John Bevere said Jim Bakker told him that prison was not God’s judgment on his life but God’s mercy, and that if he had kept going the way he was, he believed he would have ended up in hell.

He also reportedly said, “I always loved Jesus, yet he was not my Lord,” which was the core lesson Bevere later shared from that visit.

What he meant

  • Bakker’s point was that his faith had been real, but his life had not been surrendered.
  • He framed the prison experience as a wake-up call rather than just punishment.
  • The story is often quoted in discussions about repentance, lordship, and the “fear of the Lord.”

Quick note

Some retellings spell the name as Jim Bakker rather than Jimmy Baker, but the prison-visit story in the sources is about Jim Bakker and John Bevere.

TL;DR: Jim Bakker told John Bevere that prison was God’s mercy, not judgment, and that Jesus had been his Savior but not his Lord.