King David and Jimmy Swaggart
[Correction by God’s prophet]
I want to share with you today a story that has without a doubt been spoken and preached about through the years, that has had a impact on the life of every born-again child of God. And that is the story of King David. While I will be writing and sharing with you my thoughts [As the Spirit leads], on the events [that led to the liaison with Bathsheba], as recorded in the word of God in 2Samuel 11 and 12; I will also be writing once again my thoughts on Jimmy Swaggart. You are probably asking yourself…Oh no, are we going to be talking about Jimmy Swaggart again? And my answer is, Yes we are!
You see saints of God, when it concerns persons of such ‘high profile’ in the annals of Christendom, who are supposed to be torch-bearers and who lead the way for God’s children to follow, and these high-profilers sin and then try to cover up their wrong doings, then God Almighty sends in His prophets to speak words of correction to those who have done wrong. And as most of you know that there has been down through the ages very few men [and women] who has known and experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit as King David did.
I mean, when we study David’s life from his days as a shepherd boy tending his father’s sheep; how that he killed the bear and the lion [1Samuel 17v34-37]. David at the time of his slaying the bear and the lion was most probably somewhere between the age of 14 to 17 years old. Physically speaking it was impossible for him to do this; but Praise the Lord!, it was done by the anointing and power of the Spirit on his life.
Turn to 1Samuel 16v18 to confirm this. One of King Saul’s servants said this ‘Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, that is cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man [Oxford dictionary defines valiant as brave, courageous and strong], and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely man, and the Lord is with him.’ [KJV]
The Oxford dictionary also defines cunning as artfulness, craft, ability, dexterity and knowledge. I want to by these two definitions try to show that there is somewhat similarities between King David and Jimmy Swaggart. My first similarity is in the ‘cunning of playing’. Now I really do not know if David could play any other instrument than the lyre [Greek Ant, Instrument like a harp but of a size to be held up in left hand and played with plectrum, and with strings supported by two symmetrically curved and yoked horns], but he [David] played it very skilfully and certainly under the anointing of the Holy Spirit [Read 1Samuel 16v23 to see the effect it had on King Saul]
Of course also I do not know if Jimmy Swaggart can play any instrument than the piano. Those of us who have followed Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, know that without a doubt he can play the piano very skilfully, and most certainly has blessed us over the years.
In all fairness to David, certainly Bro’ Swaggart has not physically killed a bear nor a lion, but those of us who have insight into his ministry can say that Jimmy Swaggart has killed some spiritual bears and lions in his lifetime. Also, whereas David slew the giant physically [By the power of the Holy Spirit], those who have read Bro’ Swaggart’s book [To Cross a River], and in his sermons [The Sin Nature], he has certainly slain some spiritual giants.
Ok, now we have seen some similarities on these issues, let’s pray! ‘Heavenly Father, I praise you for that which you are doing in the lives of your children. Lord, I am aware that we are on the battlefield in the front lines; and that we are the targets of the enemy who will wounded and maimed by the devil’s attacks. Yet you promise in Your Word that no weapon formed against us will prosper. Certainly in any battle there are wounded soldiers, but I ask that the casualties in the armies of the Lord of Host will be kept to a minimum. To them who will read this message, I pray that they will be fully clothed, and ready for battle with the full armour of God [Ephesians 6v13-21 KJV]. Direct me Lord as you have done in sermons past to speak only the truth and nothing but the truth, as I ask this all in Jesus Precious Name….Amen!
As I mentioned earlier that God sends His prophets to warn or speak words of correction to those who have been called and anointed of the Lord to do mighty deeds. Also I mentioned that no man [or woman] has experienced and known the Holy Spirit like King David did. We read in Acts 13v22, God said this, ‘I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will,’[KJV] Nowhere in the word of God has this ever been said of anyone else. Of the two statements that God made about David in this verse, we often hear of the first, but far less of the second – yet the second is no less important than the first. God takes pleasure in people he can trust and use, those who have learnt to surrender to His will.
What must I do that God can say to me, ‘a person after My own heart, who will do all My will. Firstly one must be born again, receive a new life and nature, because no one can delight in and do God’s will except they be born-again from above. So no sincere desire, purpose of resolution on their own can make a person after God’s own heart, who will do all His will. Only a person who is born again from above, relying on the power of the Holy Spirit, is able to live this life. Our attitude should be annoyance and rejection at resistance to God’s will in our lives. We must choose His will and not our own. Just as the Lord Jesus died to his own will in the Garden of Gethsemane so must we. The Father looks for surrendered hearts to glorify Himself and His Kingdom on earth.
Reflecting on David’s life, and the many victories he wrought in battles against the enemies of Israel; the wealth that David accumulated; the blessings that poured from the Hand of God, was all because David did the will of God.
You see saints, when we are faithful to God [doing His will], God is faithful to us by pouring out blessings that we cannot contain. ‘Prove Me now, says the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it’ [Mal 3v10 Amp Bible].
Looking back over the years at JSM, surely we can agree that Father God has poured out blessings that could not be contained. Especially during the 1980’s we saw the Jimmy Swaggart Telecast reach countries and touch cultures never before touched by the gospel. Worldwide the JSM built churches, schools, fed the poor, support mission work.
Crusades were held all over the world, Bro’ Swaggart’s recordings escalated into millions, bringing in millions of dollars to the JSM coffers. Why? Simply because Jimmy Swaggart was doing the will of God, and the Lord was pouring out His blessings, because Jimmy Swaggart was faithful, and God was fulfilling His promise of Malachi 3v10. Do you see the similarities between these two men of God.
Lets look at 2Samuel 11, and see the events that led to God sending His prophet [Nathan] to David. I’ll just narrate the events instead of quoting all the scripture. [But please study the chapter on your time.] It was at the time [spring time], that kings go into battle. King David sent Joab and his soldiers to do battle against the Ammonites. David himself stayed behind in Jerusalem. During the evening time when it was cool, David strolled upon the roof of the palace, that he saw a woman who was bathing. This woman [Bathsheba] was beautiful to behold. Upon learning that she was the wife of ‘Uriah the Hittite’, who was out on the battle field, he [David] sent messengers to her to come visit him at the palace. As you all know what the result of that visit was, after several weeks Bathsheba sent word to David that she was with child.
King David surely knowing that he had fathered this child by another man’s wife, immediately tried to cover up this interlude [sin] by sending for Uriah, and with subtleness tried to get Uriah to sleep with his wife [Bathsheba]. By getting Uriah to sleep with his wife would then be David’s way of ridding himself of the responsibility of this child. And surely Bathsheba was not about to tell her husband that she had slept with the king. This would mean instant death for her according to custom.
When this scheme of King David did not work on Uriah, as the Hittite shows his loyalty to his king; David comes up with a plan that would [according to him] take care of the problem once and for all. David as king of Israel could give orders to anyone, and without failure those orders were executed. The King gave orders to his general [Joab] by letter to place Uriah in the front line of the battle, so that he would be killed.
Eventually David receives the news that Uriah has been killed in battle. Bathsheba upon hearing that her husband had been killed mourned for him. Verse 27 of 2Samuel states, ‘ And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house and she became his wife and did bare him a son. But the thing that David did [committing adultery and murder] displeased the Lord.’
David of course after becoming king of Judah, and eventually over all Israel, had immense power, authority and wealth. And you and I know that people who have that kind of power and wealth normally have the means to sweep their unrighteous acts under the carpet so to speak, or just make their mistakes go away. But wait a minute, let’s see what God has to say in His Word about this.
You see folks we can use all the cunning and subtleness at our diposal to cover our iniquity, but God is watching as He does not sleep nor slumber; and will not let sin and unrighteousness go unpunished [Proverbs 11v21].
2Samuel 12 relates to us the visit of the prophet Nathan [sent by the Lord] to King David. And Nathan under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit tells the king a story of a rich man who had many possessions, who swindled a poor man out of his only possession which was a little lamb whom he loved as a family member. Of course David upon hearing this story was furious, and demanded that the man who had many possessions be put to death immediately [2Samuel 12v1-5].
And as scripture tells us Nathan said to David, You are the man, ‘Thus says the Lord, I have given you much, but why have you despised the commandments of the Lord, doing evil in His sight. You have slain Uriah with the sword, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be you wife, [verse 7-10] Nathan the prophet then delivers ‘thus says the Lord’ rendering to King David the just punishment for his sin [wicked ways], by saying that, because he [David] did this secretly, I [God] will do this before all Israel. [In other words God was going to expose David’s sin before the nation.]
It has now been several months since David had committed this sin, and by all means his heart had hardened, and he could not hear the voice of God. [The very reason that God sends His prophets.]
But thank God it was not to late, because when confronted with the truth David said, ‘I have sinned against the Lord’ and Nathan said to David, ‘The Lord also has put away your sin, and you will not die’[V13].
If we read the 51st Psalm, we cannot but cry out with David, as he calls upon the Lord, ‘ Have mercy upon me, O God, according to your steadfast love, according to the multitude of Your tender mercy and loving kindness blot out my transgressions [v1..Amp Bible]. And truly David did receive forgiveness and pardon from the Heavenly Father, who dearly loved him.
But sadly though, we know that part of the punishment [Although there was forgiveness], was that David would suffer the rest of his natural [physical] life, because of his wickedness. Galatians 6v 7+8 says, ‘ Be not deceived, for God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap [v7], ‘For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap everlasting life.[v8]
In other words, applying this to David’s situation, because he sinned physically [flesh], David for the rest of his natural life suffered tremendous and endless problems within his own household [family]. But David of course sowed much in the Spirit and God blessed him spiritually.
Now, let’s move a little closer to the present. Bro’ Swaggart at the height of his ministries success; his singing talent, his skill-full piano playing, millions of recordings, millions of dollars in earnings, travelling all over the world, preaching on the worlds platforms, gaining much respect around the world, surely having a certain amount of power and authority, and all of the sudden the Christian-world is in shock.
Jimmy Swaggart who has sung and played the piano, and preached such powerful sermons is knocked of the pedestal of success. [Without going into detail, most of you know the story]. That which Jimmy Swaggart did in secret was to be brought out into the open [2Samuel 12v12].
How many of us still remembers how over worldwide television, Bro’ Swaggart, cried out as David did so many thousands of years ago, ‘Have mercy on me, O God, according to you steadfast love; according to the multitude of your tender mercy and loving kindness blot out my transgressions. Did Jimmy Swaggart receive forgiveness from the Lord? I believe that he did. But because of Jimmy Swaggart’s sin and him trying to cover it up, God orchestrated that his unrighteousness be exposed for the whole world to see.
We see in the following years what the result has been of Bro’ Swaggart’s sin. In 1990 he was once again exposed for his sin of live pornography [The prostitute issue], millions of dollars lost in earnings; recordings were down in sales, and even the Mall of Louisiana [Ministry property] had to be sold to pay off debt.
In other words folk’s, what Jimmy Swaggart sowed in his flesh, we were seeing the reaping of it, as JSM dwindled on the verge of non-existence.
As in David’s situation, the same happened to Jimmy Swaggart. Whereas David received the prophet Nathan, and ‘thus saith the Lord’ to once again hear the voice of God, sadly this is not the case for Jimmy Swaggart. Sadly this is also where the similarities of these two men of God become non-existent.
Jimmy Swaggart, has become a very arrogant and stubborn man. King David received the prophet, and ‘thus says the Lord’. Jimmy Swaggart refuses to receive any word of correction from a prophet of God. Let me share with you the following. I was at the 4th July [2005] Camp-meetings in Baton Rouge, and regrettably I must say that although I had a blessed time, my experience is that this is not the Jimmy Swaggart that used to preach with such love and compassion. That way of preaching is nearly non-existent.
Also at this time, let me draw your attention to the sermon on the website, by Bro’ Bruce, ‘Jimmy Swaggart thinks he has arrived…but God has an eraser. In this sermon Bruce shares with us Bro’ Swaggart’s own admission and public rejection of any prophet of God. On the JSM/FWC Home Church Video-May 2005, 1st Sunday, listen to what Bro’ Swaggart says, ‘Eight [8] or ten [10] years ago I didn’t say anything, I just let them go ahead and pray. They’d come up, ‘We’ve got a word for you. They didn’t have a bit more word for me than I’m going to be elected president yesterday [Audience laughs]. Well how do you know they don’t have a word? Because the Lord would have told me, already! I live close enough to Him that He can speak to me as well! [Audience laughs] And now I don’t put up with it. They come up, I have a word for you; I’ll stop them right there, ‘No you don’t either’, I don’t. I say ‘No you don’t either, I don’t want some prophet of Baal laying his hands on me.
Now you tell me, Is that arrogant or what? For a man who has preached in his sermons, and recognises the five fold-ministry as taught in Ephesians 4v11 [apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers], why does Jimmy Swaggart not want to hear, ‘thus says the Lord’. For the simple reason that, Jimmy Swaggart does not want to hear the truth. He has become arrogant, stubborn and full of pride, and cannot hear the voice of God.
And that is the reason God the Father has on several occasions these last few years sent His prophet to speak words of correction to Bro’ and sister Swaggart, but sadly they have refused any, ‘thus says the Lord. And as long as they refuse this, there will never be a total victory shout for the JSM.
Let me close this message and say, my heart felt prayer is that the Swaggarts have not gone to far down the road of total deafness, because as I have stated previously, that God Almighty wants to use the JSM in a mighty way for this end time harvest.
All for the love of Jesus
William.
