On Facebook today, I stumbled upon a post that linked to this story about Jesse Duplantis:

I first saw Duplantis many years ago and immediately this man made my skin crawl.  Back then, he made himself out to be some kind of Christian comedian, but the words that came out of his irreverent mouth instantly showed me he was simply another, typical, run of the mill, dime a two-dozen, phony evangelical huckster out to fleece the flock of God for—you guessed it—money.

Duplantis’ true god is not the God of the Old and New Testaments but the number one false god of America:  the greenback.  If huckster’s like Duplantis could make the same money off of the name of, say, Satan, you can rest assure he would switch in an instant.

But the equally amazing and sad aspect of this story is that this phony is in business and stays in business because of only one reason:  God’s people.  They are the one’s reaching ever deeper into their pocketbooks to fund his extravagant lifestyle.

Remember what I wrote in part one of my previous post?  “Follow the money.”  This is, in a nutshell, all one needs to determine the methods and madness of so much of what passes for “Christianity” in America.

Why do Christians support this buffoon, this false teacher and blasphemer?  What is it about this fool that is so appealing to people that, not only do they support him, but give him hundreds, even thousands, of their hard-earned dollars?

Men like Duplantis do not fear God.  I believe men and women who paddle around in the same foul swamp he does fall into one of two categories:  they either hate God with a passion or they don’t believe in Him at all.  No one who has an ounce of genuine love and fear of God could possibly conduct themselves in the manner in which these charlatans do.

I return to my original point for emphasis:  follow the money.  Understand that money is what drives these fakes, fuels their passions, and defines and guides their every move.  Their love and adoration of money is what causes them to wake up every morning, scheming of new scams to part the faithful with their hard-earned coin.

Let me tell you a true story from my own life:

When I was in my early late teens, early twenties, I met a young man a couple of years older.  Walking across a street one day in the crosswalk, on his way to church, he was struck by a car that threw him about 100 feet.  How he survived is one of those unexplained miracles of life.

In a body cast for almost a year, he was never able to walk again without the use of a cane or crutches.  He was in the peak prime of his life when he was struck.

Because he was legally crossing the street in a crosswalk and the driver (an elderly woman if memory serves me correctly) was 100% at fault, he received a huge settlement.  I never found out how much nor asked, but back then, in the late 70’s, it was probably close to a million dollars.

After receiving his settlement, he lived an extravagant lifestyle, purchasing fancy cars, a nice truck, several homes, ate healthy foods, bought expensive guitars, etc.  And he was very generous to tele-evangelists, giving untold amounts of money to these con artists.

One of their “hooks” these crooks used to part my friend from his money was their teaching on divine healing.  One can understand how he would be particularly vulnerable to being flimflammed in this manner because he was struck down in the prime of his life and yearned to be restored to the abundant health he once enjoyed.

His money lasted almost three decades before he eventually spent every penny.  He is now on welfare and has been living on the taxpayer’s dime for years.

I never learned nor asked how many multiplied tens of thousands of dollars, perhaps over a hundred thousand dollars or more, he gave to these spiritual criminals.  All I know is that, slowly but surely, every single cent that he received from that hard-earned settlement disappeared.

Nor have I ever sat down with him and inquired how he feels about this, if whether or not he blames God for his own lack of wisdom and proper stewardship over the money he received and eventually squandered.  Such topics are difficult to bring up, even with friends.

Like so many situations in our lives, this one is like an onion, with many layers winding round and around the circumstances and decisions of our pilgrimage on this planet.  Did my friend give away a fair percentage of his fortune because he was bargaining with God, believing the tele-evangelist’s lie of the “thousand fold blessing”?

Was it out of selfishness that he sent countless checks in the money to these degenerates?  Through improper motives?  Only him and God knows, and people like myself, observing this train wreck from oftentimes close quarters, can only speculate as to why he threw away so much on absolutely nothing.

I write the following with no sense of pride, understanding that in this particular, narrow aspect of my life, I made a wise choice:  never was I taken in by these “Christian” crooks.  It was glaringly obvious to me, even as a babe in Christ surviving on milk, that these people were wolves in sheep’s clothing.  I would no sooner give them one dollar than I would toss a buck in the commode and flush it down the sewer.

Incredibly, millions of people don’t think like I do, and hopefully, like you do.  What is so obvious to me, like the sun shining in its glory on a cloudless summer afternoon, is that these people are villains in the truest sense of the word.  They are as guilty as Bernie Sanders and need to occupy a cell right along with him.

My friends story, though tragic, is not uncommon; it can be multiplied an endless amount of times.  Hopefully, none of my readers will end up in the poorhouse due to making similar unwise choices as my friend.