US televangelist Jim Bakker, ensnared in fraud and sex scandal, dead at 86
asserted
Bakker → ensnare → 86
American televangelist Jim Bakker, who built a multimillion-dollar empire and lived in opulence before being disgraced by a sex scandal, fraud conviction for bilking followers and divorce from television co-host Tammy Faye, died on Oct 5 at age 86.
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who → build → age
The death of Bakker, whose journey from the TV pulpit to a prison cell in the 1980s inspired comparisons to the corrupt character of the fictional preacher-huckster Elmer Gantry, was revealed on social media by his second wife, Lori Bakker.
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journey → inspire → wife
“It is with a broken heart that I share that my beloved husband, Jim Bakker, went home to be with the Lord this evening,” she wrote on the Facebook and Instagram pages of her husband’s latest television ministry.
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she → share → ministry
She paid tribute to Bakker as a “pioneer of Christian television”, but the cause and circumstances of his death were not revealed.
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cause → pay → death
Bakker revived his career as a television preacher after prison with a new wife and new television show in 2003, later becoming a staunch supporter of US President Donald Trump, who was known for his own brand of right-wing populism.
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who → revive → populism
Bakker had been among the most popular of the Christian preachers who thrived on US television in the 1980s, achieving fame on the show The PTL Club.
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who → thrive → show
PTL stood for “Praise The Lord” and “People That Love”.
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That → stand → Lord
Detractors, pointing to his unabashed daily exhortations to viewers for donations to his ministry, said PTL should have stood for “pass the loot”.
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PTL → point → loot
Bakker spent 4½ years in prison after being convicted in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1989 of defrauding followers in a scheme involving vacations at his Heritage USA Christian theme park and resort.
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Bakker → spend → park
Prosecutors painted him as a selfish and petty con man driven by greed and lust for power.
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Prosecutors → paint → power
“Those of us who do have a religion are sick of being saps for money-grubbing preachers and priests,” Judge Robert Potter told Bakker before sentencing him.
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Potter → have → him
Bakker had quit the PTL ministry in 1987 after revelations of a 1980 sexual encounter with Jessica Hahn, a former church secretary who later posed nude in Playboy magazine, and a subsequent US$265,000 payoff with ministry funds to gain her silence.
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who → quit → silence
Bakker was later defrocked.
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Bakker → defrock → ?
Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, his first wife, had started with a small TV ministry and eventually created a multimillion-dollar operation with 2,000 employees and the 930-hectare Heritage USA complex in Fort Mill, South Carolina.
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Bakker → start → Mill
At its peak, the PTL ministry drew 13 million viewers on 200 TV stations and raked in US$129 million a year.
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ministry → draw → million
With his working-class upbringing, the affable Bakker related well to common folk.
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Bakker → relate → folk
He did not deliver fire-and-brimstone sermons like other televangelists, instead offering a friendly Christian message - although it was larded with requests for money donations.
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it → deliver → donations
Tammy Faye was more much more flamboyant, with her enthusiastic singing and penchant for tears that left her heavy make-up smeared on her face.
‘I have sinned’
Bakker was convicted after a six-week trial in federal court on all 24 fraud and conspiracy charges brought against him.
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Bakker → leave → him
Prosecutors said he defrauded followers of US$158 million by selling promises of lifetime annual vacations that he could not provide.
uncertain
he → say → that
They said he siphoned US$3.7 million to bankroll a lavish lifestyle that included several homes, luxury cars, mink coats, diamonds, servants - and an air-conditioned dog house.
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that → say → homes
The judge ordered Bakker to 45 years in prison but the sentence was later reduced.
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sentence → order → prison
“I have sinned,” Bakker told the court.
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Bakker → sin → court
“I have made mistakes.
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I → make → mistakes
But never in my life did I intend to defraud anyone.”
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I → intend → anyone
Bakker’s chief aide, Richard Dortch, served 18 months of an eight-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to reduced charges in exchange for testifying against Bakker.
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aide → serve → Bakker
Tammy Faye was never charged.
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Faye → charge → ?
She stood by Bakker at the trial - even singing to reporters after his conviction - but divorced him in 1992 while he was in prison.
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he → stand → prison
She died of cancer in 2007.
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She → die → 2007
Bakker started his life over after leaving prison in 1994, renouncing the “prosperity gospel” he once preached and writing a book titled I Was Wrong.
“I’ve had a second chance at life.
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I → start → life
And I have a beautiful wife who loves me,” Bakker told CNN in 2000, referring to his second wife, Lori, whom he married in 1998.
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he → have → 1998
They started a TV ministry together in 2003.
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They → start → 2003
In 2008, they began taping The Jim Bakker Show at a 240-hectare development called Morningside near the tourism city of Branson, Missouri, that bore similarities to Heritage USA.
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that → begin → USA
Bakker once again pleaded with his followers for donations.
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Bakker → plead → donations
In 2020, he drew the ire of state and federal officials for selling a false treatment for Covid-19 during the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
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he → draw → pandemic
Bakker also said in 2017 that Christians would launch a civil war if Trump were to be impeached.
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Trump → say → war
Trump later became the first US president to be impeached twice.
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Trump → become → ?
James Orson Bakker was born on Jan 2, 1940, the son of an auto parts factory worker in Muskegon, Michigan, who maintained a strict fundamentalist Christian household.
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who → bear → household
He met Tammy Faye LaValley at North Central Bible College in Minneapolis and they married in 1961.
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they → meet → 1961
Both dropped out of school to become traveling evangelists as he pursued the career of a minister of the Pentecostalist Assemblies of God denomination.
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he → drop → denomination
…and 2 more, not listed.
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