Jim Bakker, Scandalized Minister of the PTL Club, Grew Up in This Muskegon Neighborhood
If you were cognizant in the 1980s and 1990s, you are probably familiar with the PTL Club scandal with fallen-from-grace minister Jim Bakker.
In a nutshell, Bakker and his wife Tammy Faye co-hosted the TV program version of the PTL (Praise The Lord) Club beginning in 1974. Each week they spoke the gospel, urged us to seek forgiveness, recommended we become born again.....and send money. But when it was discovered that some money – possibly part of viewer donations – was used as hush money to keep a sex scandal underwraps, that was it for Jim.
According to church secretary Jessica Hahn, Bakker and another show co-host, John Wesley Fletcher, both drugged and raped her. During the inevitable investigation it was discovered that there was also evidence of accounting fraud. To make a long story short, Bakker spent approximately five years in prison, from 1989-1994.
The point of all this was to point out that Bakker was from Michigan...Muskegon, to be exact, where he spent his childhood on Webster Avenue. Years after his release, he came back to Muskegon and spoke at the Central Assembly of God church, where he first got the inspiration to become a minister. His plea was “If I’ve ever hurt you, I say please forgive me” and began his sermon of self-healing and life after prison. The church was packed with locals wanting to hear what Bakker had to say.
Bakker had been back on TV since 2003 with a new program, “The Jim Bakker Show”......Now fast-forward to the year 2020.
According to an Mlive article, Bakker had been selling some sort of 'cure' for the coronavirus since February of that year. In exchange for an $80-$125 'donation', the customer would get a container of Silver Solution Liquid that could “cure, eliminate, kill or deactivate coronavirus and/or boost elderly consumers’ immune system.” This elixir was concocted by a person named Sherill Sellman, who was referred to as a 'naturopathic doctor' and 'natural health expert', according to “The Jim Bakker Show”.
Bakker's childhood Muskegon home is occupied by a new owner. When interviewed by the press the owner replied, “I live in the house he lived in, yeah...but do I have any dirt? No.” One year, Bakker returned to his old childhood home just to visit and enjoy some nostalgia. He didn't just drive up...he arrived with an entire entourage of hangers-on, much to the dismay of the current owner.
Jim Bakker's Childhood Muskegon Home
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