Jim Bakker, the televangelist who built a massive religious empire alongside his first wife, Tammy Faye, through ‘The PTL Club’ before seeing it collapse amid a major sex and financial scandal, has died at the age of 86. His second wife, Lori Bakker, announced his death on Monday, though she did not immediately disclose the cause. She remembered him as a pioneer of Christian television and her devoted husband and best friend. The couple had lived near the Missouri entertainment hub of Branson, where they filmed ‘The Jim Bakker Show’ following its 2003 launch. Bakker had previously suffered a stroke in 2020. Alongside Tammy Faye, Bakker became a prominent cultural figure in the 1980s, attracting up to 13 million nightly viewers at the height of their ministry and operating the Heritage USA theme park in South Carolina. Born in Muskegon, Michigan, Bakker met Tammy Faye at North Central Bible College, and the two married in 1961 before launching a traveling ministry. They later joined Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network before founding the PTL Satellite Network in 1974. Their success unraveled in March 1987 after Bakker admitted to a sexual encounter with church clerk Jessica Hahn, leading to his resignation and the takeover of operations by Jerry Falwell. In 1988, Bakker faced federal indictment over PTL finances, resulting in a mail fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy conviction. Initially sentenced to 45 years in federal prison, his sentence was eventually reduced, and he was released on parole in 1994. Tammy Faye divorced him in 1992 while he was still incarcerated, and she later passed away in 2007. Bakker married his second wife, Lori, in 1998, and the pair later faced legal scrutiny in 2021 over false claims that a health supplement could cure COVID-19, resulting in a settlement requiring refunds to consumers. He is survived by his wife and children.
Source: npr.org
