A televangelist has said that God told him he needs a fourth new jet, adding that if Jesus was on Earth today he would travel on a plane and not a donkey.
Jesse Duplantis said that specifically he needs a Dassault Falcon 7X, a three-engine private jet capable of carrying 12 to 16 passengers at speeds up to 700 miles per hour, USA Today reported.
The Falcon 7X would be the fourth plane owned by Jesse Duplantis Ministries. It has a range of almost 6,000 miles and costs around $54 million new, according to SherpaReport.
Duplantis said in a video posted last week: 'Now, some people believe that preachers shouldn't have jets. I really believe that preachers ought to...have every available outlet to get this Gospel preached to the world.'
He added that 'if Jesus was physically on the Earth today, he wouldn't be riding a donkey... He'd be in an airplane preaching the Gospel all over the world.'
Duplantis described the message from God as 'one of the 'greatest statements the Lord ever told me'.
'He said, "Jesse, you wanna come up where I'm at?" And I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "I want you to believe in me for a Falcon 7-X." So, I said, "OK." But the first thing I thought of: "Well, how am I going to pay for it?"'
Duplantis said he then remembered something that God had told him in 1978. '"Jesse, I didn't ask you to pay for it, I asked to believe for it.'"
The preacher said he was being transparent.
'I like all people to know exactly what I'm doing in this ministry,' Duplantis said. 'We don't hide nothing whatsoever at all.'
He explained that he would not personally own the plane. Instead, the jet would be owned by the ministry and would be used by the next person to take it over after his death.
Duplantis said that God had instructed him to 'preach the gospel to every creature'.
He continued: 'Now how we gonna do that? I can't live long enough to travel by car, or by ship, or by train, but I can do it by an airplane.'
Duplantis said of the plane: 'All it's gonna do is touch people...It's gonna reach people. It's gonna change lives, one soul at a time. I don't want to learn how to fly it, I'm not interested in that. I'm interested in preaching the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.'
He displayed three planes currently owned by his ministry, with the caption: 'It's not about possessions, it's about priorities.'
Duplantis also expressed excitement over the US moving its Israeli embassy to Jerusalem, saying that tells him that the end time is 'coming fast, ladies and gentlemen'.
