Controversial televangelist Jim Bakker thinks he may be off the air for months after he suffered a stroke in May.
The 80-year-old said in a broadcast from his home on Wednesday that memory loss has been one of the after-effects of his stroke and that recovering may still take many months.
That could see him off the air for several months yet, he said, adding that he still isn't completely out of the woods.
"It's so good to be back. I didn't know if I'd ever be back," he said.
"I want you to know that what I've been through, I'm not through yet. I'm not through the valley. I don't know if I'll be back on the air for a few months."
He said he was "sleeping all the time" as doctors have told him to rest, and his wife, Lori Bakker, said he was cycling, swimming and having speech therapy as part of his recuperation.
He's also been struggling with memory loss, although doctors expect him to make a full recovery.
"We wrote out a little opening from me to read mainly because I don't always remember everything, but the doctors tell me that I can recover totally," he said.
"I missed you all very, very much. I live to do this show. I live to be in your homes and that's what I live for. That, and my wife and my grandchildren and my kids, because it's just amazing."
He then said it was a struggle at the moment to keep his show on the air because people are "stealing" from him.
"I'm at peace and I want people to know that. I've been going through such a fight to trying to keep the ministry on the air," he said.
"People are stealing money, things from us. They are supposed to pay it back. They have taken over $1,000 or a million dollars, and it's an amazing time for me.
"I'm resting a lot. I had a stroke and if you ever had a stroke you know what I'm talking about."
But he said that when the time comes to leave this earth, he's confident he's "going to Heaven".
"No doubt about it. I'm going to be with Jesus one day, America. He loves you. He really does," he said.
Bakker's stroke came shortly after Missouri state filed a lawsuit against him for allegedly touting a "Silver Solution" product as a coronavirus cure.
In June, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge did the same.
Bakker denies any wrongdoing.
It's not the televangelist's first brush with the law. In 1989, he was sentenced to 45 years in prison on mail and wire fraud charges. His sentence was later reduced to eight years and he was released in 1994.
In September, it was announced that Jessica Chastain and Andrew Garfield will portray Bakker and his late first wife, Tammy Faye Bakker, in a new biopic.
