When PTL’s television ministry suddenly imploded early in 1987, everything was put on the auction block.
Like beachcombers eager to pocket a relic from a shipwreck, thousands of people crowded into the corporation’s auditorium in North Carolina hoping to grab a memento from one of the greatest spiritual shipwrecks of recent memory.
The dramatic fall of televangelist Jim Bakker and his wife Tammy Faye had left PTL (which stood for both Praise the Lord and People That Love) in debt to the tune of millions of dollars.
Bakker was accused of sexual improprieties and charged with 24 felony counts of fraud and financial mismanagement, for which he spent five years in federal prison.
The auction featured some fascinating items.
A man named Jerry Crawford paid $4,500 for Tammy Faye’s air-conditioned doghouse, then gave it back to PTL so it could be auctioned again to someone else. George T. Brown took home a six-foot brass and copper giraffe that once stood in Jim’s office. “I just want a souvenir of this whole fiasco,” he said, following his winning bid of $2,900.
Other items included a power boat, an antique car, and a lavatory sink from Bakker’s private bath, complete with solid gold faucets. Someone bought Tammy Faye’s hair dryers. A Kentucky man successfully bid on a black and white crocheted rug with an image of one of her teddy bears.
Then there was the man who had flown in from Toronto, Canada, with his hopes set on just one item: Jim Bakker’s desk.
It was clear from the get-go that he wasn’t going to be out-bid. When the auctioneer finally said “Sold!” a reporter stepped up and asked what had prompted such an intense interest.
Here’s his memorable reply:
“This may look like a desk to you, but it’s much more than that to me. You see, some five years ago my wife and I got a divorce. We had created tremendous hurt and disillusionment for each other and there was no way that marriage could continue, so we went our separate ways.
“Then, about a year ago, I got a call from her and she told me she was down here in North Carolina. She had just spoken to a man named Jim Bakker who had given her hope. She wanted to know if I would come down and join her because she was convinced that, if I would listen, we could get our marriage together again.
“I flew down here as quickly as I could. My wife and I sat on one side of this desk while Jim Bakker sat on the other side and explained to us the way of salvation. He told us that if we gave our lives to Christ, the past could be wiped out and we could have a whole new beginning.”
Before that conversation ended, the man had decided to take two huge steps – entrusting himself once again to his ex-wife, and to Jesus for the very first time.
He concluded, “Mister, this may look like a desk to you, but to me it’s an altar… To me, it’s a sacred piece of furniture, and I just couldn’t stand the thought that it might fall into the hands of someone who wouldn’t appreciate what it is to me.”
Jim Bakker, for all of his weaknesses, became the vessel God was pleased to use to heal a marriage.
Do you have such a sacred item or space in your life?
It may be an old chair. Or a spot by a lake. Or the eleventh row in a sanctuary. Or the sink where you wash dishes.
Your altar is wherever God happened to change the direction of your life.
For Moses, it was a burning bush. For Jacob, it was the rock he used as a pillow at Bethel. For Paul, it was an ordinary stretch of the road to Damascus.
Notice that Moses never said, “Hey, everyone, meet me at the bush tomorrow at 4 pm. That’s where Yahweh hangs out.” Paul never told his readers, “If you really want a new life, just start walking in the general direction of Damascus.”
An ordinary desk becomes extraordinary when it becomes a living reminder that God is a living Presence.
Sacred space is wherever you meet God and God meets you.
And any old bush will do.
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