Jimmy Swaggart, famed televangelist brought down by scandal, dies at 90

July 2, 2025

Popular Pentecostal preacher and televangelist Jimmy Swaggart has passed away from cardiac arrest at the age of 90.

The Christian Post reports that Swaggart’s Facebook page announced on Tuesday morning that, “Brother Swaggart has finished his earthly race and entered into the presence of His Savior, Jesus Christ.”

Swaggart was born on March 15, 1935 in Louisiana and felt a call to preach following a deep religious experience at the age of 8.

He was later ordained in the Assemblies of God, the largest Pentecostal denomination in the U.S.

Swaggart’s ministry work began with radio and writing in 1969 but shifted to television in 1973 when Swaggart began hosting “The Jimmy Swaggart Evangelistic Association Presents Jimmy Swaggart.”

According to the Christian Post, Swaggart launched several evangelism crusades in the 1980s with one event in Rio de Janeiro in October 1987 that drew nearly 125,000 attendees.

A year later, in 1988, Swaggart was caught with a prostitute in New Orleans and delivered his famous “I have sinned” confession before his congregation.

In that confession, Swaggart said, “I have no one but myself to blame. I do not lay the fault or the blame of the charge at anyone else’s feet. For no one is to blame but Jimmy Swaggart. I take the responsibility. I take the blame. I take the fault.”

Though he was defrocked by the Assemblies of God over the scandal, Swaggart continued to serve as an independent Pentecostal minister.

Swaggart would go on to launch the SonLife Radio Network in 1995 and then SonLife Broadcasting Network in April of 2010.

The televangelist was found unconscious by a family member in mid June and paramedics were able to revive him, though his condition continued to worsen until his passing July 1.

Photo: top, Credit: Creative Commons/Jntracy75