TV pastor Jim Bakker suffers stroke, wife and son confirm. ‘Jim will be back!’
TV pastor Jim Bakker suffered a stroke recently and has taken a break from his show to recuperate, his wife, Lori Bakker, confirmed on Friday.
Bakker’s son, Jay Bakker, described the stroke as “minor” later Friday.
The 80-year-old televangelist, who went to federal prison for fraud and whose PTL empire near Charlotte crumbled amid sex and financial scandals in the late ‘80s, hosts “The Jim Bakker Show” with his wife.
“We are thankful that Jim is okay, and that he is now at home with our family,” Lori Bakker posted on the show’s Facebook page.
“Under the guidance of medical professionals and our Board of Directors, Jim will be taking a sabbatical from the show,” Lori Bakker said. “Jim will be back! He is still dreaming and hearing from the Lord, and he already has a powerful word to deliver when he returns to the air.”
She did not say when Bakker suffered the stroke. She asked for prayers for her husband and for the couple’s ministry.
Bakker’s son posted: “Your thoughts are appreciated.”
“I know some of you struggle with humanizing my father, but he is also a good grandpa and my dad,” Jay Bakker, pastor of Revolution Church in Minneapolis, said in his post. “We have a complicated relationship like a lot of folks ... His life has influenced mine, as well as my work.”
At times, Jim Bakker has warned viewers that the end of the world is imminent and he sells freeze-dried foods, along with other goods and books, on his show’s website.
On a recent show, one of Bakker’s guests said a product being sold — Silver Solution — had been tested on older strains of the coronavirus and found to “eliminate it within 12 hours,” according to a cease and desist letter sent to Bakker on March 3 from New York’s Attorney General’s Office.
The controversy prompted AT&T to ask seven channels airing on its DirecTV platform to consider dropping the show, STLNewsMissouri.com reported.
One of the channels, World Harvest Television, is no longer carrying Bakker’s show, a spokeswoman told the Observer on Friday, declining further comment. WHT carries Christian programming.
Referring to criticism the Bakkers received for selling the product, Lori Bakker said on Facebook Friday: “As a family and staff, we continue to fight the good fight of faith and take a stand against the evil forces and hatred that has come against our ministry. In Jim’s words, this has been the most vicious attack that he has ever experienced.”
She blamed her husband’s stroke on his tireless efforts with their show, based in Branson, Mo.
“For many years now, Jim has been working non-stop, working hard to bring incredible prophets and guests to our show, discovering and developing new products to share, building at Morningside, and bringing forth the message for the days that we are living in,” Lori Bakker posted.
“All of these projects, and the vigorous warfare that we have experienced in the last several weeks, have taken a huge toll on Jim’s health,” she said.
‘The PTL Club’
Bakker and then-wife Tammy Faye Bakker rose to fame on “The PTL Club” television show they hosted in the 1970s and ‘80s. They also built a Christian theme park, called Heritage USA, in Fort Mill, S.C., which attracted millions of people each year.
Their ministry fell apart in 1987, amid revelations of hush money being paid after Jim Bakker had a 15-minute tryst with young church secretary Jessica Hahn. PTL-related fraud later put Jim Bakker in federal prison for nearly five years. Tammy Faye died in 2007.
In February 2018, Jim and Lori Bakker visited Charlotte to pay their respects to Billy Graham, who both was a spiritual adviser to U.S. presidents and visited Bakker when he was in federal prison.
A tearful Bakker told reporters at the Billy Graham Library that Graham was the greatest preacher since Christ, Observer news partner WBTV reported at the time.
This story was originally published May 8, 2020 at 12:36 PM.