More Than a Peccadillo

The sexual adventures of former television evangelist Jim Bakker were responsible for his initial disgrace and contributed to his defrocking by the Assemblies of God, but they were really a matter of concern only to himself, his wife, Tammy Faye, and maybe their God. But the latest charges against him, contained in a 24-count indictment returned this week by a federal grand jury in Charlotte, N.C., paint a picture of such blatant fraud, greed and contempt for his flock that the PTL scandal can no longer be dismissed simply as a personal peccadillo.

After a 16-month investigation, the grand jury has accused Bakker and a former top aide, Richard Dortch, of bilking 153,000 people by selling them “lifetime partnerships” and vacation time-shares at a PTL resort that was never completed. At least $158 million was raised through this ruse at a time when Bakker’s ministry was short of cash, and none of it went for its intended use; the indictment accuses Bakker and Dortch of conspiring to divert $4 million of the proceeds to their personal use. “The object of the conspiracy was that Bakker and Dortch would and did create and continue lavish and extravagant life styles,” the indictment says.

Last year Bakker resigned and appealed for forgiveness after admitting that he had a sexual encounter with church secretary Jessica Hahn in a Florida motel in 1980. But he never acknowledged any financial wrongdoing other than succumbing to her demands for hush money. (The indictment puts a different face on that transaction, too.) Bakker, in fact, has repeatedly dismissed the grand jury’s investigation as a “fishing expedition.” As of last month, he was back to business-as-usual: He opened a new church, called the New Covenant Church, in a skating rink in Charlotte and appealed for a “miracle” gift of $200,000 from his old supporters. That’s chutzpah-- but in character.

It will be up to a jury to decide whether the defendants committed the crimes of which they are accused or whether, as Bakker’s sympathizers insist, they just got in over their heads. What becomes clearer, as bankruptcy examiners and others struggle to unsnarl PTL’s financial mess, is that few of those who contributed to Bakker’s ministry and supported his unministerial life style are ever likely to receive either restitution or those vacation time-shares that they were promised. That may not matter to some donors, who believed staunchly in Bakker’s causes. But it will work a hardship on those who could least afford to give, including the elderly whom Bakker reportedly derided as “grandma grunts.” That’s the real shame of Jim Bakker’s tawdry affairs.