AP 06/22 1408 PTL By WILLIAM STRACENER Associated Press Writer TEGA CAY, S.C. (AP) -- La

AP 06/22 1408 PTL

   By WILLIAM STRACENER Associated Press Writer

   TEGA  CAY,  S.C. (AP) -- Lawyer Melvin Belli said today that a
caretaker should run PTL while he  helps  Jim  and  Tammy  Bakker
fight to  regain the ministry, but the Rev.  Jerry Falwell called
their efforts  "un-Christian  shenanigans"  and  said  God  would
decide the battle.

   "The  odds  are  very,  very  much  in  favor"  of the Bakkers
returning to the TV ministry, Belli  said  Sunday  after  meeting
with  the  couple  for  four hours in the PTL-owned home they are
occupying on Lake Wylie.

   Bakker said Sunday for the first time that he wants to  regain
control of the ministry he handed over to Falwell in March amid a
sex scandal.

   Belli,  in  an  interview  today  before  flying  back  to San
Francisco, where he lives, said Pat Boone would be a good  choice
for temporary  leader  of  the 518,0000-member ministry.  He said
Boone "has no axe to grind."

   Boone, in a statement issued through his manager,  Tim  Swift,
said  no representatives of Falwell or the Bakkers have contacted
him.  Boone said he hopes "Jerry and Jim and their attorneys will
get together in a room, close the doors, pray and  not  come  out
until  they  have a meeting of their hearts and minds and put the
whole thing to rest."

   Falwell said in a telephone interview Sunday from his home  in
Lynchburg,  Va., that the fate of PTL, which owes $72 million, is
in the hands of the bankruptcy court.  "I  am  sure  the  federal
court  will  take  into  consideration that it was under Reverend
Bakker's leadership that the terrible  violations  which  brought
about the virtual collapse of the ministry occurred," he said.

   "Most  of us who who love Reverend Bakker and who love the PTL
ministry are saddened that he would  put  himself  ahead  of  the
survival  of the ministry," he said. "However, I believe that God
will overrule all this monkey  business  and  will  recover  this
ministry."

   Falwell  added  that  Bakker  had  a  full  week to reconsider
turning the ministry over to its present board.

   "It was not until some of his dissident friends encouraged him
to resume leadership  at  PTL  that  all  of  these  un-Christian
shenanigans began," Falwell said.

   Belli  said Sunday that Bakker wasn't properly advised when he
gave up the ministry he founded to Falwell. "Had we  been  in  at
the beginning of this, Jimmy never would have resigned," he said.

   Calling  Bakker  his "finest client" in 53 years of practicing
law, Belli said the defrocked Pentecostal minister's side has not
been told. "We're going to tell it without venom" over  the  next
two to three days, he said.

   Belli,  an  Episcopalian,  said  he  wants  to  meet  with PTL
officials and the old bord of directors.  He also said  he  would
like to set up a meeting between the Bakkers and Falwell.

   Belli,  79,  has  represented  Jack  Ruby,  who killed John F.
Kennedy's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald;  victims  of  the  Bhopal,
India,  chemical  leak in 1984; and families of those killed when
the Soviets shot down a Korean Air Lines jet in 1983.

   Bakker said Sunday he wanted to make peace  but  had  to  seek
legal   counsel   when  the  ministry's  new  leaders  filed  for
reorganization.

   "Our desires and goal is that the ministry continue, that  all
creditors  be  paid  100  percent  and that all the partners have
fulfilled the vision that we  gave  them  to  have  a  place  for
retreat," Bakker said.

   When  asked  if  he expected to resume control of the ministry
despite recent allegations concerning his sex life  and  spending
practices,  Bakker  said,  "They accused Jesus Christ of the same
thing.  They said he was a wine-bibber, that  he  went  out  with
publicans and  sinners  and  prostitutes.    Just  because people
accuse you doesn't change the call of God on your life."

   Mrs.   Bakker  added,  "And  that  doesn't  make  you  guilty,
either."

   Meanwhile,  contractor  Roe  Messner said Saturday that he and
other PTL creditors are working  on  a  plan  to  reorganize  the
ministry  in case Falwell's plan in federal bankruptcy court does
not call for full payment of debts.

   Messner, in a telephone interview from Wichita, Kan., said  he
does  not  care  who  runs PTL as long as he gets the money he is
due.  Messner said the ministry owes him $14 million for work  he
did at Heritage USA while Bakker was in charge.

   PTL's  business  managers  were  given  120  days  in which to
present their reorganization plan  to  the  bankruptcy  court  in
Columbia.   The  plan  must  be  accepted  by  a  majority of the
creditors, which include contractors and  the  TV  stations  that
carry the  ministry's program.  PTL, which stands for People That
Love, or Praise the Lord, listed 1,400 creditors.

   Today, Jessica Hahn, the former church secretary whose  sexual
encounter  with  Bakker  seven  years ago led to his resignation,
said on ABC's "Good Morning America" program she never  had  been
paid "hush money" because of the encounter.

   Ms.  Hahn said she was paid $20,000 plus monthly interest "for
damages," but did not specify what the damages were.

   Belli said  Ms.    Hahn  "demeaned  herself"  by  appearing on
television.

   
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