Via Facebook, a past acquaintance of mine invited me to an event with American televangelist, Jesse Duplantis. I strongly but politely declined the invitation. There's no way known I'm going to see him. Let me explain why.
Firstly, I have a big problem with his hyper spirituality. These evangelists who claim to have special teaching or extra-biblical revelations trouble me. Duplantis claims that he was caught up in the Spirit and visited heaven, where he met Abraham, King David, Jesus himself, and the apostle Paul. It's interesting that he should meet Paul, because Paul also had a vision of heaven. Does Duplantis see himself as being a modern day version of Paul? Unlike Duplantis, Paul didn't share his vision of heaven to make himself look good. When he described his apostolic credentials in his letters, it wasn't to impress people, but to defend himself against his opponents, the so called super apostles, who undermined him.
Secondly, Duplantis is a well known prosperity preacher. He lives in a lavish mansion, and earlier in the year, made headlines when he allegedly asked his supporters to help him buy a private jet, to be used for ministry purposes. Again, he says that God wanted him to have it, but on the face of it, it looks like he's manipulating people, and that he thinks that travelling around on commercial flights is beneath him.
That Duplantis has such a huge following shows a lack of discernment amongst Christians. I'm disappointed that an Australian church is directly supporting his work. Count me out. So many of these celebrity pastors eventually fall off the pedestals their followers put them on.
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