Jim Bakker, who has died aged 86, was one of the most popular and influential US television evangelist(布道家)s of the 1970s and 80s, but he was brought down(被拉下神坛), as were many of his preaching contemporaries, by the twin sins of greed and lust(贪婪与情欲两大罪孽).
吉姆·巴克去世，享年86岁。他是20世纪70至80年代美国最受欢迎、最具影响力的电视布道家之一，但和许多同时代的布道家一样，他最终被贪婪与情欲这两大罪孽拉下了神坛。
Bakker and his wife, Tammy Faye, built an empire around their Christian chatshow PTL (for Praise the Lord), which spawned(催生、衍生出) their own satellite TV network based in Charlotte, North Carolina. At their peak, their broadcasts attracted more than 13 million viewers and $1m a day in donations; and their Disney-style theme park, Heritage USA, at Fort Mill, South Carolina, drew six million visitors a year. In 1980, Bakker joined President Jimmy Carter on Air Force One to pray for the American hostages(人质) held in Iran – but Bakker’s support and that of his fellow conservative evangelicals soon proved key in electing(成为当选的关键) Ronald Reagan president.
巴克与妻子塔米·费伊以他们的基督教访谈节目PTL（“赞美主”的缩写）为核心打造了一个帝国，并由此在北卡罗来纳州夏洛特市创办了自己的卫星电视网。鼎盛时期，他们的节目吸引超过1300万观众，每天收到100万美元捐款；他们在南卡罗来纳州米尔堡仿迪士尼风格建造的主题公园“遗产美国”，每年吸引600万游客。1980年，巴克曾与吉米·卡特总统同乘“空军一号”，为被扣押在伊朗的美国人质祈祷——但巴克及其保守派福音派同道的支持，很快被证明是罗纳德·里根当选总统的关键。
The Bakkers preached the “prosperity gospel”, growing from the Calvinist idea that material success was a sign of God’s blessing, and flaunted(炫耀、招摇) those blessings. “Excess and success are close together,” Bakker claimed. They never skimped(吝啬、节省) on opulence(奢华、富丽), with everything from a fleet of luxury cars(一队豪华轿车) to jewellery for Tammy Faye and an air-conditioned dog kennel(带空调的狗舍).
巴克夫妇宣扬“成功神学”，这一观念源自加尔文主义——物质上的成功是上帝赐福的标志——而他们则大肆炫耀这些“福分”。巴克声称：“过度与成功密不可分。”他们在奢华上从不吝啬，从豪华车队到给塔米·费伊的珠宝，再到装有空调的狗舍，应有尽有。