Forgiven: The Rise and Fall of Jim Bakker and the Ptl Ministry (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Written in a flat, low-keyed reportorial style, this lengthy account of televangelist Jim Bakker and his PTL ministry is a devastating, behind-the-scenes portrayal of deceit, mismanagement and greed. Shepard is the Charlotte Observer journalist whose exposes forced Bakker's resignation in 1987 and helped thwart his return to power; he won a Pulitzer Prize for his reportage. Aided by scores of interviews, he follows Bakker from his Muskegon, Mich., boyhood, through his histrionics as a TV evangelist working for Pat Robertson to his masterminding of PTL as it grew into a $180-million corporation. Bakker and Tammy Faye posed as a model couple, but off the set their marriage was deeply troubled, according to Shepard. He views Bakker as a pathological narcissist and a cynical manipulator. Readers seeking gossipy details about the Jessica Hahn scandal, Bakker's alleged homosexual activities and his internecine feud with Jerry Falwell will not be disappointed. Above all, this bizarre saga attests to the dominant influence of TV on American life. Photos.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

"Follow the money" is an investigative journalist's credo, and Charlotte Observer reporter Shepard, on the beat of Jim Bakker's PTL ministry, found a lot of it: Bakker had managed to raise over $500 million on his TV show. Shepard's reporting of PTL's misused finances--the money-guzzling Heritage Park complex, the payoff to Jessica Hahn--won him the 1988 Pulitzer Prize. In this book, Shepard discusses Bakker's rise to popularity, the peculiarly American phenomenon of Christian broadcasting, and Bakker's equally flawed rival, Jimmy Swaggart. Unfortunately, Shepard sometimes overloads on detail and hesitates to make analysis; more of the latter on Bakker, wife Tammy Faye, and the PTL flock--whom Shepared says were for the most part sincere--would have been welcome. Still, this is an admirably researched job, and the first on the Bakker scandal. Recommended.
- Judy Quinn, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 635 pages
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Pr; 1st edition (September 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871132931
• ISBN-13: 978-0871132932
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #935,645 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pultizer Prize Winning Account, March 29, 2000

By A Customer

This text is a fascinating detail of the rise and fall of the PTL ministry, Jim and Tammy Bakker, and Jessica Hahn. I felt that Shepard's reporting of the paper trail that eventually undid this infamous televangelist was incredbily educational and compelling. The book reads easily and is a balanced and fair account of all involved in the PTL scandal, especially those peripheral to the Bakker family themselves.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spiritual Victories and Worldly Defeats, September 4, 2004

By	The JuRK (Our Vast, Cultural Desert) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This book may be out of print but it's definitely worth finding and reading.

A driving, devastating indictment of the greedy "televangelists" who reached the peak of their financial powers in the 1980's and then saw it taken away from them in a series of humiliating scandals that made people question their faith...in TV preachers anyway.
I remember chatting with a book store clerk at that time and learning she was a born-again Christian. Shaking her head at the Bakker/Swaggart/Roberts scandals, she said, "The devil really won that round."
"How do you know it was the devil that brought them down?" I asked. "I have the impression that maybe God had had about enough of their shenaningans."
But that's about the extent of my stone-throwing. I end up feeling pity for these people. And feeling horrible for the millions who poured their millions into these lavish lifestyles. My great grandmother could have been referred to as one of Bakker's "Granny Grunts," the elderly ladies he always beseeched to fess up with the cash.
I could see through Bakker even as a kid and felt sorry that my great grandma couldn't. If anything, I think the PTL scandal made her realize where her real devotion should have been: on the savior mentioned in every PTL sales pitch, not the bawling, over-dressed con artists pleading for dollars for that big water slide in their amusement park.

Charles Shepard, the author and reporter for the Charlotte Observer, was the perfect person to write this book: he'd been covering Bakker for years and seeing scams and abuses up close for a long time.
Definitely worth your while to read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent educational lesson for all organizations, April 26, 2004

By	Lori G. White (Nashua, NH United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This fat but interesting book about the rise and fall of Heritage USA, Jim Bakker and his strange episodes with Jessica Hahn (among others) should serve as an excellent guide to what can happen if a single person gains too much control of an organization. What happens if that individual loses it mentally? Well, that's what is explained in concise and explicit detail by Charles Shepard, a newspaper reporter from the Charlotte Observer who covered the story of PTL's fall in the mid to late 80's.

The clear moral of the story is that if an organization's head is doing things that seem odd, don't just go ahead and do them anyway!

The book is out of print, but well worth getting if you can find it.