Jimmy Swaggart

====1988 prostitution scandal====
Swaggart's first prostitution scandal occurred in retaliation for an incident in 1986 when he accused fellow Assemblies of God minister Marvin Gorman of having several affairs. Gorman was defrocked from the Assemblies of God, and his ministry was all but ended.<ref>{{cite news|last=Andrews|first=Travis M.|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/01/09/the-rev-marvin-gorman-who-prompted-jimmy-swaggarts-downfall-in-the-80s-dies-at-83/|title=The Rev. Marvin Gorman, who prompted Jimmy Swaggart's downfall in the '80s, dies at 83|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=January 9, 2017|access-date=August 28, 2020}}</ref> Gorman filed a successful lawsuit against Swaggart for defamation and conspiracy to ruin his reputation; he was awarded damages amounting to $10 million in 1991.<ref>{{cite news|last=Marcus|first=Frances Frank|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/13/us/swaggart-found-liable-for-defaming-minister.html|title=Swaggart Found Liable For Defaming Minister|work=The New York Times|date=September 13, 1991|access-date=August 28, 2020}}</ref> Following an appeal, the parties settled the matter for $1.75 million.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1999-12-26-9912260101-story.html|title=A Fair, Sympathetic Account of the Rise and Fall of Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart|work=Chicago Tribune|date=December 26, 1999|access-date=August 28, 2020}}</ref>

As a retaliatory measure, Gorman hired his son Randy and son-in-law Garland Bilbo to watch the [[Travel Inn]] on [[Airline Highway]] in [[Metairie, Louisiana|Metairie]], a [[suburb]] of [[New Orleans]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Seaman|first=Ann Rowe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=unT6moT0EE4C&pg=PA331|title=Swaggart: The Unauthorized Biography of an American Evangelist|location=New York City|publisher=Continuum|year=1999 |page=331|isbn=978-1-4411-3645-9 }}</ref> At the Travel Inn, the two men photographed Swaggart outside Room Seven with Debra Murphree,<ref name="Kaufman" /><ref>{{Cite news|last=Applebome|first=Peter|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/25/us/scandal-spurs-interest-in-swaggart-finances.html|title=Scandal Spurs Interest in Swaggart Finances|work=The New York Times|date=February 25, 1988|access-date=May 27, 2014}}</ref> a local prostitute. Gorman arrived at the Travel Inn a short while later and confronted Swaggart.<ref name="WaPo19880225">{{cite news|last=Harris|first=Art|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1988/02/25/jimmy-swaggart-and-the-snare-of-sin/d07127d2-c412-4738-98d9-3b186d1b92f9/|title=Jimmy Swaggart and the Snare of Sin|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=February 25, 1988|access-date=August 28, 2020}}</ref>

According to ''Swaggart: The Unauthorized Biography of an American Evangelist'', Gorman secured a promise from Swaggart that he would publicly apologize to Gorman and start the process of Gorman's reinstatement to the Assemblies of God. Gorman offered to remain silent if Swaggart would state publicly that he lied about Gorman's affairs. Gorman waited almost a year, then hand-delivered a note to Swaggart informing him his time was up; Swaggart did not respond. On February 16, 1988, Gorman contacted James Hamil, one of the 13-man Executive Presbytery of the Assemblies of God, to expose Swaggart's assignation with the prostitute.<ref>Seaman, p.337</ref> The presbytery leadership of the Assemblies of God suspended Swaggart from broadcasting his television program for three months.{{citation needed|date=April 2017}}

According to the [[Associated Press]], Murphree failed a [[polygraph test]] administered by a [[New York City Police Department]] polygraph expert.<ref>Associated Press. ''[[Ocala Star-Banner]]'', February 27, 1988.{{full citation needed|date=January 2014}}</ref> The test administrator concluded that Murphree had failed to tell the truth on all key questions concerning her statement. The test was administered after Murphree offered to sell the story to the ''[[National Enquirer]]'' for $100,000. Murphree failed questions about whether she was paid or promised money to "set up" Swaggart, and whether she made up the story to make money from it.<ref>''[[Toronto Star]]'', February 27, 1988.{{full citation needed|date=January 2014}}</ref> In place of Murphree's interview, ''Enquirer'' editor Levy published an accounting of Swaggart's family where they allegedly expressed their fears over Swaggart's health.<ref>{{cite magazine|title= Swaggart Family: We're Terrified Jimmy's Caught AIDS|last=Levy|first=Paul F.|magazine=National Enquirer|date=March 15, 1988}}</ref> Murphree, who blamed her failed polygraph on "cocaine use" the day before the test was given, went on to have her interview published by ''[[Penthouse (magazine)|Penthouse]]'' magazine.<ref>{{cite news|work=Associated Press News|url=https://apnews.com/article/069802454f73a0bb291bcb65649a325b|title=Prostitute Says Swaggart Had Sex With Her|date=26 May 1988}}</ref>

[[File:JimmySwaggart1988.jpeg|thumb|right|This image of Swaggart brought to tears while delivering his "I have sinned" speech has become a symbolic illustration of the televangelist scandals of the late 1980s.]]
On February 21, 1988, without giving any details regarding his transgressions, Swaggart delivered what came to be known as his "I have sinned" speech on live television. He spoke tearfully to his family, congregation, TV audience, and ended his speech with a prayer: "I have sinned against You, my Lord, and I would ask that Your Precious Blood ... would wash and cleanse every stain until it is in the seas of God's forgetfulness never to be remembered against me anymore."<ref name="Kaufman" /><ref>{{cite web |last=Swaggart |first=Jimmy |title=Reverend Jimmy Swaggart: Apology Sermon |url=https://americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jswaggartapologysermon.html |access-date=January 25, 2007 |work=americanrhetoric.}}</ref>

The national presbytery of the Assemblies of God extended Swaggart's suspension to their standard two-year suspension for sexual immorality. His return to the pulpit coincided with the end of the three-month suspension originally ordered by the denomination. Believing that Swaggart was not genuinely repentant in submitting to their authority, the hierarchy of the Assemblies of God [[defrocked]] him, removing his credentials and ministerial license.<ref>{{cite news|last=King|first=Peter H.|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-04-09-mn-803-story.html|title=Swaggart Rejects Terms of Penance, Is Defrocked|work=Los Angeles Times|date=April 9, 1988|access-date=August 28, 2020}}</ref>

Swaggart then became an independent and non-denominational Pentecostal minister, establishing Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, based at the Family Worship Center in [[Baton Rouge, Louisiana]], and the Sonlife Broadcasting Network (SBN) which can be seen in the United States and other countries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jsm.org/family-worship-center.html|title=Family Worship Center – Jimmy Swaggart Ministries – Baton Rouge|first=JSM Web|last=Dept.|access-date=April 15, 2017}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=July 2023}}