\n \u201cFor 66 years, Jim gave his life to preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He was a pioneer of Christian television, but to me, he was my husband, my best friend, and the man I was honored to walk beside through so many seasons of life and ministry,\u201d she wrote in her statement.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cJim loved people deeply. He loved this ministry, and he loved the friends and partners who stood with him throughout the years,\u201d she wrote. \u201cEven in his final days, his heart was still for the work of God and for the Gospel to continue reaching the world.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n The statement did not include a cause of death or details about the circumstances.\n <\/p>\n
\n During his rise to fame, Bakker and his then-wife, the late Tammy Faye Messner, ran the evangelistic empire \u201cPraise the Lord,\u201d or PTL \u2013 and eventually their own theme park \u2013 from suburban Charlotte, North Carolina, for some 15 years.\n <\/p>\n
\n The couple hosted \u201cThe PTL Club,\u201d one of the best-known Christian TV programs of its time. Messner, who divorced Bakker in the \u201890s and later remarried, died in 2007<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Bakker resigned from the PTL ministry in 1987 amid a financial and sex scandal<\/a> involving a secretary, Jessica Hahn, who he had paid to keep quiet.\n <\/p>\n \n Two years later, Bakker was charged with fraud and sentenced to 45 years in prison, though he served just under five<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI wanted people to believe in my dream, and my dream became more important than the people,\u201d Bakker told CNN\u2019s Larry King in 2000<\/a>. \u201cWhen the dream of Christian community becomes more important than the community, that\u2019s when it\u2019s a sin.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Jim and Tammy Faye met at North Central Bible College in Minneapolis, she told CNN in a 2003 interview<\/a>. They married in 1961.\n <\/p>\n \n Their path to TV fame started with puppet shows at a church<\/a>. Televangelist Pat Robertson,<\/a> who had a fledgling TV station in Portsmouth, Virginia, asked Bakker to bring the show to television<\/a>. Bakker agreed, under the condition that they could eventually launch a \u201cTonight\u201d show style program for Christians, Messner told CNN.\n <\/p>\n \n From 1966 to 1973<\/a>, the Bakkers hosted \u201c700 Club,\u201d which was syndicated across the nation.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt just snowballed on us,\u201d Tammy Faye said<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n After about eight years at Robertson\u2019s Christian Broadcasting Network, the Bakkers parted ways with the network. The move, Tammy Faye said, came after Robertson started reducing the number of nights for their show.\n <\/p>\n \n In 1974, they moved to Charlotte to start the Inspiration Network and \u201cThe PTL Club.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Four years later, the Heritage USA theme park opened at the network\u2019s headquarters across the state line in Fort Mill, South Carolina. The Heritage USA Grand Hotel was added in 1984, with a water park joining the complex in 1986. That year, more than 6 million people visited the park<\/a>, making it the nation\u2019s third most popular attraction after Walt Disney World and Disneyland.\n <\/p>\n \n At its peak<\/a>, PTL was bringing in more than $128 million annually and was carried on 1,300 cable systems with 12 million subscribers.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cAs I look back, you know, I had a tiger by the tail,\u201d Bakker told CNN\u2019s Larry King in 2000<\/a>. \u201cThe budgets kept getting bigger and bigger, and it got to the point where it was either, you know, raise the money or go broke. And so, you kept raising the money.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Jim and Tammy Faye brought a casual and conversational style to their show, similar to daytime talk shows today \u2013 but with a Christian focus.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWelcome back to our home,\u201d Jim Bakker said at the start of one 1981 episode<\/a>, which opened with the couple sitting in a group with a view of Lake Wylie behind them. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to see you. It\u2019s nice to see you, Tammy Faye.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt\u2019s nice to see you, Jim,\u201d said Tammy Faye.\n <\/p>\n \n But off camera, a scandal was growing, and on March 19, 1987, Jim Bakker resigned from PTL<\/a> after paying a secretary, Jessica Hahn, to keep quiet about his affair with her. Hahn received a one-time $115,000 payment and monthly interest payments from a $150,000 trust fund.\n <\/p>\n \n The following month, PTL filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Also in 1987, Tammy Faye Bakker, whose heavy mascara became her trademark, was treated at the Betty Ford Center<\/a> for prescription drug addiction.\n <\/p>\n \n In December 1988, Jim Bakker was indicted for fraud<\/a> and conspiring to defraud churchgoers of $158 million. Tammy Faye Bakker was not named in the indictment.\n <\/p>\n \n In 1989<\/a>, Heritage USA and the Grand Hotel closed, and Jim Bakker was convicted of 24 counts of fraud and conspiracy and sentenced to 45 years in prison.\n <\/p>\n \n Bakker told CNN in an interview that his affair with Hahn was a mistake.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cGod\u2019s forgiveness is the only thing. And, you know, I take full responsibility for the adultery. It was my fault,\u201d Bakker said<\/a>. \u201cAnd, you know, no matter what went on, the man has to take responsibility, and I do.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n After more than 30 years of marriage, Tammy Faye Bakker divorced Jim while he was in prison, marrying Christian construction magnate and former PTL contractor Roe Messner in 1993.\u202fShe died at 65 of inoperable cancer<\/a> that had spread to her lungs.\n <\/p>\n \n They later became the subject of both the big screen and documentary lens.\n <\/p>\n \n Jessica Chastain and Andrew Garfield\u202fportrayed the couple in \u201cThe Eyes of Tammy Faye<\/a>\u201d in 2021 \u2013- beginning in 1960 and following them into the \u201890s \u2013 adopted from a 2000 documentary of the same name.\n <\/p>\n \n Jim Bakker was paroled in December 1994<\/a>. Four years later, Bakker met Lori Graham while working in the inner-city ministry of the Dream Center of Los Angeles, according to his official bio.<\/a> They married that same year.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI\u2019m put back together by my faith in Jesus Christ,\u201d Bakker told CNN in the 2000 interview<\/a>. \u201cHe forgives everyone. And if I don\u2019t receive his forgiveness, how can I teach anyone else that God will forgive them?\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n He returned to TV in the 2000s with \u201cThe Jim Bakker Show,\u201d<\/a> this time filmed from Branson, Missouri, with Lori as cohost.\n <\/p>\n \n Bakker faced controversy again in early 2020.\n <\/p>\n \n On a February 2020 episode of his show, Bakker and a guest discussed a product, \u201cSilver Solution,\u201d that they claimed could eliminate the coronavirus<\/a> from the body within hours -\u2013 well before vaccines or any approved treatments.\n <\/p>\n \n The Missouri attorney general sued Bakker and his production company for misrepresenting \u201cSilver Solution\u201d as a coronavirus cure.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cAnyone who has bought \u2018Silver Solution\u2019 from \u2018The Jim Bakker Show\u2019 should know that it cannot cure or treat coronavirus,\u201d the Missouri Attorney General\u2019s office announced in a statement<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n![\"Jim](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/gettyimages-2285230385.jpg\")
<\/p>\n