I had to share the videotape below of two leading televangelists, Kenneth Copeland and Jesse Duplantis, as they explain why flying private jets is not just personally enjoyable but actually biblically required. It turns out that the luxury jets not only place them closer to God and allow to them speak directly with him but avoid “a long tube with a bunch of demons.”
When Duplantis starts to tell a story about speaking with God in his private plane, Copeland seems to immediately realize that the image of televangelists flying around in luxury jets might not sit well with the flock (or critics who regularly write about multi-millionaire televangelist and their mansions and expensive lifestyles). Copland interrupts to explain that this is all part of the spiritual mission and that ministers really cannot talk to God on commercial planes.
“You couldn’t have done that on an airliner. Stand up and say “What’d you say, Lord? Okay? No? Yeah? And the guy sitting over there, saying, “What the hell does he think he’s doing?” You can’t do that! No, no…”
They then go on to explain that their flying around in private jets “protects the anointing” in this “dope-filled world.” Copeland emphasized the horror of their having to take a seat and commune with God “in a long tube with a bunch of demons.”
What is amazing is that I think many would understand if these millionaires just said “Look I have the money and flying in private jets is a lot easier and nicer.” No demons. No private calls from God. Just convenience.
I was personally disappointed that they did not expressly deal with the legroom needed to speak to God but I will assume that that personal pet peeve of mine was subsumed in the stories of having to jump up and speak with God.
Of course, TWA used to have the slogan: “They have just one mission . . . yours.” That is a bit better than the old Braniff slogan “When you’ve got it, flaunt it.”
At some point it makes economic sense to own a private jet. If you are moving enough people often enough, it is actually cheaper to have a private jet than to fly commercial.
That being said, if these guys said someone other than dog was talking to them they would be locked up or on heavy medication. Instead, they go on television and perform for my entertainment. Being a rational person with a solid grasp on reality, I find listening to these guys to be absolutely hilarious. I find the same when spinning the radio dial and landing on some of the religious stations. I find it like a car wreck; it is so awful tht I can’t stop listening to the shear ignorance of these people. I hear one program on “science” that is over the top hilarious; I simply can’t get enough of it. It just makes me laugh so hard.
I would love to see the tax laws revised for churches and other charities so that only the money they spend ACTUALLY helping people would be tax free. That would put an end to a lot of this nonsense pretty quickly.
Dog bless Billy Graham but not his cousin Lindsey. We call him Graham Kraker.
Veteran’ Ministry, Firstly, thanks for your service. As to how people come under the influence of people like this. I had a sister w/ leukemia who died in her 50’s, after struggling for years. She got some of the best care in the world @ MD Anderson in Houston. She simply had a weakened immune system from lupus. My mom, who was a smart woman, gave money to evil, Benny Hin, trying to have him “heal” my sister. My mom was vulnerable and desperate. She was an intelligent woman other than this. Desperate and vulnerable people are the prey of predatory con men.
Terry,
There is one problem with your link: it doesn’t show Mr. Copland’s ministry budget (to see if our tithes and offerings are going to his home or private jet). Joyce Meyer was the only tv evangelist to let everyone see that she uses $250k from tithes and offerings, while still receiving more $450k from her book royalties and other work outside her ministry, for her personal income (she needs more than $450k to survive on? Really?).
Good comment Veterans Ministry!
I have no problem with any pastor purchasing a private jet, if the funds came from his book royalties, commercial advertising paid by companies, or income he/she earned from a job outside of the ministry (paid speaking engagements by colleges and universities, corporations, or even wealthy individuals who want him to have a private jet-there is one minister that I volunteered for who was given a private jet, but he had to pay/rent a pilot and pay for the upkeep of the jet. Once he saw how much those costs, he sold the jet and used the funds toward fixing his church, including installing an elevator in the church).
However, if these two pastors are using our tithes and offerings toward their private jets, $miilion homes, $300k vehicles, then the following would apply to them:
Matthew 25:41-45 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me…. For whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'”
Or maybe the Lord will have mercy and say:
Matthew 19:23 “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God…..However, with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Or maybe they will barely make it in to heaven?
1 Corinthians 3:12-15 “if any man builds on this foundation[Jesus Christ] using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.”
“Inbred hillbillys”. Two appropriate words for the name “televangelist” or however ya spull it. But the real dumb humans on the globe are those who spend time and money watching these dorks on tv and ponying up. On Sunday morning we get Chuck Todd telling us that Snowden is a “traitor” and then some televangelist comes on in the next hour and yaks about Heaven and the words of Isaiha. Or somesuch. Jeso. Four legs good! Two legs baaaad!
Jonathan Gruber evangelists?
I don’t fly that frequently but knowing that these idiots are not in my tube is reassuring. If we can get them all together on one plane…
“Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz.
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends.”
Kenneth Copland’s entire luxury lifestyle is 100% tax free – paid for with tithes and offerings. Here’s a photo of Ken’s $6.3 million home.
http://pimppreacher.com/post/125394377025/did-you-know-kenneth-copeland-63-million-home-is
Science and Mathematics describe observations. Religion describes fantasies. Some prefer fantasies over observations.
Veterans Ministry. My husband was saved at a Billy Graham Crusade at age 12 and he is still serving the Lord. You are the only Christian person I have ever heard say anything against Billy Graham and his work. God has used him mightily to lead individuals to a relationship to the Lord. They have an incredible follow up system. God Bless Billy Graham and God Bless you also.
Charlatans
Men such as these would expect first class on Charon’s boat and pay for the voyage by taking coins from their congregation–leaving them behind.
I find much more inspiring Dr. King’s evangelism and speeches because it was never about the money. I recognize that there are costs and expenses manifest in any organization and much travel costs money. This type of evangelism is predatory in my view.
A church and minister that struggles to meet expenses and still finds ways to provide services and grace to those in need are far more servant of Jesus or God than these two men.
I wouldn’t even buy siding from these guys.
Oh yes…the chair was Oral Roberts’s $2,000+ back in the ’50s.
As a retired clergy, I can say that these guys are abominations and I am amazed at how many very intelligent and educated people support them. I remember Oral Roberts and RRRodgers in the early days of black and white tv telling people to put their hands on their tv screens and on the image of the guy’s hand and receive the healing. Then the call for donations and my grandmother’s desperation in getting out her check out from a small town in Montana…wanted the healing. As a grade schooler, even I saw the sham.
Then either in a 1950s Look or Life magazine I saw the 1 to 2 thousand dollar formed molded wood office chair.
At the time we were living in a second story three room apartment which shared a bathroom with a family across the hall…..laundry in a dirt floor basement.
Many years later I was in northwest Montana (Kalispell) as a rector of a parish when an evangelist came to town. Noticed the gold rings and Rolexes even on assistants’ wrists and expensive suits as the churches were required to upfront several thousands of dollars for the privilege of sponsoring the w/e meetings. My group and some others got up and walked out at the first break. The “palace guard” got nasty as we left which we took as an honor. Aftermath: They kept all the offerings and all the deposits while leaving so called commitment cards. Venue costs etc were passed to those who sponsored.
Private a/c for the evangelist, Cadillac rentals and Hilton style accommodations for the advance staff.
I also worked a Billy Graham stadium session in Portland. Billy is (was) sincere as far as I could tell. The staff?? The undergirding of the conference was so fake (listening to paid staff asides) I was physically ill as I finished my administrative commitment. The whole thing reminded me of the mechanics preceding the Nuremberg mass gatherings.
What amazes me is that those who participated and unhappy as they saw the failures would take part years later in the same thing. Insanity.
Yes…I am retired clergy and some would accuse me of brainwashing, and that is your right.
Inasmuch as so many Congress Critters share the same venal mindset as these con men of the cloth, upon comparing their respective incomes, I’m surprised that more of them haven’t converted from political bribery to the more lucrative soul selling of televangelism . 🙂
I want to hear Obama explain why flying Air Force One, while the First Lady rides in another jet, is both saving gas and cleaning the environment.
A couple of old, inbred hillbillies garbling about hearing voices, scratching a flying itch and a tube full of demons. I don’t know about anything called a flying itch, but I have been in an aluminum tube, flying through the air, with demons. One such demon, which had managed to assume the appearance of a three year old boy, proceeded to kick the back of my seat and howl at ear piercing screams all of the way to Vegas. Part of my just punishment, I suppose, for going to Sin City.
BTW, if these guys are so fabulously wealthy, why is one wearing (what appears to be) a Members Only jacket? Is that some sort of fashion statement or do those things just repel evil spirits?