Jimmy and Me…
As I compose this, Jimmy Lee Swaggart of Ferriday, Louisiana is dead, though he is being kept alive on life support as his family hopes for a miracle.
To the shock I’m sure, of many of you, I’m grieving this loss.
He is an American punch line now and has been for decades…but he was no joke to me.
I first heard him as a young teenager frantically trying to find the signal for the radio station that carried the L.A. Kings…if I pulled the antenna of the old Ford pickup out as far as I could and left the motor running, many nights I could hear a game via the magic of AM radio.
This night I could only hear some southern preacher damning Jerry Lee Lewis to hell and I was so mad I think the snow melted off the hood of the truck.
Jerry Lee was my north star and everyone had to endure my rants for days afterward as to “this is why I hate Christians’…
The next night he was blowing out my game again, except this time he was playing a song…and he played the fire out of the piano as only one other person could.
Fast forward about twenty years…Swaggart had exploded into the biggest televangelist in history…I was running the largest and wildest club on the West Coast.
Sunday nights at seven the debauchery ceased…if you were in my house you were in enforced silence as I watched the Jimmy Swaggart broadcast.
One Monday morning… under great conviction, I walked into my office and told the owner he was going to hell for what we were doing.
I already knew I was in trouble…
That club owner got saved almost immediately, told his brother, his brother got saved and they’re both in ministry to this day forty some years later.
He sold the club…but I stayed on a few more years…I liked the sound of both those pianos.
Swaggart fell spectacularly…the surprise to me was that so many who had been in my apartment listening because they had no choice…were devastated by the news.
It was my first understanding of what corruption in the pulpit does to people.
When his family finally lets him go the press will have a field day recounting the scandals and the sins and they have that right and that responsibility.
What they don’t know and don’t care to know, is that Jimmy believed what he preached…he just couldn’t always live it.
They’ll say the same about me.
He leaves behind countless thousands who try because of him.
All three cousins are gone now…Jerry Lee, Jimmy Lee, and Mickey Lee…all given the same middle name, all learned to play on the same piano.
It’s quieter here, but if you think heaven ain’t rocking, I’ve got some news for you…soon as I get there, me and the cats are going to a concert…
I became a believer in 1980. Almost every Sunday night, I would go to my best friend’s house and we would watch Jimmy. Loved the music and that fiery preaching!
CK,
I think we’d be shocked if we knew how many people that program touched…
“…me and the cats are going to a concert.”
I never thought of that happening in heaven, but now I look forward to it!
I am sure Mickey and Jerry are saving a spot for Jimmy by the piano.
Reuben,
First will come the great reunions…then non stop celebrations.
Miss Kitty spent a lot of time on my lap with me listening to Jerry Lee…
Ra’s al Ghul,
It’s going to be lit…even though Mickey could never play like they could…he can now …
Excellent tribute! The greatest talents among us are also typically the most enigmatic. The bar of God’s grace seems pretty low. Ask the thief on the cross.
Thank you, Dave…and giving thanks I made it myself…
Michael,
After that Lee family reunion, make sure to check out the set with Johnny Cash and the other quartet members.
I knew of him, but I didn’t watch or listen to him (not part of the Christian culture I belonged to at that time in my life). But, I did feel sorry for him-all that giftedness, both musically and in preaching, but he couldn’t seem to have Spirit-induced self-control. I felt the same way about the Bakers and Johnny Cash. You have great talent (be it in business, interpersonal relationships, or music), but you don’t know how to channel it the right way. We have similar examples of people in the Bible: Saul, David, Solomon, Simon Magus-all supposedly God’s servants, but very low on self-control. Since God also commended the work of many such saints, I can only think that all will be perfected in heaven. It doesn’t give me an excuse to follow in their footsteps, but their “example” can help me to understand how God occupies fragile, sinful vessels, including my own.
Michael:
I found this you might enjoy:
https://www.facebook.com/JerryLeeLewis/videos/now-debuting-the-killers-starck-upright-piano-at-the-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-/750931803151431/
Praying that his passing will be gentle…
“I was running the largest and wildest club on the West Coast.”
Did I miss this memo?
Dread,
I straightened up late …and I’m not exaggerating in the least about the club.
We live a lot of lives on the way home…
Swaggart may be fine piano player, but the bottom line is he has been biblically unqualified to be a pastor since 1988, regardless of his repentance. Period.
Michael,
Swaggart passed away earlier today.
https://julieroys.com/jimmy-swaggart-controversial-televangelist-southern-gospel-legend-dies-at-90/
Ra’s al Ghul,
I got the call early this morning.
Michael,
Not sure he made it in the manner of 1 Corinthians 3:15 and it is above the pay grades of us mere mortals, but he did finish the race. I was never really a fan of his preaching or teaching even back when I was in the faith. TBH, he should have stuck being an evangelist instead of a pastor/teacher. And when he was biblically disqualified from being a pastor/elder, he really should have hung it up then and gone back to being a full-time evangelist. That being said, he was a helluva piano player and I am sure he is jamming with cousins Mickey and Jerry Lee.
Ra’s al Ghul,
Based on decades of knowledge and interaction with that family, I’m pretty sure he’s just fine.
Jimmy and Jerry Lee grew up dirt poor and uneducated by people with both mental illness and white hot religious fervor.
Their talent was too big to be contained in such a warped wrapping…but they both made their mark.