Prosperity preachers Kenneth Copeland and Jesse Duplantis defended their ownership of private jets this past week, stating that they couldn’t accommodate their schedule any other way and that they wouldn’t want to ride commercial with a “bunch of demons.”
The discussion aired on Wednesday’s broadcast of Copeland’s “Believer’s Voice of Victory” as Duplantis shared a story of how God told him on a flight home that his faith was “stagnating.”
“As I was going home, the Lord–real quickly–He said, ‘Jesse, do you like your plane?’” Duplantis explained. “I thought, ‘That’s an odd statement.’ I said, ‘Well, certainly, Lord. He said, ‘Do you really like it?’ And I thought, ‘Well, yes, Lord.’ And He said, ‘So that’s it? … You gonna let your faith stagnate?’”
Duplantis said that he then unbuckled his seat belt, stood up and said, “Lord, I don’t think I’m letting my faith stagnate,” but God responded, “So, this is all I could ever do?”
Copeland then chimed in and explained that it would be difficult to talk to God on a commercial airplane, as other passengers would say, “What the [expletive] is he doing?”
“When I was flying for Oral Roberts, … my boss on the airplane, he said, ‘Now Kenneth, this is a sanctuary. It protects the anointing on brother Roberts. And he said, ‘You keep your mouth shut. You don’t talk to him unless he talks.'”
“Now Oral used to fly airlines,” Copeland continued. “But even back then it got to the place where it was agitating his spirit—people coming up to him, he had become famous, and they wanted him to pray for them and all that. You can’t manage that today [in] this dope-filled world, and get in a long tube with a bunch of demons. And it’s deadly.”
While he said that he didn’t want to fly with a “bunch of demons,” moments later, Copeland contended that he needed a private jet to help reach the lost.
“We’re in soul business here. We’ve got a dying world around us. We’ve got a dying nation around us,” Copeland proclaimed. “We can’t even get there on the airlines.”
Duplantis then explained that he had recently traveled to a number of cities for events across the nation, and that in showing his schedule to a Delta pilot, he was told that the pilot couldn’t fly his route commercial.
“When God tells you your faith’s stagnating, you better start listening,” he said. “[God] said this: ‘You’re in cruise control. You’re moving, but no longer by your power.'”
As previously reported, prosperity preacher Creflo Dollar, a friend to Copeland and Duplantis, generated controversy last year in his effort to raise $65 million dollars to purchase a private jet.
“If I want to believe God for a $65 million plane, you cannot stop me. You cannot stop me from dreaming,” he said during a message in which he addressed those who took issue with his endeavor.
Dollar had asked for 200,000 people to donate $300 dollars each so that he could purchase a new G650 airplane. The Gulfstream G650 is a top-end business jet that can carry up to 18 passengers and is stated to fly faster than other large cabin aircraft.
“The plane is not so Creflo Dollar can get on by himself and fly,” public relations representative Juda Englemayer told the Christian Post. “They take a ministry team of 10 to 15 people with them. They take thousands of pounds of food and provisions with them when they go around the world. If he’s coming to the New York church, he’ll hop on a Delta flight. If he’s taking 12 people plus 100,000 pounds of food, it’s not that simple.”
But as word broke about the project, some still expressed dismay as to why Dollar, who leads a 30,000-member megachurch and lives in a million dollar home, needs such an expensive aircraft, which is reportedly sought out by billionaires. David Graham, Global Express aircraft captain with Advanced Air Management, told the publication that Engelmayer’s claims don’t add up.
“[The aircraft] cannot carry 12 people and 100,000# of food and supplies,” he said. “Creflo is a crook and scammin’ his church in the name of the Lord.”
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THE APOSTATE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH USA
ELECTED, BUT A DISBELIEVER?
"TAKING THE BIBLE SERIOUSLY, BUT NOT LITERALLY"
"Jim Rigby is pastor of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas. Jim works on issues of racial, gender and economic justice. Jim was named "Texas Public Citizen of the Year" by the National Association of Social Workers. He is also a student of world religions."
RIGBY'S GNOSTIC, SARCASTIC BLOG:
SAINT ANDREWS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, AUSTIN, TEXAS:
The Eight Points of Progressive Christianity
By calling ourselves progressive, we mean we are Christians who….
1. Believe that following the path and teachings of Jesus can lead to an awareness and experience of the Sacred and the Oneness and Unity of all life;
2. Affirm that the teachings of Jesus provide but one of many ways to experience the Sacredness and Oneness of life, and that we can draw from diverse sources of wisdom in our spiritual journey;
3. Seek community that is inclusive of ALL people, including but not limited to:
- Conventional Christians and questioning skeptics,
- Believers and agnostics,
- Women and men,
- Those of all sexual orientations and gender identities,
- Those of all classes and abilities:
4. Know that the way we behave towards one another is the fullest expression of what we believe;
5. Find grace in the search for understanding and believe there is more value in questioning than in absolutes;
6. Strive for peace and justice among all people;
7. Strive to protect and restore the integrity of our Earth;
8. Commit to a path of life-long learning, compassion, and selfless love.
“The 8 Points” (2011 version), The Center for Progressive Christianity www.tcpc.org
‘I’ll Try to Keep Down My Screams of Agony’: Resurrection-Denying ‘Pastor’
Mocks Being Hellbound
BY HEATHER CLARK
AUSTIN, Texas — A false teacher and minister in Texas who says that He doesn’t believe in the literal resurrection of Christ recently mocked the gospel and those who told him that he is subsequently not a Christian, making fun of having an eternal destiny in Hell.
“Apparently, because I don’t believe in a literal resurrection, I’m not really Christian,” Jim Rigby of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas wrote on social media on Dec. 25. “This unfortunately also means I won’t be going to Heaven with many of you.”
He had explained in a post two days prior, “I don’t literally believe the cadaver of Jesus got up again, but I do believe the resurrection actually happened when the disciples began to see ‘Christ’ in each other, and in everyone else as well.”
Rigby said that he asked one individual who took him to task for his unbelief why “instead of being a one time magic trick, the resurrection might not be understood as a poem about the whole life process.”
He stated that during the discussion, he was told that he does not understand the gospel, and thus provided mockery of the message.
“God loves us very much, but mindless obedience is VERY important to God. So God decided to barbecue us eternally for the mistakes of our ancestors,” Rigby wrote. “But God has a son named Jesus who asked God to abuse Him instead. And so God killed Jesus in our place. And we call this story the ‘good news.'”
“All that matters is that we admit that we are worthless trash, but that Jesus likes us anyway. Oh, and we have to LITERALLY believe Jesus’ corpse got up. … So, anyway, if you believe the ‘good news,’ your physical cadaver will get up too. Hopefully someone will remember where you are buried and come dig you up,” he scoffed.
Rigby, who supports homosexuality and evolutionary beliefs, proceeded to joke about being in Hell, “me to eternal torment with Gandhi and Socrates; you to an eternity sitting in worship services with televangelists and ethical monsters who happened to believe in the literal resurrection.”
“[P]lease go on and have a good time in heaven without me,” Rigby wrote. “I’ll try to keep down my screams of agony.”
Some supported the Presbyterian minister following his comments.
“Thanks for sharing this. Brilliant. I look forward to being in the wok of woe with all you other fools,” one commenter wrote.
But others expressed sadness at Rigby’s statements.
“What part of this author’s beliefs make him identify as ‘Christian?'” one man wrote. “And seriously, why take eternal suffering so lightly, as if in jest? Hard to separate the sadness, mockery and sarcasm in this bitter piece.”
1 Corinthians 15:12-16 reads, “Now if Christ be preached that He rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ: whom He raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.”
