The Swaggarite Test | Christian Answer Man

By Mark Swarbrick

For the complete story on Jimmy Swaggart, get my book, Swaggartism: The Strange Doctrines of Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, available now on Amazon for only $6.99. For information click HERE. Available in Paperback and Kindle eBook – 266 pages of documented facts!

You just might be a Swaggarite if…

Jimmy Swaggart is a talented musician and an entertaining and dramatic orator. Most of what he teaches and preaches on television is orthodox Christian doctrine with a clear presentation of the gospel. His stranger teachings are mainly expounded in his books, monthly magazine and Bible commentary, consequently the general television audience is typically unaware of the darker side of his ministry.

But there are many other people who are aware of his bizarre teachings and simply don’t care, being so enamored with Jimmy Swaggart that they have discarded their discernment. These folks seem willing to believe whatever he says, convinced he is a great anointed holy man of God with a new revelation from heaven.

Typically, this group refuses to hear any Biblical assessment of his teachings nor are they willing to look at the abundant evidence of his unbiblical teachings and practices. They are more interested in following Swaggart than in being like the noble Bereans of Acts 17:11 who were, “examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.”

Those in this latter category I have labelled Swaggarites. A Swaggarite will care more about believing whatever Jimmy Swaggart and his cohorts declare than in what the Word of God says. What follows is a test to determine if one is a Swaggarite. The references where Swaggart’s aberrant teaching can be found is listed in each case.

Here’s how to tell if you, or someone you know, is a Swaggarite:

If you agree with Jimmy Swaggart that any Christian that doesn’t speak in tongues (Billy Graham, for example) “is of little worth in the kingdom of God,” then you just might be a Swaggarite. (Luke 24:49 Jimmy Swaggart commentary on Luke 24:49, The Expositor’s Study Bible)
If you agree with Jimmy Swaggart that Heaven is a planet in our universe which is in the direction “north.” And that God the Father and the Holy Spirit both have bodies like a human body and that God can only be in one place at a time, then you just might be either a Swaggarite or a Mormon. (Jimmy Swaggart commentary on 2 Corinthians 12:2, Psalms 75:6, Exodus 33:23, Deuteronomy 4:16, Expositor’s Study Bible, Jimmy Swaggart, Questions and Answers Baton Rouge: Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, 1985, Page 199.)
If you believe that Jimmy Swaggart has received a special revelation from God that is, has he says, “new to the Church,” and that Jimmy has received “more light than the Church has previously known,” and that his revelation sheds “more light on that which was originally given to Paul,” then you just might be a Swaggarite. (In Swaggart’s book, “Brother Swaggart Here is my Question About the Cross,” Swaggart says, “Considering that this message is new to the church…”,http://www.francesandfriends.com/message-cross/)
If you believe that nearly all churches except Swaggarite churches are apostate, then you just might be a Swaggarite. (https://christiananswerman.com/the-dangers-of-the-swaggart-bible/ See heading: Animosity Toward the Church)
If you believe that Jimmy Swaggart has a secret revelation that is “the single most important material for the believer to know and understand,” and that no church, denomination, minister or teacher has this private revelation except Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, then you just might be a Swaggarite. (See video at: https://christiananswerman.com/is-it-a-cult/)
If you agree with Jimmy Swaggart that the Apostle Paul, after he got saved, fell into sin again and again and failed to live for God because he, along with all the apostles, did not understand the cross as it has now been revealed to Jimmy Swaggart, then you just might be a Swaggarite. (Jimmy Swaggart commentary on Romans Chapter 7, Expositor’s Study Bible)
If you don’t care that Jesus instructed us to recognize false teachers by their fruits, and that Paul said a minister must be “above reproach,” and if it doesn’t matter to you that after Jimmy performed his television repentance (in 1988) of visiting prostitutes for over twenty years, that he then continued going to them and was caught again in 1991 and 1995, all the while continuing to minister, then you just might be a Swaggarite. (https://christiananswerman.com/forgiveness-for-the-fallen/ See heading: The Hidden History)
If your relationships with friends and family has been fractured since you became a follower of Swaggart, then you just might be a Swaggarite.
If you have quit your church after becoming enamored with Jimmy Swaggart, you just might be a Swaggarite.
If you believe, like Swaggart, that the Bible is wrong when it says that Adam was the first man (1 Corinthians 15:45) then you just might be a Swaggarite. (Jimmy Swaggart commentary on Genesis 1:26, Expositor’s Study Bible, https://christiananswerman.com/the-dangers-of-the-swaggart-bible/ see heading: The Gap Theory)
If you think that it’s OK that the Jimmy Swaggart Ministries Print Shop made night-club posters and album covers for bands that promote sexual promiscuity, gang signs, pentagrams, human sacrifice, and violence, or you don’t even want to know about it, then you just might be a Swaggarite. (https://vimeo.com/57422447 Also see: https://christiananswerman.com/forgiveness-for-the-fallen/ heading: Print Shop Scandal)
If you think it’s OK that JSM worship and youth leaders dress scantily and pose for a picture while holding liquor bottles and throwing gang signs while at the same time condemning Rick Warren for writing The Purpose Driven Life, then you just might be a Swaggarite. (https://christiananswerman.com/forgiveness-for-the-fallen/ See heading Youth Ministry Scandal)