Jim Bakker, the televangelist whose career included a national broadcasting empire and a federal fraud conviction, died Oct. 5 at 86. His wife, Lori Bakker, announced his death on Instagram, Deadline reported.
In her statement, Lori Bakker described the loss as deeply personal and reflected on their life together and his decades in ministry. Her announcement brought renewed attention to a television career that extended from the early years of Christian talk shows to later digital broadcasts.
Jim Bakker and the growth of PTL
Bakker founded “The PTL Club” and hosted it with his then-wife, Tammy Faye Bakker, from 1974 to 1987. The program made the couple familiar figures to viewers and became the centerpiece of a growing religious media operation.
ABC News’ reporting on the ministry described how the Bakkers bought airtime across the country and used a satellite network to distribute their programming. Telethons and viewers’ monthly pledges helped finance the operation. Its expansion also included Heritage USA, a hotel and theme park complex in Fort Mill, South Carolina.
Fraud conviction and a return to broadcasting
The ministry’s collapse in the late 1980s became a national scandal. According to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s account, Bakker sold lifetime partnerships promising annual hotel stays, collecting money from followers through the mail. The investigation involved postal inspectors, the FBI and the IRS.
A jury convicted him on 24 fraud and conspiracy counts in 1989. He initially received a 45-year prison sentence and a $500,000 fine. The prison sentence was later reduced to eight years, ABC News reported. He served nearly five years before being paroled in 1994.
The Bakkers had two children and divorced while he was imprisoned. Both later remarried. Tammy Faye died in 2007 after living with cancer. Bakker returned to television in 2003 with “The Jim Bakker Show,” broadcasting with Lori from near Branson, Missouri. More recently, that program appeared on digital platforms.
A life portrayed on screen
The story also became part of popular culture. Kevin Spacey portrayed Bakker in NBC’s 1990 television film “Fall From Grace.” Andrew Garfield later played him in the 2021 film “The Eyes of Tammy Faye.” Jessica Chastain’s portrayal of Tammy Faye earned her the Academy Award for best actress in 2022.
Photo: Unknown photographer / Wikimedia Commons (public domain in the U.S.). Newspaper photograph published in 1975.
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