Rating: 
Summary: He just doesn't get it.
Review: About 24 pages into the book, as Jay showers accolades on his father's and mother's ministry (PTL and Heritage Village), I came to the conclusion, "He just doesn't get it, even now". Jay was born into religion. Knowing what we do now, most people would really have a difficult time associating the work and message of Jay's parents as true Christianity. Thus, Jaye was born in to a theology that glorified and promoted the antithesis of what Jesus Christ taught. The Bakkers were one of the, most powerful forces in the world of tele-evangelism. They promoted a gospel of wealth and prosperity. They took "mammon" one step beyond its definition as 'worldly wealth', when they added glitz, glitter, glamor, and the gaudiness of show business to the definition. Under the guise of Christianity they called their supporters to a "name it and claim it" theology and taught that God wants you to have more, and more and more. Sadly, years later, Jay Bakker still doesn't get it. He writes that his father's teaching and theology influenced his followers to send money to help build the multi, multi-million dollar Heritage USA and the water park. And Jay goes on to say that others ministers, like the Rev. Jimmy Swaggart, hated him for that water park. "I'm not sure why", says Jay. Duh. He describes his father's sexual liaison with Jessica Hahn, for which PTL payed $265,000 in hush money, "a fifteen-minute affair". What Jay fails to understand was that his father's affair was the result of unfaithfulness that Jim Bakker had been committing for years; an unfaithfulness over the years to the real teachings of Christ. Jessica Hahn was just what finally came to forefront. Read on and it gets worse. "My dad constantly went out of his way to reach out to the poor, the hurting and the needy." Jay writes. "He had built his whole life on that". Woe, Jay, we are not talking Mother Teresa here. Boy, you gotta wake up. Wait, maybe the indictment and conviction of your father on 24 counts of fraud and conspiracy hold some weight with you, right Jay? Nope. According to Jay, "the charges boiled down to a case of overbooking...at Heritage USA." Man, this child is thick headed. FYI - His father was sentenced to forty-five years. The remainder of the book deals with Jay's dive into alcoholism and drug abuse and his surfacing, after a lot of bobbing up and down, into ministry. The upside of this book is that Jay Bakker is now working as minister. A steet minister, covered with tatoos, that cares for people where they are and accepts them for who they are. The downside is that even though Jay now preaches a message of love and redemption, he never comes to grip with what went wrong with his father's and mother's ministry and why. Sad, because Jim and Tammy's story has a redeeming message for those that want to take a hard look at it. Conditionally Recommend only for those who didn't get enough of the Bakker story. 2 stars.
Rating: 
Summary: A cautious review...
Review: After seeing Jay Bakker interviewed on "Larry King Live" with his mother, father and stepmother I was eager to pick up this book. It had never occurred to me that Jim & Tammy Faye had children who were affected, as I never watched PTL and had not grown up with Jamie and Tammy Sue, so I was very curious about Jay's experience. Also, the cover and title were very compelling. I read the entire book and appreciated the many times when Jay admonished the Church for its treatment of the Bakker family... however, I felt that throughout the entire book Jay still viewed his father as blameless and as the victim. Nowhere in the book does the younger Bakker acknowledge fault in his father at the end of his ministry career... instead he points fingers at everyone else responsible for "the fall" except Jim himself. I have not yet read Jim Bakker's book, "I Was Wrong," but I think it should be next on my list, to understand Jim's own perspective of his fall. I was very pleased when it was released, because I am sure it, too, is full of lessons we can all grow from reading... lessons of restoration and humility. Jay is completely right about the terrible ways he was treated by many many Christian leaders and by the Church as an institution. It is an amazing miracle to see him ministering to others and changing the Church from the grassroot level. If you are looking for a well-written book, be forewarned - it reflects Jay's dyslexia, though written with an editor (collaborator?), and contains many errors of grammar and style. However, that makes it a very true reflection of the author. Real but not raw. Truth with some denial. Valuable.
Rating: 
Summary: Ephrata - Be Thou Opened!
Review: As the son of a famous "fallen" member of the PTL Ministry leader and eventually the object of ridicule and judgement from people who never met him, it's no wonder that Jay Bakker grew up and became a "troubled teen". While .Jay obliges the drama seekers who want to read stories of his early family life, he also tells how he entered a darkness of self-hatred, addiction and anguish eventually coming out of the darkness unscathed and gifted. This is the story of the Preacher's son who shares his journey of what it was like to be on the other side of the finger pointing and judgment as a family member of the "Fallen" Pastor.. This is not a tale of "Look what you did to us" or a book of revenge. It is the story of an awakening, a journey into the light and of an astonishing ministry that has risen from ashes. Furthermore, he calls us to return to the basic teachings of Jesus, especially when he writes: "But I am saying treat religion as it now stands as a killer. We've got to abandon the rhetoric that God's love is conditional and get back to Jesus." Now a minister himself he has much to share and to teach the youth of today that have fallen out of the favor of mainstream religion. Read carefully but learn heartily as he will open your heart and your soul to the possibilities of maybe, just maybe God loves you as you are. Ephrata - Be thou Opened!!
Rating:
Summary: LIFE GOES ON!
Review: Author and preacher Jay Bakker writes that his days of innocence, and those of his sister Tammy Sue, ended with the imprisonment of their father. In this candid, courageous book the author shares the effect of this moment. Each child suffered, yet endured and survived. Read the book. It is an honest appraisal of a child healing and restoring himself, and maturing into his own unique vision of a missionary. Life goes on
Rating:
Summary: the life of a P.K......
Review: Being a Preachers Son myself, i bought this book to see just what he had to say on the subject of his father. As i read through it, I had moments of anger, pain and sorrow and then sweet relief, all through his words in this book. Since reading it i have evaluated my sense of forgiveness. It really is something we take for granted. This book is definitly worth anyones time in reading.
Rating:
Summary: Son shines but not too brightly
Review: Being only 18 I did not live through/remember the Jim Bakker scandel and therefore perhaps I did not understand the entire and full implications of some of the things Jay said. However, the book was good and did stir me to thought. However some of the best of the book was the very ending when he spoke of his current outlook on religion and his own thelogical thought. Unfortunatly there isn't enough of this through-out. While the book is a good read I'd reccommend, it does seem to drag and be repititious at points. There are some parts that could have been left out, perhaps one of the hundreds of times he mentions getting drunk or moving somewhere and doing nothing with his life, and replaced with more depth with the emotions he was feeling. He also could have mentioned more of his relationships with his mother/father/sister etc during his struggles. However, overall the book was very good considering Jay is dyslexic and I don't believe ever gained his GED.
Rating: 
Summary: A MUST READ FOR ALL
Review: Having just finished this book, I wrote a letter to Jay Bakker I may, or may not, send. I wrote that I was very, very young when the events that changed his life happened and I now feel that I know a lot more of the story and that the ribbings on television (like Saturday Night Live) were not funny-or, at least, not anymore. I also wrote that he still has a lot of demons left (who of us don't, really?) and that is objectivity is tainted because the incedents are so personal, but he does have this going for him: He's honest. He write what he feels, unabashedly, and I feel that he presented what he knows to show what happened - not twist it so the point he WANTS to make comes across. He doesn't flinch at his own mistakes, or those of others. But that is not to point fingers, merely to state that what a person did made him feel such-and-such. This is a must read for all. For those to get a true sense of what it was, and is, like to be a Bakker. To know what happened to a family raised and destroyed on television. And most importantly, for those that call themselves Christians, to see what it is truly like to walk down a dark and lonely path and feeling that there is nowhere to turn. Thank you, Jay, for sharing your heart and life.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best REAL religious books I have read
Review: Heard Terry Gross on Fresh Air on National Public Radio (NPR) interview Jay Bakker on February 1 2001 and had to pull over and park so I could take in the whole interview, because it was the best interview of a "Christian" I had ever heard. And this is a book that everyone Christian or Jew, Buddhism or Agnostic will appreciate. It is NOT a holier than thou book, which I am so thankful for. Before the first chapter Mr Bakker has this New Testament quote that is excellent. "We can rejoice too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us. They help us learn to endure. And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation. Romans 5:3-4 Actually one need not be a Christian (I am not) to appreciate the common senseness of the quote. And thankfully Harper Collins out of San Francisco opted to publish this book. Being secular they will find more readers, or at least more open minded ones who will truly appreciate what Mr Bakker has to say.The book is 218 pages long and has Four Parts like a play almost.With subjects like what the church passes as and what it should strive to be and also the back biting and piousness that is in much of what passes for Christianity. On page 3 he begins "If anyone had an excuse to lose their faith in God, it would've been me. I'd been beaten up so often by traditional religion that turning away from God, as so many others my age did, would have been the most natural reaction." He then lays out the journey his path in life took and on page 193 he adds; " At the time I needed God and the church most, I was driven away from both. Now that I started to read God's word, I realized that so much of the church has made up rules that are nowhere to be found in the Bible or taken the scriptures out of context and turned them into traditions. Meanwhile the Christian Right's legalistic militancy has created an ideal that's impossible to live up to. In both cases, a lack of tolerance dictates behavior that seems downright un-Christlike." I simply appreciated the book for the following reasons. It is down to earth and makes the reader look beyond the people that "average" churches and televangelists trot out as being real "Christians". It was refreshing to see the author create a visual tapestry of those who love God yet who wear body piercing, taboos, or otherwise fit the punk or goth mode. It was nice to read wonderful examples of how the people who cast the Bakkers aside in an very, very un Christlike manner, like Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Jimmy Swaggart et al, were replaced by better people who actually walked the Christian walk and who became tools for a body mind and spirit healing for Jay Bakker and his whole family. This is a very generous book. Jay Bakker spends most of the book making sure that while the truth of the hell he went thru was told that the good people who were always there and who never bailed on him, were given the notice they deserved. So many Christian books are ego driven and by men/women who come off as holier than thou know it alls. This is a refreshing change from that nonsense. As the mother of sons who are modern yet accomplished I loved seeing the author talk about the wonderful goth punk kids who the average Christian ignores or denounces, yet who as the author shows over and over are actually just what Jesus probably would have hung out with. They are flawed human beings, who want to be better, who are going thru growing pains and journeys of self discovery. Thanks to Terry Gross for having the author on. Check out NRP's website and read/hear the whole interview and I guarantee that most people will want to buy this book. It is a book that made me cry and in the end it made me throw high 5's in the air. I was cheering the author on and celebrating his journey out of the wilderness.
Rating:
Summary: A very brave book
Review: I bought this books after hearing Jay Bakker interviewed on NPR and thinking what a bright, thoughtful young man had come out of this whole sordid ordeal. Kudos to him for putting himself on the line to tell a very personal story. More "Christians" need to think about their own tendencies to stand in judgement of others.
Rating:
Summary: Aftermath
Review: I enjoyed reading this book because Jay Bakker made the telling of his story interesting and truthful sounding, albeit a little naive at times. Although I don't agree with everything he says, I have to hand it to him for being honest, and even when he revisits his anger on people like Jerry Falwell, you have to respect the man who was once the boy. Living through the debacle that was PTL would be enough to drive anybody to drink and do drugs and the fact that his basic instincts for survival seemed to keep coming to the fore, has turned him into someone very remarkable. Equally refreshing is the fact that he didn't take a thousand pages to tell a simple story. With a refreshing amount of understatement, he manages to convey everything he wants the reader to know.
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