Jim Bakker's daughter apologizes for harm caused by family's ministry, urges LGBT donations

The daughter of the late televangelist Jim Bakker is apologizing to anyone she says her “family’s ministry” has harmed and is urging people to donate to LGBT groups, as she reflects on her father’s death last week. 

In a statement published on Facebook Saturday, Tammy Sue Bakker addressed her father’s death five days earlier.

“There are very few times in life — if any — that we are given the chance to show the world that everyone is loved,” she began. “I have humbly been given the platform to be able to do so, and for that I am beyond grateful. I have thought about this moment for many years. At this difficult time, I’m thinking about my mother, Tammy Faye, and the unconditional love she showed. That love is also in my heart.”

“Throughout my life, I have stayed silent, not wanting to harm my family or the church,” she added. “I quietly left my father’s ministry in 2022 because the message that was being delivered was not mine. I have spent the years since estranged from my father.”

Tammy Sue Bakker said she was not told about her father’s illness “until three hours before his death," saying she learned he died from a friend who saw it online and "didn’t realize I hadn’t been told.”

Tammy Sue Bakker, who described herself as a “peaceful and private person,” said she felt a need to “be transparent” after her father’s death, saying she could hear her “precious mother’s voice saying, ‘Sis, this is your time. Do it.’”

Tammy Faye Bakker divorced Jim Bakker and later remarried. She died in 2007.

“I want to publicly apologize, from the depths of my soul, to anyone who has been hurt by the church or my family’s ministry over the last 60 years,” she wrote.

Tammy Sue Bakker said she is grateful that “millions of lives were positively changed” by her parents’ TV program, “The PTL Club.” The Bakkers were a prominent family in the 1980s, and “The PTL Club” reached millions of households. The program was discontinued after Jim Bakker was sent to prison on fraud charges.

Tammy Sue Bakker said she has received “letters and comments” from people who “gave their last dime to the ministry.” She argued that the Church as a whole has caused deep harm.

“It breaks my heart to know that the church has been responsible for millions of people suffering, being rejected by their families, living with depression, being kicked out of their family homes, feeling like outcasts, dealing with suicidal ideation, or dying by suicide," she added. 

Tammy Sue Bakker pushed back on a common refrain she hears from friends: “You are not your family. This is not your burden to bear.”

“I have carried it since I was a child,” she wrote. “It is a very heavy burden that has brought me to tears more times than I can count.”

“In lieu of flowers or gifts, I am encouraging you today, from my heart, to donate funds or your time to your local LGBTQIA+ community. No amount is too big or too small to make a real change and possibly save someone’s life,” she wrote. “It is time for Christians to stand up and show the true love of Christ. It is time to stop judging. To stop hating. To unconditionally wrap your arms around your brothers and sisters and say, ‘I love you just the way you are.’”

Tammy Sue Bakker wrote that “Jesus said, ‘Come as you are,’” and argued that this applies to LGBT people: “His love was not conditional. He did not command anyone to change who they were born to be. It is time to show love and compassion.”

“This is the hardest and easiest thing I have ever done in my life. It is the thing I have been most frightened of,” she concluded. “I hope you will join me today in true love, acceptance, understanding, and peace. You are loved exactly as you are.”

Tammy Sue Bakker is not the only member of her family to support LGBT causes.

In 2012, North Carolina voters weighed a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Tammy Sue Bakker’s brother, Jay Bakker, urged voters to reject it. The amendment passed. The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision later legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.

Bakker’s Facebook message echoes the advocacy of her late mother, Tammy Faye, who also took a progressive stance on LGBT issues. 

Although Tammy Sue Bakker claimed that Jesus "did not command anyone to change who they were born to be," the New Testament includes two instances where He told people to refrain from sin.

"In saying, 'Go and sin no more,' Jesus was not speaking of sinless perfection," wrote the apologetics website Got Questions. "He was warning against a return to sinful lifestyle choices. His words both extended mercy and demanded holiness. Jesus was always the perfect balance of 'grace and truth' (John 1:14). With forgiveness comes the expectation that we will not continue in the same path of rebelliousness. Those who know God’s love will naturally want to obey Him (John 14:15)."