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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not just for PTL viewers and supporters, May 18, 2003
I am not the target audience for this book. During the time that Jim Bakker and Jessica Hahn were in the news, I attended a non-denominational church most like the Baptists. My only familiarity with Jim Bakker and his programming is what little I saw in excerpts over the years, which really wasn't much. Now I attend an Orthodox Presbyterian church. Doctrinally, it was always my assessment that Jim Bakker was wrong. I didn't need to read his confession to hear that. In fact, if we were to get into many of the doctrinal issues, I would probably still disagree with Bakker on a number of issues.Had I not gotten my cheap copy used here on Amazon, I likely never would have read it. I am SO glad I did. On all the IMPORTANT matters, we agree. This book was tremendous. It was so encouraging to read about how God provided for Bakker and worked in his life, giving him encouragement when he needed it and direction in how to go on. The story that especially comes to mind is when he was in prison after his mental breakdown, when he was ready to just give up on everything and die, and a guard risked his career to remind him, "Jesus loves you." Bakker's discussion of forgiveness and what is necessary to do it was wonderful. It helped me finally forgive some people who hurt me many years ago in totally different ways. If anybody knows how to forgive, it is Jim Bakker. He's had to forgive a huge number of people. His humility in writing this book and confessing his own failures and weaknesses was refreshing. Many Christian leaders become full of themselves and what they've accomplished, unfortunately, and it is not at all unusual for many people to refuse to admit, at least to others, that they were wrong. Bakker never had to write this book. It probably reopened a number of old wounds that he'd rather leave alone. But he did, and I would imagine that the majority of his readers are glad that he did. My perception of Jim Bakker has been transformed through the reading of this excellent book. When I bought it, it was mostly due to the curiosity factor. What did he think he was wrong about? It might be interesting. I once thought of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker as a couple of clowns, buffoons that Satan used to smear mud all over the name of Christ. Today, I see a broken man, a modern day Job. In this present day and age, there is no one in the Christian community I can think of who went through as much as he did. Did he bring it on himself? To an extent, yes he did. He chose to procede with an affair with Jessica Hahn. But Bakker knows that. Did he deserve to lose everything -- his personal posessions, his reputation, his word (in the failure of PTL, though not something he intentionally did), his marriage? No. But God had a plan. He uses everything for the good of those who love him, and he never forgot Jim Bakker. This book is an encouragement and something most of us can learn from. As I said, it is such a tremendous book, that it is worth reading, no matter what you once thought of Jim Bakker, before the headlines and the demise of PTL. My only disappointment is that I bought the abbreviated paperback. I can't help but wonder if the parts that were excluded were also well worth a read!
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by Ken Abraham
by Jay Bakker
by James A. Albert
by Tammy Faye Messner
