R.I.P. Jimmy Swaggart
I grew up in “the thick” of American Pentecostalism in the 1950s to the mid-1970s. And I have kept up with American Pentecostalism and consider myself something of an expert or scholar of the movement. I love to study the lives and ministries of the great Pentecostal evangelists such as Aimee Semple McPherson, Oral Roberts (for whom I worked for two years), A. A. Allen, Jimmy Swaggart, and a host of others.
Swaggart died July 1, 2025–two days ago. He was born in 1935. That made him 90 years old. While most Americans knew very little about him, he was a force of nature among Pentecostals, of whom there are about twenty million in the U.S. alone.
He was not a great theologian and didn’t claim to be. I went far out of my way to hear him speak at an “evangelistic crusade” in the 1970s. All I remember is that he said “Jesus never had a cold because he was God.” Docetism, the ancient heresy that denies or minimizes Jesus’s humanity. I came to recognize it was rampant among Pentecostals (and others).
Here are some little-known facts about Swaggart:
He was a first cousin to Jerry Lee Lewis and Mickey Gilley—two very famous and beloved country music recording artists. All three were raised in Pentecostalism in the South.
At the height of his career, Swaggart’s records out sold every other recording artist’s including The Beatles. So overwhelming were the sales of his records that people who published statistics ignored them.
During the 1990s Swaggart was “outed” by another Pentecostal evangelist for sexual immorality. Swaggart cried on TV and begged for forgiveness. His church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana dwindled but rebounded.
My uncle was president of a Pentecostal denomination. He told me this story. When the scandal broke (in the news), he was holding a “spiritual emphasis week” at Swaggart’s Bible College. Swaggart invited him to his home to discuss what to do. My uncle encouraged him to submit to his denomination’s restoration program, which he had to do to keep his ministerial credentials. He said he would consider it. He did not so submit. He dropped out of his denomination and went independent—a pattern of many Pentecostal evangelists.
My connection to Swaggart, such as it is or ever was, is mainly for his music. He sang and recorded the Pentecostal hymns and songs of my childhood and youth and they still resonate with me. He sang with a “tear” in his voice. Songs like “Blessed be the fountain of blood…and I shall be white than snow” (“Whiter Than the Snow”).
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