11. Chapter 10: The Plan Of Salvation According To Jimmy Swaggart

Chapter 10 The Plan Of Salvation According To Jimmy Swaggart

According to reputable public data, Jimmy Swaggart has been around for a long time. Swaggart began preaching all around the southern United States with various other itinerant preachers in the early 1950’s. He is related to the famous musician Jerry Lee Lewis; in fact, Swaggart says that he gave up his intended musical career so that he could dedicate his life to the Lord’s service. Swaggart enjoyed much financial success and celebrity status throughout his career, and his current television show can be seen most every morning on various television channels. In order to prepare for this chapter, I listened to several of his televised sermons and researched his Jimmy Swaggart Ministries Website. Swaggart is a good man, imbued with many admirable qualities. He has done a lot of good for a lot of people for a very long time. He plays piano very well, also. I remember seeing him on television when I was a little boy, and most everyone I ever heard speak of him did, in fact, speak about him with a great deal of reverence. When you click upon the “About Us” button, you will be able to read about his ministry. On this page, it says that his ministry has been “raised up by God” in order to reach the whole world. It says that his ministry is “called of God” to see that souls are saved, to heal the sick, to break the power of sinful bondage, and several more honorable things that are associated with Christian-type ideals. Swaggart then lists out the many wonderful things his ministry does in order to fulfill Christ’s Great Commission.

Just pay a visit to the Jimmy Swaggart Ministries Website for more details concerning all of the things he does. The purpose of this chapter, though, is neither to praise the ministry of Jimmy Swaggart nor is it to throw stones at it, or at him; rather, it is to educate you, the reader, about the plan of salvation according to Jimmy Swaggart in comparison with the plan of salvation according to Jesus Christ.

There are several fundamental differences between the two; however, I will focus only upon the most basic differences, which are 1) how a person is born again, and 2) whether or not a person who is truly born again can lose his or her salvation. I will explain to you what Jimmy Swaggart says, and then I will explain to you what Jesus Christ says. I will use scripture rather than denominational viewpoints. In the end, you will have to make up your mind as to which of these plans you will choose. When you visit the Jimmy Swaggart Ministries Website, you will find a link toward the bottom left-hand side of the page entitled “Salvation Help.” When you click upon this button, you will be taken to a page entitled “The Priceless Corner.” Now, because of potential copyright violations, I will paraphrase for you the plan of salvation according to Jimmy Swaggart in the following sections, but in order to read what he says word-for-word, you will have to visit his page. On this page that explains Swaggart’s view of salvation, he claims to show “God’s Plan of Salvation.”

Swaggart states that if the one who is visiting his page is unsure of where they will go when they die, to please look at what God Himself says in His bible. In the first section, Swaggart makes clear the love of God for all people. He even quotes John 3:16, which states, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” In Swaggart’s second section of his salvation statement, he makes the reader aware of how sin has separated us from God. Swaggart effectively makes it clear that all people are sinners. He even quotes a couple of verses from the bible that establish this fact. I will quote one of them here for you: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). In the third section we are told that Christ is, in fact, the only “remedy” for man’s sinful condition. Swaggart quotes two very good bible verses in his third section. The first verse says, “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God...” (1 Peter 3:18). The second verse says, ”Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). In Swaggart’s fourth section of his view of salvation, he tells the reader that he or she must “receive Christ” as his or her “personal Lord” and “savior.” Swaggart then mentions the discourse held between Christ and Nicodemus in the third chapter of John, saying that Christ told Nicodemus how he could not see the kingdom of God unless he became born again.

Swaggart then directs the reader to pray a special prayer. Swaggart’s salvation prayer, like so many other salvation prayers mentioned in this book, requires the one praying to 1) realize “you” are a sinner, 2) believe Jesus died for “you” on the cross, 3) open “your heart” to Jesus as both Lord and savior, 4) let Him take “full control” of your life, and 5) let Him make “you” everything that He wants you to be. Swaggart says that anyone who prays this prayer “in all sincerity” is now God’s child.

Now, if you will visit Swaggart’s Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section of his Jimmy Swaggart Ministries Website, then scroll all the way to the bottom of the page, you will see where he states that a truly born-again Christian can lose his or her salvation. Swaggart says that if a truly born-again Christian stops believing in Christ, or that if he or she deliberately turns their back upon their salvation, that they can lose their eternal salvation. Swaggart then affirms that salvation is free, but that the “just” shall live by “faith.” Swaggart again claims that salvation is “not of works” but he then claims that salvation is, in fact, “maintained” by a person’s good works and acts of righteousness. The aforementioned (paraphrased) materials you have just read constitute the plan of salvation according to Jimmy Swaggart. Before I explain Christ’s plan of salvation, I want to take you back a number of years to the “Christian” academy that I attended in order to explain some things to you.

I must admit something to you. When I was in fifth grade, attending a well-known, socially respected yet spiritually abusive pseudo-Christian academy, I struggled over how to be saved. In fact, I never got saved until the year 2005. Each staff member seemed to have his or her own version of how to be saved, yet, all of their plans had similar features, such as being told that I had to quit sinning, feel extremely sorry for my sins, whether it was chewing gum in class, or not wearing socks, or talking out of turn, and that I had to ask Jesus to come into my heart, that I had to make Jesus my Lord, that I had to announce my decision to follow Christ or my re-dedication to Christ in front of the whole school or it wouldn’t count, and that I had to obey my teachers and not look at a woman’s body or listen to the popular forms of music that were available at that time. I was told that “total obedience” to the Lord was “necessary” to be truly saved and that I had to prove my salvation to others by doing good works and deeds or I was not truly saved. The entire student body of the school, from kindergarten on up to high school, had these particular views of salvation routinely hammered into them. Wednesday was “chapel day.” All grades from junior high on up would meet together in the main church to hear a speech by our principal, as well as to hear a coerced testimony of salvation from a student who was usually pressured into doing so against his or her will by either the principal himself or by one of the other teachers. The unique thing about the principal’s speech, though, was the fact that he most always based the content of his speech upon the “other-than-Christian” behaviors that his student body seemed to exhibit toward the staff and to other students throughout the rest of the week. For instance, if one of the teenagers lied to his or her teacher, the principal would give a lecture to us about how God punished liars. Or if a student cheated on a test, we would receive a lecture on how we would not go to heaven; yet, on top of that, because students always seemed to know (usually through gossip) who is in and out of trouble, we would see the principal give sharp looks of disapproval to the student sitting in the audience for whom the lecture was based upon. On several occasions, his lectures were focused on me, as were his stares. I began to develop an inner sense of rebellion toward the personal attacks against my character. I was a good kid. There was no rebellion in me prior to this. I never got into trouble, I never talked back to my teachers. I enjoyed being good.

What I believe happened was that the staff of this pseudo-Christian school took it upon themselves to “correct” all of us by pointing out our flaws and by trying to reshape us in the likeness of Christ, which, on the surface, sounds wonderful. I have no problems with this at all “when it works.” We need character education. We need to be taught right from wrong. There is nothing wrong with being “stripped” of bad character and having yourself “rebuilt” in the correct way through loving, genuine, and “private” Christian counseling. The problems with their methods, though, were that 1) we were never told how to be born again the way Christ said we had to be, and 2) the staff, especially the principal, abused their power in many ways. One of their most effective methods was that of psychological invalidation. By refuting our opinions, by making us feel insignificant, or by mocking what we might say in our defense after one of their psychological attacks, they made great use of psychological invalidation by rewording our answers to their questions and spitting them back at us, as well as by attempting to restructure the ways in which our minds worked by getting us to see ourselves as dirty, undeserving, and thoroughly disgusting in God eyes. It was classic mind control. It was “conditioning.” We were nothing more than Pavlov’s dogs. You “shame” a Marine recruit, yes; you “shame” a police-academy cadet, yes. After all, we need tough Marines and we need tough cops; however, you do not shame children. Children and young teens simply do not have the “tools” with which to defend themselves against spiritual terrorism. The staff of this school took great pleasure in singling out students and shaming them in front of others. The staff were very skilled in the psychological tactics they used to get inside of our minds, causing us to lose our developing and fragile identities. The staff of this fake Christian school took great delight in the power of their control over us. Many students rebelled, not against authority-in-general, but against the fact that the staff seemed to receive so much pleasure in “Christian-centered” abuse. Many had their identities replaced by the ones the staff wanted them to have. Many rebelled and were in constant trouble. Some were expelled. Others later became hooked on drugs. Many simply couldn’t handle any more of the staff’s criticalness toward them and left to go to other schools. But the worst part of all was that none of us were saved. We had been force fed false plans of salvation that always involved human efforts, which, according to Christ, cannot be added to His free gift. To make a long story short, unless Christ “builds it,” it cannot stand, and I think He got tired of what was happening to the good kids at this school. I believe that, as a result of the poor teaching, the spiritual intimidation, and the false gospels that we were being taught, God Himself stepped in and put an end to it. The school ended up crumbling and went out of business. The reasons for which I’m giving you a little bit of background about the so-called “Christian” school that I attended for a number of years, although cathartic as these reasons may be, is to explain the fact that 1) I thought I was saved because I tried to quit sinning, I tried to be good, and I asked Christ into my heart the way I was taught to do, and 2) I thought I’d lost my salvation during fifth grade, but the truth of the matter is that because of their flawed plan I was never even saved to begin with, and neither were they, according to Isaiah 8:20, which says, “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” When I read that Jimmy Swaggart says we can lose our salvation, a red flag went up in my spirit and then so many memories of the pseudo-Christian school that I attended came pouring out of my mind. Also, while preparing to write this chapter about Swaggart’s plan of salvation, I learned that a school known as the Family Christian Academy is associated with the Swaggart family. I am not saying that the Family Christian Academy associated with Jimmy Swaggart is anything like the academy that I attended in my youth, but in light of Swaggart’s salvation statement, I cannot help but pray hard for those kids because if they are being taught any other plan of salvation than the plan of salvation according to Jesus Christ, then they are, in fact, being shaped and molded by erroneous doctrines. While my “Christian” academy experience was probably way out of the ordinary, my heart goes out to all of the kids around the world who might be in an environment where “abuse in the name of Christian-character development” might be taking place. No, I’m not saying that Swaggart’s school is anything like the one I attended, but I worry about the impressionable young minds that are being influenced by plans of salvation other than the one Christ talks about, no matter what school it is. The differences between Swaggart’s plan of salvation and the plan of salvation that Christ gives to us in His bible are crystal clear. At this time, by way of contrast, I would like to show you the plan of salvation according to Jesus Christ. I would like to explain for you how Christ says that we are to be born again. In addition to Christ’s plan of salvation, I would like to show you that, according to the bible, i.e., according to Christ Himself, you cannot lose your salvation once you have become His child. To begin with, I would first like to give you a few passages from the book of a modern-day giant of the Christian faith for you to consider so that you will not think I’m the only one who feels that “Lordship salvation” is an unbiblical plan of salvation. Dr. A. Ray Stanford is his name, and “Handbook Of Personal Evangelism is his book. Because of Swaggart’s stance on making Christ your “Lord” (not just your “savior”) in order to be saved, I want you to read what this internationally respected author has to say about the subject of “Lordship salvation.” What you are about to read from Dr. Stanford can be found in the bible. These are bible-based facts, not his opinions, and that is precisely why I respect him so much. These passages are a bit lengthy, but they are necessary to help explain facts that are clearly established in the Word of God. Please look closely at what Dr. Stanford is saying, below:

“REASONS FOR NOT TEACHING ‘LORDSHIP SALVATION’

Dr. Stanford goes on with many more points, but I will cease from using his materials at this point because I think you get the general idea. Dr. Stanford really gives us a lot to consider here, and I am very grateful to him for being so incredibly clear about exactly how false “Lordship salvation” really is and for allowing me to use portions of his book in order to help everyone else understand more fully the sheer folly of trusting in “Lordship salvation.” It will not save you. You will not go to heaven if you trust Christ “plus” determine to follow Him in obedience as your “Lord.” Why? Because that is not the “gospel.” Mind you, now, it sounds “wonderful.” It sounds “right.” It sounds fantastic and it sounds like the honorable thing to do. But it’s not “salvation.” It is “partial trust” in Christ and it is “partial trust” in your works. It is a false gospel, although it is “beautiful” nevertheless.

What does Jesus Christ say about salvation? Jesus says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). If you will remember, Swaggart uses this verse, too, in step number one of his plan of salvation. In the context of the third chapter of John, Nicodemus, who was a well-respected Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin, came to Jesus one night to find out more about Him. Jesus knew what he was up to, and He said that he needed to be born again. This puzzled Nicodemus. You see, because he was a Pharisee, he thought he had to keep the “law” in order to go to heaven. Pharisees at that time were very zealous about keeping the laws of Moses. They were strict adherents to the Torah and the Talmud. When Nicodemus asked how he could enter his mother’s womb again to be born again, Jesus had to explain a very simple principle to this incredibly wise yet thoroughly oblivious man. Jesus used the incident of when the Israelites under Moses were being killed by deadly snakes. In order for them to be saved from the snakebites, God told Moses to make a bronze snake, put it on a pole, and then lift it up for everyone to see. If those snakebite victims would look upon this bronzed snake in “belief” that they would be healed, they would, in fact, be healed of their fatal, venomous bites. Christ then told Nicodemus that He would be “lifted up” (death by crucifixion) so that all who would look upon Him and “believe” in Him alone for the forgiveness of their sins and the promise of everlasting life, He would do so. He would save them from eternal death the moment they trusted in Him alone. In light of what you’ve just read, what do you think Christ is requiring of a lost person in order for them to go to heaven when they die? I will tell you: Christ said to “believe” in Him alone. Today, by default, when Christ says “believe” in Him, He is referring to the fact that He is the Messiah, that He died for our sins, that He was buried, and that He arose from the dead three days later, i.e., the “gospel message of Christ.” Did Christ say believe and make Me the Lord of your life? Did He say believe and quit sinning? Did He say believe and feel sorry for your sins? Did He say believe in Him and in His mother, Mary? Did He say believe and endure to the end or you will lose the gift of everlasting life? No. Christ said to believe in Him alone, and from the context of the chapter, we see that Christ was alluding to the fact that, as previously mentioned, He would die on a cross for our sins as required legally by a just and holy God: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). When a person was crucified by Roman soldiers, he was “lifted up” for the public-at-large to see. When people saw such a ghastly, painful thing, it served as a crime deterrent. Nobody wanted to end up having that done to them. Christ, who came to this world to die for our sins, fulfilled His duty of love by laying His life down for us through public crucifixion. Jesus paid for the sins of the world by His death on that cross. Just before He died, He said, “It is finished.” He had successfully paid for our sins. According to the scriptures, His dead body had to be buried in order to fulfill the scriptures. Three days later, Jesus rose from the dead in fulfillment of the scriptures. Christ told Nicodemus to place his trust in what He would “do”(future tense) for him, for He had not yet died. Today, Christ tells you and me to place our trust in what He “did” (past tense) for us, because He died and rose again over 2,000 years ago. What He did for us by His death, burial and resurrection from the dead is, when believed, what saves us from “perishing” in the lake of fire. That, my friend, is salvation according to Jesus Christ’s own words. Don’t take my word for it, though. Use a King James Version of the bible and read these scripture references for yourself because I am trying to get you away from the habit of following “anything” that a man has to say on the matter and to trust only in the words of Christ Himself.

Now, because Christ said “everlasting life,” let me ask you a simple question. How long is “everlasting life?” Can “everlasting life” end? What if it could end? Would He have called it “everlasting life” if it could end at some point? At what point in time does “everlasting life” end? Go look out at the night sky next time it gets dark outside. Look as far and as deep into space as you can. How far can you see? If you think you have seen the point at which space ends, let me ask you, “What’s on the other side of the end of space?” When you consider empty space, and how there will (by default) always be “more space” behind the space you see, how then could “space” itself end? Now, if Jesus Christ said we would receive “everlasting life” if we trust in Him alone (apart from works or deeds of the law), at what point would everlasting life cease? Again, why would Christ say “everlasting life” if it could end? Did Jesus tell Nicodemus a big, fat lie? The truth of the matter is that once you are born “physically,” there is no way for you to become physically unborn, i.e., you cannot shrink back to microscopic size and reenter your mother’s womb; likewise, when you become born again “spiritually” through faith in Jesus Christ alone, you cannot become spiritually unborn, either. Being born physically is irreversible. Being born again spiritually is equally irreversible. For a man or a woman in a church pulpit to in any way insinuate that a person can lose his or her salvation once they have trusted Christ alone and are seen by Him as His own is, quite simply, to call God the Father a liar: “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God” (1 John 5:10-13). The “witness” mentioned in verse10 is none other than the Holy Spirit Himself. Ever since the day of Pentecost, the instant that you trust Jesus Christ alone to save you, the Holy Spirit immediately takes up residence within you; therefore, one does not have to pray for the subsequent indwelling of the Holy Spirit after one is born again, the way so many pastors today erroneously teach. The rest of the passage states clearly that God gives eternal life (not temporary life) to those who trust in His Son, and to refute what God is so plainly telling us here in these scriptures about salvation-through-Christ-alone is the equivalent of calling Him a liar.

No, reader, you cannot lose your salvation the way Swaggart says you can. And the bible is also very clear that God is the one who keeps us saved. We do not maintain our born-again status by doing works of righteousness or by living the Christian Lifestyle. Look at what Romans 4:5 says, “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” That “righteousness” is the exact same righteousness that Christ imputes to us at the moment we trust Him. From that moment onward, we are seen positionally by God as “as righteous as Christ” because at the moment of belief Christ swaps our unholiness for His righteousness. Swaggart, on the other hand, says we have to “maintain” our salvation by living the Christian Lifestyle, yet, in rebuke of such viewpoints, Jesus says, “And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day” (John 6:39). Jesus said He won’t lose you; yet, Swaggart is telling us that how we live our lives between the time we are born again until the time we die is what determines whether or not we get into heaven. Swaggart says that if a truly born-again Christian doesn’t want his or her salvation anymore, that they can turn their backs on God and they will go to hell as a result. But according to Christ’s own words, that is impossible. If you could ever be lost after Jesus Christ said He would give you everlasting life the moment you trust Him as your savior, then Jesus lied to Nicodemus and He lied to all of humankind. But in absolute, concrete terms, can God really lie? Look at this: “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;” (Titus 1:2). According to this verse from the Word of God, He cannot lie. Christ, who is God in a human body, cannot lie. How then, reader, can anyone, including Jimmy Swaggart, be so deceived as to believe God could lie to us and take back the free gift of salvation that He guarantees to all who place their trust in what He did for them by His death, burial and resurrection from the dead? I’ll tell you how. They get lost in the scriptures and they misinterpret them. Satan, or one of his fallen angels, is usually present in order to confuse them, also. But the main reason people believe they can lose their salvation is because they cannot take what Christ says at face value. They simply refuse to believe what Christ said, and ultimately they are calling Him a liar.

Reader, there is only one plan of salvation, not two. One of them in this chapter is wrong. Can you guess which one it is? You’ll have to make that choice, for I am simply presenting both plans for your consideration. Will you choose a man’s plan or will you choose Christ’s plan? It’s up to you, but I have to warn you that if you choose the wrong plan of salvation, you will be cast into the lake of fire for all eternity:

“And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire”(Revelation 20:11-15).