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Biography:
Jimmy Swaggert (1935- ) began his evangelistic career working as a street preacher when
just a teenager. He began working full-time as a minister in 1958 and by 1970, he had
developed a large organization and soon his weekly television show was carried on several
hundred stations across the country. Perhaps searching for a means to stand out from
an increasingly crowded televangelist market, Swaggert's show gradually grew louder
and gaudier, providing Swaggert with an identifiable style.
Swaggert certainly pulled no punches when it came to finding people and things to criticize. There was, of course, the ever present targets like liberal politics and secular humanism, but he also found ready targets with other, rival preachers like Billy Graham, other religions like Judaism and other Christian denominations like Catholicism.
A favorite target of Swaggert was rival preacher Jim Bakker and one reason may have been jealousy over Bakker's success. Unfortunately for Swaggert, however, his own problems came to light just at the time when he was attacking Bakker for sexual misconduct. It was revealed to the public that Swaggert had a long history of spending time in motels with "professional" women, i.e. prostitutes.
Whereas Bakker resigned after a one-night stand became known, however, Swaggert made a tearful apology to his viewers for years of misconduct and managed to stay on the air. He never reached the same status again, but he was forgiven - at least, until it was revealed in 1991 that he had started all over again.
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