The Nation - News from Aug. 22, 1989

Jim Bakker’s federal trial opened in Charlotte, N.C., with the selection of a 12-member jury and six alternates to hear charges that the television evangelist cheated followers out of $4 million so he could afford an expensive life style. “Our faith is in God,” Bakker proclaimed as he strode into the U.S. District Courthouse. While jury selection was getting under way in the courtroom, Bakker’s wife, Tammy Faye Bakker, went on television to tearfully ask viewers of the “Jim and Tammy Show” to send money and pray for her husband. Bakker, who has pleaded innocent, is charged with eight counts of mail fraud, 15 counts of wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.