Word: swaggart
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Then came the Bakker mess, first the revelation of the PTL leader's adultery and then of his hush-money payments and mismanagement. The avenging angel took wing again. Swaggart passed word to denominational leaders of an impending Charlotte Observer report on the hush money and pressed for a cleanup. He declared the scandal to be a "cancer that needs to be excised from the body of Christ...
...With Swaggart, leaders of the Louisiana district of the Assemblies of God last week showed considerably more solicitude. Meeting the day after Swaggart's sermon, they judged his repentance genuine and prescribed a three- month suspension from preaching, except for commitments already made to preach abroad. As part of a two-year process of "rehabilitation," including supervision by clergy, Swaggart would have to step down as co-pastor of the Baton Rouge church for the three months. Left open was the question of Swaggart's TV shows...
...Whatever Swaggart's ecclesiastical fate, laborers in TV evangelism, who stand to suffer yet more diminution of public esteem, emphasize that his sin does not remotely compare with Bakker's. Says Mark DeMoss, spokesman at PTL after Bakker resigned: "Last year's episode involved a lot of financial wrongdoing directly related to contributions. If Bakker had merely been accused of an affair with Jessica Hahn, he'd still...
Since the PTL affair, Swaggart, like many of his TV colleagues, has had to face sharply declining revenues. He doubled his organization's line of credit to $20 million, though a spokesman insists that indebtedness is minor compared with the assets of $112 million or more. Some cash will fund completion of $12.2 million worth of construction at the Jimmy Swaggart Bible College and an adjacent theological seminary that is supposed to open next fall. For Swaggart, the period of exile is likely to prove comfortable, since the nondenominational board that pays him is dominated by family members and friends...
Further afield, many Swaggart fans appeared eager to forgive, if not to forget. Said Mavis Peterson, a retiree in Springfield who has watched the evangelist's shows for a decade: "Brother Swaggart is an imperfect human being, but the Bible says those who love the Lord and seek the truth shall have their sins forgiven if they repent." Still, there is doubt whether Swaggart will ever again have the same level of revival stardom or draw such big TV and in-person audiences in the U.S. and overseas...