Televangelist Jim Bakker profits off his doomsday message of the impending Apocalypse by selling freeze-dried meals to keep his followers alive

DailyMail.com visited his Christian community Morningside in Blue Eye, Missouri where Bakker and his wife film their TV program and sell their survival buckets

A year's supply of pancakes with a 30-year shelf life costs $550 dollars and a 102 servings of freeze fried Italian food costs $392

Morningside looks similar to a theme park, featuring a brightly painted indoor town square dominated by a 15ft tall Jesus statue

Bakker was forced out of his last ministry and imprisoned for defrauding his flock of $158 million, allegedly raped a woman and paid her to keep quiet and was caught having a gay orgy by a professional clown

doses Wigger lists some of their extraordinary spending sprees – $24,500 on furs and $27,500 on jewelry on one single Manhattan shopping trip and $170,000 on three antique cars in one day. of salt in everything.

Possibly attempting some scaremongering ahead of next Monday's eclipse, he added: 'The sun and the moon will go dark and what will happen when the sun doesn't shine and nuclear winter takes place?'

As President Donald Trump promised to unleash 'fire and fury' on North Korea, a slightly-built, bearded TV evangelist bragged of his recent visit to the White House and warned of an up-coming 'nuclear winter.'

Jim Bakker's studio audience whooped and cheered – before reaching deep into their pockets to buy 'Staying Alive' food - buckets full of freeze-dried products apparently capable of sustaining survivors through the Apocalypse.

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The charismatic pastor then made an impassioned plea for money to keep his ministry afloat – suggesting a year's supply of pancakes with a 30-year shelf life for an apparent bargain $550 or four cheaply published books for $40 to tide readers over through Armageddon.

Jim Bakker (pictured with wife Lori) uses his platform as a televangelist to sell food buckets full of freeze-dried products, claiming the meals will keep followers alive after the Apocalypse

Bakker's 60-person audience is mostly comprised of elderly women. He asked for them to send him checks, not cash, to buy survival kits of preserved food

Bakker, here during his arrest for fraud, uses his prison stint as a badge of honor on his show, saying during that time God spoke to him to let him know the world was going to end. Bakker was sentenced to 45 years in prison after being found guilty of conspiracy and 23 counts of wire and mail fraud in 1989. His sentence was reduced to eight years

'A lot of my grannies send checks,' he said, as the elderly women who made up the bulk of his 60-strong audience laughed indulgently.

Then, somewhat tongue in cheek, the smooth-talking Bakker added: 'Try not to send cash.'

It is astonishing that Bakker – forced out of his last ministry and imprisoned for defrauding his flock of $158 million – has managed to reinvent himself as a doomsday prophet.

Yet the Bible – something he confessed he'd only bothered to fully read during his five-year incarceration – teaches forgiveness. And his followers appear to have forgiven him – not only for his greed but also for the sex scandals that wrecked his holier-than-though image carefully crafted by Bakker and then wife Tammy Faye via their vast Christian TV empire.

Tammy Faye – famous for her giant false eyelashes and makeup that appeared to have been applied with a paintbrush – died of cancer, aged 65, in 2007. She has been replaced by lookalike blonde Lori, 18 years Bakker's junior, who he married after a whirlwind 50-day romance.

Today Lori sits alongside 77-year-old Bakker on his latest TV show, doing the hard-sell on their buckets and books, constantly plugging the Bakker website where end-of-times preppers can stock up on supposedly tasty treats that require nothing more than water to cook.

Of course, survivors of nuclear war might be hard pressed to find uncontaminated water. But on Bakker's TV shows, he promotes Morningside – home to both his studio and 700 acres he is developing as a Christian community, complete with its own water tower.

Bakker has been down this path before. Overselling 'lifetime memberships' to his South Carolina amusement park and hotel complex led to his 1980s downfall. Morningside is also described as a theme park and features a brightly painted indoor town square dominated by a 15ft tall Jesus statue.

When Bakker isn't taping his daily show on site, earlier episodes blare out of giant TV screens everywhere, including the complex's grubby-looking restaurant.

Morningside looks similar to a theme park, featuring a brightly painted indoor town square dominated by a 15ft tall Jesus statue

Town homes are available for sale or rent on Morningside's grounds. Bakker fanatics can stay at one of the homes for $95 per night

A fake church door, plastic flower-filled garden and a quaint cinema sign proclaiming Christ's imminent return have supposedly been copied from 'actual oil paintings' from England and France. The next two floors contain 125 real apartments – available for sale or $95 nightly rental.

Tucked away on the grounds are clusters of 'cozy cottages' and dome-shaped homes also for sale or rental. At the end of one long drive sits a large wooden mansion, named after Lori, to house pregnant women who have fallen on hard times.

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Lori, 59, admits to a drug-using, promiscuous past – according to the couple's website she had five abortions by the age of 22 and then endured an abusive marriage before finding salvation and meeting Bakker in 1998.

The couple adopted a family of five children from Arizona and several of them, along with Bakker's eldest daughter Tammy Sue, often sit in on the TV shows adding to the folksy feel of each episode.

In the 1980s, Bakker's own satellite network reached 14 million American homes and aired in 40 plus countries. That network is long gone and today it is hard to gauge viewing figures as Nielsen, the TV ratings service, does not chart Christian TV channels. But Bakker isn't shy about selling himself or his wares on TV or on his website.

In the eighties, Bakker had a set-up similar to Morningside in South Carolina. He ran Christian-themed amusement park with a hotel complex named Heritage USA until he was arrested in 1989

People travel from all over the country to Morningside to hear Jim Bakker's preaching in real life and to stock up on supplies for the end of days

Bakker also hawks vitamins to supplement the nutritional value of the salt-heavy meals in the survival buckets

Bakker's mansions – complete with gold-plated bathroom fixtures and air-conditioned dog kennels are long gone, along with his antique car collection. He still owes $6 million in back taxes and technically owns nothing.

Fellow pastor Jerry Crawford invested $25 million to create Morningside in 2007 and even though there are clusters of 'fuel efficient' dome homes and tiny cottages on sale for under $190,000 and one-bed condos priced at $68,000, real estate seems more of an afterthought.

The real business at Morningside, hidden down a winding mountain road in the sleepy Missouri hamlet of Blue Eye, is end-of-times food. There are buckets of freeze-dried products everywhere.

Vietnam vet Glen Ward and his wife Margaret make regular 10-hour drives from their home in Cleveland, Tennessee, to stock up.

'I'm buying black beans for our pantry. We have 28 buckets already at home,' Glen, 73, said.

His wife insisted she was looking out for her three children and five grandchildren, making sure they would have enough to eat in the event of disaster.

'The end times are near,' she said ominously. 'I've no idea what is going to happen, it could be hurricanes or war. I don't foresee President Trump going to war but we all need to be prepared.'

Vitamins and water filters are sold in the in the sleepy Missouri hamlet of Blue Eye. Fans of Bakker travel from across the country to stock up on Apocalypse supplies

Freeze-dried meals sold in Blue Eye include oatmeal, instant potatoes, chicken soup, rice and chocolate pudding

It's a mantra Morningside's fast-talking sales reps and wheelchair-bound volunteers repeat constantly as they pounce on anyone hovering around the three stores selling survival goods inside the complex.

Full-time Morningside resident Gretchen Frame, a retired Las Vegas waitress who lost a leg to cancer, has the lifestyle down to a T. When she spotted this reporter looking at a $100 bucket containing 102 servings of freeze fried Italian food, she suggested I opt for a much larger tax-free variety she claimed was better value for money.

Only 167 people live in Blue Eye Missouri, which is just north of border of Arkansas and is 20 miles south of Branson

The 'Tasty Pantry Deluxe Emergency Food Supply' – 283 servings containing 49,390 calories – was on sale for $392, down $100 from its usual price. Offering 18 different dishes, including oatmeal, instant potatoes, chicken soup, rice and chocolate pudding, it weighed in at 28 lbs and I couldn't lift it up.

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A salesman immediately offered to help carry it, peppering this reporter with details of the tasty treats inside and telling how I could use the re-sealable bucket afterwards to store emergency water supplies.

He gave up the pitch when I asked where I would find uncontaminated water after a nuclear meltdown. I edged away and hid in the Bible Room, looking at expensive books with the name Trump in the title, a selection of Bakker books and a memoir by ex presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, father of current White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

After leafing through paperbacks with blaring warnings of the Apocalypse and imminent arrival of the Antichrist, I strolled into one of the other stores and bought a $100 dollar bucket of Italian meals in the interest of research.

Advertising a 20-year shelf life, I was a little disappointed when I opened the bucket to discover just 21 pouches of food that were all stamped with January and April 2016 sell-by-dates.

The bucket proclaimed there were 102 servings but as each individual packet suggested it was enough for 7.5 servings, presumably you'd have to invite the neighbors and a small child round to help you eat each one.

In sleepy Blue Eye – population 167 – food is already in short supply. The gas station sells chips, dips, beer and hard liquor, a shack-like store sold cigarettes and chewing tobacco. There is also a café proclaiming all-day breakfasts, but it didn't open until 11 a.m. and closed just a few hours later. Even Morningside's Fireside Cafe shuts down at 7 p.m.

The buckets of freeze-dried food weigh 28 pounds and some individual buckets were on sale for $125 marked down from $250

The Italian variety bucket contained a dish labelled 'Italiano Marinara', which looked and smelled similar to dog food when prepared

The Jim Bakker Show website offers other Apocolypse survival necessities such as portable toilets

The site also has vitamins

COOKING UP A DOOMSDAY STORM I was starving when I started sifting through my bucket trying to decide what to cook. Inevitably silver pouches of what used to be known as astronaut food – sold at NASA and stamped with exciting pictures of men in space suits – don't look appetizing. And once opened, the smell is enough to put you off. Each pouch of food comes with a warning to not eat the oxygen absorber. One Italian meal was comprised of tomato powder, white cheddar cheese, cheese culture, burgundy wine flavor and lots of sodium preservatives Italiano Marinara – containing something described as 'lasagna bits,' tomato powder, white cheddar cheese, cheese culture, burgundy wine flavor and lots of sodium preservatives – looked and smelt like a dog's dinner. I held my nose and whisked it up with boiling water and left it to simmer on the stove. I noticed – too late – that each pouch came with a warning not to eat the oxygen absorber inside. I found the postage-sized oxygen sliver floating on top of my sauce and fished it out just before it was absorbed into the marinara. When cooked, the fettuccine was the least photogenic but the most edible of the Italian freeze-dried meals Fettuccine Alfredo – containing egg noodles, cheese, mushroom stock and preservatives that basically translated as lots and lots of salt – smelt faintly of vomit. The smell got stronger once mixed with water and left to simmer. I doubled the cooking time to half-an-hour because it was just a runny mess after 15 minutes. On TV, Bakker plugs the need for his survival buckets, claiming the Bible warns about people selling their souls to the Devil in exchange for food during the Apocalypse. So I reached into my bucket and pulled out pouches of macaroni and cheese – just the sort of comfort food needed to ward off temptation during Armageddon. Sadly, the nuclear-orange color of the cheese reminded me of the supposed fire and brimstone to come and the hue seemed to get brighter the more I stirred. In fact, the mac and cheese was the least successful of the three dishes – it had the consistency of cardboard. The marinara actually tasted better than it smelt, although there was a lingering chemical after taste. When finally cooked, the fettuccine was the least photogenic – it really did look like a plate of vomit. However, it was edible. But I now understand why preppers fill the empty food buckets with water – you are going to want to drink gallons of the stuff to compensate for the high doses of salt in everything.

I had hoped to ask Bakker and Lori if they eat their survival food but getting close to the couple is nearly impossible. When taping, they are surrounded by staff and security guards and despite telling viewers they live in Morningside, they do not.

Telephone requests for an interview were ignored.

Gretchen Frame, the 77-year-old wheelchair-bound volunteer who has lived at Morningside full time for the past six weeks, said: 'We're all very protective of him. There have been threats.

'People can be ignorant. I have been verbally abused in Walmart by people who don't like Christians.

'There's a lot of security here because of the threats and we all watch out for strangers walking through the doors.'

Dad-of-two Thomas Ventura moved from San Diego, California, to Morningside as it was being developed eight years ago and now works for Bakker's TV show.

Some light reading

Bakker's website sells a $3,500 fuel-less generator kit (right), perfect for powering up a lamp to read the $35 Trump prophesies book bundle

Dinner is served: The Fiesta Pail provides 196 servings of freeze-dried Mexican entrees such as burritos and enchiladas for the impending Apocalypse for $100

Food can be prepared with heat from a box of 24 fire starter disks for $59

With Bakker's products, there is no need to resort to Veganism after doomsday

His website hawks freeze dried beef chunks (13 servings, $70) and a cheese blend powder (43 servings, $30)

Pancakes and butter after Armageddon after the world ends?

It's possible with Jim Bakker's pancake mix (3 buckets of blueberry mix with 253 servings, $195) and butter powder ($30)

'The Lord sent me here, it was a divine calling,' he said. 'My children volunteer, this place is volunteer oriented. It's like a giant Mayberry. I can look around a room and tell you the life stories of everyone. We're a giant family.'

The security gatehouse – complete with tire-bursting spikes – seems to suggest that crime is a lot higher than the fictional Mayberry from the Andy Griffith Show.

But the gatehouse, paid for by donations from Bakker show viewers, seems to be manned only when the evangelist and his family are on site.

As a new book 'PTL: The Rise and Fall of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker's Evangelical Empire' reveals, Bakker was one of the biggest criminals of the late twentieth century.

Author John Wigger, a history professor who has written previous books about Methodism in America, says the Ministry's odd initials stood for Praise the Lord or People That Love but cynics joked it meant Pass The Loot.

Wigger lists some of their extraordinary spending sprees – $24,500 on furs and $27,500 on jewelry on one single Manhattan shopping trip and $170,000 on three antique cars in one day.

The worst dish in the Italian Variety pack was the macaroni and cheese (front) which was bright orange and tasted like cardboard

Proceeds from the survival food kits go to support the Bakkers' ministry. Jim served five years in prison for committing fraud in the late eighties and technically owns nothing

The Blue Eye store is stocked to the brim with food and camping supplies to help Bakker-followers survive the Apocalypse

The ministry paid for practically everything, including $100,000 to charter a private jet merely to collect some clothes from their North Carolina home.

But it was a sex scandal that ultimately led to Bakker's downfall. Church secretary Jessica Hahn was just 21 when she accused Bakker of raping her in a Tampa, Florida hotel room.

She claimed he pinned her down for an hour as he attacked her, repeatedly telling her: 'By helping the shepherd, you're helping the sheep.'

Rival preacher Jimmy Swaggart – later defrocked for his own sex scandal – discovered Hahn had been paid $279,000 by Bakker's ministry to keep quiet and tried to use that to get his hands on the PTL empire.

Ultimately Moral Majority founder Jerry Falwell took over the ministry – only to discover it was millions in debt and money raised for hotel time shares had been diverted elsewhere.

Bakker's scandals made headlines around the world – the secret bisexual had been caught by a professional clown enjoying an orgy with three much younger men in a sauna, meanwhile Tammy Faye had taken to throwing herself sexually at the hired help and popping prescription pills by the handful.

She was so out-of-it on one plane trip she attempted to open the door and, according to Wigger's book, sedating her took enough Valium to 'kill a truck driver.'

As the feds closed in, Tammy Faye was rushed into emergency detox, close to death. She initially stood by her errant husband when he was found guilty of conspiracy and 23 counts of wire and mail fraud in 1989 and sentenced to 45 years in prison.

Bakker was caught having a gay orgy in a sauna with three younger men. At the time his wife Tammy (pictured) was believed to have been throwing herself at men and popping pills

Bakker's current followers appear to have forgiven him for his scandalous past. He was accused of raping church secretary 21-year-old Jessica Hahn and then paying her to keep quiet

But three years into his sentence, which was later reduced to eight years, Tammy Faye divorced him and married their close friend Roe Messner, who had ironically come up with the hush money to pay off Hahn, then billed the ministry for non-existent building work.

Messner was later jailed for bankruptcy fraud and Tammy Faye reinvented herself as a reality TV star, self-help author and – after being described as 'the ultimate drag queen'— an unlikely gay icon.

Bakker ultimately served just five years in prison and was released on parole in 1994. After quietly working with a ministry in California, he married Lori and set about re-starting his old ministry.

In fairness, Bakker does not shy away from his past, although he describes his encounter with Hahn on his website as 'a moral indiscretion.'

At last Thursday's show taping Bakker mentioned his time in prison six times, using it almost as a badge of honor to explain how God had started telling him the end of the world was nigh.

Sounding close to tears, he warned the Apocalypse had already started, citing earthquakes in Yellowstone National Park and the rattling with North Korea.

Possibly attempting some scaremongering ahead of next Monday's eclipse, he added: 'The sun and the moon will go dark and what will happen when the sun doesn't shine and nuclear winter takes place?'

Jim Bakker confessed he only bothered to read the entire Bible in 1989 during his prison stint he served for fraud

He left his audience hanging by a thread as he moved on to make another plea for money and hail his old pal President Trump and his visits to the White House.

'Lori and I were at the White House last week and the president is hungry to hear from the church,' he said.

'One of the problems with the White House is they are saying there are too many preachers in the White House. The president doesn't think that. He found Christ watching the TV, by the way.'

He used that revelation to plug evangelist Paula White Cain, an upcoming guest on his show, who 'led' Trump to Jesus 15 years ago. She would, he promised, reveal all the White House secrets.

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Arguably a large chunk of America considers the current president akin with the Antichrist. But it is fair to say, the vast majority of Bakker's followers are pro-Trump.

Bakker clearly feared the worst when it looked like Hillary Clinton would win last year's election, describing her as 'a very wicked and un-Christian woman. She supports gay rights and abortion. I would say she is a bride of Satan. If America elects her, it could lead to Armageddon.'

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America elected Trump, who Bakker hailed as a 'miracle' and 'anointed' by God. Yet clearly, he still thinks the four horsemen of the Apocalypse are already saddled up and coming to get us.