Rev. Bennett W. Smith died August 7, 2001. That was 7 &Mac184; months ago. And he preached his last sermon at Easter, nearly one year ago. But anyone calling the church during non-office hours gets a recorded message:

" . . . Our Pastor is the Reverend Doctor Bennett W. Smith Sr." . . .Don't they know he is dead? The outdoor bulletin board just removed a color photocopied likeness of him so faded that only 'insiders' knew who it was. Now the bulletin board is bare, as if a private club seeking no visitors operates inside.

Indeed, that seems to be the problem. It is not a "CHRISTIAN Church" . . but a 'BW SMITH Church' . .as the new heavily taxpayer-subsidized, prominently labeled "Reverend Doctor Bennett W. Smith Family Center" makes clear. The church is deeply divided between the 'BW-Smithians' . . .& the ANTI-BW-Smithians. Who is watching all those taxpayer millions?

Where Jesus fits in is unclear. As somebody who became an enemy of BW Smith for exposing the non-residency of his City Treasurer-wife Marilyn, I am unsure he deserves the 'sainthood' that the many politicians at his funeral promoted. BW Smith's legacy of a deeply fractured church is only one of several dubious 'traditions" he left behind. I can testify to:

• He was the first to get District Attorney Clark to prosecute me for exposing City Hall misconduct. (Clark prosecuted me 3X for BW & Marilyn Smith, having now prosecuted me 11X, all charges dismissed.)
• Smith committed perjury in clerical collar, alleging that I refused to leave the church parking lot. Fortunately the church security officer, respecting the courts, told the truth.
• He suborned the perjury of his wife, who played the 'race card' (alleging I stalked her & called her "black bitch" at the fake address where they did not live & I never saw her).
• He wrote $1,000 checks to Masiello from 292 Red Oak, Wmsville, where he lived since 1986 (while getting Geo. Arthur to come out of retirement to lie about his city residency).
• He made it respectable for clergy to live in safe suburbs (as parishioners live in struggling city neighborhoods)
• He made it OK for preachers (of a pacifist Savior?!) to pack pistols (his gun is still unaccounted-for!)

An Eastside activist friend alleges "there are Three P's you can't trust . . Preachers, Politicians, & Pimps (in that order)". I was particularly distressed to see BW Smith pray on national TV for our perjurer-President . . just after he perjured for his wife (& the DA) to try to silence me. Of BW Smith's sainthood I am unsure. I do know that it is time for St. John Baptist Church to get a new message.

NOTE, March 21: The new Pastor of Calvary Baptist, a politically powerful Eastside Church, immediately called upon getting it to condemn this message, promising to destroy it.

UPDATE, March 26: St. John Baptist held another election on March 17 at which Rev. Michael Chapman was again voted interim minister (Ousted-Deacon Hill had taken the prior vote for Chapman to court, but the judge ruled the court had no authority to intervene). But 9 days later, the telephone still answers:

" . . . Our Pastor is the Rev. Dr. Bennett W. Smith Sr." . . .Making us still nervous. BW Smith also made governmentt-funded "faith-based initiatives" politically-correct.Who's watching those HUD millions flowing through St. John Baptist?

Richard Kern, MSW, March 20, 21 & 26, 2002; cc. media, community grps.

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