Religion: God and Money

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One reason the struggle for control at PTL continues is that the stakes, even in bankruptcy, are considerable. For all its financial woes, PTL remains a glittering prize, with its daily TV show, its all-day religious cable service transmitted to 13 million homes, and the splashy, 2,300-acre Heritage USA theme park, the ministry's entertainment centerpiece. PTL's Hargrave denied at the bankruptcy meeting that Falwell had usurped PTL's 518,000-donor mailing list and that checks made out to PTL had gone to the Lynchburg ministry. Bakker loyalists remain unconvinced. Said Robert Zanesky, the lawyer for a group of PTL contributors intent on removing Falwell: "His credibility stinks." Says Ryan Hovis, a bankruptcy lawyer representing Bakker: "No stockholder in Chrysler would sit still if Lee Iacocca were chairman of the board for Ford."

The two central protagonists of the PTL turmoil, meanwhile, continued to parade their opulent life-styles. The couple breezed into San Francisco on July 11 as guests of their flamboyant tort lawyer, Melvin Belli, who is now laying the legal groundwork in his effort to have Bakker reinstated at PTL. During their week-long stay, the Bakkers were billeted on Belli's 105-ft. ocean-going yacht, The Adequate Reward, and were taken to parties, dinners and exclusive stores by Belli's wife Lia. Tammy enjoyed a makeover at Lia's favorite hair salon, 77 Maiden Lane.

A week earlier Jim and Tammy Bakker had been supervising $300,000 worth of renovations to their Gatlinburg, Tenn., home, which they bought for $148,000. Hammer in hand, Bakker greeted two TIME correspondents at the house, high above the resort town in the Great Smoky Mountains. Both Jim and Tammy vowed either to return to Fort Mill or to begin their own ministry, perhaps in California. For an hour Bakker defended himself as a "visionary" who had a "dream to build something very special for God's people." He asked, "Even if Jim and Tammy did everything we're accused of, does that give Jerry Falwell the right to steal my dream, my life, my home, my everything and my reputation from me?" Amid the growing investigative ferment surrounding the wounded ministry, it appeared that a host of interested parties would soon be trying to answer that question.