TV pastor Jim Bakker returns to his show for the first time since suffering a stroke
TV pastor Jim Bakker appeared on the national show he hosts with his wife for the first time Wednesday since suffering a stroke in May.
After the stroke, Bakker took what his wife, Lori Bakker, described as a sabbatical from “The Jim Bakker Show,” His wife continued to host the Branson, Mo.-based show in his absence.
“We’ve had a lot of laughs during this time, and a lot of tears .... and we’ll keep on keeping on during Jim’s recuperation,” Lori Bakker told viewers Wednesday.
Jay Bakker, Bakker’s son, described his father’s stroke as “minor” at the time.
Jim Bakker, 80, appeared on his show to announce a new Voice of the Prophets network that means “we can now be seen 24 hours a day,” Bakker told viewers.
“My goal is to come back now and then” onto his show, he said.
He pitched $1,000 donations toward construction of studios for the new network. Groundbreaking is scheduled this week, he said.
In a tweet Tuesday announcing Jim Bakker’s planned appearance, Lori Bakker and her co-hosts said Wednesday would be a “victory moment for both him and our ministry as we can see that Pastor Jim’s story isn’t over yet. We do continue to ask for prayers as he continues to recover.”
Bakker, sporting a trimmed white mustache and beard, spoke clearly and deliberately.
“I’m going to heaven,” he told viewers at the end of the broadcast. “No doubt about it. I’m going to be with Jesus one day, America. He loves you. He really does.”
Social media reaction overwhelmingly welcomed him back.
“THANK YOU LORD JESUS!!!” one person posted.
“We need your leadership in this world,” another said.
‘The PTL Club’
In the late ’80s, the televangelist went to federal prison for fraud, and his PTL empire near Charlotte crumbled amid sex and financial scandals.
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 tryst with Jessica Hahn, a young church secretary. 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 Jim 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 July 8, 2020 at 7:20 PM with the headline "TV pastor Jim Bakker returns to his show for the first time since suffering a stroke."