Florida Religious Group Balks at Fine

Associated Press/March 2, 1999

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP)--A Florida religious organization was ordered to pay $6.4 million in fines after it sidestepped a court's ruling to stop promoting its "Double Your Blessings" investment scheme.

But an attorney for pastor Gerald Payne of Greater Ministries International Church, based in Tampa, Fla., said Payne will not pay because that would violate God's law.

Payne said in a statement last week that to cooperate with Judge Eunice Ross' order would be to place the state above God, thus violating the biblical admonition to render unto God what is God's.

His attorney repeated the argument Monday, citing several scriptural passages. "If he were to pay the fine, he would be stealing from God," Albert Cunningham said.

Deputy Attorney General Mark Stewart said Payne and associates ran what they called the "Double Your Blessings" program in which investors put up amounts ranging from $250 to $5,000 on the promise that they would double their money.

Greater Ministries allegedly told participants that the church was investing their money in gold and diamond mines and other extensive holdings.

The state attorney general's office and the Pennsylvania Securities Commission say the organization is in effect operating as an unregistered securities dealership and want to open the ministry's books.

"The First Amendment doesn't give any person or any religious organization a license to violate the law," said Stewart.

In November, Ross ordered the ministry to stop soliciting money for the program in Pennsylvania. Instead, the organization changed the name of the program to the "Faith Promise Plan" and continued to solicit investors, Stewart said.

Prosecutors said the ministry promoted the new program in mass mailings, on a central Pennsylvania television station, on a World Wide Web site and at prayer meetings of as many as 1,000 people.

The fine levied Monday was for each instance the ministry violated the judge's order.

Authorities in California, Ohio and Florida also have taken action against Greater Ministries or associates in other matters, but the Pennsylvania case is the first civil court proceeding against the organization, said Luci McClure, an attorney with the Pennsylvania Securities Commission.

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