In a recent video, Donnie Swaggart wished Jim Bakker’s family well in this time of grief as he recalled the powerful moment when his dad played a key role in bringing restoration to Bakker’s life following his prison sentence.
“I heard the news that Jim Bakker passed away,” Swaggart said. “We extend our condolences to his family, and we would ask you to pray. I didn’t really know him; I met Jim one time so many years ago.”
“It was kind of interesting, when he was put in prison, after he’d been there I guess a year…he was coming up for parole. And his son, [Jay] started calling ministries and ministers, most of them the ones he’d put on the air, ones that had been guests on there to ask to ask them to ask their constituents to send letters to the state pardon board asking for him to get parole,” Swaggart continued.
As Bakker’s son reached out to people, he met many noes and closed doors. However, Jimmy Swaggart refused to be like the rest.
“Everybody turned him down. Nobody would help. He finally called daddy…he said, ‘Absolutely. Matter of fact, I’m going over to tape a study in the Word right now and I’ll make a spot, and we’ll start running that spot somewhere during the telecast.'”
To order Jim Bakker’s book, You Can Make It, visit Amazon.com.
Donnie found it sad that so many whom Bakker had helped before refused to do so in this moment.
“I have a hard time with the attitude of people that have received blessings because of the generosity of someone, and then when that individual extended the generosity, finds themselves in a rough patch, everybody jumps ship. That’s not right,” he said. “When you have received blessings, that really you don’t deserve because of the generosity of someone, and you don’t have the decency when an individual is down to do your best, to do what you can…that’s a terrible character flaw that is prevalent in the church today.”
Last year, when Jimmy Swaggart passed away, Jay Bakker also shared how this experience with Swaggart dramatically changed things for him.
“When I was about 16 years old, I was trying to help my dad get his sentence reduced from 45 years to anything shorter than 45 years…what I found out was a lot of these preachers didn’t care about my parents, nor wanted to talk to me,” Baker said. “I remember calling Jimmy Swaggart and it was just like a hail Mary,” Bakker said.
In the end, this story is about far more than two famous ministries. It reminds us what the body of Christ should look like when someone falls.
Abby Trivett is a writer and editor for Charisma Media and has a passion for sharing the gospel through the written word. She holds two degrees from Regent University, a B.A. in Communication with a concentration in Journalism and a Master of Arts in Journalism. She is the author of the newly released book, The Power of Suddenly: Discover How God Can Change Everything in a Moment. For interviews and media inquiries, please contact [email protected]. Learn more about Abby at abbytrivett.com.
