BRANSON, United States — Jim Bakker, the American televangelist who built one of the most prominent Christian broadcasting empires of the 1980s before a sex scandal and criminal fraud case brought it down, has died. He was 86.
His wife, Lori Bakker, announced his death in an Instagram post from The Jim Bakker Show on Monday evening. A cause of death was not immediately disclosed.
“Jim finished his race with faith,” she wrote, adding: “Our family is grieving and we ask for your prayers and privacy during this time.”
His death on Monday, October 5, 2026, closed a television career that spanned more than six decades and encompassed extraordinary success, public disgrace, imprisonment, and an eventual return to religious broadcasting.
From Travelling Evangelists to Television Stars
Bakker was born in Muskegon, Michigan, and attended North Central Bible College in Minneapolis, where he met Tammy Faye LaValley, later known as Tammy Faye Bakker and, after their marriage ended, Tammy Faye Messner.
They married in 1961, left college, and became travelling evangelists. Bakker preached while his wife sang and played the accordion at churches and revival meetings.
Their entry into television came through Pat Robertson’s fledgling Christian Broadcasting Network, where they developed a children’s religious programme in the 1960s.
Bakker later became a host of The 700 Club before leaving Robertson’s organisation.
In 1974, Bakker established the PTL Satellite Network.
Its signature programme, The PTL Club, became a national showcase for evangelical Christianity, combining interviews, music, appeals for donations, and an informal presentation that distinguished it from more traditional televised preaching.
PTL was short for “Praise the Lord”.
By the mid-1980s, the Bakkers had expanded the ministry far beyond a television studio. Their operations included Heritage USA, a sprawling Christian resort and theme park in Fort Mill, South Carolina.
At its height, The PTL Club reached audiences numbering in the millions.
Reuters reported that the ministry drew as many as 13 million viewers on 200 television stations and generated about $129 million a year.
Messner became nearly as recognisable as her husband, known for her singing, emotional on-air appearances, and distinctive heavy eye makeup.
The couple became major figures in American popular culture as well as evangelical broadcasting.
A Scandal Brings Down the PTL Empire
The enterprise began to unravel publicly in 1987.
Bakker acknowledged a sexual encounter with Jessica Hahn, who had worked as a church secretary. Money connected to the ministry was subsequently used in payments intended to secure her silence.
Hahn later alleged that the encounter was not consensual.
Bakker maintained that it was.
Bakker resigned from PTL as the scandal widened, handing control of the ministry to the Rev. Jerry Falwell.
The controversy was followed by scrutiny of PTL’s finances and the fundraising methods used to finance Heritage USA.
Federal prosecutors accused Bakker of selling supporters so-called lifetime partnerships that promised annual stays at the resort even though the ministry did not have the accommodation necessary to fulfil all of those commitments.
He was indicted in 1988 on federal mail fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy charges.
After a federal trial in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1989, Bakker was convicted on all 24 counts against him.
Prosecutors said followers had been defrauded through the sale of the Heritage USA packages.
He was initially sentenced to 45 years in prison.
That sentence was later reduced, and he was released on parole in 1994 after serving about four and a half years.
At his sentencing, Bakker said: “I have sinned. I have made mistakes. But never in my life did I intend to defraud anyone.”
Messner was not charged in the fraud case.
She divorced Bakker in 1992 while he was still imprisoned and later married Roe Messner.
She died of cancer in 2007.
A Second Career in Christian Television
After leaving prison, Bakker sought to rebuild his life and ministry.
He publicly distanced himself from the prosperity gospel that had been associated with his earlier preaching and published a book titled I Was Wrong.
Bakker married Lori Beth Graham in 1998.
The couple later returned to religious broadcasting, launching The Jim Bakker Show in 2003.
They eventually based their programme at Morningside, a development near Branson, Missouri, where Bakker again hosted religious guests and appealed to viewers for financial support.
His later programmes increasingly featured discussions of biblical prophecy, political events, emergency preparedness, and products marketed to viewers.
His second television career produced further controversy.
During the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Bakker promoted a product called Silver Solution while a guest on his programme suggested it could eliminate strains of coronavirus.
Missouri authorities sued Bakker and Morningside Church Productions, accusing them of falsely marketing the product as a treatment for Covid-19.
The case was settled in 2021.
Under the agreement, Bakker and the ministry were required to provide $156,000 in restitution to consumers who had paid for or contributed money to obtain the product.
Bakker had also suffered a stroke in 2020, which temporarily kept him away from broadcasting. He later returned to the programme.
A Life Closely Tied to American Televangelism
Bakker’s rise coincided with a period in which television transformed the reach and finances of American evangelical ministries.
He and Messner were among the best-known religious broadcasters of that era, turning the intimacy of a television talk show into a fundraising operation capable of financing a national network and a vast resort complex.
The collapse of PTL, Bakker’s trial, and his imprisonment made him an equally prominent symbol of the scandals surrounding some television ministries during the 1980s.
His life later returned to popular culture through The Eyes of Tammy Faye, a film about the couple and their ministry. Jessica Chastain won the Academy Award for best actress for her portrayal of Messner, while Andrew Garfield played Bakker.
Bakker and Messner had two children, Jay Bakker and Tammy Sue Bakker-Chapman. Bakker and his second wife later adopted five children.
In announcing his death, Lori Bakker described his six decades in ministry and asked supporters to allow the family privacy.
The cause and circumstances of Bakker’s death had not been made public.
