Full Interview: Preacher Kenneth Copeland Defends Lavish Lifestyle

how are you sir we just like to ask you about why you don't want to fly commercial why have you said that you won't fly commercial you said that it's like getting into a tube with a bunch of demons why do you think that no listen to me this scene not the people the main reason is because of the need it if I flew commercial I'd have to stop 65% of what I'm doing that's really lame isn't it true that you want to fly commercial so that you can fly in luxury how much money did you pay for Tyler Perry's Gulfstream jet for example well for example that's really none of your business but the business of your donors mission I paid you kind of caught me off guard here ok I'd like to give you a chance to to catch your breath and and have a conversation we don't want it we don't want to catch off-guard love Inside Edition you got to get this now hey you listening to me my wife thanks inside of this and is oh yeah now thank you lord well let me let me just ask you a really simple question a lot of people think it's unbecoming for a preacher to live a life of luxury and to fly around in private jets what's your response to that very simple it takes a lot of money to do what we do we have brought over a hundred let's see this the latest figures just came out 122 million people to the Lord Jesus Christ let me give you another example last May I was scheduled for Lagos Nigeria as a long ways I had a week off and I was scheduled for Peru and I prayed about it and I thought I'm not missing that dedication in Jerusalem without the airplane that we have that I bought from Tyler Perry and I didn't pay anything or anything Tyler's one of the greatest guy he made it he made that airplane so cheap for me I couldn't help but buy it my question well ok alright but I want to get to the demons because people are very concerned about that comment chance you're inside the vision I love your eyes and here's what happened we flew in 21 days 17 hours forty thousand miles touched five continents and preached face-to-face personally with a hundred and twenty five thousand people do you ever do you ever use your private jets to go visit your vacation homes for example yes again getting back to the comment you said that you don't like to fly commercial because you don't want to get into a tube with a bunch of demons do you really believe that human beings are demons no I do not and don't you ever say I did we wrestle not with flesh and blood but principalities and powers can you explain what you meant by that that by that term then just just explain because it's really simple you said you didn't want to get into a tube with a bunch of demons what did you mean well let me ask you do you think that people that fly commercial or demon but it's a biblical thing it's a spiritual thing it doesn't have anything to do with people people I love people Jesus loves people but people get pushed in alcohol do you think that's a good place for a preacher to be and prepare to go preach to a lot of people when somebody in there is dragging some woman down an aisle it made me so mad to see that on television I wanted to punch the guy out myself I can't be doing that I'm getting ready to preach you just don't like to be around the sinful people or the the hurtful people is that what you're saying not the people back during the days that we couldn't do anything else we had to travel commercial I've when I went to Oral Roberts University I flew for Oral Roberts I'm first pilot John spent a lot of time in Arabic you have how many planes we have the Gulf Stream and we still have our citations here and then we have a little smaller airplane but both those are the two ones that we use and we use them all the time and other people use them too we have other ministries that that usually in the book of Ephesians we wrestle not with people but with principalities and powers unseen things rulers of the darkness of this world talking about the devil he's a very real devil just the same as Jesus is very real Lord and and I spent a lot of time on airlines but the main thing that happened was not that wasn't the main reason the main reason that was I couldn't no longer do what I called to do and beyond the airlines besides that I need my clothes when I get there and you have some fancy clothes I mean for a pastor you are living a life of luxury you've got great homes we've got great planes you do you drive in limos and you're very wealthy man people would say that is it is it appreciate add something to that uh my wealth doesn't come from offerings or sell things books and DVDs yes and I have a lot of natural gasps on our property didn't know that did you baby now I do yeah you do ain't that wonderful wonderful for you back when and I might add another thing too we invest from let's see I don't know the exact number unless you're yet but it will run something in the neighborhood of twenty twenty-five million in the poor can't do that and be broke so final question is a lot of people maybe have a misunderstanding then about what you do and prosperity preaching so the final question is this to those critics that say that a preacher should not be living a life of luxury what is your response to that they're wrong that it's a misunderstanding of the Bible that if you go into the Old Covenant do you think the Jewish people believe you should be broke are you saying that Jewish people appreciate money more than they believe in wealth people would find that offensive wait a minute now I'm not talking about some people I'm talking about the Bible the blessing of Abraham Abraham was extremely wealthy and he had covenant with God nothing it's not the Jewish blessing it's the Abrahamic blessing how do I get excited talking about it cuz I love it and I started out deep in that with nothing which is another story but anyway you say that it's biblical and that they that there's a foundation in the Bible for them close it with this I I had to learn this like I said from the Bible and from my spiritual mentor Oral Roberts and I learned it from him working with him and then we became he was close friends until he died and and he took the same heat for brief him God would prosper you that I've taken over the years and Abraham was very very wealthy man Galatians chapter 3 if you belong to Christ then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to his promise and his promise was great wealth the Bible also says that it's more difficult for a rich man to get into heaven than it is for a camel to get through the eye of a needle correctness to the scripture but he said all things are possible with God and he said if he studied the Greek behind that it's trusting in wealth when he said that his disciples said they were astonished out of measure because they were wealthy men they were astonished out of measure saying how can anyone be saved he said all things are possible both of my grandfather's were preachers they were both very poor they lived simple modest lives they were extremely offended by men that made money like you do preaching like you do what would your response be to people that think that preachers shouldn't live this kind of a lifestyle oops like my both my grandfather's and I understand that and I love them with all my heart it's it's your grandfather's that we're standing on their shoulders they held up and they stood for it glory to God but when you go back to the Bible it's full wealth and it's full of miracles and signs and wonders and it's full of goodness and it's full of meanness it's just full hell on earth those are the demons not the people I love the people again getting back to the sir thank you so much for your time today we'll be su carrera Lygia god bless father bless Lisa today thank you for her grandparents thank you for giving me the opportunity to know her and to her team and I pray and I believe her peace will be successful I love Inside Edition I love the people on it and it thrills me to get a chance to have my face on inside thank you very much Reverend you have a nice day thank you very much for your patience [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Inside Edition

Views: 2,806,512

Rating: 4.5461535 out of 5

Keywords: cat-investigative, investigation, texas

Id: 9LtF34MrsfI

Length: 11min 57sec (717 seconds)

Published: Mon May 20 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/honeyflaps]

It's actually kind of amazing how every one of his mannerisms is totally phony. How many years of practice did it take to create this character he's playing? What a strange caricature of a human.

[u/Gumamba]

"I love your eyes," probably self conscious about his own eyes making him look like a god damn reptilian

[u/-ordinary]

“You caught me off guard”

“I didn’t have a chance to prepare my lie”

[u/Sourflow]

Can someone explain what is wrong with his eyes?

[u/DrRainbowBrite]

The way he calls her baby makes my skin crawl. What a creepy dude

[u/Cuzahn]

This mother fucker seems more like the devil... rather than a preacher. Slimey and unsettling.

[u/MrsTurtlebones]

Grrrrr . . . the Bible -- especially Jesus -- did NOT teach a prosperity gospel! Jesus was friends with fishermen and tax collectors, not exactly respected people then. This hurts because even if you just read the words of Jesus alone, there is no promise of wealth and in fact, when He was offered to have the entire world as His kingdom, He turned it down. Clearly not someone interested in money!

I realize that not everyone believes in Jesus and the Bible, so I am not trying to convince anyone but rather pointing out that Copeland's beliefs are in direct opposition to what Jesus said, not to mention the rest of the Bible.

[u/boomhauer_lonestar]

His smile is very eerie

[u/eatMYcookieCRUMBS]

When I graduated highschool there was a place that paid 10$ an hour. That was a lot where I lived, especially at 19 years old. I applied and got the job.

This place was in Inservice America and it was a call center for people to donate money to guys like this and Jerry Falwell etc.

During training, we were all told to give a false name. So all men were Josh, all girls Nancy. This was so that all the old people calling to donate thought we were the same person any time they called. We were also told to lie about where we were located because they didn't want people to know we were in the same city as them. (Bible belt area)

We were givin a script to read that included pre- written prayers in case they wanted to pray. We were told even if we don't believe in God, that's why the prayers were there to read.

I totally was not okay with that much lying to people who truly believe. I never went back to that place after.

I was telling this to friends and one aquantince I knew had actually worked there and was fired. He said his 3rd day there an elder lady called saying she didn't have enogh money to feed her family so she was donating her LAST $50 DOLLARS so that God would provide. The guy told her to spend the $50 on food and not on a donation. He was promptly fired.

Tl;dr: got a job working at a call center for these places that take money from people and the amount of lying and deceit they told you to do was so bad I refused the best paying job I had learned at that point in my life.