Jimmy Swaggart
One cannot see or hear the name
without the immediate recall of an infamous video which circulated among the
news media at the time, and which is still readily available on Youtube, and
other internet sites.
But allow me to navigate away from
said video, and return to it later in my story.
At the time, I found myself in my
first and only tour of duty in the United States Air Force, (though I, subsequently,
served another thirty plus years in the National Guard and reserve forces of
this country). My wife and I were attending Bethel Temple in Tampa, Florida,
and very involved in the life and ministry of that church. And it so happened
that our pastor, Gordon Matheny, was familiar with an illustrious evangelist;
(whose ‘hey day’ was primarily during the second half of the 20th
century).
As it fell together, the eminent
Reverend Jimmy Swaggart was shortly scheduled to preach a revival on the west
coast of Florida. And, as you might well imagine, Bro. Matheny encouraged his
congregation to attend the series of meetings at a nearby arena. I have long
since forgotten whether we made it to one, some, or all of said meetings, but
we definitely attended, and we definitely sat under the tutelage of the man.
And though I cannot say that
Swaggart’s chosen content or oratory style did all that much for me, I will
never forget his exceptional talent as a vocalist and pianist. (Speaking of his
family’s obvious melodious wherewithal, Swaggart is cousin to both Jerry Lee
Lewis and Mickey Gilley).
Fast forward a decade and a half, and
as Paul Harvey was prone to say, there was a “rest of the story.” For as anyone
knows (who hasn’t been living on Planet Mars for years) our ‘good’ preacher
fell into the arms of sin. (Well, at least into the arms of a couple of
prostitutes). And to return to my earlier allusion of a particular video
segment, of course ole Jimmy did the confession and tear jerking kinda thing
before God, his wife, and his church; only to, (as I have already implied) “get
caught with his pants down” a second time.
In terms of my personal involvement
with Jimmy Swaggart, (other than having sat in on one of his crusades) it was
absolutely nil, at least
Until…
I was involved in a satellite
counseling ministry at a nearby church on Saturdays, and during a lull between
clients, there was a knock on the office door. As I opened it, a sixty
something year old man stood facing me, introduced himself as Rev. Jim R.,
and asked whether the pastor was available. I explained that I hadn’t seen him,
and that I seldom saw "Rev. Simms" on Saturdays.
I invited the good minister to come
in, and it wasn’t long before we realized we were acquainted with a couple
known to both of us, and that he had, in fact, performed their marriage
ceremony. However, something Rev. Jim shared at some length with me was
especially interesting. It seems he had sometime before, and during the time of
the Swaggart sex scandal, served as his associate pastor.
I will never forget one phrase in
particular, which Rev. R. uttered that day.
“I begged Jimmy to get counseling.”
Of course, we all know how all that
went.
*To be continued
by William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from (Mc)Donald's Daily Diary, Vol. 71. Copyright Pending.
If you would like to share, copy or save, please include the credit line, above
*To be continued
by William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from (Mc)Donald's Daily Diary, Vol. 71. Copyright Pending.
If you would like to share, copy or save, please include the credit line, above
No comments:
Post a Comment