I was in the shower the other day, going through 1980's retro moments in my mind's eye. I had so much to recall. However, an important topic crossed over in my head and I remembered some infamous faces and stories. I was very happy about this:)
"I have sinned against You, my Lord". This was the pathetic confession heard all over the world by the shameful televangelist, Jimmy "Sleazebag" Swaggart.
It was in the 1970's that Jimmy boy was ordained by and created a ministry under the Assemblies of God. During this time, Jimmy decided he was going to use television to spread his message of God, airing himself on over 200 television stations! (That's a lot of Jimbo). This was quite the empire. His face was allowed to enter in over 2 million homes via the televised "Godly" sessions. His ministries that had been located in Louisiana, actually had a local congregation of over 400 thousand followers! Alongside this, he had a t.v. production studio, print and mailing plant, recording studio, and a Bible College! Quite the dynasty, for sure.
In 1986, Jimmy the hipocrite, thinking that he ought to do us all a great favor, decided to expose the sins of a few ministerial devils. The first spawn he called out was fellow minister, Marvin Gorman. Apparently this guy was having an affair. A year later, he did the same thing to the now notorious, Jim Bakker, even going on Larry King and calling Bakker, "a cancer in the body of Christ"! I guess this is what you would call the cleansing and casting out of demons who infected the so-called, great Assemblies of God Church. Good job Jimmy! Next comes the best part.
A year or so later, Marvin Gorman, gets back at Jimmy! He hires a private detective to follow Jimmy Boy around and lands for himself quite the scoop. Gorman gets pictures of Jimmy entering a motel with a prostitute! Imagine how vindicated Gorman must have felt by this? Gorman goes about on a mission to blackmail Jimmy, and shows Jim the pictures that he had of the whole incident, but Jimmy refused to give in and pay. So Gorman takes the photos to the head guys of the Assemblies of God church, and they put Jimmy on suspension for only 3 lousy months.
This was the cause for Jimmy to announce in front of the whole world, his shady, disgraceful and loathsome confession to God. February 21, 1988, he spoke out, in tears, saying, "I have sinned against You, my Lord, and I would ask that Your precious blood would wash and cleanse every stain until it is in the seas of God's forgiveness."
After this event, Jimmy had the nerve to air himself on t.v., against the ruling of the Assemblies leaders, long before the 3 month suspension was up, and says "If I do not return to the pulpit this weekend, millions of people will go to hell." The Assemblies of God leaders quickly reprimanded, Swaggart, by taking away his precious credentials and ministerial license. They did not believe his so-called repentance, thank god.
As if he did not learn a thing, Jimmy decided to go for a joyride, October 11, 1991. He was found in the company of another prostitute! They were pulled over for driving down the wrong side of the street. The cop asks the woman why she was with Swaggart and she replied, "He asked me for sex. I mean, that's why he stopped me. That's what I do. I'm a prostitute."
Instead of doing and saying what he did on his last confession, Jimmy actually tells his devoted sheep that "The Lord told me it's flat none of your business."
His son then announces to the shocked flock, that his father Jimmy Boy, would be temporarily stepping down as head of Jimmy Swaggart Ministries for "a time of healing and counseling."
Following the scandals, as of 1995, Jimmy lost 85% of his loyal devotees who finally wised up and stopped listening to this liar.
You can read more about Jimmy and his some of his fellow christian-televangelists, like Jim Bakker and Oral Roberts at NationMaster. The stories on these shameful men are hilarious and eye opening. I can't believe that people like these are allowed to do what they do. They give real spirituality a very bad name.
I'd like to leave you with a quote that seems to embody what really has happened to Christianity:
"Christianity started out in Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to Greece and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution; it moved to Europe and became a culture; it came to America and became an enterprise."- Sam Pascoe
The History Channel presented a fantastic documentary on the whole subject of televised Christianity in their "20th Century" series. It's available at Amazon now on vhs. This is perfect for the individual who loved the 20th Century and or collects 1980's retro memorabilia.
20th Century with Mike Wallace - Televangelists
A piece of 1980's History
Jimmy Swaggart and the Bakkers / TIME Cover: April 06, 1987, Art Poster by TIME Magazine
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