Televangelist Jim Bakker passes away at eighty

Televangelist Jim Bakker has died at the age of 80, according to his second wife Lori Bakker, who did not reveal the cause of death. Bakker rose to fame building an evangelical empire around the television show The PTL Club.

Rise and Fall

At its peak in the mid-1980s, Bakker and his first wife Tammy Faye drew 13 million viewers daily and raised over $129 million each year. The couple started their ministry after dropping out of college and later joined televangelist Pat Robertson to help launch The 700 Club in 1966. Bakker formed the PTL Satellite Network in 1974 after leaving that network. His career collapsed in 1987 after he admitted to a sexual encounter with church clerk Jessica Hahn and paid her $265,000 in ministry funds to stay quiet. Pastor Jerry Falwell took over the empire after Bakker resigned.

Prison and Later Years

A federal grand jury indicted Bakker in 1988 on charges of wire fraud, mail fraud, and conspiracy related to PTL finances. A court initially sentenced him to 45 years in prison, but authorities later reduced the term to eight years. Tammy Faye divorced him in 1992 while he remained behind bars, and he won release on parole in 1994. He married Lori in 1998, adopted five children in 2002, and began filming The Jim Bakker Show near Branson, Missouri, becoming a strong supporter of Donald Trump.

Context

Public religious broadcasting grew into a massive financial industry in the United States during the late twentieth century, often relying heavily on viewer donations. High-profile religious leaders during this era occasionally faced major legal and personal controversies that reshaped their broadcast networks. Figures like Bakker demonstrated how rapidly large media ministries could rise and fall based on public trust.