US televangelist Jim Bakker has died at the age of 86. Bakker became famous after building a large Christian television and media empire before his career collapsed following a sex scandal and a fraud conviction.
The controversy centred on a 1980 sexual encounter with Jessica Hahn, a former church secretary. Bakker resigned from the PTL ministry in 1987 after the revelations about Hahn became public. It later emerged that Hahn had received $265,000 in a payment connected to the PTL ministry. In 1989, he was convicted on 24 counts of mail and wire fraud and conspiracy.
Because the couple had built their wealth through their Christian ministry and television operation, their lavish lifestyle became especially controversial. He was defrocked, meaning he lost his ministerial credentials and his right to perform religious duties.
One unusual luxury associated with the family was an air-conditioned dog house, according to the BBC. Hahn accused Bakker of sexual assault, but he denied the accusation and said their encounter had been consensual. Bakker and Tammy Faye also became known for living a very wealthy lifestyle. Their possessions included a private jet, several homes, luxury cars and expensive jewellery. The PTL empire began to collapse in the late 1980s after Bakker became involved in a sex scandal. The payment came from ministry funds and became a major part of the scandal surrounding Bakker. The scandal had serious consequences for Bakker’s religious career. Bakker then faced a separate legal case over money connected to the Christian theme park. Bakker was sentenced to prison and ultimately spent more than four years behind bars. The conviction marked a dramatic fall for a man who had once led one of America’s biggest Christian television operations.
Bakker’s biggest success was The PTL Club, a Christian television programme he started with his then-wife Tammy Faye in 1974. At its peak, the programme attracted about 13 million viewers every day, making Bakker one of the best-known televangelists in the country. Their operation eventually grew to around 2,000 employees, showing how large the ministry had become. The property covered about 2,300 acres, or 930 hectares. She divorced him in 1992 while he was still in prison. She later died from cancer in 2007, according to the BBC. Bakker was released from prison in 1994. He married his second wife, Lori Bakker, in 1998. The couple launched a new TV ministry in 2003, beginning another chapter in Bakker’s broadcasting career. Bakker was 86 years old when he died. What began as a religious TV programme in 1974 grew into a multimillion-dollar operation with thousands of employees, a massive theme park and millions of daily viewers before Bakker’s scandals and criminal conviction ended his first media empire.
Bakker’s career therefore had two very different phases.
The show became the centre of the couple’s growing religious media business, according to BBC. PTL stood for “Praise the Lord” and was also known as “People That Love” . After his release, he wrote a book titled “I Was Wrong”, reflecting on his fall from power and the events surrounding his conviction. In 2008, the couple began taping “ The Jim Bakker Show” . She described him as “a pioneer of Christian television” and said he had been her best friend and someone she was honoured to walk beside through many years of life and ministry, according to the BBC.
The PTL Club became hugely popular in the US. The programme helped cement Bakker and Tammy Faye’s fame and became the foundation of their wider media empire. The Bakkers turned the success of PTL into a multimillion-dollar Christian media business. A major part of the empire was Heritage USA, a huge Christian theme park complex in Fort Mill, South Carolina. Tammy Faye remained with Bakker during his trial, but their marriage eventually ended. Tammy Faye was never charged in connection with Bakker’s criminal case. Bakker rebuilt his personal life after prison. Bakker and Lori later returned to Christian television together. This gave Bakker a new platform for his Christian ministry years after the collapse of the original PTL empire. Lori did not give a cause of death. The PTL Club made him a major television figure, with millions of daily viewers and a huge Christian media operation, but the sex scandal and fraud conviction later brought that empire down. The story of the PTL Club is ultimately the story of how Christian television became a powerful media business.
Bakker’s death was announced on Monday by Lori Bakker.
