Zach Parish, a racer who is staying with us, visited our local megachurch today. Jesse Duplantis was the guest preacher. When he came home, I asked, "So how was it?"

Zach's response was direct, "Well, he said, 'God wants you to be a spender and talked a lot about himself, his planes, and his conspicuous consumption. He took up two offerings, the second of which was for his TV program. He said, 'Are you in debt and want to get out of it? Buy my DVD.'"

Admittedly, it was just one sermon and I wasn't there (if you're interested here's an interview on CBN). I'm sure the guy has done a lot of great stuff for the kingdom and I don't want to bash him. But we listened to the talk in the video below from Francis Chan this morning and the contrast was fascinating.

Chan takes on that view and blasts it to smithereens. He says, "Money does weird things to people. You stop relying on God - it creates a false sense of security." He contrasts the response of the rich young ruler to Zaccheus and notes that salvation came to Zaccheus when he gave his money away (Luke 19:8-9). It showed where his heart really was.

Chan goes on to look at the Revelations 3 passage and challenges his congregation, "A lot of you would say you're lukewarm and that you like to be lukewarm. And it blows me away that you won't do anything about it."

Chan opens himself up for criticism. He looks at a world where half the people live on less than $2/day and says, "I have a sickness and it's called comfort. I don't know if I'm strong enough to make it here." At one point he took a leave of absence from his pastorate just to ask God about that. It was more important that he not miss God and that he live passionately for him than his pastor position or the possessions that life in America affords.

I'd like to get Duplantis and Chan in the same room and hear their conversation. They both love Jesus, but they interpret his views on money in radically different ways. And I'm interested in the contrast and what you think of it. What do you do with this guy Jesus and what he said about money?