Jimmy Swaggart’s family has gathered around him in anticipation that the well-known preacher and televangelist is in his “last days,” said Swaggart’s son, Donnie Swaggart, in a recent update.
“All of the family has been called in and really, speaking very straightforward, it’s not really a matter or question of if, but when,” said Donnie Swaggart in an update posted to social media Sunday, June 29. The Swaggart family has “gathered and we want dad’s—if it’s what the Lord desires—we want his last days to be comfortable. We want him to be surrounded by his family.”
Jimmy Swaggart in Hospital Following Cardiac Arrest
Jimmy Swaggart suffered a cardiac arrest the morning of Sunday, June 15. Swaggart is one of the most well-known televangelists in the United States. He is the founder and senior pastor of Family Worship Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a church he leads alongside his son, Donnie, and his grandson, Gabriel. Swaggart is also the founder of Jimmy Swaggart Ministries and Jimmy Swaggart Bible College.
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Swaggart’s ministry has survived controversy that ensued after it became known that Swaggart had solicited prostitutes, first in 1988, and again in 1991. After the 1988 incident, the Assemblies of God defrocked Swaggart, and he subsequently functioned as an independent Pentecostal preacher.
In his update about his father’s health, Donnie requested that people continue to pray for his mother, Frances Swaggart, who has been married to Swaggart since 1952.
“You can imagine how difficult this time is,” said Donnie, “and she only leaves the hospital to go home and clean up a little bit and get a quick bite to eat, and then she’s back in the hospital. And so we want you to continue to pray for the family and to pray for mother, that she’ll have strength.”
“It’s sad, but at the same time, everyone’s race is gonna be finished one day, but when you know where the finish line is and you know who’s waiting at the end of that finish line to say, ‘Welcome home, thou good and faithful servant,’” Donnie said, “and I know I’m his son, but I say this, and I am right: There has been no greater example of a good and faithful servant than my father.”
