Jim Bakker, Televangelist and PTL Host, Dies at 86

Jim Bakker, the televangelist who built a Christian empire and then lost it in a scandal, died Monday evening in Branson, Missouri. TMZ reports he was in hospice care under Compassus Hospice at the time. The Stone County Coroner, John Cunnyngham, confirmed to the outlet that Bakker was under a doctor's immediate care. The cause of death hasn't been released.

His wife, Lori Bakker, announced his death on Instagram earlier that day. She said he spent 66 years preaching the Gospel and stayed committed to his ministry until the end. Funeral arrangements have not been announced, and his body will go to Stumpff Funeral Home in Kimberling City, Missouri.

Bakker's fame came in the 1970s with "The PTL Club," a Christian TV show he cohosted with then-wife Tammy Faye Bakker. They also founded Heritage USA, a Christian theme park in South Carolina. But their empire crumbled in the late 1980s amid a sex and money scandal involving Jessica Hahn. Bakker was convicted of conspiracy and fraud for misusing ministry funds and selling fake lifetime memberships to an uncompleted hotel. He got 45 years in prison but served about five.

While he was incarcerated, Tammy Faye filed for divorce, and it was finalized in 1992. She was never charged and later married Roe Messner. After his parole in 1994, Jim married Lori and returned to TV preaching, restarting PTL and founding the Morningside Church in Blue Eye, Missouri. He was 86.

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• Jim Bakker
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• Tammy Faye Bakker
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