Editing Jerry Lee Lewis (section)

===Religious beliefs===
As a teenager, Lewis studied at the Southwest Bible Institute in [[Waxahachie, Texas]], before being thrown out for playing a 'worldly' [[boogie-woogie]] version of "My God Is Real", and that early incident foreshadowed his lifelong conflict over his faith in God and his love of playing "the devil's music". Lewis had a recorded argument with Sam Phillips during the recording session for "Great Balls of Fire", a song he initially refused to record because he considered it blasphemous ("How can... How can the devil save souls? What are you ''talkin' about''?" he asks Phillips during one heated exchange.) During the famous [[Million Dollar Quartet]] jam involving Lewis, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash, they performed several gospel songs. Lewis's biographer [[Rick Bragg]] explains that part of the reason the recording only features Lewis and Elvis singing is because "only Elvis and Jerry Lee [were] raised in the [[Assemblies of God|Assembly of God]]", and {{"'}}Johnny and Carl didn't really know the words... they was [[Baptists]], [Lewis] said, and therefore deprived."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bragg |first=Rick |author-link=Rick Bragg |date=October–November 2014 |title=Jerry Lee and Me |url=http://www.gardenandgun.com/print/article/jerry-lee-and-me |url-status=dead |journal=[[Garden & Gun]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151121073447/http://www.gardenandgun.com/print/article/jerry-lee-and-me |archive-date=November 21, 2015 |access-date=October 7, 2015}}</ref>

In the 1990 documentary ''The Jerry Lee Lewis Story'', Lewis said to the interviewer, "The Bible doesn't even speak of religion. No word of religion is even in the Bible. ''Sanctification!'' Are you sanctified? Have you been ''saved''? See, I was a good preacher, I know my Bible? I find myself falling short of the glory of God."

Gospel music was a staple of his performing repertoire. After a string of hit country albums, he recorded [[In Loving Memories: The Jerry Lee Lewis Gospel Album|a gospel album]] for the first time in 1970 (it was released in 1971).<ref>{{Citation |title=Jerry Lee Lewis - In Loving Memories Album Reviews, Songs & More |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/release/in-loving-memories-mr0002561399 |work=AllMusic |language=en |access-date=October 30, 2022 |archive-date=October 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221030134931/https://www.allmusic.com/album/release/in-loving-memories-mr0002561399 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Lewis was also a cousin of televangelist [[Jimmy Swaggart]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Jimmy Swaggart |url=https://archive.org/details/tocrossriver00swag |title=To cross a river |author2=Robert Paul Lamb |publisher=Jimmy Swaggart Ministries |year=1984 |isbn=978-0-88270-221-6 |edition=3rd |location=Baton Rouge, La. |pages=1 |url-access=registration}}</ref>