The family of prominent televangelist the Rev. Jimmy Swaggart said he remains hospitalized in critical condition after suffering a cardiac arrest.
During a Sunday service, Swaggart’s son, the Rev. Donnie Swaggart, asked the congregation to keep his father in their prayers, saying that only a “miracle” could extend his father’s life.
“On this Father’s Day, we urgently ask you to pray for Brother Swaggart. He needs a miracle from heaven right now, this morning. We must have the Lord intervene in this situation, and we need your prayers,” Donnie Swaggart wrote in a post on his father’s Facebook page.
“He’s my rock and my hero and he needs the Lord’s healing power today. If I am able to get away, I will try to be at the service to give everyone an update,” Donnie Swaggart wrote in another post.
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The Rev. Jimmy Swaggart has preached the gospel of Jesus Christ on television longer than any other American evangelist in history, according to his ministry website.
Swaggart, who was born on March 15, 1935, in Ferriday, Louisiana, launched into full-time ministry in 1955. He serves as the pastor of the Family Worship Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and is the founder of Jimmy Swaggart Ministries.
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At his peak in the mid-1980s, Swaggart was the country’s top-rated TV preacher. His services were broadcast to over 2 million households.
However, his image was bruised after he was linked to a 1987 scandal involving a prostitute that he met in a seedy New Orleans motel.
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Swaggart never confessed to anything more than an unspecified sin during a televised apology in which he tearfully delivered his “I have sinned speech.”
A few years later, he was stopped by police while driving in California with a suspected prostitute in his car.
Swaggart also made headlines for saying in a televised worship service that he would kill any gay man who looked at him romantically. Swaggart said he made the comment jokingly and did not mean any harm.
Fox News Digital reached out to Swaggart’s representatives for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
