I grew up in North Carolina, about 80 miles north of Charlotte, so Jim and Tammy were very much a part of television when I was a kid. It was incredible to watch them go from a kids show and puppets on local, Charlotte TV to this global ministry. One day, I walked downstairs and my father was watching the PTL Club. He was quite religious, but this was something different for him. I remember saying that I meant no disrespect, but I was surprised he liked PTL. He said, "I don't. But it fascinates me. This man never recites scripture. He just asks for money, and people send it in. He never, ever quotes the Bible."
And JESUS went into where the money changers were and overturned the tables and said. Yeah you’ve turned my FATHERS house into a den of thieves. $$$$$$$$$. The root of ALL evil. Jim baker is at it again. JESUS said a fool will return to his folly like a dog will return to its vomit.
In 1987 the IRS came after me like a bloodhound because I didn’t pay taxes on a $2K profit sharing check. I thought my employer had taken the taxes out. Then IRS penalized me as well. Too busy with us peons to go after bald faced thieves!
The richer people can afford lawyers, and make it too hard for the IRS to get anything from them., so they go after people who can't afford to defend themselves. I used an online service that guarantees they're done right, and still was told my taxes were done wrong and had to pay another 2 grand, claiming I couldn't take a deduction I've been allowed every year before.
My Mom had a issue with the IRS about 20 years ago.My Dad had just passed away the month before and she went to H&R Block to do her taxes they informed her that she was receiving a refund of $22 K I told them that they had to have screwed up somewhere because nobody gets that kind of money back but they insisted that they were right.Told my Mom when we left that if the IRS would issue her a check for that much we would deposit it in the bank and wait because I knew that they would want it back sure enough 2 months after receiving it we got the letter.Block advertised that if they screwed up they would pay the penalties and interest after about a month of their playing games trying to avoid it I talked to their corporate headquarters and they made good on it thankfully.
What was "vulgar" in the lifestyle of Reverend Bakker? He served the Lord with all his body and soul and you find that "vulgar"!? How dare you?! How dare you! The Lord REWARDS those that he choses which is His way of showing grace. It is His way of showing EVERYONE else that He indeed exists and has never stopped loving us. Rev. Bakker was CHOSEN by the good Lord Almighty and whatever he earned was by God's good grace! DON'T YOU FORGET THAT! Bless you, Reverend Jimmy, bless you!
My wife and I used to watch the PTL Club back in the 80's and I remember the day that we received a 3 or 4 ft. fold out advertisement for Heritage USA. We were asked to "buy" in for only $1,000. That's when we decided that we were done with the PTL Club.
@user-kc7mu4jp4p No. What happens is that Jim told the all-loving-God that you didn't pay up and so your eternal soul gets a one-way ticket to hellfire.
"These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm-shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted-twice dead" BIBLE - Jude
People don't realize you can't buy God's favor, mercies, and blessings. You can't buy your way into heaven. I've heard pastors say straight out that if you don't tithe or giving offerings you are robbing God.
I posted this as a sort of warning to those who may put their faith in a mere mortal man instead of God. I hope all of my faithful supporters here find this video useful. God Bless.
@@bonniebrindle8335 right i looked up benny hinn after watching this and he's still doing this after being exposed im like how I grew up watching my grandmother sent this guy money I was cussed out at 12 years old for calling him a fake
I've been in the ministry for decades. A pastor I worked under when I was young told me, "99.9% of preachers can't keep their pants zipped up or their hand out of the collection plate!" I always remembered that.
If anyone's interested, there's a very good book "PTL: The Rise and Fall of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker's Evangelical Empire " by John Wigger. It was written in 2017, and it goes into a lot of detail about how things blew up so badly at PTL, including the stuff that's come out since 1988 (which is when this episode of Frontline aired).
I've read that. Also Anatomy of a Fraud by Gary Tidwell. That outlines the utter financial scummery that went on. The bonuses, how little money actually went into the hotels and things. It's staggering how much was wasted on their greed.
Back in 1977 as a student I shared a house with 4 other university students. And our 'must watch nightly entertainment' was PTL. It was a never ending source of laughter, and none of us were surprised years later when it all unravelled.
Nobody told them they were all false,it was like the first version of the liars club after that they called it politics been bull crap ever since just a bunch of grifters and child molesters!
Glad you like a fictional book, but it is just that - fiction. If you want to believe it’s true, you can continue your delusions. But quit trying to legislate your belief in fiction and force the rest of us to live like you.
To be berated by Jim Bakker and other similar Fundamentals and to hand over contributions to atone for being sinful is strange. GOD wants the sinner to repent and ask for forgiveness and right the wrongs make amends. not money. Being "Born Again"?. If I remember correctly, in the Bible, "no one can face GOD unless he is born again". I was born when I emerge as a baby from my mother's womb. And to me, to be born again is when I die physically, that is when my spirit/soul separates from my body.
@@yourroyalhighness7662 seen on a printed T-shirt: never underestimated the power of a mob in large numbers. The gathering of a large crowd, do instill timidity and it is wiser to stay silent if you do not agree. Better, get out and quit.
Well it doesn't surprise me, especially as I remember Jim Jones and the People's Temple, David Koresh and The Branch Davidians, and The Heaven's Gate cult. People not only give over their money, other assets, as well as their bodies (for the perverted sexual pleasure of the cults' leaders), they ultimately gave their very lives by commiting suicide at the behest of their fruitcake leaders. So I am not surprised that people idolized and gave over their money to charlatans like Jim and Tammy Faye, whose opulent lifestyle was financed by people, most whom were people who could least afford to be giving money to these religious frauds!!
never understood why people like jim and tammy go down, but then you have people like copeland and hinn who destroy just as many lives and nothing happens to them. i always firmly believe jim and tammy just got to greedy and forgot (or refused) to pay off the right people.
Tell you something I do believe you've missed here. Every single one of us, regular people and pastors all will stand before the throne of God at the Great White Throne Judgment. God knows ALL, everything we say, think, and do -- including what's in our hearts. We will be judged and either let into heaven or sent to hell.
@@KathrynDare-e3y Jn.3:18 He who believes is not condemned, but he who does not believe I'd condemned already because he does not believe in the name in the only begotten Son of God.
I remember watching praise the Lord in syndication here in California on KTVU channel 2 before I would go to school. My grandma always knew that Jim and Tammy Faye bakker was phonies. She would always say, look at them tears in Tammy Faye‘s eyes. Those are some fake tears she would say. She says she has a beautiful voice but she’s a phony. but on the flipside, she loved Jimmy Swaggart. We would watch him twice on Sundays. Fast forward to the 1990s. She used to love Robert Tilton. Until she seen that he was a fraud. she used to have binders or a binder of all of his tapes and sermons. But she threw it out.
"Tammy Faye Messner, former wife of televangelist Jim Bakker, has died. Messner, who was 65, had been battling cancer since 1996, when she was first diagnosed with colon cancer.Jul 21, 2007"
I'm a Christian and I truly believe that Kenneth Copeland is possessed by a demon. Dude gives me the creeps. Like he's vampire wearing a human skin suit.
The way these 2 used to cry on tv and Tammys perfectly placed thick makeup sliding down her face even as a kid I would think to myself " what a buncha crap !!! " 😳😳😳😳
I knew a woman that would "reverse Bakker"..she would never send them money and saw right thru their scam but would often call the PTL resources line that would in turn put you in touch with a local church that backed Jim and Tammy...she would get donations made to her for various reasons, like light bill or rent...many times "church ladies" would come to her house,pray with her and then take her grocery shopping ...all free and she'd just smile and say she was making the Bakkers honest :-)
Ill never forget coming in from work, turning the tv on and they were on. I was too tired to change the channel so i watched for a while. I had to cut it off when tammy said send more money, i need more jewels and laughed while people clapped. It made me sick.
Let this be a life lesson, even though the majority of people in the USA weren’t even born yet when this happened. When the focus of ministry becomes money, material gain, popularity, or entertainment, turn off the tv, the radio, the cell phone, get in your car and return home. Go into your prayer closet with a light and your Bible. Don’t come out until God has straightened out your head and your heart.
Not for me to judge other peoples conduct, but lets open our eyes. The average man can spot crooks easily. Because we acfually have to work for an honest livung ..
You say that as if it wasn’t still happening 😂 what about that Joker looking Joyce Meyers or that satanic Kennith Copeland? That guy is the demon incarnate.
I lived just a few miles from Heritage USA and i had a schoolmate who invited me to go with him to see it. Me nor my family were into PTL at all and this was around 1977/1978 when I went when it wasnt developed fully yet, i just remembered how incredibly nice and kind everyone was to me and everyone else. It is a shame that the Bakkers got so greedy.
I first saw the Bakkers on television when I was a teenager living in South Florida. I was struck at how homely Jim and Tammy were in their physical appearance and wondered if that might be part of their appeal. The studio audience was overwhelmingly caucasian and middle-aged to elderly. They reminded me of sheep being lead to slaughter and they were blissfully unaware of this fact. Tammy is deceased now but Jim has remarried and is once again on tv. His studio audience is still almost universally white and middle-aged to infirm. History really does repeat itself. Watching Bakker on tv sends chills up my spine and that is NOT a good thing.
Jim thought of himself as a really good looking guy. On his show that still airs today, you can tell he’s had multiple face lifts, etc. He thought he was quite a sex symbol.
I watched the PTL show sometimes just for its strangeness, it was weird. I remember the little handicapped boy and the house they said they built for him, but one look at the house and you knew it was a fraud, the house was overly opulent and clearly not for a handicapped child.
I told my aunt Jim Bakker was gonna fall!!! She said " well I don't send him money" I said " Ur STILL supportin' him by watchin' im then she slapped me!!!
My dad used to watch PTL because he thought it was the funniest show on tv. But he also truly liked Tammy Fay's singing. I guess there's no accounting for taste.
Closer to God's runway.. plus, too many people overlook or dismiss the value of our older generations. Many are relegated to watching TV for comfort and will give $ to feel valued.
We played the PTL club shows on TV back in the late 1970's. We would get a months worth of shows every month to air from video tape. One day, I was watching from the control room Bakker said on that show that he was going broke, etc, and needed help, fast, or the show would be gone. I remember laughing, because we had at least 25 days of shows on the shelf yet to air.
I just watched Tammy Faye Bakker's story on netflix. They lived a very lavish lifestyle. At any time, they could have sold a few of their homes. It is unfortunate that they got caught up in the almighty dollar. I think they both were called to serve, but they started fulfilling their worldly desires.
"It's not for me to judge" is the biggest copout in Christianity It IS for each person to judge-to see, hear, and think for ourselves, and to seek the truth. This is not judgment but discernment, one of the spiritual gifts God has given us so that we would not be deceived. "“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves." Matthew 10:16
I remember when I was in my early twenties, I had 3 small children- we had barely enough money to live on.. but I gave The Bakers money every month.. these days, I am philosophical about my “ gifts of money” to them for all those years ; I try not to think that I was paying for Jim Bakers’ new cars or his cinnamon rolls that he had delivered each morning to his office because he liked the smell ( true story) as one can become bitter- but God knew my heart of giving and blessed me accordingly. Today, I am an educated doctor and pay money to many charities and organizations .. There are board of directors and other accountability entities that watch over my donations. God blesses me for my kind heart accordingly now as well.
You just admitted it. You try not to think about paying for Bakkers lavish lifestyle……but you did infact pay for their life style. You have been gifted because of the effort you put in. Not because you paid for this charlatans mansions, cars, life style.
Praise God how He has blessed you. I give tithes and offerings to the LORD. Above that I have tried to support ministries (there are many good ones!) and bless people financially or help people in need. A couple of times people I helped financially misrepresented themselves (a.k.a. lied about their "needs") but I have learned from those mistakes and choose to forgive. I try to listen to the Holy Spirit more and give to those with a genuine need. ❤ The Lord saw your heart. God bless you. 🛐
Bless God!! He is amazing .. Way I look at it and feel if you worry more what someone is going to do with the money you give then don’t give it. Your heart isn’t in the right place. Yet you give it with good intentions from your heart you done the right thing and what they chose to do with the money they will have to answer for. God always makes sure you get it back too in some way. Your heart was in right place and God made sure you got it back 3 fold . Look what happened to them ? They scammed a lot of people and it’s sad. That’s not what a true Christian would do.
You had 3 young kids,no money but still gave these people money every month, shame on you. You became a doctor where were your brains earlier, charity begins at home. Now you donate to charities but these charities still have overheads true charity is to help people who need it, give your time and finances to people you meet in the streets by buying them a meal so that they can survive boards of directors get paid a lot more than you do, so where exactly does your percentage of donations go to I’ll bet it’s 70% to overheads and 30% to recipients
I remember when this scandal come out in the late 80s, I was in sixth grade and my mom and her friend who were massive PTL fans were absolutely devastated. My mom‘s friend cried uncontrollably for days.
I will be 53 this July...and I remember the heyday of Evangelical TV....long before Cable TV there was Jimmy Swaggart, Robert Schuller, Rex Humbard, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Hal Lindsey, Jack Van Impe, etc etc.....
He was just as involved with this business as they were. Jim and Tammy were just easy to pin it all on. Not saying jim bakker is innocent, but I do think Falwell was too and pretended to be above it
Sure he does, remember his spawn, wife and the pool boy. Jerry Sr. was just a greedy mofo and was quite successful. Just another in the long line for for profit TV preachers.
My parents watched Oral Roberts religiously. My dad would put his hands on my mom's head and yell "Walk!" She'd pretend to take some halting steps, and he'd yell, "It's a miracle!" Once I remember he put his hands on the dog, and when it walked, they screamed, "It's a miracle!" It was so obnvious to them that it was staged - which, of course, it was.
I have to say that oral roberts was instrumental in my walking again. I was very young, born with crooked legs and couldn't walk. Oral roberts was a mainstay on TV then. Drs could not help me, braces didn't help. Finally it was decided I would have to go to a hospital in Memphis, my legs broken, set in cases from ties to hips and hope that worked. My parents wrote to oral riberts about it. Oddly enough, a few days before we were set to leave, oral read the letter my folks had written to him. He prayed and said a miracle would happen. The day before we were scheduled to leave , I had been taking a nap. I never could walk so I had to wait til someone got me up. This day, I crawled off the bed and ran into the kitchen. My folks were amazed and just sat down and cried. That truly happened.
@@teresajeffries3934 I'm certainly no Christian Scientist, but don't discount the power of the mind in such situations. Anyway, whatever it was, I'm glad it worked for you.
@steveweinstein3222 so you are insinuating it didn't happen? Hiw do you explain my being crippled, then suddenly able to walk with straight legs? Roberts didn't lay hands on me, but he prayed, my folks prayed. How do you explain it? Are you insinuating my legs weren't crooked and they just decided I could walk and so I did???? How insulting.🤬🤬🤬
Twenty years ago (it's 2024 as I write this), while visiting the Charlotte, NC area, I went on a bicycle ride and witnessed one of the most unusual sights I have ever encountered. I had come upon a large complex with multiple buildings including a conference center, a large dormitory-like building, recreation facilities, and a large tract for RVs, among other things. The vast parking area had fallen into disuse and was fissured with cracks with weeds growing within. What made it so usual: I was the only human present. It seemed like a scene from The Twilight Zone (this dates me, I realize). It later occurred to me that this was Jim and Tammy Faye's Heritage Park. As I understand it, very little evidence of the Park remains. What a colossal waste.
Actually, for the past 15 years, it's been used by Morningstar Ministries with Rick Joyner. They still get hundreds of people every week. Visitors book the hotel rooms, the services are held in the big lobby. The little indoor street that is attached has the church bookstore. I did visit it 15 years ago, I really enjoyed how they revamped the property for the new church.
Right after the fall of Jim & Tammy Faye my uncle boarded a plane he seen only one seat next to what he thought was a hobo. He went set down beside him. He got up to go to the restroom. The Stewart was a friend of his she came over do you know who he is. My uncle said no. That's James Baker. When he came back from the restroom he realized it was him. He was trying to disguise himself he set there with his hat over his head hiding his face never looked up. He had never seen such a broken man in his life. He had mixed emotions about that day. He never spoke to him. 😮
I would have talked Bible to him. God knew who was in that seat. What a missed opportunity. As the Bible says " your sin will find you out." Sad ending. We never fall alone.
That is true. They will be judged before God's throne. Added to that, if you are a pastor you are held to a higher countability than your congregation.
from Encyclopedia Britannica ; " In October 1989 he (Jim Bakker) was convicted on all 24 counts, having bilked followers out of $158 million, and sentenced to 45 years in prison. His sentence was later reduced by an appellate judge to 8 years, and Bakker was released on parole in 1994 after having served less than 5 years" .Jan 1, 2024
The #1 question everyone fails to ask when consuming so called "Christian" content is; is this man centered or CHRIST centered? If people would ask that question along with reading their Bible then maybe they wouldn't get duped by these false teachers. Remember man centered teaching focuses on satisfying the flesh while CHRIST centered teaching feeds the soul. The body will die but the soul lives on forever, so which do you think is more important to feed?
I agree 100% , that is the question people need to ask. People like them exploiting God to satisfy greed and personal indulgences. He was an ego maniac who exploited religion for his pockets. SMH
I went to my neighbors house he was watching Jim & Tammy Bakker, He was putting his hands up in the air, I thought he was watching Saturday Night Live! Back in the 1980,s I thought Tammy looked like a drag queen!
I think it’s tied in with mental illness too at times. My MIL is very mentally ill as is runs in her family and she’s always clinging to her religious channels and letting people know she’s “praying”. That’s all fine if she wasn’t so passive aggressive every time I am forced to talk to. If I ignore her? I am disrespectful. 😂
It’s sad how cruel people can be, to rob people using their religious beliefs is particularly savage. I think the Republican Party has been doing it for years.
Do good to all men, especially to those who are of the household of the faith. First, take care of the truly needy within your congregation. Then, take care of the unbelieving, while sharing the good news of Jesus Christ.
Bakker is rolling again, selling bunker food in buckets that you can poop in when you're done eating the contents. Old grifters never die, it seems. They just sell poop buckets.
@@lowanadrurey3105 I watched it in real time😂😂 There is one with Bernadette Peters that was made for tv. It was pretty unforgettable. Hopefully this one is good
These people obviously think that lying and duping are not sins - taking money in duplicitous circumstances - they are laughing all the way to the bank
"Elmer Gantry" was a superb novel, and later a superb film with Burt Lancaster. Hormonal drives are especially difficult to master, and Bakker's downfall with a pretty girl can hardly be shown as a lethal weakness of Christianity. Just because we are saved does not render us pure as the driven snow. What bothered me most about Bakker, and all the other big names, is that it becomes showmanship and portrays a vision of life that is not real.
Aimee Simple McPherson's mansion in Lake Elsinore is absolutely stunning. Done in the Moorish style of architecture, when it's opened to the public for tours (which is very rarely), it's a complete sell out. Now tell me she didn't take a piece of the pie!
People get so lost in their imagination and delusion they'll let anything go on and just stand there and smile. Then go on to say it's not for them to judge and God will take care of it...and then nothing gets done. These are the truly lost souls that will ultimately see salvation and the promised land behind a mushroom cloud.
Knowing all we know now, I truly believe she was a genuine Christian woman. She may have lost her way a little, but Tammy had the love of God in her heart, you could tell.
They do not have the production/show value or entertainment that the Bakkers had then. They're basically just sitting at a desk with bookshelevs behind them now.......
If yo even in today's dollars Jim Baker's neck work would just be a plink in the bucket compared to Kenneth Copeland's net worth I just looked it up a couple of hours ago and he is worth at least $300 million I mean
I remember when PTL was on when i was younger..i think i watched it for 10 minutes then switched channels quickly..even as a kid i felt something was wrong..as it played out i was right
Don't base your life on criminals and fakes. Check out an Orthodox monastery. It's The Church Christ left and is coming back from. Or channel, Gregory Decapolite, definitely no Jim vibe.
I thought it (the piano player) was EXACTLY like the entire PTL cult of personalities! WAY, WAY OVER THE TOP! All of the flourishes don't add a thing to what is supposed to be the message! Much like frosting covering up the mistakes and blemishes of a cake! The more the frosting, the bigger the mess it is covering up and hiding! Inch thick frosting is great symbolism for PTL's approach to religion! And people just ate it all up, didn't they? Despite being warned it wasn't good for them!
I remember that George Harrison said it best in his song "Brainwashed." Not only religion, but also the media and all other things would brainwash a person.
My brother and I were on that show in 1972. They were friendly on the TV but not on the set. We found out a lot about those two that day, and we never watched their show after that.
My friend very intelligent mafia aligned quickly rebuked me when I implied Jim Bakker might be godly ! As I thought on it and more revealed it's amazing how stupid and blind I and others can be!
It’s sad when people cross over from respect and fondness for an evangelist to practical worship of them. A cult of personality is a very dangerous thing.
As P.T. Barnum supposedly said: "There's a sucker born every minute." This was Jim Baker's real creed. He entered the preacher career knowing that salvation sells. He was comparable to the Catholic church in the 1500s when Martin Luther pointed out that the church was selling pardons for sins..
