The “mote” and “beam” are contrasted! The constant judging of others portrays the fact that we are much worse off than the one we are judging.) 4 Or how will you say to your brother, Let me pull out the mote out of your eye (the seriousness of setting ourselves up as judge, jury, and executioner) and, behold, a beam is in your own eye? (Once again draws attention to the fact that the person doing the judging is in far worse spiritual condition than the one being judged.) 5 You hypocrite (aptly describes such a person), first cast out the beam out of your own eye and then you shall see clearly to cast out the mote out of your brother’s eye (the very fact that we do not address ourselves, but rather others, portrays the truth that our personal situation is worse when we properly analyze ourselves, then, and only then, can we “see clearly” this is speaking of character assassination and not the correction of doctrine).” I allowed that he was close enough.“3 And why do you behold the mote that is in your brother’s eye (the Believer is not to be looking for fault or wrongdoing in the lives of fellow Believers), but consider not the beam that is in your own eye? (We have plenty in our own lives which need eliminating, without looking for faults in others.
"I understand you're a reporter," he said.
I had just settled into my seat in the sanctuary, already awash in klieg lights, when one of the ushers, dressed in a burgundy sport coat, sat down beside me. I had made the mistake of chatting with the women at the welcome booth and, in the process, disclosed navely that I was in town to write an article about Jimmy Swaggart Ministries ten years after his celebrated-and very public-downfall. You've got to keep the people's attention." Throughout a raucous and controversial career now in its fourth decade, Jimmy Swaggart has rarely had trouble keeping people's attention.ĭespite the dearth of congregants, my presence at Family Life Center was not entirely welcome. You've got to keep the people's attention.
"You have to be loud one moment and quiet the next. "Preaching is like an orchestra," Swaggart told me. Instead, he bobs and weaves and shouts and cries and spins his own magic. To suggest that Swaggart is behind the pulpit, however, is somewhat misleading he has never submitted easily to the constraints of pulpits-or, for that matter, to any other conventional boundaries. Such a contrast might occasion yet another commentary on spiritual apathy, misplaced priorities, and the false gods of consumerism, until one remembers that the preacher behind the pulpit at the Family Life Center on this Sunday-as well as most Sundays-is a man named Jimmy Swaggart. The parking lot for the shopping mall is burgeoning on a Sunday, while the acres of parking for the Family Life Center are nearly vacant. The Family Life Center lies on the edge of Baton Rouge just down the road from the newly opened Mall of Louisiana.