Washington (US), Oct. 6 (LaPresse) – Televangelist Jim Bakker, who rose to national prominence in the 1970s and 1980s before leaving his ministry following a scandal, has died at the age of 86. “It is with a broken heart that I announce that my beloved husband, Jim Bakker, has gone home to be with the Lord tonight,” his wife, Lori Bakker, said in a statement published Monday evening on the Facebook page of the Jim Bakker Show. The statement did not specify the cause of death or details of the circumstances. During his rise to fame, Bakker and his then-wife, the late Tammy Faye Messner, ran the ‘Praise the Lord’ (PTL) evangelical empire from the outskirts of Charlotte, North Carolina, for about 15 years, even creating their own theme park. The couple hosted ‘The PTL Club’, one of the best-known Christian television programs of the time. Bakker left the PTL ministry in 1987 because of a financial and sexual scandal involving a secretary, Jessica Hahn, whom he had paid a sum of money to keep silent. Two years later, Bakker was indicted for fraud and sentenced to 45 years in prison, although he ultimately served just under five years.
US, televangelist Jim Bakker dies: he was 86
Washington (US), Oct. 6 (LaPresse) – Televangelist Jim Bakker, who rose to national prominence in the 1970s and 1980s before leaving his ministry following a scandal, has died at the age of 86. “It is with a broken heart that I announce that my beloved husband, Jim Bakker, has gone home to be with the Lord tonight,” his wife, Lori Bakker, said in a statement published Monday evening on the Facebook page of the Jim Bakker Show. The statement did not specify the cause of death or details of the circumstances. During his rise to fame, Bakker and his then-wife, the late Tammy Faye Messner, ran the ‘Praise the Lord’ (PTL) evangelical empire from the outskirts of Charlotte, North Carolina, for about 15 years, even creating their own theme park. The couple hosted ‘The PTL Club’, one of the best-known Christian television programs of the time. Bakker left the PTL ministry in 1987 because of a financial and sexual scandal involving a secretary, Jessica Hahn, whom he had paid a sum of money to keep silent. Two years later, Bakker was indicted for fraud and sentenced to 45 years in prison, although he ultimately served just under five years.