'New' Jim Bakker Returns to Christian Television

Charisma News Service ^ | June 7, 2003 | Charisma News Service

[Mister Magoo]

'New' Jim Bakker Returns to Christian Television

Show started taping 16 years to the day of his last 'PTL Club' program

Though he once said he would never start another Christian TV ministry, televangelist Jim Bakker is back on the air.

"The New Jim Bakker Show" debuted 16 years to the day of his last broadcast of the "PTL Club," the flagship of a ministry empire that crashed amid headlines about financial and sexual scandal, and saw its head jailed for five years.

Bakker's new show is taped at the former Cowboy Café-turned-Studio City Café in Branson, Mo. Guests since the January launch have included Rex Humbard, Tony Orlando and Gary Smalley.

Today, the talk-show program Bakker hosts with his second wife, Lori, is broadcast daily on more than 30 TV stations, 200 cable outlets and internationally through TCT Satellite Network of Worldwide Satellites.

When Bakker told CNN interviewer Larry King shortly after his release in 1994 -- the original sentence having been reduced -- that he would not do television again, "I meant what I said," Bakker said. "When you put your hand in a fire and get burned, the body reacts to that, and it remembers that. What I had been through had been so painful that I could not imagine doing it again."

He added: "For years I set about to do a number of other things, but I could not get away from what I feel God called me to do, anointed me to do, and that's Christian television."

"The New Jim Bakker Show" has been made possible largely due to one benefactor whose marriage was healed at Heritage USA -- Bakker's former Christian resort -- years ago. Dee and Jerry Crawford own the studio-café, the small hotel across the street and the home where the Bakkers live.

But there are still financial struggles. "I had hoped I could do this without raising money on the air, but airtime is so expensive," Bakker said. "Many stations gave us a few months for free or at a reduced rate to get us started, but now we have to generate the money needed to keep us on the air."

For former PTL producer Gene Bailey, a media consultant for the new show, "it's like going through a time warp. Everything that was good about the old 'PTL Club' is back -- without the hype and the glitz."

"He is gifted. You cannot sit in [the] studio and not see that. His natural ability to connect with the viewer one-on-one is a rare quality. Not everyone in Christian television has that talent."

For Bakker, the new show is a far cry from PTL, whose fall revealed the lavish lifestyle he and his ex-wife, Tammy Faye, enjoyed. "I have to die to the flesh," he said. "That's what old Jim Bakker has to do on the air every day. I have had the best of everything, 3,000 employees, the finest talent and equipment. Here I have an audio man who is learning, camera people who have never done this before, the copier is broken, and we don't even have phones yet.

"With all that, the most awesome thing happens here every day. The presence of the Lord comes into this place and people have been healed, depression lifted, and many come to know the Lord."

Bakker said he believed his return might give people "hope that the past can be the past, that God can use them no matter what they have been through. Lori and I are both broken vessels, but God is using us. He can use anybody -- no matter what."

He said he won't regret trying his hand at television again even if the show doesn't succeed. "If we don't make it, that's fine too," he said. "It would be easy to get a little house in the Ozarks and speak once in a while. But that is not my calling. I have to be true to what God has called me to do, and trust Him with the rest."

[hole_n_one]

Please don't let me get caught...

[Pan_Yans Wife]

I have a hard time believeing he was called to be a televangelist. It sounds more like that is what he wants, than what God wants.

[ladyinred]

Oh my. Jim better mind his P's and Q's for he will be closely watched.

[Paul Atreides]

I guess Bubba getting away with it gave Jim new inspiration.

[Torie]

He's baaack. Your fair city's cultural icon is back. Sort of like Dracula.

[Servant of the Nine]

Today, the talk-show program Bakker hosts with his second wife, Lori,

Does Tamy Fay still have custody of the eye shadow?

So9

[WorkingClassFilth]

Apostate?
Check.
Heretical?
Check.
Disqualified?
Check.
Millstones?
Double Check.

[nwrep]

[umgud]

While in prison, he wrote the book, "A Ministers Guide to Lay people."

[w_over_w]

I have a hard time believeing he was called to be a televangelist. It sounds more like that is what he wants, than what God wants.

Hello again . . .

I was trying to come up with the words on why this news bothers me. You nailed it. I'm sure lives are genuinely getting saved by televangelism . . . but it always seems to be more about the "show" and it's host(s) rather than receiving the life giving name of Christ Jesus. IM (very) HO.

[Servant of the Nine]

While in prison, he wrote the book, "A Ministers Guide to Lay people."

Sure it wasn't "A Ministers Guide to Laying people."?

So9

[RightWhale]

It was a stupid, stupid show, but when that lady sang, it had the right stuff. If you could ignore the rest.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

From my limited understanding, the conversion to Christianity is powerful, but we enter into the body of Christ like babies, who need to learn slowly how to build up our strength as Christians. This is why the work of your friendly neighborhood pastor or priest is so very important.

Accepting Christ on bended knee, while praying and listening to Bakker may be a true conversion. But it is the guidance and the friendship of the local church that will help a new Christian to stay firmly within the fold.

Bakker gets all of the glory in the television world, for being seen and heard, name recognition, if you will. But, the men and women at your church should receive more praise from Christians, for they hold us up and help guide us, on a daily basis.

[DeFault User]

He's probably just in it until he can get an air-conditioner for his dog's house. Absurd? ..Nahh. That's what he was doing with his money last time around.

My wife has a friend whose husband, an electician, was given a car in payment for coming out to do some work at the PTL club on a weekend. The money flowed. The overbooking of rooms and the Jessica Hahn stuff was just the tip of the scandal iceberg per rumors that circulated around Charlotte.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

One other thought.

If God had called Jim Bakker to be a televangelist, the first time around, then wouldn't Bakker have been doing the Lord's work, without slipping into greed and corruption? Wouldn't his ministry have been a resounding success, in all endeavors, because he was doing the Lord's work? So, how can anyone trust that he is called to do it, the second time around?

[w_over_w]

But, the men and women at your church should receive more praise from Christians, for they hold us up and help guide us, on a daily basis.

We do . . . from the loving and tender arms of our Father in heaven and His Son Jesus. God's word promises a "jewel in your crown" for witnessing to others and ministering to the Saints. Selah.

<><

[w_over_w]

So, how can anyone trust that he is called to do it, the second time around?

Honestly? It's between Bakker and God. Whenever it comes to hearing someone's witness for the Lord I listen to whether they hold forth His Word. It's not easy because our emotions can blind us to another's witness. One of the reasons for being studied in God's word is to recognize false teachers, false witnesses, false prophets and (get this) false angels.

[jwh_Denver]

One of the reasons for being studied in God's word is to recognize false teachers, false witnesses, false prophets and (get this) false angels

Very true. Discernment comes from the Scriptures and from the holy spirit that we got when we were born again.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Are the false angels the fallen angels? I have never heard of false angels.

But, I am disturbed by the people who claim that angels guard them, live in their homes and protect them, and then these people decorate their homes with cherubs, thinking that the angels of God look like Cupid!