"To be honest with you, they aren't," Swaggart said. Tom Gulbronson, a pastor in Alexandria, to "tell him to shut up" - but the evangelist said he doubts the leaders are strong enough. General Superintendent Carlson and his executive presbytery have been under intense pressure from some quarters to discipline Swaggart - in the words of the Rev. During his own tenure, he added, "I think the fellowship as a whole knew exactly where I stood at all times." Thomas Zimmerman, who served as general superintendent for 26 years until 1985. "It certainly could appear that way," said the Rev. Some churchmen complain that the leadership in Springfield is not giving direction in the face of the controversy. But we believe, in the long run, that our church will come out stronger and better."
"We're ashamed, we're embarrassed, we're humiliated and we're dismayed about all of these problems surfacing in the media across the nation.
Raymond Carlson, who heads the Assemblies of God as its general superintendent in Springfield, Mo.
#Jimmy swaggart music healing trial
"We are going through a trial now," acknowledged the Rev. "I guess it's because they get too much money from him." "None of the rest of us could get away with this," Reid continued, adding that such contentious behavior would likely mean dismissal to a preacher less powerful than Swaggart. "I think of Carl McIntyre splitting the Presbyterian Church or Bob Jones splitting the Baptist ranks. Tommy Reid, pastor of an 11,000-member church in Buffalo, which uses many of the practices that Swaggart condemns. "I really fear his main goal is to split the Assemblies right down the middle, between the ultraconservatives and us moderates," said the Rev. "We get into problems when we set ourselves up as grand inquisitors." "It's what I call a Pentecostal inquisition, like the one the Roman Catholic Church went through hundreds of years ago," said Ron Hambree, the pastor of a large church in Rockford, Ill., with a popular television ministry. Swaggart's personal crusade has drawn an unusual outpouring of criticism from the normally reticent ranks of Assemblies of God clergymen - some of whom compare him to Torquemada rather than Martin Luther.
"Martin Luther, when he nailed those 95 theses to the door, caused much more of a rumpus." "It's impossible to make an omelet without breaking eggs," Swaggart said from his headquarters in Baton Rouge, La. In another unprecedented move, Swaggart has lodged charges, through a deputy, against two influential Assemblies of God clergymen - one for doctrinal deviation, the other for slander (since withdrawn). Within his own denomination and outside of it, he has stepped up his assault on such practices as choreographed dancing, contemporary music, Christian psychology, "prosperity teaching" and what some have called the "feelgood" aspects of Christianity. PTL's contribution, by comparison, was less than $200,000.īut while Swaggart in recent weeks has focused on PTL, his attacks have gone far beyond a single ministry. And last year Swaggart gave $12 million to the Assemblies of God's foreign missions program - far and away the largest contribution from a single source. His $142 million ministry reaches 3.6 million American viewers and perhaps hundreds of millions worldwide. Swaggart'sinfluence, by at least two measures, is unsurpassed. Swaggart, the country's most watched televangelist and, like Jim Bakker, an Assemblies of God minister, is striving to purge his church of what he sees as "false doctrines," "sorcery" and "fads" - all alleged hallmarks of PTL, which stands for "Praise the Lord" and "People That Love." But some clergymen warned last week of a denominational split. In the midst of the PTL scandal, evangelist Jimmy Swaggart has launched what some ministers see as "a Pentecostal inquisition," with Swaggart playing the role of "grand inquisitor."Īt stake is the future of the Assemblies of God, a comparatively young movement founded 73 years ago this month in Hot Springs, Ark., which boasts 2.3 million adherents nationwide and until now has been one of America's fastest-growing Protestant churches. The fall of television evangelists Jim and Tammy Bakker has provoked a religious controversy with few equals in modern history.
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