# Jesse Duplantis Louisiana-based Prosperity Gospel televangelist who operates Jesse Duplantis Ministries from a 35,000-square-foot mansion in Destrehan, Louisiana, and who in 2018 asked supporters to fund a $54 million Dassault Falcon 7X jet — claiming God told him "I want you to believe for a Falcon 7X" in a conversation he had directly with the Almighty about aviation preferences. ## Ministry Duplantis built his ministry on a folksy, comedic preaching style combined with aggressive Prosperity Gospel theology and claims of supernatural experiences, including an alleged visit to heaven that he described in his book *Close Encounters of the God Kind* and *Heaven: Close Encounters of the God Kind*. These "heaven tourism" accounts — describing literal physical visits to heaven — became a lucrative subgenre of evangelical publishing. His television program reaches audiences through Christian broadcasting networks, and he conducts conferences and crusade events. The ministry operates as a tax-exempt religious organization. ## The Falcon 7X Request In May 2018, Duplantis posted a video asking supporters to "believe with him" for a $54 million Dassault Falcon 7X, which would be his fourth private jet. He claimed God specifically told him to acquire this model and that "it'll go anywhere in the world on one stop." He framed the request not as asking followers for money but as inviting them to participate in a shared act of faith — a distinction without a financial difference. The video, which went viral alongside [[Kenneth Copeland]]'s separate jet defense, became one of the most widely shared examples of Prosperity Gospel excess. When challenged, Duplantis claimed he had never directly asked for money — a technically narrow defense given that the video's clear purpose was to solicit donations. Duplantis's property tax exemption on his 35,000-square-foot mansion has also drawn scrutiny. The estate is classified as a parsonage (clergy housing), exempting it from property taxes — a common pattern in which Prosperity Gospel pastors' personal residences are structured as church-owned clergy housing to avoid taxation. ## Analytical Framework Jesse Duplantis is the Prosperity Gospel's most transparent case study in the theology's internal logic: if God personally communicates with the pastor, and if God's will includes specific aircraft models, then funding the jet is obedience to divine instruction. Questioning the request is questioning God. The theology creates a closed system where the pastor's personal desires are indistinguishable from divine commands — and where the congregation's role is to fund whatever the pastor declares God has said. His joint appearances with Copeland discussing their jet needs — conversations between two wealthy men about God's aviation preferences — represent the movement's most honest self-portrait: a theology that exists to consecrate wealth accumulation.