Jim and Tammy: The Pearlygate Scandal Quiz

Answer: Heritage USA

While the television network was called "The PTL Club", membership in the club made you a "PTL Partner", and the television network was "The PTL Network", the actual property was called "Heritage USA". Carowinds is a secular theme park a couple miles down the road straddling the North Carolina/South Carolina border.

Heritage USA occupied 3.6 square miles in total, and was the largest employer in town, with about 2,500 total employees.

Answer: Praise the Lord

"Pass the Loot" was a common joke before the scandal broke, in that there was a ton of money being spent at the park, and "Pay the Lady" became the joke once there were revelations of hush money being spent.

Answer: Fort Mill, SC

Fort Mill is just on the south side of the North Carolina/South Carolina border off Interstate 77. It was also the site of the last Confederate Cabinet meeting just before the end of the Civil War. Jim and Tammy Bakker actually lived in the upscale suburb of Tega Cay, which is just west of Fort Mill on the shores of Lake Wylie.

Answer: All of these

These things were all pleasures that Jim Bakker's conservative Christian upbringing had kept him from experiencing, and he made a point of stating that there was nothing wrong with having fun. In addition, there were also video arcades, train rides, two hotels, and apartments and houses for permanent residents. Incidentally, Jim's parents, the people that forbid him to have such worldly fun, were frequent guests on his TV shows.

Answer: Jessica Hahn

All four women listed were center stage in scandals. Fawn Hall was the secretary who shredded documents for Oliver North in the Iran-Contra scandal. Donna Rice had an affair with Gary Hart, ending his presidential campaign. Gennifer Flowers had an affair with Bill Clinton, which harmed, but did not kill his campaign.

Bakker and another preacher had sex with Hahn in 1980, which they claimed was consensual, while she claimed she had been drugged and raped. Bakker had paid her $279,000 in "hush money" to keep her from going public with the affair, because, consensual or not, he knew it would be very damaging to his ministry. About the same time, another televangelist, Jimmy Swaggart, had a very public meltdown after being caught with a prostitute and pornography.

Answer: Sam Kinison

Sam Kinison had been a fire-and-brimstone preacher before he moved into comedy. While his comedy, language, and substance abuse seemed incompatible with his religious background, he used that background as the basis of his comedy routines in the late 80's.

"I can see Jesus up there thumbing through the Bible saying 'Where did I say build a waterpark?'"

The music video was a parody of the Troggs' "Wild Thing", in which he would sing/scream:

Wild thing, I think you move me
But I wanna know for sure
Every time I kiss you I taste what other men had for lunch
The only thing that can get you off, is to see me in pain
But I think, I love you

Meanwhile, Jessica Hahn, dressed in lingerie, would crawl around seductively. The video also starred Steven Tyler, Billy Idol, Tommy Lee, Slash, and several other musicians of the era.

Answer: Jerry Falwell

Political cartoonist Doug Marlette, who was based in Charlotte at the time, likened Falwell's appearance to the serpent's appearance in the Garden of Eden - perhaps aptly.

Falwell originally approached Bakker and offered to run Heritage USA temporarily while Bakker cleared up things related to the scandal, but then almost immediately began taking steps to have Bakker banned permanently from the property, while accusing him of having more affairs, committing financial fraud, and completely losing track of the original mission of PTL. Falwell ended up describing Bakker as "the greatest scab and cancer on the face of Christianity in 2,000 years of church history".

On September 21, 1987, "Time Magazine" pictured Jerry Falwell sliding down the Typhoon water slide in full suit and tie as part of a fundraising drive to pay down PTL's enormous debt. He raised $20 million, though even that was nowhere near enough.

Answer: All of these

The IRS revoked the tax exemption for PTL due to complaints that they were unfairly competing against other tourist attractions in the area that had to pay taxes and that many people who came to PTL did not participate in any of the religious activities. At the time, Heritage USA was making in excess of $100 million annually. When Falwell filed PTL's Chapter 11 bankruptcy, they were $72 million in debt.

The Heritage Towers were a 21-story twin tower hotel being built on the grounds. However, there were numerous issues from the very start. PTL was already deeply in debt and spending money on such a major project was only making the situation worse. Several shortcuts were being taken in the construction, and ultimately, only a small part of the hotel was actually being built, for the benefit of the cameras. People watching the PTL Network would see beautiful hallways and hotel rooms being completed, but in fact, this was only on one floor while the other 20 were still gutted.

People who spent $1,000 were entitled to stay three nights per year at a luxury property on the grounds of Heritage USA. However, there were more memberships sold than there were properties available, and with the Towers never completed and nowhere near completion, Bakker was indicted for fraud.

Finally, in September 1989, Hurricane Hugo swept through the property, damaging many of the buildings, including the 21-story towers. Heritage USA closed permanently soon thereafter.

Answer: 45 years, reduced to eight years

Following a 16-month Federal grand jury probe, Bakker was indicted in 1988 on eight counts of mail fraud, 15 counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy. Among other things, it was discovered that he had paid himself over $3 million in bonuses over sales of timeshare memberships. It was clear that he would be facing some significant prison time when the judge trying the case was announced as "Maximum Bob" Potter, so named because he tended toward the long end of sentencing ranges.

Bakker went to federal prison in Rochester, Minnesota, a homecoming of sorts in that he went to college in Minneapolis, Minnesota and was from Muskegon, Michigan. His cellmate in prison was political activist Lyndon LaRouche.

Answer: Laura Ashley

Laura Ashley, now a multinational owned by a Malaysian company, moved its American headquarters to Jim Bakker's offices. In addition, a new ministry, Heritage International Ministries (not affiliated with PTL) has rebuilt the shopping mall and smaller hotel complex. The Towers are finally being completed as housing for the elderly. Repairs are being done on the properties damaged by Hurricane Hugo, and it appears the property may soon be used for good after all.

Meanwhile, Tammy Faye Bakker divorced Jim while he was in prison and married the builder who led all the construction for PTL, Roe Messner. Sadly, she passed away from cancer in 2007. Jim has also remarried and has a television show on prophecies related to the apocalypse based in a new compound near Branson, Missouri.