Bakker, Ricky Bakker, and Mondo De La Vega continued to describe how important the ministry has been and how near the end is.
“I don’t have money,” admitted Bakker. “For four years, I’ve not made a salary.”
Bakker has fallen from his place as one of the most prominent televangelists of the 1980s. He alluded to a “big debt” and went on to reference his health challenges.
“A lot of people aren’t giving anymore because there’s been perilous times,” said Bakker. “But soon, gold and silver will lose their worth.”
Jim Bakker Claims the FBI ‘Lied’ About Him and ‘Edited My Tapes’
In the 1980s, Jim and his then-wife Tammy Faye Bakker led the Praise the Lord (PTL) Network. The television preacher would often ask for money to fund the ministry and became successful.
At the peak of their ministry, the Bakkers also created a 2,200-acre resort, Heritage USA, that also housed a large studio. History TV Network states, “Six million people visited the park in 1986, placing it behind only Disney World and Disneyland in terms of attendance.”
Bakker was brought up on federal charges of “mail and wire fraud and of conspiring to defraud the public.” In the middle of the investigation, a scandal of an extramarital affair with former church secretary Jessica Hahn was revealed.
“The FBI lied about me,” said Bakker, “and edited my tapes.”
“There was a trial,” recalled Bakker. He talked about the edited tapes and then what was shown at his civil acquittal trial.
Bakker was convicted in 1989 and sentenced to 45 years in federal prison. Later, the sentence was reduced to eight years, and Bakker was released even earlier, in 1994.
Bakker quoted his attorney, Alan Dershowitz, who said, “You would have never gone to prison if the FBI hadn’t edited your tapes.”
In 2020, Bakker was again the defendant of a lawsuit, this time from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for “falsely promising consumers that Silver Solution can cure, eliminate, kill or deactivate coronavirus and/or boost elderly consumers’ immune system and help keep them healthy.” Bakker’s church paid $156,000 to settle the case as restitution to refund givers.
 Network leader and convicted felon has had his share of controversy and health challenges, culminating in a financial crisis.){kind=link}