The Nation - News from Nov. 6, 1987

A federal bankruptcy judge in Worcester, Mass., voided the sale of The Bible Speaks’ 69-acre estate to a department store heiress who bid $1.8 million for the land at public auction, saying the land could be sold for more. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James Queenen Jr. concurred with an argument by trustee David Ferrari, the court-ordered overseer of the liquidation of the fundamentalist church. Ferrari argued the picturesque western Massachusetts estate bought by Elizabeth Dayton Dovydenas is worth at least $6 million, based on recent appraisals. The auction was held Tuesday because The Bible Speaks is under a bankruptcy court order to pay back $6.6 million to Dovydenas, who claimed the fundamentalist church manipulated her into making the donation.