Televangelist Jim Bakker has warned that Christians would begin a second civil war if President Trump were ever impeached.
“I predict if it happens there will be a Civil War in the US,” he said on the Jim Bakker Show in May, in a segment highlighted by Right Wing Watch that recently began making the rounds once again. “The Christians will finally come out of the shadows, because we’re going to be shut up permanently if we’re not careful, and God says that faith without works is death, we have to do things.”
The televangelist’s proclamation is one of many in a series of predictions this year by far-right media figures who warn that there will soon be another civil war. Last week longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone warned that there would be a violent, armed response if Trump was impeached.
“You will have a spasm of violence in this country, an insurrection like you’ve never seen,” he announced. “The people will not stand for impeachment. A politician that votes for it will endanger their own life.”
“There will be violence on both sides,” he added. “I will make this clear. I’m not advocating violence, but I’m predicting it.”
According to MediaMatters, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was later “told” by Donald Trump that the president “really liked” Stone’s comments. The radio host has often bragged about how he has “influence” over the President and repeatedly said he’s communicated with him on certain topics.
An August 17 poll by the Public Religion Research Institute showed that nearly 40 percent of Americans support impeachment — up from 30 percent in February. That includes three quarters of Democrats but only 7 percent of Republicans. The survey was conducted before the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Jim Bakker has been dogged by scandals since the 1980s, and was found guilty of fraud charges in 1988. The preacher sold thousands of “Lifetime Memberships” for luxury hotel rooms at Christian theme park Heritage USA, but only one hotel was ever completed. He was convicted of 23 counts of fraud and one count of conspiracy and served five years in prison.
He was also accused of allegedly sexually assaulting actress and model Jessica Hahn when she served as a secretary to the Praise the Lord Club (PTL), and allegedly spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to buy her silence. Bakker was never charged or convicted of any crime related to the matter.
Since 2012, Bakker has been selling survival gear on his show’s website, in preparation for the End Times. Items previously included the $800 “Bakkers Dozen Emergency Fuel Buckets”, meant to help followers survive through the Apocalypse.
According to Newsweek Bakker still owes the IRS $6 million in unpaid taxes, all of which stem from his years building up the PTL brand.