Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart
Heart Attack After Series of Falls …
‘Without a Miracle, His Time Is Short,’ Son Says
Published
Infamous televangelist Jimmy Swaggart has been hospitalized in critical condition after suffering a cardiac arrest over the weekend … TMZ has learned.
The 90-year-old pastor was at home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, when he had a heart attack Sunday morning — Father’s Day — according to his family.
“Without a miracle, his time is short,” his son Donnie Swaggart said in a sermon later Sunday.
Jimmy’s rep, Megan Kelly, tells TMZ … Jimmy has no preexisting conditions or anything previously diagnosed, but he had been experiencing falls lately. We’re told Jimmy fell again on Saturday, and his son had to help up — but Jimmy told his son he definitely intended to preach on Sunday, just like he always does.
Swaggart suffered a cardiac arrest Sunday at home with his wife nearby, and two friends rushed over to perform CPR until paramedics arrived. We’re told the family is preparing for the worst, but praying for a miracle … they don’t think he’s got much time left. Family from all over has convened to be with Jimmy.
In a post on Swaggart’s Facebook page Tuesday morning, the family said there was no update on his condition.
Swaggart was already a famous preacher on television in the 1980s when he was caught canoodling with a prostitute in New Orleans in 1988 … he famously went on television and admitted “I have sinned” in a tearful appeal, but he was defrocked by the Assemblies of God afterward. He kept up his ministry. Years later in California, in 1991, he was again caught with another prostitute.
Swaggart founded Jimmy Swaggart Ministries in 1955 to begin evangelizing full time … later broadcasting on radio and television. He’s also written more than 50 books.
