Evangelist Jimmy Swaggart has passed

Wow, RPG.

And yet when Jerry Lee Lewis died nothing but complimentary things were said about him here. Even though Jerry Lee was married seven times, once to a 13 year old girl, is believed by people close to him to have murdered two of those wives, shot his bass player in the stomach, tried to call out Elvis for a gun fight at Graceland, and called Chuck Berry, "boy."

The first time I ever saw him on TV I got up, went to the bathroom, and vomited. That was my gut level reaction to the slime ball.

Yet, no one said a bad word about him, just his cousin for being with a prostitute that time.
Jerry Lee Lewis: A toxic cocktail of scandal, addiction and violence
 

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Della said:
Wow, RPG.

And yet when Jerry Lee Lewis died nothing but complimentary things were said about him here. Even though Jerry Lee was married seven times, once to a 13 year old girl, is believed by people close to him to have murdered two of those wives, shot his bass player in the stomach, tried to call out Elvis for a gun fight at Graceland, and called Chuck Berry, "boy."

The first time I ever saw him on TV I got up, went to the bathroom, and vomited. That was my gut level reaction to the slime ball.

Yet, no one said a bad word about him, just his cousin for being with a prostitute that time.
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Jerry Lewis was also pond scum but it doesn’t make jimmy swaggert any less despicable.
 
"...but for all I know he truly repented and is in Heaven now...." I hope so. Didn't listen much to his preaching, seemed too 'out there' and I definitely did not like "whole lotta shakin' goin' on.." Jerry Lee.
 
oscash said:
Can't stand those evangelists.
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And here's one that was clearly the slimiest of them all. Robert Tilton, he's been in so much trouble over the years. He'd tell the television audience to send him money, and he'll pray for them. People would send him money along with their prayer request. One person who used to work for him said he'd watch Tilton open people's letters, stuff their checks into his pocket and just throw away the person's letter without reading. I was watching his program years ago, and he said something along the lines of, "You say your older and only have a hundred dollars to you name? Send it to me, and I'll pray for you and God will take care of you."

I told it to the Catholic priest across the street. I was his groundskeeper. He told me, "It doesn't work that way." I told him that I knew that, but he was pretending that if you send him all your money, he'll arrange for God to pay your rent and other bills. Father Pat admitted to me that the televangelists were a problem for the church.
slimeball.jpg
 
There is shown on T V here something called Inspiration--?whatever. I JUST CAN"T UNDERSTAND how anyone could believe his "inspiration" bull that is his clever way of leading listeners to send a "seed" of $1000, and God will return to you a "seed" greater than you can imagine. Huge choir. Huge audience. o_O He always speaks in a (cough) logical conversational way. :devilish:
 
Elsie said:
There is shown on T V here something called Inspiration--?whatever. I JUST CAN"T UNDERSTAND how anyone could believe his "inspiration" bull that is his clever way of leading listeners to send a "seed" of $1000, and God will return to you a "seed" greater than you can imagine. Huge choir. Huge audience. o_O He always speaks in a (cough) logical conversational way. :devilish:
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Those evangelists own private jets!! They don't fly first class they own private jets.
 
OldOld said:
Those evangelists own private jets!! They don't fly first class they own private jets.
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I've made myself listen to this inspiration (hah!) guy's seed spiel for as long as I could waiting for it, and sure enough here it comes, sneakily interjected well enough to fool his listeners. I feel unclean listening to him. I avoid his "show" now, am sad for the deceived by him.
 
I have been disillusioned by about as many televangelists over the years as I've listened to, so I don't anymore. The Pastor at a church I once attended back in the 1990s, was once giving a message on the subject, and he said, "If something tells you to turn it off, turn it off. It's better to be mistaken than deceived."
 
Fortunately my cable package doesn't include any of those channels. There's nothing to compare with my local soft spoken preacher who says he bases all his sermons on his own failings and never points his finger at any of us. (Although most of us recognize ourselves in his message every week.)
 
Della said:
Lot's of horrible people have been atheists. Does that shake your confidence at all?
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No, not a bit. But then, how many followers and financial donations were those atheists getting? How many people did they prey on and take cash for as a substitute or justification for faith?

Elsie said:
Looking at it that way, then believers who are wonderfully good people should give you strength to believe as they do?
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Can I be frank? I doubt so called "good people", unless I see evidence of their being good. For example - and I don't want to hijack the thread - but if you're virulently anti-immigrant, in my eyes you're not christian. Or rather, your faith is doubtful. In my eyes only, people will feel differently, of course.

Look down on the homeless, look repugnantly at the addicted, belittle those who simply have a disagreement..... they're not Christian. At least as I understand faith. There is far too much judgement both in today's world, and in the Bible. Jesus wasn't like that as I know him, but people today - including so called Christians? Not so much.

In other words, saying one believes in God REQUIRES action. It's an ideal to live by. And I see far too much flirting with the gravitas of faith, without action. It, for me, weakens faith as a path.
 
Mitch86 said:
I am also age 90 and used to listen to Jimmy Swaggart on TV on Sundays. I hope I will meet him in Heaven when Jesus comes for me! However, I do wonder if Heaven really has room for all the trillions of human beings who have died since 6,000 BC. Maybe Heaven is compartmentalized so our spirits can wander from one compartment to all the others...?

It would be interesting if all the posters here would post their current age. Then we could all see how "senior" all of us are.
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I'm right there with you, Mitch. 91 and my wife (who I met in 1953) is 89 We're over here in Mass., also New Englanders. :)
 
Televangelists aren't typical Christians anymore than Angelina Jolie is the typical housewife. They do tend to be money hungry fakes, but they are such a small percentage of the people who call themselves Christians as to not even count. Towns all across America have churches that feed the homeless every week, food pantries for the hungry, special programs and meeting rooms for the addicted. Look at the numbers of hospitals, orphanages and colleges founded by Christians and still funded at least in part by Christians. Huge Christian charities send food around the world.

Of course there are thousands maybe millions of people in America who check the Christian box on forms because they always have and Christianity is the default religion in this country. No they aren't really Christians if they don't do anything about it, but that doesn't make them typical Christians. To look at them and say all Christians are bad would be like looking at Stalin and saying all atheists are murderers.
 
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rgp said:
And let us not forget that through out history nearly all war has been about/over religion .
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That simply isn't true.

Here's what AI says,
"While religion has been a factor in many conflicts throughout history, it is rarely the sole or primary cause of war.

Wars are complex events driven by a combination of political, economic, social, and ideological factors. "
 
Della said:
Televangelists aren't typical Christians anymore than Angelina Jolie is the typical housewife. They do tend to be money hungry fakes, but they are such a small percentage of the people who call themselves Christians as to not even count. Towns all across America have churches that feed the homeless every week, food pantries for the hungry, special programs and meeting rooms for the addicted. Look at the numbers of hospitals, orphanages and colleges founded by Christians and still funded at least in part by Christians. Huge Christian charities send food around the world.

Of course there are thousands maybe millions of people in America who check the Christian box on forms because they always have and Christianity is the default religion in this country. No they aren't really Christians if they don't do anything about it, but that doesn't make them typical Christians. To look at them and say all Christians are bad would be like looking at Stalin and saying all atheists are murderers.
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Well stated @Della .

Not at all familiar with JH's life though did at times catch him briefly switching through channels on OTA TV. He seemed generally well-meaning and moral at least publicly, was probably a net moral positive for many of his followers, and may have been sincere during his early life, but eventually didn't follow what he preached that reflects on a lack of true faith.

Throughout history, sexual issues have been the primary downfalls of many Christians. And has been the case far before Jesus's era. The OT wasn't afraid to record a few sexual issues as with King David, though much of the rest of the OT and NT seems to have been scrubbed clean by scribes, probably directed so due to guilt of their elite noble masters. In modern times, the recent pedophile scandals not only among Christian churches but eventually also across many societies worldwide shows, how it is and always has been the weakest moral facet of many of our human lives and the most difficult to publicly discuss.
 

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