CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Televangelist Jim Bakker broke down in tears on Friday afternoon when he had a chance to talk about the impact Reverend Billy Graham had on him.
Bakker was arrested in 1988 on fraud charges and was convicted in federal court in Charlotte. Bakker recalled the time Rev. Graham visited him in prison unannounced.
"Probably my lowest moment of that day," Bakker said. "He threw his arms around me and said 'Jim, I love you.'"
"That's the Billy Graham I know," he added.
When asked about the significance of Rev. Graham's casket being assembled by inmates at a Louisiana prison, the founder of the Praise the Lord (PTL) club couldn't keep his emotions together.
"Just by being buried in a coffin made by inmates," Bakker said. "That's the [Rev. Graham]."
Bakker went on to say the Graham family reached down when he was in "broken times."
Bakker was seen visiting the Billy Graham Library earlier in the week to pay his respect for the late evangelist.