‘Breaks my heart.’ Jim Bakker’s daughter apologizes to those his ministry ‘hurt’
On the eve of televangelist Jim Bakker’s funeral, his daughter apologized to those she said were bilked by her family’s ministry over its 60 years.
Read more Mecklenburg commissioners talk about whether to force Discovery Place into default
“I want to publicly apologize, from the depths of my soul, to anyone who has been hurt by the church or my family’s ministry,” Tammy Sue Bakker said in a 21-paragraph statement she posted on social media at 9 p.m. Saturday.
“I know that millions of lives were positively changed by PTL, and for that I’m grateful,” she said. “I have also read the letters and comments – and have been told in person many times – that so many gave their last dime to the ministry.”
Jim Bakker, whose PTL empire near Charlotte collapsed during sex and money scandals in the 1980s, died Oct. 5, according to his wife, Lori, on his Instagram page. She did not say how he died or where. He was 86.
His funeral was Monday in Blue Eye, Missouri, near his Jim Bakker Show based in Branson, Missouri.
Tammy Sue Bakker, who is 56 and lives in Missouri, said no one told her that her father was ill or that he was in hospice care until three hours before he died. She learned of his death from a friend who saw the news online and didn’t realize no one had informed her.
Her father’s death “brought many emotions, and from those emotions has come a boldness that I have never felt before,” she said. “I want to channel these emotions and use them for good.”
Read more Murder-for-hire plot was overheard in jail phone call, North Carolina police say
She said she “would normally never release a statement, but I can hear my precious mother’s voice saying, “Sis, this is your time. Do it.”
Her mother, Tammy Faye Bakker Messner, died of cancer in 2007.
In her statement, Tammy Sue Bakker said: “It breaks my heart to know that the church has been responsible for millions of people suffering, being rejected by their families, living with depression, being kicked out of their family homes, feeling like outcasts, dealing with suicidal ideation, or dying by suicide.”
Bakker thanked those “who watched me grow up on television and have been so loving and devoted to me and my family since before I was born.”
Instead of flowers or gifts in memory of her father, she suggested people give their time and money to their local LGBTQIA+ community.
“It is time for Christians to stand up and show the true love of Christ,” Tammy Sue Bakker said. “It is time to stop judging. To stop hating. To unconditionally wrap your arms around your brothers and sisters and say, ‘I love you just the way you are.’”
Read more Is your gas station overcharging? NC attorney general wants you to report it
