To each, he said, he had brought ''disgrace and humiliation and embarrassment.'' To each, he said, in a faltering whisper, ''I beg your forgiveness.'' They included his son Donnie the Assemblies of God church other pastors of the faith missionaries ''on the front lines of darkness, holding back the tides of hell'' his own church and television ministry the Jimmy Swaggart Bible College he founded those who took part in Swaggart crusades around the world, and his ''fellow television ministers and evangelists, already bearing almost unbearable loads to save souls and continue to tell the great story of Jesus Christ.'' Hundreds Rally Around Him In turn, the 52-year-old evangelist, clutching a microphone and bending over it, moved through a litany of those whom he said he had sinned against. ''My sin was done in secret,'' he said, ''and God has said to me I will do what I do before the whole world.'' Swaggart turned first to his wife, Frances, spoke of the strength and commitment she brought to his ministry, and said, haltingly, ''Oh, I have sinned against you, and I beg your forgiveness.'' Speaking slowly at first, then more loudly, then dropping to a whisper, Mr. He said he blamed no one for his own fall from grace, ''no one but myself, no one but Jimmy Swaggart.'' Swaggart today admitted his failings was filled with the emotions associated with confession and remorse. ''In the opinion of the officers of the Louisiana District, he has shown true humility and repentance and has not tried to blame anyone else for his failure.''ĭistrict church officials will determine ''appropriate disciplinary procedures after hearing all the facts and circumstances,'' Mr. ''He confessed to specific incidents of moral failure,'' said Mr. Hall, secretary-treasurer of the Louisiana District of the Assemblies of God, told the overflow crowd in the 7,500-seat worship center that the evangelist had confessed to church officials at a 10-hour meeting Thursday, and to his family. Swaggart is a one-time backwoods Louisiana Pentacostal preacher whose evangelical television ministry ultimately reached into 142 countries and brought in $140 million annually in offerings.įorrest H. But he also referred, in the plural, to ''incidents'' that led to his confession to church authorities Thursday in Springfield, Mo., where the Assemblies of God governing council sits.
0 kommentar(er)
