Jet Lag
In Defense of Creflo Dollar
Coach. Gucci, Lexus, Mercedes
Ministers who demand luxury deny the core of the gospel. Rev. Dollar has
been known to twist the gospel in the past, proposing that Jesus was
independently wealthy. Dollar invented this gospel to make it easier to
build a case for his own wealth. But the prosperity gospel has become a
hollow message in our generation. We are confronted every day by the
reality of poverty and suffering in our world, and we know that true
followers of Christ are called to give and share, not take and hoard. We
also know that a preacher who gets rich off of the offerings of poor
people is involved in exploitation.
--J. Lee Grady, former Editor, Charisma Magazine
On DC RealTalk, this same pastor who'd dismissed local pastors as
"Zip Code Pastors" went on to rail against Church Folk, saying, to
the effect, that we’re always trying to put Jesus in coach. Saying Jesus
wasn’t poor, implying that Jesus had money by making the point the
disciples’ collection was large enough that no one noticed Judas
skimming from it.
First: here is no biblical record of Jesus ever having owned anything,
not even His earthly father’s house. There’s no mention of Joseph’s
house, of Jesus having any equity stake in anything. Granted, that’s not
the same as saying Jesus was broke, but it is the same as saying Jesus
was in no way engaged with material worth. The record is that of Jesus
being ostensibly homeless, returning to Nazareth in only one precipice
[Matthew 13:57] and leaving quickly because He could not perform His
ministry there.
Jesus, as I understand Him, would indeed ride coach. He’d prefer it.
There is no biblical evidence, nothing in the personal example of the
Master, to suggest Jesus would ever, under any imaginable circumstances,
fly first class. This pastor’s assertions about Jesus are troublingly
off the mark, making me wonder if he actually has any idea Who Jesus is.
Coach, beloved, is filled with the people Jesus would most want to talk
to, would most want to be around. It is simply unimaginable that Jesus
would rather slip on His Beats headphones as the stewardess slides that
curtain over so the rabble squeezed into coach won’t see them hand Jesus
a warm pair of slippers. That is a ludicrous visual because it goes so
against anything the bible teaches us. Yet, here is this pastor—a
pastor—yammering on, attacking local pastors for doing their job and
putting Jesus in the elite first class cabin.
And all the other guests on this show just nodded and yassuh! and all of
that. It’s just beyond belief, this Stockholm Syndrome of Christians
devolving into Church Folk. They are so distant, so cut off from the
Master’s voice that they can’t tell when Satan is impersonating Him.
They are led astray by all of this Jesus-riding-first-class nonsense,
one sister bragging about how all her life all she’s driven is luxury
cars and pledging to write her check immediately after the broadcast.
Did she, or was she just posturing for the show?
What deeply troubles me is Dollar’s clarion call will directly impact
the local church. Deceived people, believing they’ll get “a blessing,”
will starve their local church while writing checks to Dollar. They may
think of it as “tithing” into Dollar’s “ministry,” but the church on the
corner—with that lesser-known pastor who shows up before they wheel you
into the operating room, who comes to your kid’s soccer game, who
welcomes you over to his house for barbecue—that guy gets stiffed and
the local church talks a hit on its mortgage and light bill so that
Creflo Dollar can travel in luxury.
I found little evidence to support the claim that any of the callers to
that show were actually Christians. Their reasoning, their doctrinal
conclusions (which mainly involved—one after the other—repeating Psalm
13:22 over and over), were so far afield from what the biblical record
clearly demonstrates was Jesus’ posture, His personality, His comport.
The brassy, aggressive, domineering, judgmental tone (much like I myself
demonstrate here) has nothing whatsoever to do with Jesus, and the
preposterous defense of the indefensible marks these as deceived people
led astray by this particular gust of false doctrine.
I felt *soiled* just listening to it.
This Is Not A Cargo Plane: Presuming World Changers' claims to be true, if they truly needed a conveyance with which to serve, they'd buy a far less expensive cargo jet. Ministries need a bus, not a Porsche 911.
Baggage Claims
Once again, to be fair to Dr. Dollar: even if conceived by the pastor,
Project G650 was likely executed by the media firm the ministry
contracts with. As of this writing, Dr. Dollar has not ducked
responsibility for the public relations debacle--as most would; I mean,
that's what PR firms are for: to take the heat and get fired when
something goes wrong. Dollar was reportedly out of the country at the
campaign launch, and immediately cancelled the appeal upon learning of
the media blowback:
Defending Dollar’s apparent need to purchase this
extravagant form of traveling instead of hopping on a commercial flight,
Juda Engelmayer, who represents Dollar’s ministries, said the
significant cargo they carried with them made the aircraft a must. The
5W Public Relations representative continued that when Dollar flies
around the globe, he takes with him a team of 10 to 15 people and they
carry with them thousands of pounds of food and provisions. Engelmayer
went on to say, “If he’s coming to the New York church, he’ll hop on a
Delta flight; if he’s taking 12 people plus 100,000 pounds of food, it’s
not that simple.” He continued, “The work they do is important. It’s
feeding, clothing, educating people, as well as passing on the word of
God.”
However, when David Graham, Global Express aircraft captain with
Advanced Air Management, heard about Dollar’s reasons for wanting his
followers to purchase a G650, he rubbished their excuse, stating that
their reasoning didn’t add up. Others also expressed dismay as to why
Dollar, who lives in a million dollar home, needed such an expensive
aircraft, which is usually bought by billionaires.
In an email to the Christian Post on Friday, Graham, whose
experience experience ranges from Chief Pilot to Line Captain with
Worldwide Operations, stated, “The G650 max ramp weight is 99,600. Then
add 4,000 for the G650ER … It cannot carry 12 people and 100,000 of food
and supplies like the commenter says. Creflo is a crook and scamming his
church in the name of the Lord!!!”
The manufacturer of the Gulfstream G650 appears to confirm Graham’s
claims on their website. It states that the aircraft holds about 18
seated passengers and can take off with a maximum weight of 99,600
pounds. It also lists a pre-owned G650 for $67,950,000 which had 1,616
hours of flying time and 625 landings. [All
Christian News]
If World Changers were serious about this plane thing, instead of buying
a luxurious $65 million Gulfstream they’d pay only $10 million for a
late-model Boeing 757 cargo jet [source:
Bloomberg Business]. The 757 is at least four to five times
the size of the Gulfstream and can carry the “100,000 (pounds) of food” Engelmayer alluded to. The difference: cargo jets have no amenities.
They are big, hollow tubes set up for tons of stock. The ministry could
always build a luxury suite on board for Pastor Dollar and still have
enormous space for passengers and cargo—and have $55 million in the bank
as compared to the ludicrous personal jet they claim is for ministry
work.
Dollar could solve his plane problem any number of ways that would not
involve fleecing the flock on so preposterous a scale. First, his
reported net worth is $27 million. That means Dollar could put $20
million down on a new jet and still have enough money left in the bank
to not have to work another day in his life. For $20 million down, any
finance company on the planet would finance that plane and that would be
that.
For a fraction of that $20 million—say five to seven million—Dollar
could have his existing plane rebuilt from the tires up; stripped down
to nothing and completely rebuilt with all new parts, brand-new engines,
the works. The new plane would be barely recognizable as the same
conveyance; it’d be like flipping a house: all new inside and out.
For much, much less than that, Dollar could contract with a charter
service that already owns a nice Gulfstream. That plane would be at his
disposal at a moment’s notice. It would still be an insanely expensive
way to get around, but he wouldn’t have to actually buy a plane.
Lastly, for a fraction of that fraction, Dollar could travel in
elite luxury first class anywhere in the world. He doesn’t need a plane.
He wants a plane and he wants the very best plane so he can boast
about having the very best plane. Besides being materially obsessed,
Dollar seems to be in need of constant external validation, his face and
name all over everything, taking credit for everything, which marks him
as terribly insecure. These are serious red flags; yet we Church folk
swoon when the guy comes to town.
This is the difference between Christians and Church Folk: Christians
worship Christ. Church Folk worship the church. Church Folk get so
caught up in their Church Folk nonsense that they start buying whatever
foolishness people are selling—even this plane nonsense.
The $65 Million-Dollar Question:
This man is worth millions. If he has a vital word for God's pastors,
why is he charging them to hear it? Better question: why are gullible people paying?
Reality Check
Jesus would never, under any imaginable circumstances, pay $65 million
for a plane, nor would He accept it as a gift from His followers. Jesus
never moved more than 200 miles from his home, traveling mostly by foot
and by boat. I believe, were Jesus walking among us today and Creflo
Dollar gave him $65 million, Jesus would use that money to hire
professional soldiers to protect the tens of thousands of women and
young girls being serially raped in Sierra Leone, in Darfur, in the
Congo. I believe Jesus would buy planeloads of anti-viral meds to combat
AIDS in Africa. I believe He’d spend that money feeding people, healing
people. It is unimaginable our Lord would spend $65 million to pad his
gilded flying cage as He jetted around to events where, yes, He’d hawk
silly products and oppress the seekers for money. That we’re still this
ignorant, that we still fall for the Reverend Ike okie-doke, simply
astounds me.
Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto
him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and
give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take
up the cross, and follow me. —Mark 10-:21
Take up the cross. In all the heated, ranting defense of Dr.
Dollar, both on Reverend Cherry’s webcast and, subsequently, on his
Facebook page, there wasn’t one mention—not a single one—of the cross.
There were repeated mentioned of Gucci, of Mercedes of Lexus, of luxury
items and exclusive labels. Not one solitary word about the cross.
This is what heresy does to you: it allows you to slip from being a
thoughtful, committed Christian to being Church Folk: quick-tempered,
ill-informed, lost in pettiness and estranged from our purpose as
Christians. Beloved, our purpose is to take up the cross; to share that
burden and not force Christ to carry it alone.
The misaligned, under-educated mindless babble routinely spat out at
buffet joints (and radio shows) by Church Folk is usually tinged with
what these deceived persons consider “righteous indignation” or
“boldness;” many considering the example of Jesus flogging the money
changers or chastising the Pharisees as their justification for simply
being idiots. Sister, brother: mean is mean. Jesus turning over tables
(an ironic choice considering the subject) represents perhaps two
percent of the Gospel narrative, h overwhelming body of which depicts a
Man who was not only calm and composed but gentle, meek, patient, loving
in tone. He often said nothing at all, allowing the Church Folk of His
day to babble on incoherently until they hanged themselves with their
own words.
He was slow to speak and quick to listen. He took nothing. He gave
everything.
Absolutely none of the people I heard or read vehemently defending
Pastor Dollar sounded anything at all like Jesus Christ. Which, in the
final analysis, is all the evidence I really need.
Christopher J. Priest
22 March 2015
editor@praisenet.org
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