PTL Update: Friends Divided over the Truth

Sam Johnson, president of Heritage Ministries, the organization born out of the downfall of Jim Bakker’s PTL, was 12 years old when he met Richard Dortch. The long-time friends and former partners in ministry now apparently have different versions of the truth as to how PTL ministry funds found their way to Jessica Hahn in a failed effort to keep her silent about her sexual liaison with Bakker.

Dortch, who pleaded guilty to fraud charges, said he has cooperated fully with authorities. As part of his plea agreement, he is assured a resentencing hearing. (He currently faces two consecutive four-year terms.) At stake for Johnson, who was indicted December 5 of last year on 12 counts of perjury, is a possible jail term of his own.

Heritage Ministries spokesman Gerald Ogg called the indictment of Johnson the result of a “personal vendetta,” implicitly pointing a finger at Dortch (CT, Jan. 15, p. 52). In an interview with CHRISTIANITY TODAY, Dortch denied having a vendetta against anyone, stating, “Whatever testimony I have given in these matters has been forthcoming and truthful answers. It would seem the government believes that or they’d have got me for perjury, too.”

In a January 10 letter to Heritage Ministries supporters, Johnson acknowledged lending money to Dortch in November of 1984. (He did not specify the amount.) The letter stated, “Brother Dortch never told me specifically what the money was for … and I never asked—it was a favor—I merely wanted to help a friend in need.”

In explaining the perjury charges, Johnson wrote that they were based on “one question [asked] in 12 different ways” about where he got the money he loaned Dortch and how it was paid, whether in cash, a check, or in some other form. In his letter, Johnson said he answered each time by stating, “I don’t know exactly what I did.”

In his letter, Johnson also tells of a phone call he received from J. Edward Blount, Heritage Ministries board member and the South Carolina district superintendent of the Assemblies of God. Johnson quoted Blount, who was at a meeting of Assemblies leaders in Southern California, as saying, “Sam, from the General Superintendent Rev. G. Raymond Carlson, the Executive Brethren, and all of us, please be assured that we are standing with you in this trial of your faith. We believe in you, and we believe you will be vindicated.”

However, Assemblies of God general secretary Joseph R. Flower, speaking on behalf of the denomination’s leadership, said the church has not taken an official position. “The only concern we would have,” Flower said, “is that truth would prevail.” (Because of illness in his family, Blount was unavailable for comment at press time.)

Along with Assemblies of God officials, Jerry Rose, the president of National Religious Broadcasters, feels caught in the middle of the conflict. Rose resigned from the Heritage Ministries board just a few days prior to Johnson’s indictment, though he said his decision should not be taken to mean he believes Johnson is guilty.

Rose said he has read the court record of testimony given by both Dortch and Johnson and that he doesn’t know whom to believe. “I have known both these men for a long time,” he said, “and I would like to think that both of them are telling the truth. The problem is that their stories simply don’t coordinate. So somewhere between the two stories there is truth. And unfortunately, maybe a grand jury has to sort it out.”

Johnson’s case is expected to go to trial sometime in April.

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