A US televangelist has asked for his followers’ help for funding his fourth private jet. Jesse Duplantis said God had told him to buy a Falcoln 7X for $54 million, according to media reports.
He added he was hesitant about the purchase at first, but said God had told him: “I didn’t ask you to pay for it. I asked you to believe for it,” reports said.
Although preachers owning private jets is not unusual, this particular appeal has Twitter users responding with disbelief. Many of them quoted verses from the Bible against greed and “false prophets”, or suggesting that the money could be better used to help the poor.
In a video address posted on his website, 68-year-old Duplantis said: “You know, I’ve owned three different jets in my life, and I’ve used them and just burning them up for the Lord Jesus Christ.”
“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.”
Standing beside framed pictures of his current fleet, he said that the jet he bought 12 years ago was no longer sufficient for his ministry because he could not fly non-stop, meaning he had to pay “exorbitant” refuelling costs.
Another picture which appeared in the video showed the preacher standing with the three aircraft, above the caption: “It’s not about possessions, it’s about priorities.”
In 2015, Duplantis appeared in a video with another preacher, Kenneth Copeland, in which Copeland described travelling on commercial airlines as being “in a long tube with a bunch of demons”.