By A Correspondent – Sex scandal Yesteryear US televangelist Jimmy Swaggart has died.
He was 90.
Swaggart was one of the United States’ most influential televangelists during the 1980s until a scandal involving a prostitute brought his soaring career to an abrupt halt.
Jimmy Swaggart Ministries confirmed his death via Facebook. His family expressed gratitude to the medical staff at Baton Rouge General Medical Center in Louisiana. The cause of death was not disclosed.
At the height of his career as a fiery Pentecostal preacher, Swaggart reached an estimated global audience of 200 million. That influence came crashing down in 1988 when he tearfully confessed to his congregation, without offering specifics, that he had “sinned”—following revelations of his involvement with a sex worker.
Born on March 15, 1935, in the racially segregated backwaters of Ferriday, Louisiana, Swaggart grew up alongside two cousins who also rose to fame—rock ‘n’ roll legend Jerry Lee Lewis and country music star Mickey Gilley.
Immersed from an early age in Pentecostalism’s fervent, emotional style of worship, Swaggart claimed to have received a divine calling at age nine: “You will preach my Gospel all over the world. You will even take it to Africa,” he said God told him.
He left school early, doing manual labor before marrying 15-year-old Frances Anderson at age 17. Inspired by the rise of revivalists like Oral Roberts, Swaggart began preaching on street corners and in rural churches. By 1969, he had launched The Camp Meeting Hour radio show, and by 1973, his sermons were airing on television, catapulting him to stardom.
A staunch conservative, Swaggart often stirred controversy with his attacks on Catholics, Jews, and the LGBTQ+ community. He became a leading figure in the rise of the U.S. religious right, using his platform to push for public policy grounded in biblical doctrine. His international crusades took him to Latin America and even apartheid-era South Africa, where he drew crowds in places like Soweto.
The New York Times reported that his 1988 scandal was exposed by rival preacher Marvin Gorman, who supplied compromising photos and claimed Swaggart had falsely accused him of adultery.
In February that year, a sobbing Swaggart stood before the congregation at his Family Worship Center in Baton Rouge, begging for forgiveness. However, the Assemblies of God defrocked him after he refused a proposed suspension.
Further damage to his reputation came in 1991 when California police found him with another prostitute following a traffic stop. Though he initially announced plans to step down, he later told his congregation, “The Lord told me it’s flat none of your business.”
Swaggart, who had once railed against pornography and immorality, drew fresh backlash in 2004 for declaring on his TV show that if a gay man approached him sexually, “I’m going to kill him and tell God he died” — a remark he later dismissed as a joke.
Although his influence waned after the scandals, his ministry endured in a diminished form. He continued to appear on cable TV occasionally, with his son Donnie playing a central role in keeping the ministry alive.
Swaggart is survived by his wife Frances and their son Donnie.
Source – Reuters