SWAGGART ACCUSED OF PLAGIARISM

Evangelist Jimmy Swaggart, who once wrote that he owes his "Bible education" to Finis Jennings Dake, is now being accused of more than just gleaning teaching from the heretical Bible commentator. The evangelist and author, who was disgraced by a sex scandal in the late 1980s, has been sued by the heirs of Dake and their publishing company, Dake Publishing, Inc.

The lawsuit, filed in late May, charges Swaggart with copyright infringement and plagiarizing the late minister's writings and publishing them as his own. Also named in the lawsuit is Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, Wolgemuth & Hyatt Publishers, and religious groups associated with Swaggart in his hometown of Baton Rouge, La.

The suit charges that Swaggart and his publisher had "taken and used plaintiff's proprietary works for their own benefit and profit." Swaggart is said to have taken large portions of Dake's writings and, while at times he gave Dake credit, he neglected to receive permission to cite the extended passages. The Dake family seeks damages from Swaggart, including a share of the profits he made from the sales of his works containing the citations, along with an order to stop further use of Dake's writings. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court in Nashville.

In 1987, following Dake's death, Swaggart wrote a tribute to Dake in his monthly magazine, The Evangelist. Swaggart described Dake as "a scholar unparalleled" and stated he "will forever be indebted to Finis Jennings Dake." He also wrote that to say "Dake was the greatest Bible scholar who ever lived" was not an exaggeration.

Dake first published his Dake Annotated Reference Bible in 1963. The Bible contains the authorized King James text with extensive notes and commentary written by Dake. It has been hailed as "The Pentecostal Study Bible," but critics, including PFO, have labeled the work dangerous. The volume's explanatory notes are seedbeds for all types of heretical teaching, including an unscriptural view of God, open theism (or finite theism), a distorted Christology, corrupt views of salvation and faith, racism, and foundations for Word Faith teaching. Some of faith healer Benny Hinn's most provocative theological declarations have been derived from Dake's writings.

Other prominent Charismatic and Word Faith proponents have likewise expressed praise for the Dake Bible. Joyce Meyer said the Dake Bible "has made it easier for [her] to teach God's Word," and Pastor Rod Parsley calls the work "one of the greatest literary works ever made for Pentecostal and Charismatic believers." Similar acclaim for the Dake Bible comes from Creflo Dollar, Marilyn Hickey, and Ralph Wilkerson.

Following several significant criticisms of the Dake Bible in the 1990s, the publishing firm began quietly changing the Bible's commentary thereby modifying the very notes which were cited in the critiques as unorthodox, but claimed by Dake Publishing as within the realm of orthodoxy.

-- MKG

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