Televangelist Grifters (Part 1 of 3)

Televangelist Grifters (Part 1 of 3)

By Brian J. Lancaster (March 2023)

Tammy Faye Bakker

Modern political discourse has devolved into unabashed accusations of pedophilia, sex trafficking, and Satan worship, so it feels nostalgic to think about the times when merely soliciting a prostitute was enough to ruin one's political or celebrity career.

There's nothing wrong with paying for sex. I haven't done it, but it's on the bucket list. There's nothing wrong with politicians and celebrities paying for sex or having masked cross-dressing orgies in the woods of northern California.

Not allowed to quote Nixon on Bohemian Grove

It's all lifestyle staples for the elite, really. It's just delightfully amusing when the one who gets caught was making his living off preaching about family values and how God made your butt-hole for one thing and one thing only. And with the recent ban on drag shows in Tennessee, it's a good time to reminisce on some of these deeply repressed degenerates.

Since churches are tax-exempt, there's some tax fraud thrown in here for good measure.

#1) Jerry Falwell

(Mostly from the "God Forbid" Documentary)

Jerry Falwell founded the Thomas Road Baptist Church in 1956 and has been the head of it ever since. He blamed both AIDS and 9/11 on homosexuality, but naturally this didn't have much of a negative impact on his career.

It was his son, Jerry, Jr., who really shit in the proverbial fan. He resigned as president of Liberty University (founded by his father) after a series of scandals involving cuckoldry and more, though nothing technically illegal.

Jerry, Jr. married his wife Becki in 1987 at a wedding Becki described as boring because there was no alcohol or dancing. Jerry, Sr. forbade alcohol on the premises, though he would allegedly often drink an entire bottle of NyQuil, calling it "Baptist Wine". Jerry and Becki are still in a very close marriage despite their affinity for cuckoldry.

Jerry, Jr. and Becki

In 2012 Becki met Giancarlo Granda, a good-looking 20-year-old pool boy, at a luxury hotel in Miami Beach. She invited him to the room and explained that her husband wanted to watch them have sex.

Later that night, Granda got a call to meet Becki at a different hotel so they could go at it again. And again, according to Granda, Jerry, Jr. was there in the corner of the room masturbating. Jerry, Jr. denies this.

The relationship continued for 6 years. Jerry, Jr. and Granda became close, Jerry lending Granda enough money to get involved in real estate. The thruple finally had penetrative sex, with Jerry. Jr. coming in "for round two."

Granda eventually met a woman his age, and tried to break things off with Jerry and Becki. Becki would often send texts about how horny she was as a first attempt, then call him crying if he didn't respond, and after a few days, Jerry would call him trying to blackmail him (according to Granda).

Granda could have gotten out of there, changed his number, and washed his hands of the whole affair. However, he was involved in a multi-million dollar real estate project with Jerry, Jr., so he chose to continue.

According to Granda, Jerry invited him over to his farm with a shooting range and Confederate cemetery, and told him, "Well, the good thing is now I know if Becki were to run away with someone, I know who it is. If that were to happen, if she tried to divorce me, I'd probably have her killed." (Alright, that's technically illegal, if it happened.)

In 2020, Granda finally released a Facetime video in which Becki was giving a video tour of her house to Granda naked, showing him all the places they had sex. Jerry's head popped in for a minute, and Granda made the video public.

In the final years before resigning from Liberty University, Jerry, Jr. spent millions of the school's funding on promoting the Donald Trump Campaign, so much so that Trump offered Jerry the cabinet position of Secretary of Education, which Jerry refused. The two would have made a perfect team, both sharing a love for non-penetrative sex and real estate.

None of these scandals are crimes, other than Jerry allegedly mentioning he might kill his wife. While Jerry, Jr. resigned, his "think tank" at Liberty University, called the Falkirk Center, is still active and using the "university's" money to support Trump with Facebook ads, etc. Today, Jerry Falwell, Jr. owns a hotel in Miami's South Beach and is still happily married to Becki.

#2) W.V. Grant

In 1996, W.V. Grant was arrested for tax evasion after a 30-year career in faith healing. One of his go-to diagnoses on stage was that one leg was shorter than the other, sometimes up to three inches. He would then miraculously grow the leg two or three inches on stage. Magician and skeptic James Randi recreated this technique, used by several other famous con artists.

Some of his other stage tricks included having a list of audience ailments before the show, putting people who could walk into wheelchairs before the show, and having his wife conduct reconnaissance in the audience, then slipping him notes that he would keep in his Bible (Peter Popoff's wife would do the same thing but with an earpiece and a radio).

In 1988, concealed video footage caught Grant admitting to using $100k in church donations to buy a $1.2 million house overlooking a country club in Dallas, Texas.

The Trinity Foundation, a watchdog ministry based in Dallas, had been investigating Grant for years. They even dug through his trash to find a naked picture of him taken by his wife on vacation. Apparently it was so repugnant it had to be disposed of immediately. Unfortunately, there are no sex scandals in this story. There is also no happy ending, as Grant is still practicing his grift to this day.

He was finally found guilty of not reporting $375,000 in income taxes and got 16 months in prison in Dallas. He was collecting money from mail forms with a piece of cloth "from a robe" in each envelope that he had asked God to bless. How he was collecting these pieces of cloth in prison is a mystery.

His wife was also indicted in the tax fraud, initially pleading guilty, then changing her plea and getting acquitted. Grant was released in 1997 and has continued to preach at the same church with the same name in Dallas, the Eagle's Nest Cathedral, using the same old techniques.

#3) Jim Bakker

Starting out hosting a children's Christian puppet show with his wife Tammy, Jim and Tammy Bakker became the most famous televangelists in the United States by the mid 1970s. In 1978, they opened a theme park in South Carolina called Heritage, USA, initially with complete tax exemption. By 1986, there were more than 6 million visitors a year and it became the third most popular theme park after Disneyland and Disneyworld. Bakker was making over $100 million annually.

Back in 1980, Jim Bakker had drugged and raped his church secretary, Jessica Hahn. He had paid her $279,000 to stay quiet about it ($665,465 in 2021, so close).

Bakker knew this would soon come to light, and in 1987 he invited Jerry Falwell, Sr. to his park. They took footage of Falwell going down one of the slides weaing a suit for the press, and proceeded to discuss Falwell taking over Bakker's show "Praise The Lord" to avoid what he called a "hostile takeover" based on his previous sex offense.

Jerry Falwell on Jim Bakker's water slide

After Jessica Hahn came public with the rape, Bakker resigned from the church, and the IRS began seriously examining his finances. Like Baby Face, tax evasion would somehow be Bakker's downfall (though only temporary). Jerry Falwell called him "the greatest scab and cancer on the face of Christianity in 2,000 years of church history."

The IRS convicted him of 24 counts of fraud and he was sentenced to 45 years in prison. His wife Tammy divorced him. He was released 5 years later in 1994 still owing $6 million in taxes. In 2003, he started the "Jim Bakker Show", which is still on today. People can now donate money using PayPal as well as snail mail.

Jessica Hahn did a shoot for Playboy afterwards and hopefully made some bank.

"Why Condoms Flunk: An On-Campus Report" (WTF?)

#4) Jimmy Swaggart

Back to what really matters: prostitutes. Another famous televangelist, Jimmy Swaggart was one of the Jim Bakker's biggest critics, railing him on TV interviews. The news media was broadcasting Bakker's scandal merely as an "affair" and not a sex crime, so this is probably all that Jimmy Swaggart was pretending to be angry about.

In 1988, less than a year later, Swaggart was caught with a prostitute outside a New Orleans motel. His sobbing apology on TV wailing that he has sinned has become iconic comedy material.

Look up "sinner" in an Encyclopedia for this photo

The prostitute, Debra Murphree, said they met 20 to 25 times. Interestingly, just like Jerry Falwell, Jr. and Donald Trump, Swaggart didn't seem to be much for penetrative sex. He liked masturbating and watching Debra masturbate and use sex toys.

According to Debra, he asked if she knew another girl so he could watch them together, which she initially refused. He then doubled the offer to a grand total of $20, and as Debra explained, "He was quick anyway, so I did it." She could never get any more than $20 from him, allegedly.

Also according to Debra, Swaggart eventually saw a picture of Debra's kids and asked if he could meet her daughter, asking her if she had gone through puberty yet. Debra didn't come public with the information until after they got caught.

Debra Murphree denied having any involvement in any kind of blackmail schemes, though she failed the polygraph about this. Regardless, there was someone else who wanted to take Swaggart down.

After leaving the motel room one night, Swaggart realized he had a flat tire. He had been set up by one Marvin Gorman, a former fellow minister in the Assemblies of God. In 1986, Swaggart had accused Gorman of having several affairs. Gorman was defrocked and lost his congregation and livelihood. Gorman sued Swaggart in 1991 and initially got $10 million in damages. After an appeal, this was reduced to $1.75 million, much to Gorman's chagrin.

Gorman then paid his son Randy and son-in-law Garland Bilbo (had to include that name) to set up a camera at another room in the motel, wait for Swaggart to enter the room, then slash his tires. Gorman then came out to confront Swaggart, both accounts differing on the content of the conversation. Swaggart was then defrocked and became an independent minister in Baton Rougue, Louisiana.

In 1991, Swaggart was again found with a prostitute after being pulled over in Indio, California for driving on the wrong side of the road. This time, instead of an apology, he had this to say to his congregation: "The Lord told me it's flat none of your business." His son then told everyone present that his father would be stepping down for "a time of healing and counseling." Today, Swaggart is still on TV collecting donations. Respect.

#5) Jesse Duplantis

This one is technically not a scandal, since Jesse Duplantis openly admits to what he wants: jets. He owns (or at one point owned) three private jets. Nevertheless, in 2018, he began his campaign to raise enough money for a $54 million private jet, a Falcon 7X so he "could get anywhere in the world, one stop." His sales pitch: "If Jesus were in the world today, he wouldn't be ridin' a donkey. Think about that for a minute." Think about that sweet, sweet tax-exempt Falcon 7X.

His ministry, based in St. Charles Parish near New Orleans, has recently been criticized for their lack of response during Hurricane Ida in 2021. It was one of the hardest hit areas. He then gave a harsh "Shame-On-You" speech on TV shortly after.

SHAME!

Conclusion

There are two main points here. Firstly, we need to get rid of tax exempt status for churches. Secondly, rich Christian ministers are way into watching for some reason.

And as Bill Burr said: "At least Scientology has spaceships in their storybook."

Finally, shameless plug for my indie game, Brigand: Oaxaca:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/652410/Brigand_Oaxaca/

Sources

"Disgraced Televangelists" (Youtube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tn9-bQuYU2I

"God Forbid" (Hulu Documentary)

"In final years at Liberty, Falwell spent millions on pro-Trump causes" (POLITICO) https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/14/jerry-falwell-trump-liberty-university-444661

"Jerry Falwell Jr. resigns as Liberty University president" (NBC News) https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/jerry-falwell-jr-resigns-president-liberty-university-reports-say-n1237886

"Who is Jerry Falwell, Jr.?" (Business Insider) https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-jerry-falwell-jr-family-background-evangelical-leader-2020-8

"Miracles, For a Price" (Tampa Bay Times) https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1998/08/09/miracles-for-a-price/

"W.V. Grant" (Wikipedia) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._V._Grant

"Heritage, USA" (Wikipedia) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritage_USA