There are all kinds of different interpretations for the song, one of which is that it speaks of the soldiers in Viet Nam who are longing for the day when they can leave the war and go home. However, that interpretation doesn't make sense because one of the lines says, "Oh, babe, I hate to go."
The rest of the of the song doesn't seem to fit as a war protest song, but that's what it became once Peter, Paul, and Mary (of "Puff the Magic Dragon" fame) got hold of it and propelled it to popularity.
You may not see a connection between, "Leaving On A Jet Plane" and III John 7, but bear with me and read on.
In the one-chapter book that is III John, the apostle heaps praise on some of the servants of the Lord who accepted no money from unbelievers, thus giving us who live 2,000 years later, a principle of New Testament giving: Only Christians should support the Lord's work (III Jn. 7).
WAIT. WHAT? WHY?
III John 7 may sound strange in our era where televangelists proclaim, "I take money from unbelievers, because that means I'm taking money from the devil." John's praise may sound strange in a day of trying to finance and build ever-bigger church buildings and worldwide ministries in far-flung places, but the principle still holds and is seconded by Paul in II Corinthians 8:1-5, where he writes that the churches in Macedonia were begging to give for the relief of poor believers. It's in that paragraph that Paul says, "But they first gave themselves to the Lord."
Why? Why, in the name of all that's holy, should churches, Christian schools, and Christian ministries not ask unbelievers for money? David J. MacLeod, Dean of Biblical Studies and the Program Director for Biblical Studies, Bible Exposition and Theology at Emmaus Bible College, lists three Scripture-based reasons:
1. Only Christians are stewards of God's grace and the Christian life is a stewardship in which the Lord has "richly supplied us with all things." (I Tim. 6:7)
2. This was the practice of the Apostles. (Acts 11:29-30)
3. It protects the offer of free grace from confusion. (Matt. 10:8; II Cor. 11:7; Acts 20:35)
The early church believed that only Christians should give. They also believed that every Christian, rich or poor should give, not because of pressure to do so, but because of the example of Christ (I Tim. 6:17-19; II Cor. 8:1-2, 8-9; I Cor. 16:1-2) What Christians give is up to us. Israel operated by the commanded tithe, their income tax; the church does not. (II Cor. 9:7) Neither the apostles nor the early church looked upon our freedom from the tithe as an excuse not to give, but were eager to share (II Cor. 8:1-5).
THE RICOCHET OF III JOHN 7
The bullet that John and Paul fired in III John 7 and II Cor. 8:1-5 ricochets all over the place, that is, it has big-time ramifications that most don't like to hear, but let's proceed (in love) anyway.
The giving of money for the work of Christ is an area like the study and application of the qualifications for elders--the texts are either ignored, rejected outright, or compromised. The compromise takes place when churches solicit money from their baptized, yet unbelieving members and when Christian organizations, churches, and ministries appeal to secular foundations for grants or matching funds for support.
The compromise occurs when when churches host bingo games, yard sales, dinners, raffles, and you name it, all a concerted and meticulously effort to get the money out of the wallets of unbelievers and into their coffers.
THE BULLETIN HULLABALOO
I regularly put the following announcement in the bulletin of a former church: "If you have not trusted Christ as your savior, we don't ask for your money. When the offering plate comes by, let it pass." That biblical statement raised a hullabaloo at the church; some of them ever got over it, because, as they said, "I was telling people how to worship." But one visitor found the announcement so unique and refreshing, she mailed the bulletin to her mother in Virginia.
BACK TO THE JET PLANE
So what does all this have to do with that jet plane? Good question.
Way back when, I was talking to a CPA. That's not a fun thing to do, because hardly any of them are interesting. :) Nonetheless, he made an off-hand statement, that, for one of those rare times in his life, was interesting. He said, "No church, no ministry, no televangelist can financially justify the purchase of a private jet."
Don't misunderstand, I wasn't in the market for a private jet; he was referring to the disgusting lavish lifestyles of TV preachers requesting millions and millions of dollars from both believers and unbelievers to keep the silver spoons in their mouths.
JUST HOW LAVISH IS LAVISH?
According to one source, "The cost of a private jet can vary from $1million to $100 million. Some of the other costs are a bit more consistent. You can crew the aircraft for around $1k per day, fuel is obviously proportional to distance traveled; i.e. fuel to Las Vegas from San Francisco might cost around $4k."
One business journal writes, "Many companies these days are re-considering the necessity of purchasing a private jet outright. Not only is the initial purchase price a very high fixed cost, but the ongoing costs are sometimes a bigger consideration.
"Even without actually flying anywhere, jets cost a huge amount just to keep them serviceable and in keeping with all of the certificates of airworthiness requirements. Ongoing costs to consider include regular (and any unforeseen) maintenance, hangarage, pilot and crew salaries, insurance and more"
The contributors to such ministries probably think the cost for their televangelist hero to purchase the jet is a one-time expense of X million dollars, but it's far more than that with the ongoing costs mentioned above. Funny, the evangelists never seem to tell the folks about those on-going costs. Wonder why?
Unjustifiable lavish expenses, the craving for the prestige of jet transportation, these factors put pressure on the evangelists, pastors, and ministries, so they on the hunt for money from any old warm body.
LET'S NAME NAMES
Earlier this year Creflo Dollar asked for $65,000,000 to purchase a Gulfstream G650. (For the uninitiated like me, that's a luxury private jet.) The church created a video ad asking for the money, so the solicitation went outside the mega church. Next came an outcry of outrage from the public, asking why in the world the Rev. Dollar (fitting name) needed such transportation.
The outrage was so great, the church started making excuses--they said they needed the jet to carry 12 people and 100,000 pounds of food. Sound good? No, it's not good--the Gulfstream G650 has little cargo capacity.
The next tactic for justifying the Gulfstream was to say that the devil didn't want Rev. Dollar to have it, so by reverse illogical reasoning they were saying God did. The outrage was so great that the church dropped the campaign, but, the latest reports say that the preacher still has his heart set on the Gulfstream G650.
To the applause of his congregation, Dollar declared with great drama, "If I want to believe God for a 65 million dollar jet, you can't stop me!"
Pastors Kenneth Copeland (he owns 2) and Jesse Duplantis do own private jets and have their own explanations for the expenditure. It seems that God was having a conversation with Brother Duplantis while he was on his private jet, after flying home from an event where he was speaking with Creflo Dollar. Brother Duplantis was so shocked by what God said that he unbuckled his seat belt and stood up.
Brother Copeland chimes in to say that he couldn’t have stood up on an airliner to have a conversation with God; the reason they need to have private jets is so they can talk to God on the airplane, as it’s their “sanctuary.” This is so blatantly insane, you can't make this stuff up.
Oral Roberts stopped flying on commercial planes because he became so famous that fellow passengers kept coming to him asking him to pray for them. Brother Oral found this to be something that "agitated his spirit." (There's a point that we can miss here--since when do people asking for prayer become a point of agitation to a true teacher of God's Word?)
Another reason given by Copeland is because getting on a commercial plane is dangerous--there are so many demons on board. He points out, "Flying commercial means getting into along tube filled with demons in this dope-filled world."
Although they say that the jets are only used for ministry purposes, Copeland used his to take his son skiing in Colorado and to a Texas game ranch. His jet was a mere $20,000,000.
Pat Robertson, Mark Murdock (he paid cash for one, then cash for a bigger one), Benny Hinn, John Hagee, Joyce Myer, and Mark Barclay also own private jets. Barkley asked for $79,000 from folks to repaint his. And we're not talking about any old private jet; we're talking about luxury private jets. Many of these evangelists, their churches, and their organizations have been or are under federal investigation.
And, always and ever, the their bottom line of justification for such outrages is, "God told me that I need one." And the gullible, the vulnerable believe them. "God told me to . . ." is an old, old pastor's trick to get what they want, after all, they hear the voice of God, you and I don't.
These are the false teachers Peter and Paul warn about, those who "make merchandise of people, those who are in the ministry for personal gain.
But enough of all these sickening reports. Speaking of naming names . . .
flying
commercial means getting into a “long tube” filled with “a bunch of
demons” in “this dope filled world.” - See more at:
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2016/01/televangelists-need-private-jets-because-demons-fly-commercial/#sthash.OJfjhRmh.dpuf
flying
commercial means getting into a “long tube” filled with “a bunch of
demons” in “this dope filled world.” - See more at:
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2016/01/televangelists-need-private-jets-because-demons-fly-commercial/#sthash.OJfjhRmh.dpuf
But
perhaps most important, flying commercial means getting into a “long
tube” filled with “a bunch of demons” in “this dope filled world.” - See
more at:
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2016/01/televangelists-need-private-jets-because-demons-fly-commercial/#sthash.OJfjhRmh.dpuf
But
perhaps most important, flying commercial means getting into a “long
tube” filled with “a bunch of demons” in “this dope filled world.” - See
more at:
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2016/01/televangelists-need-private-jets-because-demons-fly-commercial/#sthash.OJfjhRmh.dpuf
BACK TO HENRY DEUTSCHENDORF
Remember Henry Deutschendorf who wrote "Leaving on a Jet Plane?" In the biggest mistake of his life, John Henry quit Texas Tech; he just dropped out with only one year to go and then he'd be an architect making big bucks. What a failure that guy was. You say that you don't know Henry Deutschendorf? Yes, you do, but by another name. You know him as John Denver.
How do I know all this? One of my best friends tried to talk him out of leaving the great education he could finish at Texas Tech, he failed, and my friend helped him move.
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