Jimmy Swaggart, a US televangelist, passed away at the age of 90. A sex scandal ruined his multimillion-dollar, worldwide ministry.
According to his relatives, the preacher had a heart attack at his Baton Rouge home on June 15 and was in critical care at a hospital.
“For over seven decades, Brother Swaggart poured out his life preaching the gospel, singing songs of the faith, and pointing millions to the saving power of Jesus Christ and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit,” the church said in a statement.
In the 1960s, Mr. Swaggart started broadcasting sermons and pioneered televangelism. He turned his popularity into a media empire until a sex scandal ruined it all.
In addition to generating $140 million annually at its height in the 1980s, Mr. Swaggart’s show reached millions of people across more than 100 nations and sold branded merchandise ranging from bible study guides to reproductions of Jesus’ crown of thorns.
“Old-fashioned, Holy Ghost-filled, shouting, weeping, soul-winning, Gospel-preaching preacher” is how he characterized himself to the media.
He held powerful services in front of 7,000 people at his Family Worship Center in Baton Rouge. In the American Pentecostal religion that Mr. Swaggart followed, worshippers frequently sobbed and occasionally spoke in tongues, demonstrating a strong sense of commitment.
He delivered passionate lectures against the temptations of the body as part of his teachings about the never-ending conflict between good and evil.
At the height of his popularity, in 1988, Mr. Swaggart was pictured with a prostitute in New Orleans.
After he spoke to his congregation about the incident, the fallout grew more intense.
He cried as he pleaded for forgiveness of his transgressions during a televised appearance.
“To all the hundreds of millions I’ve stood in front of… I implore you to pardon me for my transgression,” he said. “I have sinned against you, my Lord.”
In the past, Mr. Swaggart has been very critical of other well-known preachers, particularly those involved in scandals of a similar nature. Additionally, he made contentious remarks on Judaism and Catholicism, accusing them of being illegitimate religions.
Three years later, in California, he was once more caught with a prostitute.
“The Lord told me it’s flat none of your business,” he declared in a broadcast, demonstrating his lack of remorse.
Mr. Swaggart was expelled from the ultra-conservative Assemblies of God, a group of Pentecostal congregations, following the New Orleans controversy. His ministry, which used to be one of Louisiana’s largest employers, shrank in size, and other religious networks stopped funding his initiatives.
His finances were further depleted by legal issues pertaining to tax payments.
He nevertheless carried on preaching and managing his own broadcast network until his death, albeit with a scaled-down operation.
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