Jim Bakker, who built, then lost, a televangelism empire in scandals, dead at 86 | CBC News

Bakker and 1st wife Tammy Faye were cultural icons of 1980s with TV show, theme park and hotel

Jim Bakker, who along with his first wife Tammy Faye built an evangelical empire around the hugely successful The PTL Club TV show, only to lose it all over a sex scandal and financial crimes, has died. He was 86.

"He was a pioneer of Christian television, but to me, he was my husband, my best friend and the man I was honoured to walk beside through so many seasons of life and ministry," she said.

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.

Bakker was born in Muskegon, Mich., and attended North Central Bible College in Minneapolis, where he met Tammy Faye. They married in 1961 and dropped out of college to start their own travelling ministry — he preached, she sang and played the accordion as they crossed the country visiting churches and tent revivals.

When it hit its heyday in the 1980s, The PTL Club was drawing millions of viewers — and bringing in millions of dollars annually from followers.

The couple was so famous that they were often parodied by TV comedians for their lavish lifestyle and Tammy Faye's abundant makeup.

Tammy Faye stuck by Bakker, often with tears running down her mascara, even as many saw his downfall as a fitting symbol of the greed and hypocrisy of the 1980s.

In 1988, Bakker was indicted for mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy after an investigation of PTL's finances. He was convicted and sentenced to 45 years in federal prison, though the sentence was later reduced to eight years.

At a news conference after Bakker was found guilty, Tammy Faye stood in front of the microphones and sang the hymn, On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand.

Bakker was released on parole in 1994. He married his second wife, Lori, in 1998. The couple launched The Jim Bakker Show on the PTL Satellite Network five years later.

The lawsuit said Bakker and a guest made the cure claim during 11 episodes in February and March of 2020.