Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, embroiled in past scandals, dies at 90

Jimmy Swaggart, a televangelist who rose to fame with a massive following and a multimillion-dollar ministry only to be derailed by his penchant for prostitutes, has died.

Swaggart died decades after his once-large audience diminished and his name became a late-night television punchline. His death was revealed on Tuesday via his public Facebook profile. Though he was 90 years old and in terrible health, no cause was given immediately.

The Louisiana native was best known for being a fascinating Pentecostal preacher with a big following until being caught on tape with a prostitute in New Orleans in 1988, one of a long line of renowned TV preachers brought down by sex scandals in the 1980s and 1990s. He continued preaching for decades, although at a decreased rate of attendance.

Swaggart captured his demise in a sad 1988 lecture in which he sobbed and apologised but made no mention of his relationship with a prostitute.

"I have sinned against you," Swaggart told parishioners across the nation. "I beg you to forgive me."

Later that year, he announced his retirement from the Assemblies of God, shortly after the church declared that he had been defrocked for refusing to accept a penalty for "moral failure." The church had wanted him to go through a two-year rehabilitation program, which included not preaching for a full year.

Swaggart stated at the time that he was aware of his impending dismissal, but that he had no alternative except to leave the church to rescue his ministry and Bible college.

From poverty and oil fields to a household name

Swaggart grew up impoverished, the son of a pastor, in a musical family. He excelled at piano and gospel music, performing and singing alongside skilled relatives who pursued separate careers: rock 'n' roller Jerry Lee Lewis and country vocalist Mickey Gilley.

Swaggart, who grew up in Ferriday, Louisiana, said he first heard God's call when he was 8. The voice gave him goose bumps and made his hair tremble, he admitted.

"Everything seemed different after that day in front of the Arcade Theatre," he told the Jacksonville Journal-Courier of Illinois in 1985. "I felt better internally. "Almost like taking a bath."

He preached and worked part-time in oil fields till the age of 23. He thereafter devoted himself totally to his ministry, preaching, playing piano, and singing gospel songs with cousin Lewis' barrelhouse fervour at Assemblies of God revivals and camp meetings.

Swaggart began with a radio show, then a magazine, and eventually moved to television, where he expressed his opinions.

He described Roman Catholicism as "a false religion." It is not the Christian way," and stated that Jews have suffered for hundreds of years "because they rejected Christ."

"If you don't like what I say, talk to my boss," he once said as he marched in front of his audience at his Family Worship Centre in Baton Rouge, where his sermons inspired listeners to speak in tongues and stand up as if possessed by the Holy Spirit.

Swaggart's words sparked the interest of thousands of congregations and millions of television viewers, propelling him to celebrity status by the late 1980s. Jimmy Swaggart Ministries was founded by contributors and generated an estimated $142 million in revenue in 1986.

His Baton Rouge facility still includes a worship centre, as well as broadcasting and recording facilities.

The scandals that caused Swaggart's ruin

Swaggart's downfall occurred in the late 1980s, when other prominent preachers faced similar controversies. Swaggart publicly stated that the 1987 sex scandal involving rival televangelist Jim Bakker and a former church secretary at Bakker's PTL ministry organisation harmed his revenues.

The next year, Swaggart was caught at a hotel with Debra Murphree, an admitted prostitute who told reporters that the two had no sex but that the preacher had paid her to pose naked.

She later confirmed the claim and posed naked for Penthouse magazine.

Swaggart's career was supposedly hampered by surveillance images taken during his battle with preacher Marvin Gorman, whom Swaggart accused of sexual misconduct. Gorman recruited the photographer who documented Swaggart and Murphree on film. Swaggart eventually paid Gorman $1.8 million to resolve a lawsuit involving sexual charges against him.

More difficulty arose in 1991 when California authorities apprehended Swaggart and another prostitute. The missionary was accused of driving on the wrong side of the road and using an unregistered Jaguar. Swaggart's companion, Rosemary Garcia, claims he became agitated when he saw the police cruiser and weaved when attempting to shove pornographic magazines beneath a car seat.

Swaggart was later criticised by the late television comedian Phil Hartman, who impersonated him on NBC's "Saturday Night Live."

Out in the public spotlight, but still on the pulpit

In later years, the evangelist stayed out of the spotlight. Still, he remained in the pulpit at Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, where he was frequently accompanied by his son, Donnie, a fellow preacher. Swaggart's radio station carried church services and gospel music to 21 states, and his ministry reached a global audience via the internet.

"My father has been the greatest example of a good and dedicated servant. There are no ifs and buts about it. "A man who lived his life for the cause of Christ," Donnie Swaggart said in a video message posted on social media Sunday about his father's final days.

The pastor provoked another minor uproar in 2004 when he mentioned being "looked at" amorously by a gay man.

"And I'm going to be blunt and plain: If anyone ever looks at me like that, I'm going to kill him and tell God he died," Jimmy Swaggart stated, drawing chuckles from the gathering. He later apologised.

Swaggart made a few public appearances outside of his church, except for singing "Amazing Grace" at the 2005 funeral of Louisiana Secretary of State Fox McKeithen, a well-known figure in state politics for decades.

In 2022, he spoke at the memorial service for Lewis, his cousin and rock 'n' roll pioneer. Earlier that year, the pair released "The Boys From Ferriday," a gospel record.