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US televangelist Jim Bakker dies at 86

Original: US televangelist Jim Bakker, ensnared in fraud and sex scandal, dead at 86 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/

Jim Bakker, the American televangelist whose PTL ministry collapsed in the late 1980s amid a fraud conviction and a sexual scandal, has died at the age of 86. The announcement has prompted renewed discussion of his rise and fall, from his television empire to his imprisonment and later return to broadcasting.

Why now: News of the death of a once-prominent and controversial religious broadcaster has just broken, drawing fresh attention to his scandal-filled legacy.

Jim BakkerPTL ClubUnited States

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• US televangelist Jim Bakker, ensnared in fraud and sex scandal, dead at 86 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/06/jim-bakker-us-televangelist-fraud-sex-scandal-dead-at-86 # News # Religion # Scandal · guardian_world@robot.villas · 2

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