In the late s, Bakker resigned from the PTL ministry over a cover-up of hush money to church secretary Jessica Hahn for an alleged rape. Subsequent revelations of accounting fraud brought about felony charges, conviction, imprisonment, and divorce. He currently hosts The Jim Bakker Show , which focuses on the end times and the Second Coming of Christ while promoting emergency survival products.
The Bakkers married on April 1, , and left college to become itinerant evangelists. The couple divorced on March 13, However, this partnership lasted only eight months until a falling-out between Jim Bakker and Paul Crouch caused the Bakkers to eventually leave the new network.
Two scandals brought down PTL in Bakker was accused of sexual misconduct by church secretary Jessica Hahn , which led to his resignation, and his illegal misuse of ministry funds eventually led to his imprisonment. The report also found that the Bakkers used PTL funds for personal expenses.
Department of Justice , which declined to press charges, citing insufficient evidence. The report recommended that PTL be stripped of its tax-exempt status, but no action was taken until after the Jessica Hahn scandal broke in Art Harris and Michael Isikoff wrote in The Washington Post that politics may have played a role in the three government agencies taking no action against PTL despite the evidence against them, as members of the Reagan administration were not eager to go after television ministers whose evangelical followers made up their base.
Bakker was succeeded as PTL head by the Rev. Bakker believed that Falwell would temporarily lead the ministry until the scandal died down, [ 34 ] but on April 28, , Falwell barred Bakker from returning to PTL upon hearing of allegations of illicit behavior which went beyond the Hahn allegations.
