SWAGGART, JIMMY 1935-

TELEVANGELIST

Prophet or Charlatan?

With as much fame and power as any other televangelist preacher in the 1980s, Jimmy Swaggart was on top of the conservative religious world. From his base in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Swaggart created an empire based on fundamentalist interpretations of the Bible, charismatic performances, and on the condemnation of all groups and religions that did not bow down to his limited perspectives of faith. His devastating fall from grace in February 1988 shocked the nation and put into question the merit of the entire evangelical movement. Swaggart's adultery considerably dimmed the halo of the electronic church.

Rise to Fame

Swaggart was viewed as a controversial figure even as a youth because of his early relationship with his famous rock 'n' roll cousin, Jerry Lee Lewis. Swaggart was born in Ferriday, a small town in rural Louisiana on 15 March 1935. His impoverished family actively participated in the local Assemblies of God congregation. Swaggart was a rebellious youth and a high-school dropout. His discovery of religion was the catalyst to his personal turnaround. He met his wife in a Pentecostal church, and by the age of seventeen he was married and fathering children. Searching for viable employment to support his new family, Swaggart conducted informal church meetings in his neighborhood. He also had the ability to sing and began recording gospel albums in 1959. His recordings increased his popularity immensely and created a strong congregational base for his sermons. Swaggart's album sales remained consistently high and profitable, earning him more than $200 million. Swaggart branched out into radio, and by 1977 his daily religious program was heard on more than six hundred stations. In the 1980s his new television ministries boomed. His weekly program soon became the number one syndicated religious program in the nation. Millions of dollars poured into his ministries, feeding his growing televangelist empire. At the height of his success, Swaggart's average yearly gross was about $150 million. The growth of his power was only stifled by his own harsh rhetoric, which repulsed many and offended others.

Philosophy

Fire and brimstone was the message of Jimmy Swaggart's ministries. Preaching extremist views on the Bible, faith, and sin, Swaggart made few friends outside his evangelical circles and several enemies. His attack on individuals and religious groups that did not view the world as he did caused many television stations to remove Swaggart from the airwaves despite the popularity of his program. Such setbacks did not soften Swaggart's tone but only inspired him to provoke more controversy. Unlike his premier Assemblies of God and televangelist rival Jim Bakker, Swaggart pushed a traditional Pentecostal message that worldly goods were sinful and that only a pious born-again life could protect one from the wrath of God. Swaggart had little tolerance for nonbelievers or those of other faiths, particularly Roman Catholics and Jews. In his sermons he lambasted these religions as false and their followers sinners, and he repeated the attacks in his monthly magazine, the Evangelist. Tension flared when in the early 1980s Swaggart claimed that Mother Teresa, Nobel Prize winner and Catholic nun, would burn in hell with the rest of the sinners unless she received the born-again experience and that Jews had suffered because they had turned their backs on Jesus Christ. Swaggart carefully avoided any direct entrance into the political arena. Believing little to be gained and much to be lost by attaching himself to any political figure or ideology, he focused his message on personal religious experience rather than New Right coalition building.

Destruction

Swaggart's downfall may have culminated with his adulterous relationship in 1988, but the seeds for his destruction were planted much earlier on. His denouncement of material possessions as sinful rang hollow as news leaked out about the millions of dollars his religious empire acquired and spent every year. Living a lavish lifestyle Swaggart built a $30 million world headquarters and a recording studio. His empire relied on the donations of his followers, which were often obtained under questionable circumstances. An example of his suspect fund-raising occurred in 1981 when a wealthy California widow, obsessed with achieving piety, willed her entire $10 million fortune to Swaggart. Controversy flared over Swaggart's acceptance of this money despite the widow's family's objections and a heated court battle, Events such as these caused many to question the morality of preachers who preyed on weak victims. Swaggart's sexual transgression was the final straw, as his immorality and hypocrisy exploded onto the airwaves and his tirades against sex, adultery, and pornography came back to haunt him. Once Swaggart had faltered in the public's eyes, he could not go back.

Fall from Grace

The religious empire that Swaggart had taken years to build crumbled as news of his disgrace spread around the country and the world. Followers ceased contributing the large sums they once did, and Swaggart's moral high ground eroded. Stripped of his credentials as an Assemblies of God minister, Swaggart continued to preach despite sharp drops in revenue and dwindling support. He did manage a recovery of sorts and retained enough support to continue his ministry.