Editing Jim Bakker (section)

==== Early investigations ====
In 1979, Bakker and PTL came under investigation by the [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC) for allegedly misusing funds raised on the air. The FCC report was finalized in 1982 and found that Bakker had raised $350,000 that he told viewers would go towards funding overseas missions but that was actually used to pay for part of Heritage USA. The report also found that the Bakkers used PTL funds for personal expenses.<ref name="FCC1">{{cite web|title=Federal report: PTL president abuses donations|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/01/27/Federal-report-PTL-president-abuses-donations/7682507186000/|work=[[United Press International]]|date=January 27, 1986|access-date=December 31, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190101002748/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/01/27/Federal-report-PTL-president-abuses-donations/7682507186000/|archive-date=January 1, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> FCC commissioners voted four to three to drop the investigation, after which they allowed Bakker to sell the only TV station that he owned, therefore bypassing future FCC oversight.<ref name="FCC2">{{cite news|title=PTL Fund Raising A Tangled Saga|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1987/05/23/ptl-fund-raising-a-tangled-saga/e659bb79-63e3-4a98-bfc6-c27dfec4fc07/?noredirect=on|last1=Isikoff|first1=Michael|author-link1=Michael Isikoff|last2=Harris|first2=Art|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]| date=May 23, 1987|access-date=December 31, 2018}}</ref> The FCC forwarded its report to the [[U.S. Department of Justice]], which declined to press charges, citing insufficient evidence.<ref name="FCC1"/> Bakker used the controversy to raise more funds from his audience, branding the investigation a "[[witch-hunt]]" and asking viewers to "give the Devil a black eye".<ref name="FCC2"/>

A confidential 1985 [[Internal Revenue Service]] (IRS) report found that $1.3 million in ministry funds was used for the Bakkers' personal benefit from 1980 to 1983. The report recommended that PTL be stripped of its [[tax-exempt]] status, but no action was taken until after the Jessica Hahn scandal broke in 1987. Art Harris and [[Michael Isikoff]] wrote in ''[[The Washington Post]]'' that politics may have played a role in the three government agencies taking no action against PTL despite the evidence against them, as members of the [[Reagan administration]] were not eager to go after television ministers whose evangelical followers made up their base.<ref>{{cite news|title=PTL's Missing Millions|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1987/06/21/ptls-missing-millions/553aa246-42b9-49bd-954e-0c3b85349514/?noredirect=on|last1=Isikoff|first1=Michael|author-link1=Michael Isikoff|last2=Harris|first2=Art|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]| date=June 21, 1987|access-date=January 12, 2019}}</ref>