I saw a meme that suggested a televangelist named Jesse Duplantis claimed Jesus hasn’t come because people have not donated enough to the church. My initial reaction was, “WHAT?!?!” This didn’t sound remotely true to me, but many of my biases about Christian Nationalism started ringing joys of salvation. “Here it is, a religious leader demonstrating his greed!!!” Despite my bias, I decided to dig into this alleged meme to find out more.

Sure enough, Jesse Duplantis said it. You can find it here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol-MiII_G9g He believes that Jesus hasn’t come, because people haven’t given enough. He said that on television during a telethon on the Victory Television Network a Christian Broadcasting network in Arkansas. I can just see millions of faithful sheep dialing the phone and giving their credit card bill payment to the VTN and Jesse Duplantis to simulate a second coming. This is certifiably nuts, and it is true. How is human monetary giving stimulate a supreme being into appearing against their will? Is it the symbol of sacrifice? I thought prayer was the be all end all?

Alright, this led me down a deep black hole of religious zealotry. I decided to dig into the Jesse Duplantis mystique. He’s also quoted as saying that ‘poverty is a curse and his wealth is because he’s blessed.’ This is his rationalization for owning a private jet on a Boardroom Chat as part of his television ministry. He claims it was his money that bought that jet. Check it out: https://www.christianpost.com/news/televangelist-jesse-duplantis-calls-poverty-a-curse.html I can’t make this up. How does an evangelist become worth $20M? Obviously he sells his product to the faithful through whatever number of “for sale” schemes, but doesn’t the primary source of his income come from tithing and offerings to his ministry? Who makes up that audience? Is it Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos? Or is it tens of thousands of unsuspecting Christians trying to pay for financial salvation through his “charities?”

I dig further, and then I discover him making political opinion on the pulpit during a sermon. He actually declares this in the speech… er sermon. Then he uses the King James Version of the bible to draw comparisons of Jesus and political leaders. He is clearly dancing on the establishment clause to emphasize how his opinion on contemporary politics is the spiritually ordained way and the White House is the Church’s house. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=405978703907604 How is church sponsored politicking maintaining a healthy respect for the separation of church and state? The blatant honesty of his message, causes me great reflection. Where is the line between church and political action committee? When does this PAC lose its tax exempt status? Is this even a church? I’m feeling my rights as a humanist being trampled on…

I’m not a biblical scholar by any means, but the use of King James Version of the bible is problematic to me. There are many reasons for me personally, but let me share this page that better outlines the issues. https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/4636/what-are-common-criticisms-against-using-the-kjv

I remember asking a religion professor in college why I had to buy the Revised Standard Edition of the Bible in college for $80 when I had my KJV and Beck editions in my dorm room. I remember him outing the political bias of the KJV as one that minimized the evilness of royalty, and the inaccuracies of the text because it used newer sources for the translations instead of the oldest certifiable sources for the bible. The Revised Standard edition is the only bible I have now. It is much more scholarly. It doesn’t use florid text. It tries to capture the legitimate perceptions of the ancient writing. However, I still wouldn’t trust it as the literal rule of all Christian faith. Why would anyone live a 20th or 21st century life by the literal law of archaic documents of varying different sources and authors? What about the apocryphal books? The Torah? The Quran? The Upanishads? Who decided they don’t belong? Martin Luther? a Pope? a committee of 47? your church deacon? There is too much human politicking in the history of the ancient texts going on here to trust the documents of the Bible anymore than a tome of humanistic metaphors for achieving salvation.

I find Duplantis’ use of the KJV purposeful. The modern reader must depend on him to tell them the meaning of this translation. He’s an expert, they must follow his expertise. There isn’t any room to question his authority. We should all question everything. What is Duplantis’ motivation? Why is he purposefully blurring the lines between religious freedom and religious theocracy? How did he acquire the wealth he has? What is he hiding? My motive of these questions is to seek understanding through logic and reasoning. I’m not interested in conspiracy.

It is healthy to question and reflect on everything we believe. If we don’t, how do we grow as individuals. How can any individual follow a man like Duplantis so faithfully? He’s just a man. How is his definition of faith the correct one and everyone else’s faith is wrong? Faith is a personal journey, not a political action committee mob form of faith. Why and How does one believe in the literal view of texts two millennia old in a modern paradigm? How does one not recognize the sheer hypocrisy of such literal beliefs?

I do not have a personal beef with Jesse Duplantis. I found the meme to be over the top. Then as I discovered through some internet searches and media digging that the meme is accurate. I found the bitter taste of disappointment as I dug deeper and deeper at just how preposterous and superficial this all is/was. How? Why? What desperation led one to this type of spiritual leadership? If these are the honest beliefs of Jesse Duplantis… …is he okay? Seriously, if I spoke that way in front of hundreds or thousands of people, my family would have me assessed for some sort of disorder.

I am not trying to step on you the readers’ faith here. Your faith journey is yours. I’m just trying to spur reflection and honest questioning on faith as a whole. I feel this is where we grow and enlighten as a species. Getting stuck in the Duplantis monologue is a fixed mindset. It is a blind faithfulness that overlooks the basic hypocrisy of our being. Isn’t the goal of faith in the divine to purge oneself of hypocrisy? I hope you find what you seek, but I’m sorry Duplantis and his fellow cronies are promising you an OZ with their wizardry that really boggles my mind.

…on it goes….