Lyric discussion by franklintitan 

Cover art for Jacob's Ladder lyrics by Huey Lewis and the News

This song was released at the peak of "televangelism". Pat Robertson graced the cover of TIME in February 1986. A "fan dancer" is an erotic dancer.In 1986, evangelist Jimmy Swaggart began on-screen attacks against fellow televangelists Marvin Gorman and Jim Bakker. He uncovered Gorman's affair with a member of Gorman's congregation, and also helped expose Bakker's infidelity with Jessica Hahn (which was arranged by a colleague while on an out-of-state trip).[12] These exposures received widespread media coverage. Gorman retaliated in kind by hiring a private investigator to uncover Swaggart's own adulterous indiscretions with a prostitute.