THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 30, 1994 TAG: 9411300474
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A01 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KEN GARFIELD, KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C. LENGTH: Long : 129 lines
Jim Bakker lost his empire, freedom, reputation and wife.
He spent nearly five years in prison, cleaning toilets, losing weight and admitting his mistakes, before being placed under house arrest this summer.
He is blamed for discrediting TV evangelism. Many people now think twice before responding to any famous preacher's pleading with a check.
But for everything his crimes cost him, one of the world's best-known televangelists returns to society Thursday still possessing the attention of a public absorbed by his past and curious about his future.
And though Bakker isn't saying exactly what he'll do when he goes free later this week, he has left little doubt that he plans to return in some form to the place where his rise and fall began:
The pulpit.
Tammy Sue Chapman of Indian Trail has even offered to send supporters a video of her dad's old PTL show recently found in storage - in exchange for a donation to her singing ministry.
``I just can't wait to minister alongside my dad in some of our future crusades,'' she wrote in a Nov. 9 mass mailing to backers.
Jim Bakker said in a written statement last July: ``I don't know where I will be called to serve God, but I do believe I have a message to share.''
Such talk of a return leaves some skeptical.
``I don't think he's going anywhere,'' said University of Virginia sociologist Jeffrey Haddon, who has written two books on TV evangelists. ``Anyone who thinks he's going to be able to attract people and money is deluding themselves. He's a fallen man.''
Bakker is due to be released Thursday from the custody of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons five years after his 1989 conviction for bilking 116,000 followers out of $158 million.
Specifically, he was convicted of overselling lodging guarantees called ``lifetime partnerships'' and diverting $3.7 million in ministry money to buy expensive homes, cars, jewelry and vacations.
The 54-year-old evangelist had ordered the payment of $265,000 for former church secretary Jessica Hahn for her silence about a 1980 sexual encounter. It was the March 1987 disclosure of that incident that triggered his downfall.
While in prisons in Minnesota and Georgia and then in a Salvation Army halfway house in downtown Asheville, Bakker declined all requests for interviews. To this day, he has yet to publicly talk in depth about what he did, and he plans only to release a short written statement on Thursday.
While in prison, Bakker volunteered in the prison hospital, sent long form letters to supporters and taught stop-smoking classes. He also sought forgiveness through his lawyer for what he called his ``sin and arrogant lifestyle.''
Bakker has spent the last four months of his sentence under house arrest, living on a small farm in the Asheville area with his son, Jamie, until the 19-year-old left for school. He works part-time at the Hendersonville office of his lawyer, Jim Toms. Now, Bakker shares the house with a dog and a cat.
While waiting for his release, Bakker has also been exploring the many options opening up to him. The terms of Bakker's federal parole only add to speculation about his future. He must report to a probation officer through Oct. 15, 1997 - and he must get a job.
``We've been talking to a lot of different people about things,'' said Toms, who in April envisioned his client's becoming ``a Bible-believing, liberal Democrat'' type of preacher. ``A lot of permission has to be obtained. I don't think anything would happen on Jim's plan until after the first of the year.''
Much of the speculation centers on his possible return to the 2,200-acre retreat the Bakkers opened in 1978. Under Bakker's colorful reign, Heritage USA drew 6 million in 1986 to its water park, Christmas lights display, shopping mall, campgrounds and TV show.
With Bakker long gone, the complex near Fort Mill, S.C., is struggling to fill up its big hotel and attract visitors to its Christian-oriented retreats. It stays virtually empty except during conventions and holidays. The Malaysian company that owns it recently opened a golf course and made a deal with Radisson to run its 502-room hotel. New Heritage USA is now known as Radisson Grand Resort.
Though company spokesmen won't talk about Bakker, 88-year-old Raleigh Bakker is pushing for his son to come back.
``People who have been here said all they need is Jim Bakker,'' said Raleigh Bakker, who lives on the retreat grounds. ``I'd like it if they put him in the barn auditorium and give him a good salary to preach.''
Some who know Bakker believe he'll return to TV ministry.
``The man has extraordinary talents in front of the television camera,''said Washington Post reporter Charles E. Shepard, whose Charlotte Observer stories in the 1980s broke the PTL scandal and won the newspaper a Pulitzer Prize.
``Uncle'' Henry Harrison, Bakker's longtime friend and sidekick on the PTL TV show, said, ``He has a God-given call and ability that would seem to be pointed in that direction.''
Charlotte lawyer Harold Bender, who represented Bakker at his criminal trial, believes his former client might become a roving preacher ``at whatever church would have him. And I believe a lot of churches would have him.
``I think he will share a message of hope and redemption,'' said Bender.
U.S. Attorney Jerry Miller of Asheville, who prosecuted the case, has argued that Bakker should have served his entire eight-year sentence. Bakker's original 45-year sentence was reduced to 18 and then eight years. He wound up serving five.
Miller also points out that PTL victims were never reimbursed their $158 million because Bakker said he had no money.
``My lasting regret in this case,'' said Miller, ``was that I was unable to get them a dime for restitution.''
Toms has declined to say how his client of seven years has been paying him.
Bakker's downfall also led to a general lack of faith in TV preachers and a gradual decline in TV evangelism. The number of religious TV stations in the United States fell from 337 in 1989 - the year Bakker was convicted - to 274 today.
``There was that scandal and a couple of others like Jimmy Swaggart,'' said Sarah Smith of National Religious Broadcasters in Manassas, Va. ``The whole scandal thing hurt the industry.''
Haddon, the University of Virginia sociologist who doesn't do many interviews because he's grown tired of talking about TV evangelists, believes fallen preachers like Bakker can never regain the trust they once violated.
``In the long haul,'' he said, ``if they've been caught at their own game, they're out of it. No one who had the public and the law come down on them has ever come back.''
Bakker's TV co-host and wife of 30 years, Tammy Faye, divorced him in 1992. She is now married to former PTL contractor Roe Messner, once the family's best friend.
The couple live in California and shun the spotlight, the same bright spotlight about to shine once again on her ever-famous ex-husband. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo/REUTERS FILE
by CNB