Jim Bakker

Jim Bakker (born January 2, 1939, Muskegon, Michigan) is an American televangelist, Assembly of God preacher and Evangelist, and the former host of The PTL Club (PTL is an acronym for 'Praise the Lord' and 'People That Love') with his wife Tammy Faye Bakker.

From 1984 to 1987, Bakker and his associates in PTL sold "lifetime memberships" for a $1,000 or more, which entitled buyers to a 3-night stay annually at a luxury hotel in "Heritage USA," a Christian holiday and activity center in Fort Mill, South Carolina. According to the prosecution at Bakker's trial, tens of thousands of memberships had been sold, but only one 500-room hotel was completed. Bakker had not only sold more "exclusive" partnerships than could be accommodated, but had also raised more than twice the money needed to build the hotel. The Bakker trial revealed that a good deal of the money had gone into operating expenses of "Heritage USA," and that Bakker kept $3,700,000 for himself. Reporters at the Charlotte Observer, led by Charles Shepard, discovered the financial wrongdoings.

Bakker, who apparently made all of the financial decisions for the PTL and kept two sets of books to conceal the accounting irregularities, took conspicuous consumption to new extremes. PTL once spent over $100,000 for a private jet to fly the Bakker's clothing across the country. PTL also once spent more than $100 on a purchase of cinnamon rolls because Jim and Tammy wanted the smell of them in their hotel room. "They [the Bakkers] epitomized the excesses of the 1980s--the greed, the love of glitz, and the shamelessness--which in their case was so pure as to almost amount to a kind of innocence." (Frances FitzGerald, "Jim and Tammy," The New Yorker, April 29, 1990).

Between 1984 and 1987, the Bakkers received annual salaries of $200,000 each and Jim awarded himself over $4 million in bonuses. The Bakkers' assets at that time included a $600,000 house in Palm Springs, four condos in California, and a Rolls Royce. ("Fresh Out of Miracles," Newsweek, May 11, 1987, and "TV's Unholy Row," Time, April 6, 1987)

On March 19, 1987, following a scandal involving Jessica Hahn, Bakker resigned from the PTL. His staff members had paid her $265,000 payoff to keep her sexual services to him a secret.

Bakker was indicted on federal charges of fraud, tax evasion, and racketeering. In 1989, in Charlotte, North Carolina, Judge Robert Potter convicted Bakker of fraud and conspiring to commit fraud and sentenced him to 45 years in federal prison. His associate, Richard Dortch, senior vice-president of PTL, and associate pastor of Heritage Village Church, also ended up in prison. Bakker served almost 5 years in prison. In 1992 he and his wife Tammy Faye were divorced at her request. In 1993 he was granted parole for good behavior.

Bakker's actions and convictions not only affected the reputation of other televangelists such as Jimmy Swaggart, but also resulted in a dirty fight for the control of PTL among several other prominent televangelists. Jerry Falwell, who took over The PTL Club, called Bakker a liar, an embezzler and sexual deviate, and "the greatest scab and cancer on the face of Christianity in two thousand years of church history." He fired Bakker's entire staff when he took over. Under Falwell's leadership, the PTL went bankrupt.

By contrast, Billy Graham visited Jim Bakker in prison, as did his son, Franklin Graham, repeatedly, saying, "Jim Bakker's my friend." When Bakker got out of prison the Grahams paid for a house for him to live in and gave him a car to drive.

On Bakker's release, many Christians found themselves able to forgive, or at least accept, Bakker. In 1995, he addressed a Christian leadership conference where 10,000 clergymen cheered and gave him a 15-minute standing ovation. "I thought people would spit on me," he later recalled. "Instead they received me with open arms."

Richard Dortch said pride, arrogance and secrets led to the PTL scandal. While most people never face temptations on the same scale, the ingredients for seemingly smaller failures are the same, he said. Dortch said the men in PTL's leadership felt they were above accountability. They felt specially called by God and accountable only to Him. He said they didn't plan the scandal; instead, it was the natural result of living for oneself, rather than for God.

On July 23, 1996, a jury in North Carolina threw out a class action suit brought on behalf of more than 160,000 onetime believers who contrubuted as much as $7,000 each in the 1980s to Bakker's funds.

The Internal Revenue Service says Bakker and Roe Messner, Tammy Faye's husband since 1993, owe personal income taxes from the 1980s when they were building their Praise The Lord empire, The Charlotte Observer reported. The IRS assessed the taxes after revoking the PTL ministry's nonprofit status. Tammy Faye Messner's new husband said Jim Bakker and his former wife didn't want to talk about the tax issues. "We don't want to stir the pot," Messner said. He said the original tax amount was about $500,000. Penalties and interest account for the rest of the bill. The notices reinstating the liens list "James O. and Tamara F. Bakker" as owing $3 million, which they still pay on to this day.

In 1996 Jim Bakker published the book I Was Wrong (Thomas Nelson Publishers), describing his rise and fall. In 1998 he released another book, Prosperity And The Coming Apocalypse (Thomas Nelson Publishers), and in 2000 The Refuge: The Joy of Christian Community in a Torn-Apart World (Thomas Nelson Publishers).

In January 2003, Jim Bakker began broadcasting the "Jim Bakker Show" with his second wife Lori Graham Bakker, whom he married in 1998. He denounces his past teachings on prosperity saying they were wrong.