recently tried by Benny Hinn and it had no small success. Hinn told an audience that he was repenting of his “seed-faith” tithing theology, much to the celebration of orthodox Christians who rejoiced in his repentance. But less than two weeks later, he was again asking for a seed-faith offering in exchange for blessings.
The trick for Hinn worked perfectly. He got positive press coverage from orthodox believers for renouncing his false teaching, and virtually no negative press coverage when he picked up the teaching again only weeks later (few besides PNP News reported it).
Phoenix apologist, James White – who is notoriously soft on charismatics thanks to his relationship with Michael Brown – seemed to claim that White’s emotionalism was evidence in itself of his conversion.
James White demonstrates consistently poor leadership by opining on things he does not understand (he understands some things very well and should stick to those things). Any follower of Todd White knows that he often cries even while performing mentalist tricks. In fact, “cued emotion” is one of the first things taught from one mentalist to another; it is the artwork of psychological manipulation.
Todd White needs to be evaluated over time, as the evangelical world waits and sees if he shows signs of genuine repentance by full confession, repudiating his former associations, and continuing to follow Christ in righteousness. That cannot be ascertained from a few tears.
WHAT I SUSPECT
Unlike Todd White, I have never claimed to be a prophet or the son of one. But I suspect what we’re seeing is the result of one of two possibilities.
The first is that White has faced enormous pressure (like Hinn) for being one of the more flamboyant miracle-hustlers in the business. As we have previously reported, White fled a PNP News reader – a housewife and mother – who told him to repent while at the gym (he threatened to call the police and fled her presence). Discernment ministry has an impact, and it can impact speaking engagements and conference gigs. Like Hinn, he may just be trying to deflect criticism.
The second is that White has been caught in either personal immorality (like Todd Bentley) or caught faking his miracles (like Peter Popoff). This “repentance” is possibly a preemptive measure to reposition him in the event of his upcoming ‘restoration’ to ministry. I would not be surprised, in the least, if White admits to one of these two sins in what he projects as “coming clean” in the press.
Another possibility is that God is working in the life of Todd White. But I will question, watch, and wait.
