A Texas televangelist who more than six months ago suggested the outbreak of the novel coronavirus was a ''wake-up call'' and a ''privilege'' has died of complications from COVID-19, the ministry that he founded announced on its website.
Endtime Ministries in Plano, Texas, outside Dallas announced the death of Pastor Irvin Baxter, 75, on Tuesday, a week after he was hospitalized for the flu-like respiratory illness.
''We will miss him, but he’s with Jesus,'' said Dave Robbins, co-host of the ''End of the Age'' television show he shared with Baxter in a statement. ''His entire life was about one thing, sharing the message of the Gospel. We will continue in his legacy, sharing the message and good news.''
The organization said Baxter was hospitalized a week earlier before he died.
Baxter appeared on the syndicated Christian religious television program ''The Jim Bakker Show'' in March in which he decried ''the sin of fornication'' outside of marriage, the New York Post reported.
''I thought about fornication and I did a little research … I hope this research is not correct, but I got it straight from the encyclopedia — it says that 5% of new brides in America now are virgins,'' Baxter said. ''That means 95 percent have already committed fornication!
''If we think we can just ignore God and live a sinful lifestyle, well, we cannot do it. You know, I believe in what you’re saying, that God may be using this as a wake-up call. This coronavirus may be a privilege because I’ll tell you right now, there’s a much bigger judgment coming. It’s in the Bible.''
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