Televangelist Kenneth Copeland is back in the news after a recent interview for Inside Edition went viral. It involved him defending his lavish lifestyle, including his purchase of a private jet so that he doesn’t have to fly like everyone else in a “long tube with a bunch of demons.”

Now other wealthy Christians are coming to Copeland’s defense. Because of course they are.

Fellow televangelist James Robison, an evangelical adviser to Donald Trump, says his wife saw the Inside Edition episode and “wept so freely she could not watch till the end.” He also added that “This is the kind of attack our President faces 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.” Whatever that means.

But the more robust defense came from the publisher of Charisma Stephen Strang, who said it makes perfect sense for a preacher like Copeland to avoid the demons. (Strang also suggested Copeland said that line jokingly, which he absolutely did not.)

“Why is this so controversial?” Strang asked. “It is like a tube. It’s very crowded and, you know, he’d be speaking a little bit in hyperbole, but there are people in those airplanes who are not spiritual. Sometimes they have to haul them off because they get into fights with each other. An airplane these days, commercial airline, is a flying bar, they serve alcohol … There’s a lot of things that are not spiritual and it’s not necessarily a good environment.” Strang said that “there are demonic activities” and an atmosphere of “oppression” on commercial flights that someone like Copeland simply shouldn’t have to endure as he travels the world spreading the Gospel.

It’s amazing how these people are meant to be conduits to God when they’re completely unable to function in civil society. I’ve been on planes with alcohol. I have yet to bear witness to a fight or a drunken row-mate.

Keep in mind these people don’t even think flying first class is an option. That’s for peasants, apparently.

There’s always the other option of not going overseas — or hiring ministers in those countries instead. For the price of a private jet, you could get a fairly sizable ministry off the ground. But no. The world needs to see Copeland in person! Unless it’s with a camera and someone’s asking questions, in which case he’ll completely melt down.

Strang could always just admit Copeland is greedy, but at least he’s greedy for the greater good of spreading the gospel, or some BS like that… but he can’t even bring himself to criticize Copeland for a completely legitimate purpose.

With advocates like these, it’s a wonder Christianity has any following whatsoever. But wealthy people have always conned gullible people by convincing them that they, too, could get rich if only they buy whatever the conman is selling.

(via Right Wing Watch)

