Jimmy Swaggart

From RationalWiki

Jimmy Swaggart is a televangelist who doesn't practice what he preaches. He incurred a "fall from grace" in the late 1980s for having sex with a prostitute in a sleazy Louisiana motel. He has, however, been forgiven by God. How do we know that he has been forgiven by God? Because Jimmy Swaggart went on TV a few days after he was caught to give a whiny "LOOOORRRRDDDD, I have sinnnnned against theeeee!" sermon and shed tears of repentance. Predictably, he was caught cruising for prostitutes again just a few years later in California. Though nowhere near the days when he was at the height of his influence, Jimmy continues to televangelize to this day.

The Jimmy Swaggart sex scandal broke in 1987-88, right around the same time as the Jim Bakker sex scandal did, and Oral Roberts made his highly specious claim that the LORD had spoken to him in his Prayer Tower and said He was going to "call him home" unless his flock sent him a certain amount of money pronto. All these scandals hitting at once didn't seem to affect Americans' appetite for being fleeced by charlatans however - evangelical megachurches are more popular than ever.