Word: bakkers
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Just before the inevitable verdict came down last week, a gaggle of Jim Bakker's faithful backers defiantly held aloft a King James Bible opened to Psalm 17: 3: "Thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing." But the jury sang a different psalm: Guilty as charged on all 24 counts of defrauding the public of $3.7 million via TV, phone and mail. Testimony about one of the ripest scandals in U.S. religious history had consumed 25 days; the jury needed less than eleven hours to decide...
Fittingly, the proceedings ended on a theatrical note. In the bail hearing, Federal Judge Robert Potter said he could not forget the parade of 35 Bakker loyalists who had spoken for the defense. "They have a Jim Jones mentality," he said, in a bizarre reference to the cult leader responsible for 900-plus deaths by mass suicide. "I've seen these people out here who think he could walk on water." Despite fears that Bakker's fans might spirit him out of the country, Potter freed the telefelon on a $250,000 secured bond; he must report daily...
...Bakker, who will appeal, managed a trademark smile as he told reporters after the trial, "I come out today still innocent of the charges against me . . . My faith is still in God." Wife Tammy Faye tried to put the best face on the situation by singing a hymn and cooing, "It's not over till it's over...
Falwell admits that when he temporarily took over the Praise the Lord organization after Jim Bakker was forced out by a rancid sexual scandal in 1987, donations to his Old Time Gospel Hour fell $5.3 million. By 1987, the Moral Majority had so dwindled that Falwell resigned as president. Atlanta businessman Jerry Nims says he took over the assignment with a mandate to phase out the organization. This year contributions were expected to be no more than $3.5 million...
Searches by two major Protestant churches typify the mysterious, arduous process of "calling." -- The feds slam ptl' s fallen star Jim Bakker (but not Tammy) with a giant fraud indictment...