I think Brother Jimmy Swaggart would fit perfectly with the preachers on this website. They all preach repentance, the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and holiness. So why aren't his sermons on here?
He may preach repentance, but has he ever truly repented himself? In my opinion from what I've read and heard, his biggest problem was not sexual but instead was pride. He got way to be for his britches and thought that his ministry was the only one that was going to change the world. Listen to Jim Cymbala's sermon 'The Future of Pentecost'. It's fairly obvious that the preacher he is refering to is Jimmy Swaggart and the man who told him to shut his ministry down was David Wilkerson. His response to Wilkerson's advice was prideful. His own pride forced him to drop out of the A/G instead of accepting their disipline. Has he ever repented of his pride? Until I see a truly humble man who is truly repentet, he remains one of the last preachers that I care to listen to. Just my opinion,PJ
I think Brother Jimmy Swaggart would fit perfectly with the preachers on this website.Personally I think that Jimmy Swaggart's witness has been severly damaged, even though we all sin and fall, Here is the a quote about it:"America's first televangelist Jim Bakker paid some $265,000 to cover up a sexual misadventure. Later he was convicted of misspending millions of followers' dollars. Rival preacher Jimmy Swaggart called the Bakker scandal a cancer. That was before Swaggart was photographed visiting a prostitute named Debra Murphree. According to Murphree, he was 'kind of perverted...I wouldn't want him around my children.'When you look at it objectively, Jimmy Swaggart's most famous transgression doesn't quite measure up to those of many of his counterparts with regards to the mountains of false teaching and practice. But what it lacked in substance, it more than made up for in style. Swaggart was immortalized by his tearful televised confession ... but some time later, he was stopped while driving in his rented Jaguar with yet another 'ady of the evening.'At last report, Bro. Jimmy, having been told to remove himself from the pastorate, is enjoying God's "anointing" on his life in a new church of his own, having disregarded the advice of his elders. He is basking in a veritable blizzard of blessings (including a fleet of Mercedes Benzes) -- irrefutable evidence that God apparently endorses legalized prostitution."They all preach repentance, the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and holiness. So why aren't his sermons on here?I would vouch not to put his sermons on the site. But I would like to hear other people's opinions? thanks. :-P
Personally I think that Jimmy Swaggart's witness has been severly damagedYou didn't mention anything about his son, Donnie. I think this minister of God is doing a great work for our Lord and savior. His messages can ignite a fireand zeal inside those who visit this website. I will say this about Jimmy, and that is, the anointing that was upon Bro. Jimmy Swaggart's ministry is the same anointing that is on it today. Nobody can question the anointing of God and calling that God places on a life. Also, his message and witness is just as strong as it has ever been. My question is, how many men of God are willing to come right out and confess their sin before everybody? Not very many. I believe you're judging by what has happened in his past and forgetting about what God has done and is doing in his life recently. But, that's up to you. It's only more wisdom, knowledge, and counsel of a Godly man that's been around to tell about it that you're missing out on. And If you haven't heard him lately, he's walking a victorious life and his messages are just as powerful than they've ever been.
My question for you PJ is, when was the last time you heard from or of him? The Bible tells us that man judges the outward appearance, but God judges the what??? Yep, the heart. Do you know his heart? You will never know his heart so you aren't the one to say so or even question unless you're God himself, which in that case we both know that you obviously aren't!
Whoa, Whoa man. I see Greg's point in all of this. A man who has an addiction to alcohol should not be in a bar. If he has truly repented and turned away from these things, why have we not seen a change in his behavior? For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. We forget repentance does not mean saying I'm sorry, and then moving on. It means an actual change of life. It actually means to change your mind. The word metanoeo in the greek means to actually change your mind. To no longer live the way we did before. Are we all guilty of slip up's? Absolutely. But to continue to live the way we did before demonstrates a total lack of true repentance in the first place
Jimmy Swaggart has insisted that Catholicism is a "false cult" and "not a Christian religion," and has said that Jews suffer because they reject Christ. (14,16,20) He has called the U. S. Supreme Court and Congress "institutions damned by God. "(19) Swaggart has also said, "All people everywhere know that lazy preachers, immoral preachers, and greedy preachers are a disgrace to themselves and to the work of God. "(10) When fellow Assemblies of God preacher Jimmy Bakker and his wife Tammy Faye were expelled from PTL Ministries, Swaggart called the scandal a "cancer that needs to be excised from the body of Christ. "(20) In an article entitled "Brother's Reproval is Bold but Misguided," from The Evangelist of July 1987, Swaggart responds to a letter-writer who says that he is a Christian pastor. In his short letter, the pastor says, among other things, "God has required me to write this word to you. . . you must repent your sin and get out of bed with these `strange bedfellows. '" Swaggart's two-page response closes with, "I think the statements you have made have been made out of your lack of experience. And if you really love the Lord and are seeking to follow Him, you will look back in years to come. . . and be very embarassed at these statements. "(10) A short three months later, Swaggart was photographed entering and leaving a New Orleans motel where, it was later divulged, he had hired a prostitute to pose nude for him. The photographs were revealed to the Assemblies of God headquarters in February 1988 and resulted in Swaggart being banned from preaching temporarily. Jimmy Swaggart confessed his unnamed sin before his Baton Rouge congregation, his wife, and his family, all of whom appeared to forgive his straying. (19,20)There you Go! he even says it himself that preachers that are set apart to be examples to the saints and preach the Word of God but are Immoral are a disgrace to the work of God. Also Swaggart said that others involved with practicing of Sin should be excercised out of the Body of Christ but he himself is free from such seperation? He didn't listen to his elders or even denomination but took matters in his own hands, I guess he is above all of them spiritually anyways.I don't enjoy digging the dirt up on men of God but I believe in the scriptures Paul warns us to associate with believers that are immoral or fornicators. I don't think I have to justify my postition further unless you need references to those passages of scriptures?
If he has truly repented and turned away from these things, why have we not seen a change in his behavior? For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.Absolutely.. we do not know the man's heart but we can judge the tree by its fruit! 'Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil.' - 1 Thess 5:21-22
When was the last time you heard of Swaggart? Yes, I'm very aware of what repentance is; and if you failed to hear me before, let me say it again, who are we to say that he hasn't repented truly? Are you there to see him mess up? are you watching him? And the reason he didn't want the Assemblies of God's help wasn't that he was to "prideful" for them, it was more the fact that had he gone along with their counselling to help him back into the ministry, he would've gone against his own beliefs by submitting himself to the as Ravenhill said "trash of so-called Christian Psychology"...in the which the A/G's promote, and are promoting more and more. I would know because I am an A/G minister. I don't agree with it and it's also something that Bro. Wilkerson, Swaggart, and Ravenhill all preach out against.
Absolutely.. we do not know the man's heart but we can judge the tree by its fruit! 'Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil.' - 1 Thess 5:21-22When was the last time you've personally seen that "tree"? And once again you failed to say anything about his son Donnie.I went about 6 months back and watched abit of one of the Videos of there church service. And Jimmy Swaggart was talking about this dream he had that he was slaying a dragon, and he went on and on.. and the whole spirit of it seemed definetly false to me.. The Holy Spirit in me didn't bare witness at all. To sum it up.. 'it seemed quite creepy and I wouldn't feel safe in that church'.Can you document that for me as well?
I am from south Louisiana and was attending Brother Swaggart's church from time to time in the late 80s before his fall.I have many friends who have been blessed by his ministry over the years as well, and who have even attended school there.There is a local radio station that carries Brother Swaggart's broadcasts every day now, and I have been very blessed to hear the difference in the focus of his preaching and teaching since he has returned to full-time ministry.I have been a part of the Assemblies of God for many years, yet there are alot of things Brother Swaggart points out that are wrong with the Assemblies of God that I totally agree with.There has been alot of focus in our denomination in recent years on signs and wonders, prosperity, and other things that are not central to the cross of Christ.Brother Swaggart's current ministry focuses on the cross of Christ, and I think we all would do well to get back to the basics and focus on Christ again.Having said that, however, I would agree with Greg that it was wrong for him not to submit to the authority of the church in accepting discipline years ago when he fell.All they asked him to do was take a year off and get some counseling, and he wouldn't do it.I don't doubt that he is back on track now, but yes, his testimony has been damaged. I think his testimony was damaged more by people seeing him not submit to church authority than anything else he could have done.When all this was going on, Brother Swaggart's Youth Pastor at the time, Glen Berteau, was asked by the Assemblies of God if he wanted to remain with them or if he wanted to stay with Brother Swaggart and go independent.His answer to this question impressed me very much. He said, "Independence?! That's what I was saved from!"Brother Berteau chose to remain under the authority of his elders and was blessed because of it. I think we can all learn a lesson from this.
I do pray that brother Swaggart is indeed a repentant man. The fact that he made such a public display of his repentance in front of millions of viewers and then was discovered driving around with a prostitute in his car only three weeks later disturbs me. It seems that he is a pretty good actor, at least at that time. I agree with Taka that he should have been submissive to those in leadership over him. His independency showed a lack of a subject spirit and a man who always wants control. Just because someone can get on stage and preach a good sermon does not mean he is "anointed". In the early church they had a similar problem with preachers who in actuality were nothing more than "professional" public speakers. They know the right words to say and can even bring an audience to tears but that does not make them "anointed" or even men of God. I have no doubt that God can use anyone to reach people and often does despite the vessel. I have a story similar to Taka's story about Glen Berteau. It's about one of the most spiritual men of the last 100 years....T. Austin Sparks. In the 50s brother Sparks was accused by a Chinese brother named Witness Lee of having the pre-eminence like Diotrophes in his church at Honor Oak. Brother Sparks had been the pastor at this church for about 30 years and was greatly loved by all and had a successful ministry even outside of Honor Oak Christian Fellowship. Lee stirred up so much controversy over the matter that brother Sparks was asked by the elders in the fellowship to step down. He humbly submitted to his local brethren believing that the Lord was ultimately behind all things. The ones who lost out were the brethren at Honor Oak. Brother Sparks was now freer to pursue the Lord's work in other avenues. He traveled quite extensively over the next 20 years until his death in 71. He accomplished 10 times more in that last 20 years of service than he had the first 30! God honors humility and subjection.Kevin
As a former, AVID, follower of the Swaggert ministry, it became very obvious to me about 6 months before he was exposed that something was wrong. His writings were getting to be very biting and his overall approach to ministry was getting high and mighty. I remember telling someone on the phone after receiving one of my last copies of the treasured "Evangelist" that something was wrong and we needed to be a bit more careful.Most of us that followed his ministry very closely, watched him confess his sin to see what he was going to do. You honor him for confessing.My question is, how many men of God are willing to come right out and confess their sin before everybody? Not very many. He didn't do this willingly. HE WAS CAUGHT AND EXPOSED. The interesting thing about the whole discipline that the A/G church was going to put on him was that this was the same discipline that HE proposed and was adopted by the denomination for any fallen ministry - step down for two years, find a place of mercy and forgiveness in God and allow the Lord to restore him.It was some time later that I was visiting my in-laws when one Sunday morning I was walking down to their shower in the basement when I heard the television with a very familiar voice - Jimmy Swaggert. My father-in-law was watching the program. I became very grieved and then I heard Jimmy say that his prayer from the time he was young was "Lord I want to go where you want me to go and only say what you want me to say." As I was stepping into the shower, I asked the Lord how anyone that was involved in the things he was involved in and then not find a place of repentance could say such a thing. The immediate answer was Balaam. Balaam was a prophet and even prophesied the coming of Messiah. He declared," “So Balaam said to Balak, "Behold, I have come now to you! Am I able to speak anything at all? The word that God puts in my mouth, that I shall speak."” (Numbers 22:38 NAS95) “Then the LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, "Return to Balak, and you shall speak thus."” (Numbers 23:5 NAS95)I don't believe that I am being overly presumptious here, but what separates many of the preachers on this site from the Swaggert ministry is not WHAT they are saying and not even that they are HOLIER than others, but that they are/were WALKING in a spirit of repentance and under the discipline of Lord. This results in a fruit that comes from their ministry that sets people free.There are many people out there that are PREACHING a good word, but there isn't any freedom. Why?“For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.” (2 Peter 2:18-19 NAS95)“Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.” (Jude 1:11 NAS95)The pentecostal churches of America have lost their discernment and not only associate with but run after the "anointing" or "the fire." However, we fail to do what the LORD said, "inspect the fruit." Your posts are proving that this continues to be true.Jimmy Swaggert, and others like him, fall into the category that the apostle Paul writes about...“For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these [men] also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’ and Jambres’ folly was also. Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium [and] at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me!” (2 Timothy 3:6-11 NAS95)Men creap into people's houses everyday through the mediums of radio and television. Leading people captive to THEIR ministry. These same people have a lot of Bible knowledge and some of these guys teach some good things. But their is no freedom. They resist the TRUTH and preach what is only TRUE. Note Paul's lifestyle, "Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, and sufferings...".God is looking for men that can say, "follow me as I follow the Lord." Jimmy got off track back in 1987. His teachings never changed, but he did. He knows what he needed to do then and still knows what he needs to do now. He has not returned to the path that God wants him on. This is what separates him from those ministries that are posted on this site. I am not throwing stones at Jimmy. I have done some VERY stupid and sinful things in the past. Thank God for His mercy and restoration. I know, however, that God has a way and man has a way. His way produces life and freedom. Man's way produces death and bondage. If Jimmy ever decides to do what God has required of him, then I believe that he can be restored, not to A/G, but to a place where people are set free.[Disclaimer] I do not represent any of the moderators of this site in any way. These statements are my own.
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