Evangelical pastor Rev. Jimmy Swaggart dies

Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart has died at the age of 90.

Swaggart had suffered cardiac arrest on June 15, WBRZ reported.

Representatives shared the news of his passing on his Facebook page, writing, "Today, our hearts are heavy as we share that Brother Swaggart has finished his earthly race and entered into the presence of His Savior, Jesus Christ. Today was the day he has sung about for decades. He met his beloved Savior and entered the portals of glory. At the same time, we rejoice knowing that we will see him again one day."

Swaggart’s son, Donnie, said his father had been hospitalized in Baton Rouge after his medical incident earlier this month, The Washington Post reported.

Jimmy Swaggart was a worldwide phenomenon with other televangelists — including Oral Roberts, Pat Robertson, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker and Jerry Falwell — who used television to preach the gospel.

Swaggart boasted millions of viewers in the U.S. and broadcast to more than 100 countries at his height in the late 1980s, the Post reported. His ministry brought in more than $140 million a year from both the broadcasts and from what the newspaper called “relentless marketing. Swaggart built an empire off Bible study guides, shirts, records, tapes, mugs, Roman coins and copies of Jesus’ crown of thorns.

The business of the church, which was based in Baton Rouge, was the largest mail-order company in Louisiana.

He used the airwaves to attack Catholics, calling the religion a “false cult,” and said that Jews brought the Holocaust upon themselves by rejecting Jesus as the Messiah. He also accused other preachers of heresy.

Swaggart called himself an "old-fashioned, Holy Ghost-filled, shouting, weeping, soul-winning, Gospel-preaching preacher,” the Post reported.

Swaggart, however, lost his following after he was accused of sexual misdeeds.

In his televised confession, aired on Feb. 21, 1988, he admitted to sinning the way he accused others of, asking for forgiveness from not only his family and followers, but God himself.

“To the hundreds of millions that I have stood before in over a hundred countries of the world … I have sinned against you, and I beg you to forgive me,” he said. “And most of all to my Lord and my savior … I have sinned against you, my Lord.”

He did not say specifically how he sinned, but before the tearful confession, he had been photographed with a prostitute in a motel near New Orleans.

Swaggart left the Assemblies of God later in 1988 after the church defrocked him. The church had issued a punishment for “moral failure” which included a two-year rehabilitation program and not preaching for a year, The Associated Press reported. He declined the punishment but said that he knew he would be dismissed.

Swaggart had accused rival Bakker and Marvin Gorman of sexual misdeeds. Bakker was eventually found to have cheated with a former secretary at his own ministry.

As for Gorman, he hired a photographer to get a photo of Swaggart and the prostitute.

Swaggart eventually settled a lawsuit with Gorman, paying the latter $1.8 million, over sexual allegations Swaggart levied against Gorman, the AP reported.

His separation from the church, he said, would save the ministry and Bible college.

He was also detained in 1991 when he was charged with driving on the wrong side of the road in an unregistered Jaguar in the company of a prostitute. The woman said Swaggart was nervous when he saw police and was trying to stuff pornographic magazines under a car seat, causing him to weave, the AP reported.

After that incident, Swaggart told his followers that God told him not to apologize.

“The Lord told me it’s flat none of your business,” he said, according to the Post.

Swaggart, for on March 15, 1935, in Ferriday, Louisiana, was the son of a preacher in a family that was musically inclined. Two of his cousins became famous entertainers — Jerry Lee Lewis and Mickey Gilley.

When Lewis died in 2022, Swaggart shared his memories of his rock ‘n’ roll cousin, months after they released the gospel album “The Boys From Ferriday.”

Swaggart said he first heard God’s call at the age of 8.

“Everything seemed different after that day in front of the Arcade Theater,” he told the Jacksonville (Illinois) Journal-Courier in 1985.. “I felt better inside. Almost like taking a bath.” He said God’s voice gave him goose bumps and made his hair tingle, the AP reported.

He quit high school and married his wife, Frances Anderson. He was 17. She was 15, the Post reported. They were together for the rest of their life. They had one son, Donnie.

He worked part-time in oil fields while he preached, before fully moving to religion at the age of 23. He wove the word of the Lord with playing piano and singing gospel songs with the help of Lewis during Assemblies of God revivals and meetings.

He continued to preach at Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, frequently joined by Donnie, who followed in his father’s religious footsteps. The services were broadcast in 21 states and over the internet worldwide.

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