Jim Bakker’s legacy offers warnings about prosperity gospel, unchecked church power: Trinity Foundation

When Lori Bakker, co-host of The Jim Bakker Show, posted the news that her husband, televangelist Jim Bakker, had died on Oct. 5, her brief announcement ended with the words, “Jim finished his race with faith. His voice, his vision, and his legacy will never be forgotten.”

Jim Bakker’s legacy is worth critically examining so that future church congregations and leaders avoid repeating and excusing the same abuses.

As a religious leader, Bakker embellished his testimony, preached the prosperity gospel, committed fraud to raise funds for his theme park, lived an extravagant lifestyle, cheated on his wife, and staged a comeback after spending almost five years in prison.

Bakker’s childhood and teen years

In his adolescent years, Bakker developed an interest in entertainment, which he began cultivating by his teens.

In his book Forgiven: The Rise and Fall of Jim Bakker and the PTL Ministry, author Charles E. Shepard wrote, “From the beginning, show business was in Jim Bakker’s blood.”

Shepard explains that Jim, whose real name was James Orsen Bakker, got his middle name from George Orsen Wells, the actor famous for narrating "The War of the Worlds" radio broadcast.

During his senior year of high school, Bakker produced an extravagant variety show at his high school. Shepard reports that Bakker recruited “thirty acts and a cast of more than three hundred.”

It was also during this time that Bakker claimed to surrender to God.

In his 1976 autobiography Move that Mountain, Bakker reported that during his senior year of high school, he accidentally hit a child with his father’s 1952-model Cadillac. Following the accident, Bakker claimed he experienced a dramatic conversion. “At that moment Jesus became the only thing in my life. I knew I couldn’t control my own destiny anymore … my future was entirely in the hands of God.”

While investigating Bakker’s testimony, Shepard discovered several details were false. The car wreck did not occur during Bakker’s senior year of high school, but two years earlier. Shepard also adds, “Jim’s cousin George was in the front seat of the car, not a girl.”

Shepard also interviewed some of Bakker’s friends and reported that “they do not remember the dramatic conversion described by Bakker.”

Religious television pioneer

While attending North Central Bible College in Minneapolis, Jim met Tammy Faye LaValley, whom he would marry in 1961. After dropping out of college, the couple became traveling evangelists. In addition to preaching and singing, the couple performed puppet shows for children in churches.

Announcements for the Bakkers’ evangelistic meetings appeared in various Virginia newspapers. In February 1964, The Smithfield Times reported, “The Rev. Mr. Bakker, before his conversion, was a Rock and Roll Disc Jockey. After his conversion, he has appeared in several Youth Films.”

Later that year, the Bakkers were invited to perform on a Saturday evening children’s TV program airing on Pat Robertson’s TV station WYAH. In 1966, Jim began hosting the "700 Club."

In his autobiography Shout if from the Housetops, Robertson told a story about Jim’s successful solicitation of donations for a telethon: “We need $10,000 a month to stay on the air, and we’re far short of that. Frankly, we’re on the verge of bankruptcy and just don’t have enough money to pay our bills.”

However, investigative reporter Charles Shepard, who wrote for the Charlotte Observer newspaper, identified a critical pattern. In the book Forgiven, Shepard reported, “The tactic was one Bakker would use repeatedly over the next twenty years: declare a crisis, dramatize it, often to the point of outright distortion, and wait for the viewers to respond.”

After leaving Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network, Jim joined forces with Paul Crouch Sr. to launch Trinity Broadcasting Network. The partnership didn't last long.

In his autobiography Hello World, Paul Crouch explained, “Jim was much more the creative and artistic talent — I was the tightfisted fiscal conservative. Jim wanted to build expensive and beautiful sets. He wanted to immediately begin buying time to syndicate the "Praise the Lord" program to secular TV stations across America.”

The prosperity gospel which Bakker espoused, and aggressive fundraising, financed the rapid growth of televangelism.

After leaving TBN and California, the Bakkers relocated to North Carolina and launched PTL Television Network, Inc.

Historian Kate Bowler wrote in her book Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel, “In 1971, a cluster of independent preachers (predominantly prosperity folk) comprised 42 percent of the top syndicated religious programs on television. In 1981, the total jumped to 83 percent. The scope of religious broadcasting narrowed, giving the prosperity gospel a market share that came close to a theological monopoly.”

According to Shepard, PTL collected $51 million in 1983. Adjusted for inflation, that would be $171,525,903 in 2026.

Building a kingdom on a foundation of sand

Bakker wasn't content with building a large religious TV network. During network telethons, Bakker cast a broader vision to build a Christian community with an amusement park and university.

Bakker explained in his book I Was Wrong: The Untold Story of the Shocking Journey from PTL Power to Prison and Beyond, “I felt that God birthed within me a vision to build what I called a twenty-first-century, total-living community modeled on the old-time camp meetings…”

The Fort Mill, South Carolina-based Heritage USA grew rapidly to become one of America’s largest amusement parks, but collapsed quickly after media disclosed Bakker’s hush-money payments to Jessica Hahn. Bakker’s vision for Heritage University is largely forgotten.

Matthew 7:27 could describe the fall of Heritage USA and PTL Network. “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

Bakker was charged with fraud for misrepresenting the sale of lifetime memberships which provided a stay at the amusement park hotel. Shepard reported, “Former PTL Vice President Steve Nelson alleged that Bakker had ordered him to keep two sets of lifetime partner tallies: one accurate count for Bakker, a second, lower tally for public display during telethons.”

However, Bakker later maintained that he did not commit fraud: “I made many mistakes, but I did not conspire to defraud anyone, and I am not guilty of any of the government charges.”

In his book I Was Wrong, Bakker recognized the sins of preaching the prosperity gospel and adultery with Hahn. “Foolish and sinful as it was, the sexual encounter for which we are both now infamous was completely consensual.”

The IRS revoked the tax exemption for the Bakkers’ ministry, concluding the amusement park generated unrelated business income subject to taxation.

After serving time in prison, Bakker acknowledged more of his folly, at least for a little while. In I Was Wrong, Bakker reveals that he read Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book Life Together and was shocked by Bonhoeffer’s words, “God hates visionary dreaming; it makes the dreamer proud and pretentious.”

In 1994, Bakker left a Jesup, Georgia, prison for a Salvation Army halfway house in Hendersonville, North Carolina. Trinity Foundation investigator Pete Evans performed dumpster diving to investigate Bakker’s planned comeback. Evans obtained letters showing that Jim’s daughter, Tammy Sue (not to be confused with Tammy Faye), operated a mailing list, soliciting donations from former PTL/Heritage USA donors.

Throughout the book I Was Wrong, Bakker appears to fake repentance. His actions speak more than his words. Years later, Bakker would begin pursuing a similar vision of Christian community at Morningside USA near Branson, Missouri, featuring a chapel, condos, RV park and TV studio.

The dangerous legacy

Bakker surrounded himself with yes-men when large media ministries like his need strong independent governance providing real accountability. Moreover, his ministry left a legacy of a me-first gospel. The Bakker family lived in extreme extravagance. The Bakker’s air-conditioned doghouse says it all.

An informant once told Trinity Foundation that Tammy Faye Bakker needed the ministry jet for a shopping trip to New York City.

The disturbing monopoly of prosperity preachers has led the church astray globally and the platforming of disgraced pastors has become commonplace.

Religious broadcasting can never replace small group discipleships for believers. The prosperity gospel will always distort and water down Christianity. It becomes all about what the individual can gain instead of about laying down our lives for others.

The humility of Christ is not found in the prosperity gospel. Its proponents take up a checkbook instead of picking up the cross.

This article was originally published at the Trinity Foundation