United States of America televangelist, Jimmy Swaggart
A popular Pentecostal United States of America televangelist, Jimmy Swaggart, has died at the age of 90.
He died after a brief illness, his family announced in a post on his verified Instagram page on Tuesday.
According to the statement, the family described him as a preacher who poured his life into the gospel and led many to Christ.
“Today, our hearts are heavy as we share that Brother Swaggart has finished his earthly race and entered into the presence of His Saviour, Jesus Christ. Today was the day he had sung about for decades.
“He met his beloved Saviour and entered the portals of glory. At the same time, we rejoice knowing that we will see him again one day,” the statement said.
Speaking on the ministry, the family said, “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.
“His voice echoed through nations, his music softened hearts, and his message never changed: Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”
Swaggart, who owns a multi-million-dollar ministry and a huge audience, was born in 1935 into a poor music-enthusiast family in Ferriday, Louisiana, USA.
The Louisiana native was best known for being a captivating Pentecostal preacher with a massive following before he was rocked in a scandal of being caught on camera with a prostitute in New Orleans in 1988, an incident that signified one of a string of successful TV preachers brought down in the 1980s and ’90s by sex scandals.
Following the scandal, he continued preaching for decades, but with a reduced audience.
According to the Associated Press, Swaggart encapsulated his downfall in a tearful 1988 sermon, in which he wept and apologised but made no reference to his connection to a prostitute.
“I have sinned against you,” Swaggart told parishioners nationwide. “I beg you to forgive me.”
He announced his resignation from the Assemblies of God later that year, shortly after the church said it was defrocking him for rejecting punishment it had ordered for “moral failure.”
The church had wanted him to undergo a two-year rehabilitation programme, including not preaching for a full year.
Swaggart said at the time that he knew dismissal was inevitable but insisted he had no choice but to separate from the church to save his ministry and Bible college.
Born on March 15, 1935, in Ferriday, Louisiana, Swaggart grew up poor as the son of a preacher, in a music-rich family.
He excelled at piano and gospel music, playing and singing with talented cousins who took different paths: rock-’n’-roller Jerry Lee Lewis and country singer Mickey Gilley.
Swaggart said he first heard the call of God at age eight in his hometown, adding that the voice gave him goosebumps and made his hair tingle.
“Everything seemed different after that day in front of the Arcade Theatre,” he said in a 1985 interview with the Jacksonville Journal-Courier in Illinois. “I felt better inside. Almost like taking a bath.”
He preached and worked part-time in oil fields until he was 23. He then moved entirely into his ministry: preaching, playing piano, and singing gospel songs with the barrelhouse fervour of Cousin Lewis at Assemblies of God revivals and camp meetings.
Swaggart started a radio show, and a magazine, and then moved into television, with outspoken views.
He was a vocal voice against Roman Catholicism, describing it as “a false religion. It is not the Christian way,” and claimed that Jews suffered for thousands of years because they rejected Christ.
