The 1980s were replete with men of God confessing (under duress) to prurient dalliances, but Swaggart’s first scandal captured American viewers’ attention like no other. His story was the American dream—from humble origins to a multimillion-dollar empire spanning television broadcasting, gospel record production, and ministerial training through the Jimmy Swaggart Bible College by 1985. In sermons beamed to more than 140 countries, Swaggart denounced homosexuality, condemned pornography, and warned Christians that dancing—including aerobics—could arouse lustful urges. In 1986, Swaggart accused rival Louisiana megachurch pastor Marvin Gorman of an extramarital affair and demanded his resignation. (Gorman left the ministry but held a grudge.)
The following year, when fellow televangelist Jim Bakker was exposed in a sex and fraud scandal of his own, Swaggart was summoned for help and expertise. The Assemblies of God, the governing body to which both ministers belonged, initially tasked Swaggart (along with Jerry Falwell and John Ankerberg) with saving Bakker’s lucrative ministry. Secular outlets turned to Swaggart’s expertise as well: in televised interviews, Dan Rather and Ted Koppel asked Swaggart to explain what was happening to the morality of the nation’s spiritual leaders. The answer was more complicated than anything Swaggart could publicly offer.
In 1988, Marvin Gorman, still bitter about having relinquished his ministry at Swaggart’s behest, helped reveal to the world that Swaggart had a long-running habit of soliciting sex workers, a compulsion he indulged regularly at a motel just outside of New Orleans. Seeking redemption for himself and revenge for Swaggart, Gorman hired detectives to catch Swaggart in the act. They did: Swaggart was photographed entering and leaving the motel, where he met with Debra Murphree, who confirmed that he was a regular client.
Swaggart, distraught but not discombobulated, addressed the allegations on television. With tears streaming down his face, he apologized to his wife, Frances: “I have sinned against you and I beg your forgiveness.” Notably, Swaggart never specified what he had done—only that he had sinned, in the vaguest terms. To his congregation and to God, he offered this plea: “I would ask that your precious blood would wash and cleanse every stain, until it is in the season of God’s forgetfulness, never to be remembered against me anymore.”
The Assemblies of God extended grace while demanding a modicum of accountability: a year-long preaching hiatus and two years of probation. In a move that would define the rest of his ministry, Swaggart refused to comply. The denomination prepared to defrock him. Defiant, Swaggart resigned before they could make it official.