Heiress accuses W. Palm church of exploiting her mental illness
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Had Lucinda Bennett not gotten swept away in a wave of religious fervor, she could be living in an oceanfront condo in Palm Beach, her only worry how to spend her $1.8 million inheritance.
Instead, having given away the condo and the bulk of her great-grandmother's fortune to the venerable First Baptist Church West Palm Beach, the 37-year-old is living in a small house in rural northeast Florida and worrying about putting food in her mouth and gas in her car.
....
"I'm mad at the Lord, and I'm mad at these pastors that took my money, and took advantage of me knowing I was mentally ill," she said during a November 2005 deposition.
Sometimes, she testified, the anger was overwhelming.
"I'm so angry now I can't control my car when I'm on the road. I was so angry a couple of years ago I almost drove my car off the road. I was suicidal, and I'm figuring this is getting to the point now where I cannot manage myself because I'm working so hard and the prosperity hasn't come in that these pastors said, 'Oh, you're going to outgive God, and God is going to give back to you.'"
....
But Bennett's days of devotion to church leaders are clearly over.
She has embraced Orthodox Judaism and wants to study to be a rabbi.
She works selling odor control equipment to sewage treatment plants and credit card machines to business start-ups. With little money coming in, she said she can barely afford gas to get to temple, much less the $4,000 cost of rabbinical studies.
....
As for First Baptist, it reports robust financial health.
In a recent newsletter to members, leaders reported they expected to reach their goal of $4.25 million in offerings for the fiscal year that ended Saturday. That is nearly $400,000 more than was collected the previous year.
"Clearly our giving this year is beyond anything we anticipated," they wrote. "To God be the glory!"
Had Lucinda Bennett not gotten swept away in a wave of religious fervor, she could be living in an oceanfront condo in Palm Beach, her only worry how to spend her $1.8 million inheritance.
Instead, having given away the condo and the bulk of her great-grandmother's fortune to the venerable First Baptist Church West Palm Beach, the 37-year-old is living in a small house in rural northeast Florida and worrying about putting food in her mouth and gas in her car.
....
"I'm mad at the Lord, and I'm mad at these pastors that took my money, and took advantage of me knowing I was mentally ill," she said during a November 2005 deposition.
Sometimes, she testified, the anger was overwhelming.
"I'm so angry now I can't control my car when I'm on the road. I was so angry a couple of years ago I almost drove my car off the road. I was suicidal, and I'm figuring this is getting to the point now where I cannot manage myself because I'm working so hard and the prosperity hasn't come in that these pastors said, 'Oh, you're going to outgive God, and God is going to give back to you.'"
....
But Bennett's days of devotion to church leaders are clearly over.
She has embraced Orthodox Judaism and wants to study to be a rabbi.
She works selling odor control equipment to sewage treatment plants and credit card machines to business start-ups. With little money coming in, she said she can barely afford gas to get to temple, much less the $4,000 cost of rabbinical studies.
....
As for First Baptist, it reports robust financial health.
In a recent newsletter to members, leaders reported they expected to reach their goal of $4.25 million in offerings for the fiscal year that ended Saturday. That is nearly $400,000 more than was collected the previous year.
"Clearly our giving this year is beyond anything we anticipated," they wrote. "To God be the glory!"
Labels: church
posted by Bill at 8:11:00 AM
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