Last year, Jesse Duplantis tried to convince his followers that he really, really needed a $54 million Falcon 7X private jet in order to spread the Lord’s word.

We should also mention that he already owned three private jets at the time, and there was a sizeable backlash to his request.

Televangelist Kenneth Copeland also has a love for the finer things in life, although he doesn’t take very kindly to people questioning whether he really needs to fly around in such luxury.

Before we get to his trainwreck interview, let’s get some background from Washington Post:

In the waning days of 2015, renowned televangelist Kenneth Copeland laid out exactly why he needs a luxury private jet to do his job: You can’t “talk to God” while flying commercial.

Criticized at the time for his use of extravagant planes, Copeland argued that travel for his work would be difficult, nay, impossible without them. The Texas-based preacher invoked his mentor, prosperity gospel preacher Oral Roberts, who Copeland said faced unsolicited requests for prayer when he flew on public airliners, “agitating his spirit.”

…Last month, the preacher was asked to clarify his remarks by Lisa Guerrero, a reporter for news magazine Inside Edition. Their exchange recently went viral, reigniting conversations about televangelists and the tax-exempt status of churches.

He can’t fly commercial because he faces a barrage of unsolicited prayers. He also said he doesn’t fly commercial because he doesn’t “want to get into a tube with a bunch of demons”.

Right, gotcha.

Let’s skip ahead to his interview with Guerrero, where he didn’t handle her questions well at all.

Here are some excerpts from said interview:

BREAKING: New video shows mega-church pastor Kenneth Copeland being confronted for owning private jets while preaching the gospel. The exchange between him and the brave reporter is something you have to see to believe! pic.twitter.com/s82BGwycar

— Ψ ۞ ۩ (@PsychologyDoc) May 30, 2019

The word ‘unhinged’ comes to mind, with a side dose of ‘creepy’.

If that doesn’t do it for you, here is the full interview:

Buddy, finger waving with the crazy eyes isn’t a good look.

In January 2018, Copeland bought a private jet from actor Tyler Perry, and in the interview above, he can be seen saying that Perry made the plane “so cheap for me I couldn’t help but buy it”.

He then casually tossed in what many would consider an anti-Semitic quip:

Copeland said he was a “very wealthy man” and acknowledged using the private jets to travel to his vacation homes. Guerrero asked how he would respond to those who say preachers shouldn’t live so luxuriously.

“They’re wrong,” he replied “It’s a misunderstanding of the Bible that … if you go into the old covenant, do you think the Jewish people believe you should be broke?”

Guerrero follows up: “Are you saying that Jewish people appreciate money more?”

“They believe in wealth,” Copeland said.

Like many of the televangelists that rack up millions and millions, whilst avoiding tax thanks to the exempt status of churches, Copeland preaches the “prosperity gospel”.

That centres on the “belief that faith, often in the form of donations to preachers and ministries, will garner riches down the line”. Pretty handy that you can also use that money to lead a lavish lifestyle, and nobody can hold you to account.

For the definitive look at the issue, we can cast our minds back to 2015, and this Last Week Tonight with John Oliver segment:

If Robin Hood steals from the rich and gives to the poor, what do you call someone who continually asks those less fortunate than themselves for money?

I would call them terrible humans, but you can make your own mind up.

[source:washpost]