Eyeing Tammy Faye

Tammy Faye Bakker Messner was in the spotlight in evangelical communities for the past thirty years or so. I always felt she and her husband at the time, Jim Bakker, were not genuine in their faith. All of the showiness of their PTL network and program did not fit in well with my ideas of Jesus' model and ministry. I have learned, however, through observing the couple in recent years to eye them now with respect--and even admiration.

We are taught, of course, that difficulties breed faith--true faith. I believe this to be true although very often, for myself, I wish the learning curve did not include any hardships. For Jim, the lessons of humility, and poverty, came after the uncovering of his affair with his secretary, Jessica Hahn, and his subsequent stint in jail for his unsavory business deals--mail and wire fraud--connected with Heritage USA, his theme park. For Tammy Faye, I suspect Jim's trials were also her trials. In addition, she was diagnosed with colon cancer in the mid-nineties. Later, she told the world her cancer had returned and that she was now suffering from lung cancer.

It was only after the rejection of the conservative evangelical community for the crimes connected to their ministry that both Jim and Tammy Faye began to see. They saw beyond their requests for donations to their ministry to the heart of the people of the world. Jim denounced his previous prosperity theology that he had formerly preached so diligently. Tammy Faye, in particular, was drawn to those who were outcasts and who were marginalized in some way by their respective communities. Gays especially were drawn to her, and she accepted them full hardily.

The cliche, "better late than never," seems particularly ironic for this couple. To their credit, both of their children seem to be solid in their faith. Their son Jay is a hip young tattooed evangelist who preaches to the biker crowd, and their daughter is a young mother, and singer, with several children.

The eyes of the world watched with horror last week as Tammy Faye made her final appearance with Larry King on CNN. She was a mere sixty-five pounds, woefully wrinkled, and gasping for every breath. Her eyes, however, were fully made up. We saw her for the last time. Even Larry, a Jew, was moved enough after her death to comment that she was now in the arms of the Lord.