Preacher says God told him to get a $70 million private jet

A US Christian minister is asking his followers to fork out for a $70 million dollar jet, saying God told him he needed the private plane.

Jesse Duplantis, a televangelist who preaches the Gospel to millions of viewers, is making headlines right now for his bold statement that God wanted him to have a Dassault Falcon 7X – which would be his fourth private jet.

It comes a week after he posted a video on his vlog This Week with Jesse, claiming God told him the plane was vital for helping him spread the word of the Gospel.

“He said, ‘I want you to believe in me for a Falcon 7-X’,” Duplantis said, quoting God.

“So, I said, ‘Ok’.

“But the first thing I thought of, ‘Well, how am I going to pay for it?’”

And here’s the real kicker:

“Jesse, I didn’t ask you to pay for it,” God apparently told him.

Amazing.

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Apparently, the only way for Duplantis to effectively spread the word of God is to do so by luxury air travel.

And he seems to think everyone’s favourite son of God would do the same thing.

“If Jesus was physically on earth today, he wouldn’t be riding a donkey,” he said.

As we learned from a yarn from Nick Copley for The Sherpa Report, the extremely-specific plane request from the spirit in the sky is not cheap.

They cost a little over $70 million brand new, but you could nab a 10-year-old jet second-hand one for the bargain price of just $25 million.

As an aside, it was estimated the upkeep on these babies can cost as much as $765,000 a year.

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The cabin can seat up to 19, but most Falcon 7X models are configured to seat 12.

They can even be customised to fit beds and even showers to make air travel that little bit comfier.

But Duplantis reckons it’s not about comfort, it’s about speed.

He says the plane would give him the ability to "go anywhere in the world" – to preach the world of the lord, of course – without having to make forced stopovers.

And, in case you’re being cynical here, he said this would actually work out to be cheaper because it would mean he would only have to use his own fuel.

So it’s actually super economical, guys.