Tammy Faye Bakker/Messner Dead at age 65

GRIM · #1 07-22-2007, 04:26 AM

RALEIGH , N.C. - Tammy Faye Messner, who as Tammy Faye Bakker helped her husband, Jim, build a multimillion-dollar evangelism empire and then watched it collapse in disgrace, has died. She was 65.

tyke1doe · #2 07-22-2007, 04:09 PM

She was always such a sad character to me.

Rear Admiral · #3 07-22-2007, 04:29 PM

She looked horrible on Larry King. I make no attempt to understand that woman. Can't say I was a fan. RIP.

Superbelt · #4 07-22-2007, 05:02 PM

She was a thief. She and her husband robbed gullible individuals of money they needed to survive. And they tried to twist their son into helping them do it too.

Feel bad for Jay, but she's gonna have some 'splaning to do.

ForWhoForWhat? · #5 07-22-2007, 05:19 PM

I got mixed feelings on the Bakkers. When i was kid, PTL was on our TV everyday. I thought they were weird, but as a kid i thought the daughter was hot. When the scandall broke, i though they were bad people, and i was sad when i found out that our family lost money on Heritage USA and we wouldn't be going on vacation.

Then i saw that DVD The eyes of Tammy Faye, a few years ago and i felt kinda sorry for her. They had a number of positive accomplishments before they completely lost sight of what they were doing. She seemed like a nice person and repentant for what went down. (That video sure made Jerry Fallwell look like, well, Jerry Fallwell). I recommend that DVD for a behind the scenes look at PTL and the Bakkers.

RayClay · #6 07-22-2007, 05:22 PM

The cosmetic industry is in mourning.

GRIM · #7 07-22-2007, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Superbelt

She was a thief. She and her husband robbed gullible individuals of money they needed to survive. And they tried to twist their son into helping them do it too.

Feel bad for Jay, but she's gonna have some 'splaning to do.

I'm not defending what went down in the least, don't get me wrong, but I don't think she was in on the crimes. She was living high on the hog, but She was never convicted of anything.

Jim Bakker...Now he was a criminal. He was tried and convicted and sentenced to some serious time, but Tammy Faye... I really don't think she was smart enough to run the racketts. Know what I'm sayin?

I hated their show. It was all phoney bologna in my eyes. I disagree with all this "Kingdom buliding" on earth. I think the money that was spent on all of that Heritage USA & all the fancy buildings, studios etc. could have been put to greater use.

I'm not a fan of Tammy Faye, but she was never convicted of any crimes in that PTL scandal.

Superbelt · #8 07-22-2007, 05:57 PM

Well, just because she was never convicted of anything doesn't mean anything.

The tears weren't real, she was bilking people off their emotions.

GRIM · #9 07-22-2007, 06:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Superbelt

Well, just because she was never convicted of anything doesn't mean anything.

The tears weren't real, she was bilking people off their emotions.

I think that if she was invloved in any of the crimes that she would have been put into prison. You're giving her way too much credit. She was no master mind. He was the one who "Fleeced" the flock. Maybe I'm wrong, but personally, I think she was only along for the ride.

There was a 16 month "Federal" investigation into the dealings of PTL that led to Jim's conviction.

Check this out...

Following a 16-month federal grand jury investigation, Bakker was indicted on Dec. 5, 1988, and charged with illegally diverting millions of dollars of donations for his own use. After a 6-week trial in Charlotte, N.C., he was convicted on 24 counts of fraud and conspiracy.

When all was said and done, Bakker was sent to the federal prison in Rochester, Minnesota, to serve 45 years for bilking his flock of $158 million worth of largely nonexistent time-shares at his Heritage USA Christian theme park; some of that loot had gone to buy the Bakker "parsonage." His sentence was later reduced to 18 years, and then lightened considerably by placement into a halfway house. He was released in 1995.

Disgustipatex · #10 07-22-2007, 08:42 PM

What's the best case scenario with her? That she was simply stupid or gullible instead of a cynical fraud?

Who falls for this ****, anyway? What kind of person sees this weeping, jabbering ghoul of a woman and decides that giving her money is a reasonable course of action?

ErkTheJerk · #11 07-22-2007, 08:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GRIM

I think that if she was invloved in any of the crimes that she would have been put into prison.

Ab-so-lute-ly! All rich people who are involved in crimes go to prison. Don't you know that, Superbelt? Geez!

ForWhoForWhat? · #12 07-22-2007, 10:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GRIM

I think that if she was invloved in any of the crimes that she would have been put into prison. You're giving her way too much credit. She was no master mind. He was the one who "Fleeced" the flock. Maybe I'm wrong, but personally, I think she was only along for the ride.

I agree with this. I think it's silly to think she had no idea that any of this was going on though; she just didn't ask questions and hoped it all worked out in the end.

I don't think she was necessarily fake either--i think she did care about the people they were supposed to be helping, she was one of the first Christian figures to advocate for AIDS patients.-- but was also very unhappy with her homelife as her husband was running around on her and stressing about the $$ all the time. But being the face of a superduper "ministry", she put on the happy face and tried to pretend they had a perfect life. Prescription drugs helped her to do that, and it added to her loopiness: She tried to jump out of their plane once, and in a bizzare moment that video i mentioned showed a time when she was trying to ride a real sail boat they had on set.

I don't think she was a bad person. Gullible, probably-->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liz0rft3Mf0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcRI82WNxIg-more on thre Jerry Fallwell stuff

AtTheMurph · #13 07-22-2007, 10:22 PM

By the looks of her she died quite a few weeks ago.

ErkTheJerk · #14 07-22-2007, 11:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ForWhoForWhat?

i think she did care about the people they were supposed to be helping

If I had a bunch of foolish/naive folks send me their money because I told them to, I'd care about them, too!

GRIM · #15 07-23-2007, 12:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ErkTheJerk

If I had a bunch of foolish/naive folks send me their money because I told them to, I'd care about them, too!

You have to keep in mind that the people who sent money in to this particular faith group felt that they were giving as unto God. The people were giving, not because they were fools, or even naive, but because they felt their contributions would bring help to their fellow man who in their eyes may have been suffering.

What happened was inexcusable. A horrendous waste of money that should have been spent on reaching the lost and dying, feeding the hungry etc. Not building kingdoms on earth. See Heritage USA.