American Notes TV MINISTRY

"You cannot cover sin. It has to be exposed." That was the stern view of the Rev. Jimmy Swaggart last March as he pushed for full disclosure of the adultery and alleged homosexual activities of TV Evangelist Jim Bakker. Swaggart, an emotional, tear-jerking performer whose TV ministry takes in an estimated $140 million a year, called Bakker's behavior a "cancer that needed to be excised."

Last week it was Swaggart's behavior that came under scrutiny by the Assemblies of God, the same evangelical church that excised Bakker from its ministry. After grilling Swaggart, the group's officials announced that "his credentials with the church" were under review. One person who has seen the pictures troubling the church said they include a photograph of Swaggart and a prostitute outside a motel. ABC-TV reported that the allegations had been made by the Rev. Marvin Gorman, yet another televangelist who was defrocked by the Assemblies of God in 1986 for what one church official called "immorality." Gorman had accused Swaggart of spreading rumors that cost him his reputation. The sad saga of sin and stone casting among the preachers seems far from over.