Televangelist Jim Bakker Died In Hospice Care

Televangelist Jim Bakker was in hospice care in Missouri when he died Monday, TMZ has learned.

Stone County Coroner John Cunnyngham tells TMZ ... Jim was under the "immediate care" of a doctor in a hospice program before he passed away Monday night in Branson.

Cunningham says Bakker was under the care of Compassus Hospice Care, although it's unclear how long he had been receiving hospice services. The coroner received a call from the facility around 7:45 PM Monday informing him Bakker had died. His cause of death remains unknown.

Cunnyngham also said Bakker's body will be transferred to the Stumpff Funeral Home in Kimberling City, Missouri. His funeral arrangements have not yet been made public.

As we reported ... Bakker's wife, Lori, announced his death Monday on Instagram, saying he devoted 66 years to preaching the Gospel and was committed to his ministry until the very end.

In the 1970s, Bakker skyrocketed to fame on "The PTL Club," a Christian TV program he cohosted with then-wife Tammy Faye Bakker. The couple, who had two kids together, also founded Heritage USA, a Christian theme park in South Carolina.

But their multi-million-dollar Christian empire came crashing down in the late 1980s during a sex and money scandal involving Jessica Hahn. Bakker was ultimately convicted of conspiracy and fraud for misusing ministry funds and selling "lifetime memberships" to an uncompleted hotel. Bakker was sentenced to 45 years in prison, but he only served about five years.

While he was imprisoned, Tammy filed to dissolve their marriage, and their divorce became official in 1992. Tammy was never charged in Jim's fraud scandal, and she went on to marry Roe Messner, a real estate developer from California.

When he was paroled in 1994, Jim married Lori and returned to televangelism. He restarted the PTL ministry and established a new ministry called the Morningside Church in Blue Eye, Missouri.