The room was dim. No pulpit, no choir, no crowd—just a hospital bed, a Bible, and a man who had spent nearly every breath of his life proclaiming the Gospel.
At 90 years old, Reverend Jimmy Swaggart—once the voice that filled stadiums, television screens, and radio airwaves—found himself in a quiet room surrounded by family. The fire in his voice had faded to a whisper, but the message was still there, burning brighter than ever.
According to his son, Donnie Swaggart, Jimmy had asked for a microphone and a camera—“nothing fancy,” he said, “just enough to reach one more soul.” And in that fragile moment, lying on a hospital bed, breathing with difficulty, Jimmy Swaggart preached his final message.
“The cross must be preached,” he said, pausing to catch his breath, “even after I’m gone.”
With Frances sitting beside him, holding his hand and gently nodding through tears, Jimmy continued, “Tell them… tell them that Jesus still saves. That grace is still enough. That I am not the answer—but He is.”
His voice cracked. Not from weakness, but from reverence. He was not afraid of dying. He had preached about Heaven too long, sung about the blood too many times, to fear what came next.
“I’ve made mistakes,” he said, “God knows them all. But I have never once doubted the cross. Never once doubted that Jesus is the Son of the Living God. And if this is my last sermon, then let it be the one I’ll echo through eternity: Come home. The altar is still open.”
Donnie later told the congregation at Family Worship Center that there wasn’t a dry eye in the room. “Even on his deathbed,” Donnie said, “my father wasn’t trying to be remembered—he was trying to win one more soul.”
Jimmy Swaggart passed just hours later, peacefully and without fear, his Bible resting on his chest.
There will be tributes, no doubt. Choirs will sing. Networks will play old sermons. But perhaps none will match the power of that last quiet moment—a dying preacher, clinging not to fame or legacy, but to a rugged cross and the hope it represents.
Because even in death, Jimmy Swaggart preached.
And the cross, as he wished, will still be preached long after him.