The setting is Galway and Jesse has landed and the people of Abundant Life are asked to contribute to his aircraft. Not only was this abuse of people under financial stress but the Pastor did a runner to Texas and then opened up in San Diego after leaving a massive rental bill behind him. This is not just a fun article but but a cruel insight into many peoples lives which would be ruined by this type of spiritual rape. Later Brendan Hade took over the this church and added it to his Firhouse fiasco which went down with €18M loans to Bank of Scotland. Now ironically Scientology is feeding off the vultures.
https://dialogueireland.wordpress.com/2011/07/16/jesse_duplantis/
Notable moments:
0.00 : Kevin Sanford setting the scene which is about “building houses for God” to lead into the agenda of Jesse Duplantis which is that of looking for funds to “invest in evangelism”. He introduces Jesse.
In the first five minutes, Duplantis uses humour to get connected with the excited audience.
07:00 : He begins to connect with the Bible, in the process he ridicules theologians.
10:43 : He explains why he doesn’t struggles financially. “My source is my giving”.
15.13 : “When he blesses you with something that some people say ‘that’s greed’, it could be ‘growth’. It could just be growth instead of greed”. This is one of his key catchphrases for the session and repeats it many times over the hour and a half.
16.00 : He says he had a discussion with God on the plane that God gave him. He’s on his third plane but going to get a fourth.
17.30 : “Here’s where the Body of Christ has made a mistake for over 2,000 years. It’s not about ‘needs’ being fulfilled by God but rather tell him what you ‘want’. If you tell him what you want you destroy all your needs. That ‘greed’ could be ‘growth’.
20.50 : He used the Our Father prayer segment ‘thy will be done on earth’, repeating over and over to hammer his point home with the audience (that it’s okay to want things on earth). “I thought that was greed…could be growth”.
21.58 : Back to talking about his plane and how God wanted him to have it. His next plane will be a $32 million aircraft, then a $50 million one, with the aim of a Boeing 737 being his last one. Why? If he had it, he could bring the congregation with him to Ballymena (to his next gig tomorrow).
“It’s got nothing to do with needs. It’s got nothing to do with the economy of Ireland or Europe…It’s got to do with what you believe in your soul.”
Then back to the Bible to Psalm 35 Verse 27 and “paying for a righteous cause.”. Again, forget about the recession.
24.40 : “When you look good, God looks good. If you look bad, God looks bad” A typical statement from Prosperity Gospel thinking. He uses the recession in Ireland to suggest that the right thing to do is to look good even in such circumstances.
27.58 : “Poverty is a curse. The church wants you to be blessed so you can bless the church (and supply donations).
29:30 : “They came up with this other lie for over 2,000 years, the lie of ‘I’m not worthy’. I’m not worthy only works in church… If you don’t accept it anywhere else in the world, why do you accept it in church?”…”It’s not to do with greed, it’s to do with growth.”
31:47 : “When you get something from God or a person, there’s a sacredness to that…Why do you have to make an excuse for that blessing?…Why is it greed when you want something from God?”
He then begins to talk directly about money.
35.30 : “You know what God says about money? God says ‘money answereth all things’. Why? Because you live in an economic world… God understands money… Money is valueless until it becomes a seed.
39.30 : “Riches are made for use, not storage because when you start storing them you begin to trust them… I believe in saving money, not storing it.” He then connects to the Bible to justify his statement.
43.36 : “God supplies your needs so you can plant a seed.”
44.10 : “I don’t believe in that 36 or 100 fold… but I believe beyond it. I believe in the 1,000 fold.
He uses humour very cleverly to maintain the engagement of the audience who have now been listening intently for 45 minutes. He continues to do this to the end. He is a well-practised story teller and comedian.
53.03 : “It’s not about needs, it’s about wants and that’s not greed… God gives us richly all things and it’s okay to want things.”
55.36 : Back to talking about his plane, saying if you could get one, “But can you richly enjoy it? Can you take the heat from the church world and the secular world?”
More stories to get across his distinction between ‘needs’ and ‘wants’.
72.35 : “In 33 years of full-time ministry, I’ve never had a financial deficit…. Where there’s love, there’s giving.”
76.40 : Down to business. “I’m going to tell you what I want. $3 million. 3,000 people to give $1,000 so we can invest $3m in the world of evangelism… And that money is coming in by the handful because people trust us. God trusts us. In the 33 years of ministry, I’ve never had a scandal.”
80.33 : He talks about coming to Galway without asking for his expenses to be paid for by “you guys”.
81.33 : “Just by being in this country, I’m going to be blessed.” He then encourages them to give donations. “I’m asking you to give a good offering so we can reach people to change lives… You’re looking at a ministry that’s debt-free. I don’t know what debt is.”
86.05 : “It hasn’t anything to do about money. It hasn’t anything to do about need. It has to do with what God says and God says invest $3 million towards the world of evangelism… You’re writing a cheque? If you’re writing a cheque, make it out to Jesse Duplantis Ministries.”
https://dialogueireland.wordpress.com/2011/05/11/jesse-duplantis-flies-in-4-what/
‘It’s what Jesus would do’ – Evangelist asks followers for €47m to buy a private jet
‘If Jesus was physically on the Earth today he wouldn’t be riding a donkey’
Jesse Duplantis wants his followers to fund a private jet Photo: Jesse Duplantis/Twitter
A televangelist has asked his followers to donate money so he can buy a $54m (€47m) private jet.
Jesse Duplantis, 68, based in Louisiana, sought the donations in a video posted on his ministry’s website.
“You know I’ve owned three different jets in my life and used them and used them and just burning them up for the Lord,” he said.
“Now, some people believe that preachers shouldn’t have jets. I really believe that preachers ought to go on every available voice, every available outlet, to get this gospel preached to the world.”
In the video, he points to pictures on the wall of previous jets he’s bought, before moving on to the Starship Enterprise from Star Trek.
“This is the Star Trek Enterprise,” he said. “This is where I’m going, praise God. What I’m believing God for.”
He went on to say: “Let me just say this: we’re believing God for a brand new Falcon 7X so we can go anywhere in the world in one stop.”
Justifying his choice of jet, he said: “Now people say ‘my Lord, can’t you go with this one?’” as he pointed to one of his older jets. “Yes, but I can’t go at one stop.”
He said he could fly cheaper with his own private jet because he has his “own fuel farm” and he “can avoid all those exorbitant prices for jet fuel all over the world”.
The televangelist went on to say God told him he needed the Dassault Falcon 7X.
“He told me: ‘Jesse, you want to come up to where I’m at?’ He said: ‘Before you ask, I’ll answer: Isaiah 65:24.’ He said: ‘I want you to believe me for a Falcon 7X.’”
He said he then wondered how he was going to pay for the jet, then claimed God told him: “Jesse, I didn’t ask you to pray for it. I asked you to believe for it.”
Mr Duplantis asked his followers to become a partner in buying the plane and help him and his wife fund the purchase, which he said would be made in cash.
“We never ask you to give anything that me and Cathy don’t give ourselves.”
He added: “I really believe that if Jesus was physically on the Earth today he wouldn’t be riding a donkey. Think about that for a minute. He’d be in an aeroplane preaching the gospel all over the world.”
It comes months after another televangelist, Kenneth Copeland, brought a new Gulstream V jet “debt free” for “the Lord’s work.”
When the plane entered the market in 1998, it cost $36m (€31m).
A televangelist wants his followers to pay for a $54 million private jet. It’s his fourth plane.
Washington Post
By Cleve R. Wootson Jr.
May 29, 2018
If Jesus were to descend from heaven and physically set foot on 21st-century Earth, prosperity gospel televangelist Jesse Duplantis told his followers, the Redeemer would probably take a pass on riding on the back of a donkey: “He’d be on an airplane preaching the gospel all over the world.”
And Duplantis thinks the Light of the World wouldn’t exactly settle for 30 inches of legroom or getting patted down by TSA.
Why would He choose anything less than the Falcon 7X, a private jet that nears the sound barrier but also has noise-limiting acoustic technology, a Bluetooth-enabled entertainment center and an optional in-flight shower?
Duplantis, saying he needs about $54 million to help him efficiently spread the gospel to as many people as possible, has asked the Lord — and hundreds of thousands of hopefully deep-pocketed followers across the world — for just such a plane.
He is the latest aircraft-seeking preacher to draw raised eyebrows and outright condemnation from critics who say asking for a multimillion-dollar luxury jet is not exactly what Jesus meant when he said “store up for yourself treasures in heaven.”
But this is not the first time Duplantis has been enmeshed in the preacher private plane debate. The Falcon 7X would be his ministry’s fourth jet — all paid for with cash drummed up from followers.
And before anyone asks, he already has an answer for nonbelievers and critics who want to know why, exactly, his ministry requires a luxury jet that would make his fleet the same size as Donald Trump’s.
“We believe in God for a brand new Falcon 7X so we can go anywhere in the world, one stop,” he told people on “This Week With Jesse,” a regular video broadcast on his website. The video on May 21 carefully mixed the gospel with a few insights into the economics of international aviation.
“Now people say … can’t you go with this one?” he said, pointing to a picture of the plane he uses. “Yes, but I can’t go it one stop. And if I can do it one stop, I can fly it for a lot cheaper, because I have my own fuel farm. And that’s what’s been a blessing of the Lord.”
Duplantis didn’t immediately return calls from The Washington Post seeking comment.
In the video, Duplantis didn’t specify which ministry-furthering missions the plane would be used for, although he has indicated in the past that he has an extensive travel schedule.
Duplantis is the founder of Jesse Duplantis Ministries, which includes a weekly television program that reaches 106 million U.S. households, according to his Amazon author biography. In 1997, he and his wife founded Covenant Church in Destrehan, La., just outside New Orleans.
“It is his mission to reach every soul of the 7 billion people that now inhabit the earth, making sure that each one has an opportunity to know the real Jesus — approachable, personable, compassionate, and full of joy-the way that he knows Jesus,” the biography says.
He preaches the prosperity gospel, which says God shows favor by rewarding the faithful with earthly riches. Giving money to pastors and their ministries, leaders say, is a sort of investment.
And prosperity gospel preachers have encouraged their flocks to invest heavily in aviation.
In 2015, televangelist Creflo Dollar was widely mocked for starting “Project G650,” a means of getting a state-of-the-art Gulfstream G650 plane of his own, financed by his 200,000 followers. According to The Post’s Abby Ohlheiser, Dollar said he “needs one of the most luxurious private jets made today in order to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
The campaign was widely ridiculed online, and Dollar never made it to the waiting list, which consisted mostly of billionaires.
Kenneth Copeland, another prosperity gospel adherent who has appeared on-screen with Duplantis, announced his ministry had purchased a Gulfstream V jet that probably cost millions. The announcement on Copeland’s website showed him wearing a bomber jacket in front of a gleaming white plane.
“Glory to God! It’s Ours!” the website said. “The Gulfstream V is in our hands!”
But the ministry needed more, it told followers. The plane was “an exceptional value” but needed another $2.5 million in upgrades. The ministry also needed to build a new hangar, buy special maintenance equipment and lengthen its runway to accommodate the new plane.
After making the ask, Copeland prayed on camera for God to bless contributors.
He and Duplantis defended their use of private jets in a widely shared — and mocked — YouTube video.
“The world is in such a shape, we can’t get there without this,” Copeland said of private aircraft. “We’ve got to have this. The mess that the airlines are in today I would have to stop, I’m being very conservative, at least 75 to 80, more like 90 percent of what we’re doing because you can’t get there from here.”
“That’s why we’re on that airplane,” he said. “We can talk to God.”
Copeland said he used to travel with faith-healing prosperity preacher Oral Roberts, who flew commercial, and it “got to the place where it was agitating his spirit. People coming up to him. He had become famous. And they wanting him to pray for them and all that.
“You can’t manage that today. This dope-filled world. And get in a long tube with a bunch of demons. And it’s deadly.”
During his request for a new plane, Duplantis said he realized some people would remain skeptical.
He said there was no obligation, and there was only one surefire way to determine what exactly God wanted them to do: pray.
“So pray about becoming a partner toward it, if you like to and if you don’t, you don’t have to, but I wish you would,” he said. “Because let me tell you something about it, it’s going to touch people. It’s going to reach people. It’s going to save lives one soul at a time …
“If you pray about it, I believe God will speak to you.”
Filed under: Christian, Scientology, The Upside Kingdom NOT Prosperity, Victory (Faith Movement or Prosperity Gospel) Archive Abundant Life, Victory Galway now The Connect Church |
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