Bakkers Will Fight to Keep Their $1.3-Million Home

Tammy Bakker stepped out of the former PTL parsonage today and said with a quavering voice that she and her husband, Jim Bakker, will hire a lawyer to fight their ouster from the home.

Tammy Bakker also said she has felt “hunted like a scared little animal” since her husband turned his ministry over to the Rev. Jerry Falwell, who has barred his return.

“I would like to say I hope that Jerry Falwell and his family never have to suffer the way they made our family suffer,” she told reporters in the driveway of the $1.3-million lakefront home.

“I wake up every morning wishing they had killed me, and Jim does too. It would have been much kinder for them to have put a bullet in us, but they didn’t and so we’re still here,” she said.

“I know what it’s like to be hunted like a little scared animal and running all the time and not to be able to get in your car and go anywhere without the cameras pressing up against your car.”

The Bakkers returned to the home a week ago from Palm Springs, where they had been in near seclusion since Bakker gave up the ministry amid a sex scandal. The PTL has been seeking the return of the house.

Tammy Bakker said she and her husband will work with PTL officials first before taking legal action.

“We hope maybe God will work it out so we can keep our house,” she said.

Jim Bakker has not responded to numerous telephone calls and letters from PTL officials who want to find out when the Bakkers will leave, said Mark DeMoss, a spokesman for Falwell.

A Christian Moving van from Charlotte, N.C., pulled up to the Tega Cay home today, but the two movers left within minutes of entering the house.