Jim Bakker, Famed and Controversial ‘PTL Club’ Televangelist, Dies at 86

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Infamous televangelist and host of the television show, “Praise The Lord,” passed away on Monday at the age of 86.

Bakker’s second wife, Lori Bakker, announced the news of his death on Facebook Monday night.

“For 66 years, Jim gave his life to preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” Lori Bakker stated. "He was a pioneer of Christian television, but to me, he was my husband, my best friend, and the man I was honored to walk beside through so many seasons of life and ministry.”

“Jim loved people deeply. He loved this ministry, and he loved the friends and partners who stood with him throughout the years. Even in his final days, his heart was still for the work of God and for the Gospel to continue reaching the world.”

Bakker’s son, Jay Bakker, also a pastor, shared on Facebook that he and the famed televangelist “had a very complicated relationship" but that "he was also my father and a grandfather and I need to mourn in my own time.”

“I need the freedom to feel anger and feel loss and not have other people add their two cents please respect this time for me and my family. I have turned off all my notifications and all my social media,” Jay Bakker wrote. “Please do not link me to anything or send me anything about him [at] this time. I just need some time to let this settle in and make what peace I can. Thank you for understanding.”

Franklin Graham, CEO of Samaritan's Purse, commented on Bakker's death, stating that he was "saddened" upon learning of his death, and went on to call him "a friend."

"I was saddened to hear today that Jim Bakker had passed away," Graham wrote. "Jim was responsible for giving Samaritan's Purse our first major television exposure, and I will be forever grateful for his support and help."

Graham also added, "Jim was a friend, and he will be missed. My prayers are with his family."

Additionally, Joel Richardson, who describes himself as a New York Times bestselling author and a Bible teacher, took to X/Twitter to post his thoughts following Bakker's passing.

"Very sad to learn that my friend Jim Bakker passed," he wrote. "Praying for his beautiful family."

Bakker, who was born on Jan. 2, 1940, in Muskegon, Mich., U.S, was a prominent televangelist in the 1970s and 1980s as he and his first wife, Tammy Faye, hosted the television program “The PTL Club,” which was shorthand for “Praise the Lord.”

He also opened Heritage USA, a 2,300-acre Christian theme park and hotel resort in Fort Mill, S.C., in the 1970, which reportedly drew millions of visitors a year at one point. 

Bakker was no stranger to controversy, as he was a major proponent of the prosperity gospel and was involved in several financial and sex scandals, which ultimately resulted in his arrest in 1988. Bakker spent years in prison, from 1989 to 1994, The Christian Post reported. 

Following his stint in prison, he later wrote about his downfall in the book titled "I Was Wrong."

Bakker also divorced Faye in 1992 and married Lori Beth Graham, an ordained minister in the Assemblies of God, in Sept. 1998, after meeting her earlier that year. Together, they launched “The Jim Bakker Show,” a daily religious broadcast based in Blue Eye, Mo., that was often criticized for Bakker's claim that he could heal people with the products he would sell on air.

In March 2020, the Missouri government sued Bakker for promoting a product on his show that a guest claimed could cure people of certain strains of COVID-19.

In March 2020, Missouri officials sued the televangelist after a guest on his television program claimed that a product being promoted on the show could cure certain strains of COVID-19. Despite reaching a settlement in 2021, in which Bakker agreed to pay more than $150,000 in restitution, he maintained that he was innocent of any wrongdoing.

A few months following the litigation, Lori Bakker announced on Facebook in May 2020 that her husband suffered a stroke, labeling it “the most vicious attack that he has ever experienced,” while Jim Bakker appeared in a video message from his home in July 2020, noting the severity of the stroke.

“I missed you all very, very much. I live to do this show. I live to be in your homes and that’s what I live for. That, and my wife and my grandchildren and my kids, because it’s just amazing,” he explained.

In 2021, Bakker and Tammy Faye were the subjects of an award-winning Hollywood movie, "The Eyes of Tammy Faye." Andrew Garfield portrayed Jim Bakker, with Jessica Chastain playing Tammy Faye. Chastain won an Oscar for her role in the film. 

In May 2025, Bakker urged viewers to donate around $1 million to his ministry, otherwise it would shut down.

“I believe if everyone who watches this program will give a thousand dollars, we'll be able to pay our bills and stay on the air,” said the televangelist at the time. “Otherwise, we’ve got about another month, I don’t know, to stay on the air. We’re at the end. God doesn’t have an end. He’s the same yesterday, today and forever.”

Pastor Chris Roseborough, who hosts the Fighting for the Faith YouTube Channel, where he exposes false teachers in light of Scripture, posted a 2019 prophecy by Bakker in which he claimed would “usher in the coming of the Lord.”

“Back in 2019, Jim Bakker told Charisma Magazine that he had received a prophecy saying he would help “usher in the coming of the Lord,” Rosebrough wrote on X.

“Jim Bakker has now died, and the Lord has not returned. That prophecy failed. Spectacularly,” he added. “Why am I not surprised?”

Photo Credit: ©Michael Tran/FilmMagic via Getty

Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.