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IOL News
19-07-2025
- General
- IOL News
Tribute to the late Dr SD Gumbi
Dr SD Gumbi Image: Supplied On Monday, the 14th of July, the Church, the broader Christian fraternity, and indeed the entire nation, were gripped by a numbing and unspeakable sorrow upon learning of the passing of a towering general in the Lord's army, Dr SD Gumbi. Like a mighty cedar felled in the forest of our faith, his departure has left a void that echoes across pulpits, sanctuaries, and spiritual corridors both near and far. Since that solemn hour, the Gumbi family, and we, their spiritual kin, have borne the crushing burden of grief upon our hearts. Our souls have not found rest. Our spirits sink under the weight of an unanticipated and deeply disorienting loss. Silent tears of lamentation have flowed down our cheeks, moistening not only our faces but our motherland itself. The cries of the bereaved resound not only in the atmosphere but deep within the innermost chambers of our being. Dr Gumbi was no ordinary man. He was a trailblazer in the modern history of the Church, a preacher of global stature and celestial depth. Although his church affiliation was with the Assemblies of God, he belonged to all of us. He was a man of tremendous humility who transcended denominational divides, a bridge-builder whose gospel bore the fragrance of unity and divine reconciliation. His name shall be etched in the chronicles of Church history, not merely as a preacher, but as a father, a reconciler, and a servant-leader par excellence. He had a great following, an anointed crowd-puller whose revivals drew multitudes and shifted atmospheres. He was highly respected across all ranks of the Church. Over two decades ago, our paths crossed during the great revivals of KwaMashu, organised by Pastor Hlongwa and the GCF Network. I was meant to close those meetings, and with characteristic humility, he chose to wait and listen to 'the young man from the Cape.' Video Player is loading. 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Next Stay Close ✕ I preached with every fibre of my being that night, and his response was unforgettable; he embraced me with such warmth and sincerity that a covenant was silently formed. From that day, we were inseparable. He stood by me in all my ministry endeavours, offering me platforms in Vosloorus, Katlehong, Thembisa, Rhema Church, and beyond. Our bond was further sealed when we discovered that my spiritual father, Dr JM Masebe, had once been his pastor in Standerton during the early 1960s. I had the honour of introducing him to UECA, where he became a beloved guest speaker, particularly at the Men's Conference. In 2013, he proposed and preached at the 40th anniversary of our church, an event saturated with God's glory. He returned again a decade later for the 50th celebration in 2023, still as fervent and filled with the Spirit as ever. He was set to consecrate me at my ordination and the launch of the Redeemed Apostolic Church, of which I am the founder. However, due to illness, he was unable to attend in person. In his stead, he delegated the sacred task to Bishop Dumisani Nkosi and sent a heartfelt video message along with words of wisdom, delivered through his son-in-law, Pastor Oupa Nkgau. Yet such was the weight of our spiritual bond that I later travelled to him personally, that he might lay hands upon me and impart his blessing. His body bore the marks of affliction, yet his spirit stood resolute and undimmed. In truth, I have lost not just a mentor, but lost a father. He was a masterful expositor of the Word, a man of profound insight, gifted with a unique guttural voice that thundered truth into hearts. His messages were laced with wisdom and humour, leaving indelible marks on souls. He was a unifier, a healer of schisms, and a trusted counsellor to churches in crisis. His gospel was pure, undiluted, and sound. Dr Gumbi was also a seasoned musician. He recorded a stirring album titled 'Amehlo AmAvulekile', a powerful spiritual offering released under Higher Dimensions Music, a recording label owned by myself and the gifted producer, Sizwe Zako. His voice in song, just like in a sermon, carried the weight of heaven and stirred the souls of men. Last year, sensing the twilight drawing near, he summoned me to his home in Standerton. Though his body was frail, his spirit was ablaze. He imparted wisdom, laid spiritual assurances upon me, and declared that the hand of God was strong upon my life. I thank God for that moment, it was a final fatherly benediction. Dr Gumbi has left behind a resounding legacy, a footprint in eternity, and a model of servant leadership we must all aspire to. The mantle has fallen. Who shall rise to carry it?'Now when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep...' (Acts 13:36). Indeed, Dr Gumbi has completed his assignment with honour. His indomitable soul rests in eternal peace. He is survived by his beloved wife, Mama Gumbi, his daughters Sibongile and Nomsa, and his cherished grandchildren. May the God of all comfort hold them close and may the memory of Dr SD Gumbi inspire generations to come. * Khaya Mayedwa is the Bishop and the Founder of the Redeemed Apostolic Church (RAC). ** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.
Time of India
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Who was Jimmy Swaggart? From cousin of rock icons to the Gospel preacher who rose to fame before scandals reshaped his legacy
Jimmy Swaggart, a prominent name in American televangelism during the 20th century, passed away on 1 July 2025 at the age of 90. He had suffered a cardiac arrest on 15 June and was admitted to Baton Rouge General Medical Center, where he remained under care until his death. His family confirmed he died surrounded by loved ones. Born in Ferriday, Louisiana, on 15 March 1935, Swaggart rose to national fame in the 1970s and 1980s as a Pentecostal preacher and gospel musician. He was the cousin of musicians Jerry Lee Lewis and Mickey Gilley. His syndicated sermons and gospel recordings earned him both a wide following and multiple Grammy nominations, with over 15 million albums sold. Final days and cause of death According to an official update from Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, Swaggart had been in declining health in recent years. After suffering a cardiac arrest at home, he was taken to hospital and remained under medical supervision until his death two weeks later. An Instagram post from the ministry said, 'Brother Swaggart has finished his earthly race and entered into the presence of His Saviour, Jesus Christ.' Impact of scandals on his career Swaggart's career was marked by two major scandals involving sex workers, which had significant consequences on his public and religious standing. In 1988, he was found with a prostitute in New Orleans, after which he publicly admitted wrongdoing and was defrocked by the Assemblies of God. A second incident in 1991, involving another sex worker in California, led to further damage to his image, including the loss of several national broadcasting contracts. These events contributed to a sharp decline in his mainstream visibility throughout the 1990s. Ministry rebuilding and legacy Despite the controversies, Swaggart continued to operate outside traditional Pentecostal structures. He established the SonLife Broadcasting Network and led services at the Family Worship Centre in Baton Rouge. He also revived the Jimmy Swaggart Bible College, focusing on Pentecostal education and ministry training. Today, we celebrate the life and legacy of Evangelist Jimmy Swaggart, who has passed on to his heavenly home. Brother Swaggart has impacted countless lives with the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world. Join us as we pray for his family, ministry, and all who have been… He retained a global audience through online and satellite programming, although his reach never returned to its peak. After his death, statements from his family, including his wife Frances Swaggart and son Donnie, described his life as one dedicated to evangelism and gospel music. Public reaction remains divided. Some view Swaggart as a foundational figure in evangelical broadcasting, while others recall the scandals that reshaped his career trajectory. His influence on gospel music and Christian media remained significant until his final Swaggart leaves behind a legacy shaped by early influence, public scandal, and continued evangelical broadcasting until his final days.
The Citizen
02-07-2025
- Politics
- The Citizen
US Christian televangelist Jimmy Swaggart dead at 90
US President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that he was saddened to hear of Swaggart's death. US televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, who developed a worldwide following for his fiery Christian sermons before being felled in a prostitution scandal, died on Tuesday at the age of 90. Swaggart's death from a heart attack at a hospital in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was announced on the official Facebook page of his Jimmy Swaggart Ministries. 'Brother Swaggart has finished his earthly race and entered into the presence of His Saviour, Jesus Christ,' it said. 'For over seven decades, Brother Swaggart poured out his life preaching the gospel, singing songs of the faith, and pointing millions to the saving power of Jesus Christ,' it added. ALSO READ: Veteran actress Meme Ditshego has died Swaggart, whose first cousins were rock and roll legend Jerry Lee Lewis and country singer Mickey Gilley, rose to prominence in the 1980s at the head of his Louisiana-based Pentecostal church the Assemblies of God. His televised sermons featuring fire-and-brimstone rhetoric and gospel music were watched by millions around the world and raised hundreds of millions of dollars in donations annually. Swaggart 'will be missed' US President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that he was saddened to hear of Swaggart's death, describing him as 'an incredible Man of Faith.' Swaggart, he said, 'inspired millions with his Great Love of God and Country… Jimmy will be deeply missed!' At his height, Swaggart joined the ranks of other leading Christian televangelists such as Oral Roberts, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and Jim Bakker, who was also disgraced in a sex scandal. Swaggart's downfall came in 1987 after he was photographed at a motel in New Orleans with a prostitute. ALSO READ: Veteran journalist and editor Andrew Trench has died He made a tearful televised confession the next year. 'I have sinned against you, my Lord,' Swaggart said, without providing details. 'I beg you, forgive me.' Swaggart was defrocked by the elders of his church, and while he continued to preach over the next decades, his following and his influence had diminished.
TimesLIVE
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- TimesLIVE
American televangelist Jimmy Swaggart dies at age 90
Swaggart, born on March 15 1935, grew up in the rough and tumble and racially segregated Louisiana backwater of Ferriday with two cousins who also would become famous, rock n ' roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis and country singer Mickey Gilley. As a boy, Swaggart was surrounded by the fire and brimstone Pentecostal version of Christianity he would later take to the airwaves. His father, a grocer and tough disciplinarian, preached from time to time and Swaggart was nine when he claimed he was 'called' to the ministry. 'You will preach my gospel all over the world. You will even take it to Africa,' was the command Swaggart said God gave him. Swaggart dropped out of school, chopped cotton and hauled gravel for a living. At the age of 17 he married 15-year-old Frances Anderson after a three-month courtship. He watched as preachers such as Oral Roberts scooped up souls and cash with huge revival meetings in tents. A tall, muscular man with chiselled features, Swaggart was an imposing figure as he began his career preaching on street corners and at rural Pentecostal meetings, filled with singing, hand-waving and speaking in tongues. By 1969 he started 'The Camp Hour Meeting', a radio broadcast, and his star rose higher when he took his sermons to TV in 1973. An arch-conservative who sometimes criticised Catholics and Jews, Swaggart became a force in the early days of the US religious right in the 1980s, a movement seeking to redraw public policy along biblical lines. He took his preaching to Africa and Latin America, becoming a celebrity in unlikely places such as Soweto. The New York Times said Swaggart's relationship with a sex worker in New Orleans was revealed by Marvin Gorman, a rival preacher who provided incriminating photographs and said Swaggart had unjustly accused him of adulterous affairs. In February 1988, a weeping Swaggart stood before the congregation at his Baton Rouge Family Worship Centre and begged for forgiveness. Swaggart was defrocked by the Assemblies of God national organisation for refusing to accept its punishment of suspension. In 1991 he was stopped for a traffic violation by police in Indio, California, with a sex worker n his car. He said he would step down from his ministry but changed his mind and told his congregation 'the Lord told me it's flat none of your business'. Before his downfall, Swaggart frequently lashed out at pornography and behaviour he portrayed as sexual immorality. He was heavily criticised in 2004 after saying on his TV show if a gay man made a sexual advance on him, 'I'm going to kill him and tell God he died', a comment he later said was a joke. Swaggart's influence waned considerably after the scandals. His ministry survived in a much diminished form, but he appeared on cable television from time to time. Swaggart and Frances, who stuck with him through his scandals, had one child, Donnie, who took a key role in the ministry.
Yomiuri Shimbun
02-07-2025
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, Whose Ministry Was Toppled by Prostitution Scandals, Dies at 90
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, who became a household name amassing an enormous following and multimillion-dollar ministry only to be undone by his penchant for prostitutes, has died. Swaggart died decades after his once vast audience dwindled and his name became a punchline on late night television. His death was announced Tuesday on his public Facebook page. A cause wasn't immediately given, though at 90 he had been in poor health, having suffered cardiac arrest last month. The Louisiana native was best known for being a captivating Pentecostal preacher with a massive following before being caught on camera with a prostitute in New Orleans in 1988, one of a string of successful TV preachers brought down in the 1980s and 1990s by sex scandals. He continued preaching for decades, but with a reduced audience. Swaggart encapsulated his downfall in a tearful 1988 sermon, in which he wept and apologized but made no reference to his connection to a prostitute. 'I have sinned against you,' Swaggart told parishioners nationwide. 'I beg you to forgive me.' He announced his resignation from the Assemblies of God later that year, shortly after the church said it was defrocking him for rejecting punishment it had ordered for 'moral failure.' The church had wanted him to undergo a two-year rehabilitation program, including not preaching for a full year. Swaggart said at the time that he knew dismissal was inevitable but insisted he had no choice but to separate from the church to save his ministry and Bible college. From poverty and oil fields to a household name Swaggart grew up poor, the son of a preacher, in a music-rich family. He excelled at piano and gospel music, playing and singing with talented cousins who took different paths: rock-'n'-roller Jerry Lee Lewis and country singer Mickey Gilley. In his hometown of Ferriday, Louisiana, Swaggart said he first heard the call of God at age 8. The voice gave him goose bumps and made his hair tingle, he said. 'Everything seemed different after that day in front of the Arcade Theater,' he said in a 1985 interview with the Jacksonville Journal-Courier in Illinois. 'I felt better inside. Almost like taking a bath.' He preached and worked part time in oil fields until he was 23. He then moved entirely into his ministry: preaching, playing piano and singing gospel songs with the barrelhouse fervor of cousin Lewis at Assemblies of God revivals and camp meetings. Swaggart started a radio show, a magazine, and then moved into television, with outspoken views. He called Roman Catholicism 'a false religion. It is not the Christian way,' and claimed that Jews suffered for thousands of years 'because of their rejection of Christ.' 'If you don't like what I say, talk to my boss,' he once shouted as he strode in front of his congregation at his Family Worship Center in Baton Rouge, where his sermons moved listeners to speak in tongues and stand up as if possessed by the Holy Spirit. Swaggart's messages stirred thousands of congregants and millions of TV viewers, making him a household name by the late 1980s. Contributors built Jimmy Swaggart Ministries into a business that made an estimated $142 million in 1986. His Baton Rouge complex still includes a worship center and broadcasting and recording facilities. The scandals that led to Swaggart's ruin Swaggart's downfall came in the late 1980s as other prominent preachers faced similar scandals. Swaggart said publicly that his earnings were hurt in 1987 by the sex scandal surrounding rival televangelist Jim Bakker and a former church secretary at Bakker's PTL ministry organization. The following year, Swaggart was photographed at a hotel with Debra Murphree, an admitted prostitute who told reporters that the two did not have sex but that the preacher had paid her to pose nude. She later repeated the claim — and posed nude — for Penthouse magazine. The surveillance photos that crippled Swaggart's career apparently stemmed from his rivalry with preacher Marvin Gorman, who Swaggart had accused of sexual misdeeds. Gorman hired the photographer who captured Swaggart and Murphree on film. Swaggart later paid Gorman $1.8 million to settle a lawsuit over the sexual allegations against Gorman. More trouble came in 1991, when police in California detained Swaggart with another prostitute. The evangelist was charged with driving on the wrong side of the road and driving an unregistered Jaguar. His companion, Rosemary Garcia, said Swaggart became nervous when he saw the police car and weaved when he tried to stuff pornographic magazines under a car seat. Swaggart was later mocked by the late TV comic Phil Hartman, who impersonated him on NBC's 'Saturday Night Live.' Out of the public eye but still in the pulpit The evangelist largely stayed out of the news in later years but remained in the pulpit at Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, often joined by his son, Donnie, a fellow preacher. His radio station broadcast church services and gospel music to 21 states, and Swaggart's ministry boasted a worldwide audience on the internet. 'My dad was a warrior. My dad was preacher. He didn't want to be anything else except a preacher of the gospel,' Donnie Swaggart said in a video message shared on social media Tuesday following his father's death. 'That's what he was put on this earth to do.' The preacher caused another brief stir in 2004 with remarks about being 'looked at' amorously by a gay man. 'And I'm going to be blunt and plain: If one ever looks at me like that, I'm going to kill him and tell God he died,' Jimmy Swaggart said, to laughter from the congregation. He later apologized. Swaggart made few public appearances outside his church, save for singing 'Amazing Grace' at the 2005 funeral of Louisiana Secretary of State Fox McKeithen, a prominent name in state politics for decades. In 2022, he shared memories at the memorial service for Lewis, his cousin and rock 'n' roll pioneer. The pair had released 'The Boys From Ferriday,' a gospel album, earlier that year. Donnie Swaggart said he promised his father that 'I will continue the work' — distributing Bibles, sharing the gospel and 'proclaiming the message of Christ.' Swaggart is survived by his wife, Frances, son Donnie, daughter-in-law Debbie, grandson Gabriel, daughter Jill, granddaughter Jennifer, son-in-law Clif, son Matt, daughter-in-law Joanna and nine great-grandchildren.
