Jim Bakkerdisgraced television evangelist who built a TV empire with his then-wife Tammy Faye He died on Monday, October 5, in the 1970s and 80s. He was 86 years old.
“It is with a broken heart that I share that my beloved husband, Jim Bakker, has gone home to be with the Lord this evening,” Jim’s second wife said. Lori Bakkerannounced via previous PTL Club cohost’s Instagram account.
To many, Jim was a “pioneer of Christian television,” Lori, 69, noted: “But to me, he was my husband, my best friend, and the man I was honored to walk alongside through the many seasons of my life and ministry.”
Reflecting that her husband “preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ” for 66 years, Lori wrote, “Jim loved people deeply. He loved this ministry and loved the friends and associates who stood by him through the years. Even in his final days, his heart was still for God’s work and for the Gospel to continue to reach the world.”
Lori concluded her statement by asking for “prayers and privacy during this time” and added that Jim’s “legacy will never be forgotten.”
Lori did not share the cause of Jim’s death, although he suffered a minor stroke in 2020.
Born in Michigan, Jim was best known for co-hosting PTL Club With the equally charismatic Tammy Faye from 1974 to 1989. At its peak, the Christian TV show, which translates to “Praise the Lord,” drew 13 million viewers a night, according to the Associated Press.
But in 1987, Jim’s world began to crumble when he confessed to having sex with a 21-year-old church secretary. Jessica HahnHahn claimed that Jim drugged and raped her, which he denied, but it was later revealed in 1985 that he paid her $279,000 in exchange for her silence.
Jim later resigned from the PTL empire as Tammy Faye stood by her husband, whom he had married in 1961.
A children’s pastor who was once a television preacher for PTL Network, the American evangelical Christian television network founded by Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, has been arrested on charges of child sexual abuse. Former Pentecostal preacher Joseph Lyle Campbell, 68, was charged with one count of first-degree rape and one count of rape. […]
Things got worse for Jim in 1988, when he was indicted on mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy charges following an investigation into PTL’s finances. He was convicted on all 24 counts in 1989 and sentenced to 45 years in federal prison. Jim was released on parole in 1994 after serving less than five years behind bars.
Tammy Faye divorced Jim in 1992 while he was in prison. he got married Karaca Messner the following year. Tammy Faye died in 2007 at the age of 65 after an 11-year battle with cancer.
Jim married Lori in 1998. He returned to television in 2003. The Jim Bakker Show.
In addition to Lori, Jim is survived by seven children, two of whom he welcomed with Tammy Faye and five of whom he adopted during his second marriage.