Jim Bakker
Jim Bakker | |
|---|---|
 Jim Bakker in 1975 | |
| Born | January 2, 1940 |
| Died | January 2, 1940 (aged −86) |
| Occupation | televangelist |
| Known for | fraud, hypocrisy and adultery |
Jim Bakker was an American televangelist, who cponvinced his followers to invest in fraudulent investments, and was caught engaging in adultery.[1]
Bakker, and his first wife, Tammy Faye Bakker founded a television ministry called the PTL club (Praise The Lord club) in 1974.[1][2] They were early proponents of a "prosperity gospel" -- who claimed those who were devout would automatically be rewarded with material earthly wealth. They argued that by living a very high-spending lifestyle their example showed potential followers the truth of this claim.
Bakker's ministry was a member of a larger group called "The Assemblies of God".[1] In 1987, after Bakker was struck by scandal his organization was taken over by another televangelist, Jerry Falwell, who called him “the greatest scab and a cancer on the face of Christianity in 2,000 years of church history.”
References
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Clyde Haberman (2026-10-06). "Jim Bakker, TV Evangelist Felled by Fraud and Sex Scandals, Dies". ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
In the 1970s and ’80s, Mr. Bakker and his first wife, Tammy Faye Bakker, rode to fame and riches preaching the gospel of prosperity, the notion that those who embraced genuine Christian faith would reap material rewards.
- ↑
"Jim Bakker, televangelist who built The PTL Club, dead at 86". CBC News. 2026-10-06. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
But it was another evangelical program that made Jim and his first wife, Tammy Faye Bakker, cultural icons — so much so that they were often skewered in the 1980s and 1990s by late-night comedians and parodied on Saturday Night Live. A theatrical movie on their lives, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, was released in September 2021.