American Pentecostal preacher and televangelist Jimmy Swaggart is dead.
Swaggart, who preached for about six decades died on Tuesday July 1 at the age of 90.
His death was announced on his public Facebook page though the cause was not disclosed.
He was married to Fances, nee Anderson, with whom he had a child, Donnie.
Swaggart, who presided over a multimillion dollar ministry, was involved in a sex scandal in the 80s leading to a reduced audience. He was caught on camera with a sex worker in New Orleans in 1988.
In a tearful sermon thereafter, the preacher apologised though he did not make reference to the sex worker.
“I have sinned against you my Lord and I would ask that your precious blood would wash and cleanse every stain until it is in the seas of God’s forgiveness, not to be remembered against me anymore,” he told his parishioers.
Swaggart subsequently resigned from Assemblies of God later that year after the church said it would defrock him for rejecting punishment given to him for “moral failure.” The church had asked him to undergo a rehabilitation programme, including not preaching, for two years.
Although, he admitted that dismissal from the church was unavoidable, he insisted he would leave the church to save his ministry and Bible college.
However, three year later, Swaggart was caught with a woman in his car in California but he told his congregation, “The Lord told me it’s flat out none of your business.”
He had been stopped by police while driving his white Jaguar erratically in Indio, California. “He asked me for sex. I mean that’s why he stopped me. That’s what I do. I’m a prostitute,” the lady told journalists.
She claimed the car had been swerving because he was trying to hide pornographic magazines under the driver’s seat.
Swaggart was born on March 15, 1935 at Ferriday, Louisiana, United States.
He was ordained as a pastor by the Assemblies of God in 1961. In 1969, he founded the Family Worship Center (FMC) in Baton Rouge, from where he launched the weekly Camp Meeting Hour Radio programme. FMC congregation grew to about 7,000 and the preacher went on to become one of the most popular evangelists in America.
Swaggart was followed worldwide as millions were captivated by his message. His TV ministry screened in about 140 countries.
His followers built Jimmy Swaggart Ministries into a business that fetched over $140 million in 1986.
In 1987, the preacher said the sex scandal surrounding rival televangelist Jimmy Baker and a former church secretary at Baker’s PTL ministry organisation impacted negatively on his own earnings.
