Jesse Duplantis’ SHOCKING False Teaching!

Jesse Duplantis’ Claim That Christians Can Do Greater Works

Hey guys, Colin here, and welcome back to Fight for Truth, the channel where we bring you Christian commentary about the things that matter. In today's video, we're going to be talking about a sermon from Jesse Duplantis.

Most of his teaching that you'll see today is centered on prosperity gospel theology. Specifically, his main subject is receiving things from God. So what we're going to do today is rather simple. I'm going to present to you the preaching of Jesse Duplantis as best I can, and then we're going to present some of what the Bible says as it relates to these topics.

As always, I'll offer you some of my personal input, but at the end of the day, you look at all the facts here, survey them, and comment below telling us what your conclusion is. And without any further ado, let's take a look at Jesse Duplantis' teaching.

Watch this. Don't get mad at me. I'm just speaking a fact here.

You will never receive if you are doubting your ability to do so. What is your ability? You want to know what it is? Grab your pew. You can do the same work that Jesus did in Greater. That's St. John chapter 14, verses 12, 13, and 14.

I have adopted those scriptures in my life forever.

Just for context, as you'll see in the video today, when Jesse talks about receiving here, he's talking about receiving material blessings from God. Money, education, influence, possessions, etc. And Jesse presents what he clearly believes to be a bombshell evidence in favor of this claim.

That evidence is that we can do the same things Jesus did and more. And Jesse is quoting a particular scripture here, John 14, 12. In it, Jesus says this, "...very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.".

So now we have a claim being made, and we also have a potential piece of biblical evidence for that claim. Let's put this all together. Jesus seemed to say that we could do things greater than He did, and therefore, we can acquire tremendous personal health and wealth.

That is effectively the argument being made from Jesse Duplantis. But this is not convincing, for several reasons. For one thing, there are at least two other interpretations of this passage, probably more, that are far more appealing.

After surveying several commentaries, here are a few patterns that I saw when people interpreted the passage. First, commentators are divided on whether or not this promise was specifically for the disciples whom Jesus was speaking to at the time, or if it is broadly meant for all Christians.

Jesse seems to think it applies directly to all modern Christians, and I actually share this view, because Jesus said, quote, "...whoever believes in me.". This would at least seem to indicate that He's not talking about just the disciples.

But I feel compelled to tell you, nonetheless, that this is not necessarily the only view. Secondly, commentators are even more divided in their answer to the question of how exactly the disciples, or any Christian for that matter, could do works greater than Christ.

What exactly does this mean? Well, on this topic, there are two views that I kept seeing repeated across several commentaries. First, some said that the apostles, by God's grace, would actually do greater miracles than Christ did.

And these teachers often cited the example of how in Acts 5 .15, many would literally bring sick people into the streets in the hopes that the apostle Peter's shadow would touch them and they would be healed.

Some would also cite the example of how in Acts 19 .12, it is said that people were healed just by touching items of clothing that had been in contact with the apostle Paul's skin. But other commentators take a different approach, and this one is very common.

In this view, some teachers would say that one cannot do greater miracles than Jesus. It's impossible. Because His ultimate miracle, the resurrection, has never been repeated or surpassed. And this is definitely a good point.

So instead, these teachers would make the case that the word greater does not necessarily mean mightier or more impressive, but rather, more widespread across the world. After all, the disciples and the early Christians who followed them took the Gospel to incredible places in a relatively short amount of time.

And the effects of Christianity can now be seen almost across the entire world. And it is in this way that many commentators would say that we have surpassed the ministry of Jesus in the scope of Christian ministry, in that it is much wider now.

So as you can see, there are many Christians who have come to different conclusions about this text. Feel free to let us know what you think in the comment section. However, it is interesting that in all my study on this passage, never once did I see anyone indicate or imply what Jesse Duplantis said.

Jesse said that we could accumulate material blessings because, well, we can do anything Jesus did and more. But this simply does not fit with the passage at all, nor does it fit with the life of Jesus.

Matthew 8 20 says, quote,. And Jesus said to him,. Foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. End quote. You see, Jesus was effectively poor and homeless, and He certainly would have been classified using those words by today's standards.

And this seriously calls into question what Jesse was preaching in the video, because he said that it's about accumulating material possessions. But on the contrary, Jesus Himself says that He was lacking in possessions.

In other words, this foreign idea from Jesse Duplantis really doesn't fit in with the tone of the passage. In context, regardless of all these different commentary views, it seems almost unanimously agreed that Jesus was specifically referring to Christian ministry of some kind.

In other words, the greater things mentioned here would be done for the same purpose that Jesus did His great things, that is, to testify to the truth of His gospel message and the fact of His lordship.

But again, none of that has anything to do with what Jesse Duplantis' prosperity gospel message was teaching. So as you can see, for those reasons, I don't think we should take this argument here from Jesse as proof of his sermon being correct.

In fact, there's really no compelling evidence at all to believe what Jesse said was true. And with that said, let's continue to see what he talks about next. Watch this.

Desires of the Heart and Material Blessings

What I saw, Quida, on your monitor was an opportunity. Desires of the heart will give you great opportunities for faith to work. I like that. Write this down. The truth of your desires is already in the mind and heart of God.

Or the truth of the matter of your desire is already in the mind and heart of God. It's God saying, please make my day. Let me do this.

Now just to add context, if you scroll to about minute 30 of this sermon, which is linked in the description below, you'll find that just before this clip, Jesse was talking about a particular luxury car that one of his employees wanted.

That is the kind of desire he's referring to, desire for material possessions. And on this topic, he confidently says that, quote, the truth of the matter is that your desires are already in the mind and heart of God.

It's him saying, please make my day, end quote. Now this is incorrect for several reasons. First off, he is implying that all of your material desires originate in the mind and heart of God. In other words, whatever you want, and remember the specific example he gave was a new car, but again, whatever you want, God is already thinking about how desperately He wants to give it to you.

But this too simply doesn't fit with what we've read many times in Scripture. In Luke 12, 15, Jesus says, quote, take care and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions, end quote.

So Jesse strongly implies that we should affirm all of our material desires as being of godly origin. But Jesus, on the other hand, warns us about the distinct and dangerous potential of having a desire for possessions that is out of order and sinful.

This kind of teaching from Jesse, then, is at the very least lacking in wisdom and discernment. At the very worst, it's outright encouraging Christians to do things that Jesus called sinful. Either way, this is dangerous stuff.

But in the next clip, Jesse attempts to dispel any of the concerns that we might have about his view being unbiblical. Let's see what he says in his defense. Watch this.

He said, in Psalms 37, for delight thyself also in the Lord. That's why we come to church. And He will give you. He will. Notice who's doing this. He, he, El Shaddai. God more than enough. Give you the desires of your heart.

Now to find out what He desires for you, you delight yourself. And all of a sudden, His desires become yours.

Pause here, because we need to know what he's quoting from. Psalm 37 verse 4 says, quote, delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. But then he says something rather interesting.

Frankly, it's unexpected. Jesse implies that as you dedicate yourself to God, your desires will change to better reflect God's desires. And this is surprising, because he's absolutely correct. We know that the Christian life is one in which God adjusts and molds and changes our hearts to honor Him and His standard, both by justification and sanctification.

Ezekiel 36, 26 says, quote, and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will remove the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. So yes, our desires should be shaped and molded according to God's holy character, as revealed in His Word.

And shockingly, Jesse Duplantis almost seems to be preaching this accurately. So let's allow him to continue and see if he stays on a biblical course here. Watch this.

Now to find out what He desires for you, you delight yourself. And all of a sudden, His desires become yours. And His are much bigger, much better, and way more expensive.

Well, that sound teaching did not last long. Immediately after saying something biblically true, he has completely changed course and is back into false teaching. You see, Jesse confidently states that God's desires for us are always, quote, bigger, better, and more expensive, end quote.

And this, too, does not fit well with many Scriptures. So let's ask some important pressing questions. First, which one of Jesus' followers was immensely wealthy? It seems to me that most, if not all of them, died with either average or below-average financial situations.

And also, according to Acts chapter 18 and many other passages, Paul, for example, was a heavily persecuted bivocational minister who made tents. And that's hardly the resume of a rich man. Additionally, in Mark 10, 21, Jesus says to the rich young ruler, quote, you lack one thing.

Go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me, end quote. You see, this really does not fit with what Jesse just preached. He said that all Christians should expect bigger, better, and more expensive material things from God.

If that is the case, why would the rich young ruler be told to sell his bigger, better, and more expensive possessions? And why are we consistently warned in the Bible about the pitfalls of desiring wealth, if after all, we are supposedly promised great wealth from God?

You see, there are several other pieces of evidence I could cite to you, evidence which calls into question Jesse's teaching here. But rather than continue with that, let me just tell you again that Jesse Duplantis should be the one proving his point here.

The burden of proof is on the one who made the claim. And I can confidently tell you, having watched the entirety of the sermon, he doesn't come close to accomplishing that. Put simply, he does not prove using actual biblical evidence that God has promised great wealth to all Christians.

And this fact alone should cause us to doubt his conclusion. In summary, Jesse Duplantis really seems to look at the Bible exclusively through prosperity gospel lenses. There is no clear attempt to understand the actual meaning of the passage.

Rather, there is a distinct effort to grab the passage and make it all about health and wealth by any means necessary. And more than this, the passages that Jesse quoted in favor of his position were all demonstrated to be inconclusive.

In fact, at several points, the meaning of the passage actually contradicted Jesse's overall point. At the end of the day, Jesse didn't prove his position, nor did he lend any biblical credibility to the prosperity gospel worldview.

All he successfully showed us is that his teaching is unbiblical, unfounded, and dangerous. I pray that this has been a blessing to you, and please know that this video isn't meant as a sinful attack, but rather as a biblical critique.

And let's pray for Jesse, that he would stop this false teaching by God's grace and turn to the truth of God's Word. Thank you so much for watching that video. Please give us a like and subscribe so that you don't miss any content.

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