Jim Bakker, the televangelist who built and lost the PTL empire, dies at 86
Jim Bakker, the pioneering televangelist who co-founded the massive PTL ministry and Heritage USA theme park with his first wife, Tammy Faye, has died at age 86. His death follows a career defined by rapid expansion in the 1980s and a subsequent collapse due to fraud and sex scandals that led to a federal prison sentence. He later returned to television with a new ministry and faced legal action over health claims during the pandemic.
