After attacking and destroying the ministry of a fellow minister for his sexual failures, Jimmy was busted by that same preacher he ruined. The day I heard about his mishap, I learned then that people are as careless about their morals when they are successful as they are when they have no success. I told him, "Usually, when people preach against some particular sin, its because they have the problem themselves, but I don't think Jimmy Swaggart would do that, even though he writes and preaches so much against fornication." I made the mistake of thinking that anyone with a huge ministry like that would want to protect it and stay holy, but one week later, Jimmy Swaggart's crying face was all over the news in the U.S. stating, "I have sinned!" I was talking to a friend that day about Jimmy Swaggart. Even though it was a subject I expected Jimmy to write about, it just wasn't Jimmy's style of writing or study.Īround that same time, I had also read that Jimmy called Christian Rock the "fornication of Gospel music," which in hindsight is a very interesting description.Īfter living in Europe for one year, I moved into the forests of the Congo, as a missionary, smack dab in the middle of Africa. To this day I am convinced he had a ghost writer pen the pages of the book. As I paged through the book, I saw a different Jimmy than I heard preaching. Not too long after, when I lived in Brussels, Belgium, I stopped at a book store and saw a book by Jimmy Swaggart about fornication which caught my interest. I always felt attacked when he preached and I could only put up with so much of that.Īs I grew older and grew in my faith, I slowly returned to the Rock and Roll that I so dearly loved as a High Schooler and drifted away from Jimmy Swaggart's music. During this phase in my life for some odd reason, I began listening to and enjoying Jimmy Swaggart's boogey woogey style of piano playing, and in time, I grew to love the crooning type of Gospel music he performed.Įven though I could listen to his music for hours, I always hated his preaching. preacher in the world.Īs a young man barely out of High School, I became a born again Christian down South, which meant I had to get rid of all my Rock and Roll albums and replace them with Gospel and Southern Gospel music. Jim moved from his AG church and headed up Jimmi Swaggart's church in Baton Rouge, LA, when Jimmy Swaggart was the biggest T.V. Jim Rentz and his wife were great - I visited them a lot when I was stationed in Opa Locka. I use to go to a small Assemblies of God church in Hialeah, FL with the nicest pastor you could ever know. There are people I know and who I am close to who are famous, and there are people who simply stoke my interest. Either way, as a subject, fame is fascinating.
I like to read especially about people who make a difference in the world, some for good and some for bad.