Swaggart Investigated Over Allegations of Adultery

Jimmy Swaggart, one of the nation’s most popular and powerful evangelists, is under investigation by Assemblies of God elders to determine if he has committed adultery, and he risks losing his ministerial credentials, according to a high-level source familiar with the inquiry.

While not confirming the nature of the charges against Swaggart, the Assemblies issued an unusual public statement Friday that called the matter a “critical situation” that is being handled according to formal church procedures.

Elders of the Assemblies, the same evangelical group that last year defrocked evangelist Jim Bakker for adultery and “alleged bisexual activities,” met with Swaggart in a four-hour special session Thursday night, according to the church statement.

Louisiana Officials

The Assemblies statement said the probe is being conducted by officials of the Louisiana district where Swaggart’s television empire is based. “Jimmy Swaggart is fully cooperating with the investigation,” the statement said.

Neither Swaggart nor his lawyer, William Treeby, was available for comment Friday. Asked about the charges, Swaggart spokeswoman Barbara Klein said, “At this point, we don’t have a statement.”

The Swaggart investigation focuses on “sexual moral charges . . . with other women,” a source close to the Assemblies said. The probe is believed to have been triggered by evidence presented by Marvin Gorman, a rival New Orleans evangelist who last year filed a $90-million defamation suit accusing Swaggart of spreading false rumors of sexual misconduct against him.

ABC’s News on Friday reported that Gorman presented Assemblies elders with photographs of Swaggart that supposedly show him visiting a prostitute. But a church official said the pictures were “open to interpretation,” the network reported.

Public Statement Soon

Gorman could not be reached Friday night. One of his lawyers, James Frasier, said representatives of Gorman would soon make a formal public announcement about the Swaggart matter.

A high-level source familiar with the charges said the Swaggart investigation “could have far greater impact” on evangelical Christians than last year’s PTL scandal.

The 52-year-old Swaggart, whose television broadcasts reach an estimated 9 million viewers in the United States, is a spellbinding preacher whose revival crusades have attracted followers around the world. Last week, 40,000 went to hear him speak at a rally in Managua, Nicaragua. From his Baton Rouge, La., headquarters, he operates a $156-million-a-year global television empire, a 1,000-student Bible college and a 7,000-seat church.

Last year, Swaggart helped bring to public light the PTL scandal involving Bakker’s confessed sexual encounter with Jessica Hahn. Bakker at that time accused Swaggart of trying to take over the PTL empire founded by Jim and Tammy Bakker.

Variety of Punishments

Juleen Turnage, secretary of information for the Assemblies of God, would not elaborate on the allegations against Swaggart. Depending on the outcome, she said, Swaggart could be stripped of his ministerial credentials or placed on suspension and ordered to submit to a special two-year “rehabilitation” program. If the charges are proven false, she said, Swaggart would be formally exonerated.

The Swaggart-Gorman rivalry stems from a bitter July, 1986, confrontation over allegations of adultery by Gorman. When the feud first erupted, Gorman acknowledged that he had confessed to Swaggart to having once committed adultery with one woman in 1980. But Swaggart accused him of lying at the meeting, charging that he was aware of signed statements by at least two other women who claimed to have had sexual liaisons with Gorman.

After its investigation, the Assemblies of God defrocked Gorman for “immorality and conduct unbecoming to a minister,” according to a church official.