Jim Bakker, the televangelist whose Christian empire collapsed after a sex scandal with a church worker and who was later jailed for fraud, has died aged 86. His second wife, Lori Bakker, announced his death on Monday, October 5. His cause of death was not immediately clear. Bakker had previous health issues following a stroke he suffered in 2020.
Empire built on The PTL Club
Bakker, along with his first wife Tammy Faye, built an evangelical empire around the hugely successful "The PTL Club" TV show. At its peak in the mid-1980s, the ministry included not only the TV show drawing up to 13 million nightly viewers but also the Christian-based Heritage USA theme park and hotel in Fort Mill, South Carolina. The couple at the height of the empire had a megachurch and even their own religious theme park.
Bakker was born in Muskegon, Michigan, and attended North Central Bible College in Minneapolis, where he met Tammy Faye. They married in 1961 and dropped out of college to start their own traveling ministry - he preached, she sang and played the accordion as they crossed the country visiting churches and tent revivals.
Scandal and downfall
In March 1987, their empire began to crack when Bakker admitted to a sexual encounter with church clerk Jessica Hahn. It emerged after $279,000 had come out of the ministry’s coffers to pay off Hahn, who claimed Bakker and another PTL evangelist, John Wesley Fletcher, had drugged and raped her seven years earlier when she was 21. Bakker was forced to resign from his own empire over the scandal, turning over operations to pastor and broadcaster Jerry Falwell. Bakker denied the claims by Hahn but admitted he had a one night stand with her.
In 1988, Bakker was indicted for mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy after an investigation of PTL's finances. He was convicted and sentenced to 45 years in federal prison, though the sentence was later reduced to eight years. He was released on parole in 1994.
Later life and legacy
Tammy Faye divorced Bakker in 1992, just short of their 31st anniversary, while he was still in prison. She died of colon cancer in 2007. Bakker married his second wife, Lori, in 1998. The couple launched "The Jim Bakker Show" on the PTL Satellite Network five years later.
In June 2021, Bakker and his Morningside Church Productions Inc. settled a lawsuit accusing him of falsely claiming the health supplement Silver Solution could cure COVID-19. The settlement called for $156,000 in refunds to people who paid money or gave contributions to obtain the product in the early days of the pandemic.
Lori Bakker said in a statement: "He was a pioneer of Christian television, but to me, he was my husband, my best friend, and the man I was honoured to walk beside through so many seasons of life and ministry." Bakker and Tammy Faye had two children. He and his second wife adopted five children in 2002.
