US televangelist Jimmy Swaggart dies at 90

United States televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, whose multimillion-dollar ministry with a global reach was crippled after a sex scandal, has died at the age of 90.

The preacher was in intensive care at a hospital after suffering a heart attack at his home in Baton Rouge on 15 June, his family says.

“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 church says in a statement.

Swaggart began broadcasting sermons in the 1960s and became a pioneer of televangelism, parlaying his success into a media empire until a sex scandal derailed it all.

At its peak in the 1980s, Swaggart’s broadcast reached millions of viewers in more than 100 countries and brought in US$140 million a year, along with sales of gospel albums and branded items ranging from Bible study manuals to replicas of Jesus’ crown of thorns.

He described himself as an “old-fashioned, Holy Ghost-filled, shouting, weeping, soul-winning, Gospel-preaching preacher” to the media.

His Family Worship Centre in Baton Rouge sat 7 000 people before whom he conducted intense services.

Worshipers often wept and sometimes spoke in tongues – a sign of deep devotion in the American Pentecostal faith that Swaggart practised.

He often preached about an eternal struggle between good and evil that included impassioned sermons against temptations of the flesh.

In 1988, at the height of his influence, Swaggart was photographed in New Orleans with a sex worker.

The fallout intensified after he addressed the incident with his congregation.

In a televised appearance, he begged forgiveness for his sins as tears rolled down his face.

“To the hundreds of millions that I have stood before . . . I have sinned against you, and I beg you to forgive me,” he said. “I have sinned against you, my Lord.”

Swaggart had previously been highly critical of other high-profile preachers, especially those embroiled in similar scandals. He also made controversial comments about Catholicism and Judaism, calling them illegitimate faiths.

He was caught with a sex worker again three years later, this time in California.

He was less apologetic: “The Lord told me it’s flat none of your business,” he said in a broadcast.

After the New Orleans scandal, Swaggart was cast out of the ultra-conservative Assemblies of God, an association of Pentecostal churches. His programmes were dropped by some religious networks, and the size of his ministry, once a major employer in Louisiana, shrunk.

Legal troubles surrounding tax payments further drained his resources.

But even with a smaller operation, he continued to preach and run his own broadcast network until his death. – BBC

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