Pastor Kevin Matthews out of North Carolina is making the news in a big way for allegedly suing Marie Holmes, the woman from North Carolina who won $188 million in the Powerball lottery. Holmes has experienced a bunch of controversy since first winning the Powerball lottery and professing that she would pay her tithes first and foremost on Holmes’ $188 million winnings , as reported by The Inquisitr .
After winning the North Carolina Education Lottery, Holmes was a woman of interest in the news, because Marie is a single mother of four children — one of whom has cerebral palsy. Holmes worked multiple jobs to take care of her children, and by becoming a Powerball jackpot winner, plenty assumed that Marie’s troubles would be over.
However, Holmes — who came into the public eye on Monday, February 23, 2015 — with Marie representing one of the three winners of the $188 million Powerball jackpot, found herself at the center of more lottery stories. First off, as reported by Black America Web , Holmes spent a pretty penny bailing her boyfriend out of jail. Marie shelled out $21 million in order to get Lamarr McDow released from jail — and it wasn’t the first time Holmes did so.
This time, Marie is reportedly facing a $10 million lawsuit from a pastor, no less. Pastor Kevin Matthews — a local North Carolina pastor — is allegedly suing Holmes to get a share of the $127 million that Marie took home after she decided to receive her Powerball lottery winnings in a lump sum payment.
Pastor Matthews claims that Kevin and Marie engaged in a verbal — not written — contract worth $1.5 million for Holmes to buy land to act as the home of some sort of retreat facility. The pastor spoke with EURweb in an exclusive interview that claims Pastor Kevin said the Lord led him to Marie.
Pastor Kevin’s lawsuit was something that Marie’s lawyer was unfamiliar with. Although Pastor Matthews claims he suffered from mental distress and emotional distress over Holmes allegedly reneging on her verbal promise over the $1.5 million Marie was reportedly supposed to give Pastor Matthews for the retreat, Holmes’ lawyer, Ruth Sheehan, knew nothing about the lawsuit.
The Francis Law Firm — where Sheehan works — has likely heard of Pastor Kevin’s lawsuit now that the report from Black America Web has gone viral and been shared more than 32,000 times on Facebook in the two days since the report was published. Pastor Matthews claimed he went through such a hard time that the pastor needed more meds.
“Because of the emotional distress and mental stress, they put me through, I had to start taking more medicine for anxiety and depression due to this situation.”
Pastor Kevin reportedly met with the Powerball winner and ministered to Marie at her house — with the pastor ultimately asking Marie to fund the land that would be the resting place for the retreat. Pastor Matthews told Marie he needed either $1 million, $1.5 million or $2 million, with the pastor claiming that Marie said she’d give him $1.5 million to buy the retreat land.
Pastor Matthews said the retreat center was something that the pastor had prayed about for years. The backlash being felt by the rumored lawsuit involves a supposed man of God allegedly forgetting the popular 1 Corinthians 6:1 verse that dissuades Christians from taking one another to court.
“When one of you has a dispute with another believer, how dare you file a lawsuit and ask a secular court to decide the matter instead of taking it to other believers!”
Some of the comments flowing in to the EURweb article contain sharp words for Pastor Matthews.
“He is a wolf dressed in sheep clothing. The clothes are exposing him. Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. I would never allow someone like that to be my spiritual leader. Get away quickly.”
Pastor Kevin Matthews is the Devil in disguise. https://t.co/8Jw0kJmqQX
— Miguel A. Goyco (@RealMiguelg2) February 13, 2016
[AP Photo/North Carolina Education Lottery]