The extended family had a complex network of interrelationships: "cousins and in-laws and other relatives married each other until the clan was entwined like a big, tight ball of rubber bands".

[2][3][4] Swaggart is the cousin of rockabilly pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis and country music star Mickey Gilley.

Swaggart worked several part-time odd jobs to support his young family and also began singing Southern Gospel music at various churches.

[citation needed] According to his autobiography To Cross a River, Swaggart, along with his wife and son, lived in poverty during the 1950s as he preached throughout rural Louisiana, struggling to survive on an income of $30 a week (equivalent to $330 in 2023).

Swaggart's cousin, Jerry Lee Lewis, had previously signed with Sun and was reportedly earning $20,000 per week at the time.

Although the offer meant a promise for significant income for him and his family, Swaggart turned Phillips down, stating that he was called to preach the gospel.

In September 1985, government forces supported by Zimbabwe captured RENAMO's main headquarters inside Mozambique, Casa Banana.

Among the materials left behind by retreating rebels were piles of Swaggart's 1982 publication, "How to Receive The Baptism in the Holy Spirit", translated into Portuguese.

That year, extensive media coverage of Swaggart and his businesses in the wake of a sex scandal largely excluded these allegations.

[13][14][15][16] Swaggart's first prostitution scandal occurred in retaliation for an incident in 1986 when he accused fellow Assemblies of God minister Marvin Gorman of having several affairs.

[17] Gorman filed a successful lawsuit against Swaggart for defamation and conspiracy to ruin his reputation; he was awarded damages amounting to $10 million in 1991.

[19] As a retaliatory measure, Gorman hired his son Randy and son-in-law Garland Bilbo to watch the Travel Inn on Airline Highway in Metairie, a suburb of New Orleans.

On February 16, 1988, Gorman contacted James Hamil, one of the 13-man Executive Presbytery of the Assemblies of God, to expose Swaggart's assignation with the prostitute.

He spoke tearfully to his family, congregation, TV audience, and ended his speech with a prayer: "I have sinned against You, my Lord, and I would ask that Your Precious Blood ... would wash and cleanse every stain until it is in the seas of God's forgetfulness never to be remembered against me anymore.

Believing that Swaggart was not genuinely repentant in submitting to their authority, the hierarchy of the Assemblies of God defrocked him, removing his credentials and ministerial license.

Unlike his previous stations, SonLife was commercial-free and it did not sell time to outside ministries; the preaching and teaching were all produced in-house.

[22][42] In 1991, Swaggart's career as a standard televangelist came to an end after more local TV stations cancelled their contracts with him following his second prostitution scandal.

[citation needed] JSBC enrollment dropped drastically in 1988 when students left as a result of Swaggart's scandal, followed by accreditation issues.

The college shut down programs in music, physical education, secretarial science, and communications that October and disbanded its basketball team.

[54][55] The liner notes to the album D&K (1987) by Christian rock band DeGarmo & Key, included the words "dedicated to Jimmy Swaggart" blacked out but still visible on close inspection, for the song "Brother Against Brother" [56] Swaggart's prostitution scandals inspired the Ozzy Osbourne song "Miracle Man" on Osbourne's fifth studio album No Rest for the Wicked (1988).

[57] During his 1988 concerts, Bruce Hornsby would begin his song "Defenders of the Flag" from Scenes from the Southside with a tongue-in-cheek dedication to Swaggart.

[58] The song "Hexonxonx" on Skinny Puppy's 1989 album Rabies features a repeating audio sample of Swaggart saying "I am clean..." from his forgiveness speech.

"[62][63] American avant-garde musician Kristin Hayter (as Lingua Ignota) released the EP Epistolary Grieving for Jimmy Swaggart on the 5th of November in 2021.