SUDDENLY I heard a voice, a voice that came from every direction. It was all around me. It was going through every fibre of my being. My head, my arms, my legs; it was all around me. The voice said, ‘I AM THE LORD THY GOD. STAND UP ON YOUR FEET AND TELL THE PEOPLE IN THIS ROOM THAT JESUS CHRIST IS COMING BACK TO EARTH, OR THOU SHALT SURELY DIE.’
Tony Alamo
These are words of Tony Alamo, founder of the multi-million dollar Tony Alamo Ministries, who also confesses on his website:
I had absolutely no respect for women at all. All I had met or been associated with were ungodly in hundreds of different ways …
Alamo, 74, whose big hair has since migrated south, was then “instructed” by God to shag young females – VERY young females, some as young as nine.
But, thanks to an Arkansas jury, Alamo’s days of abusing female followers are over. He has just been convicted of taking girls across state lines for sex, and prosecutors at his trial say he could face a total of 175 years in prison for violating the nearly century-old Mann Act, a morality law once aimed at stopping women from being sold into prostitution.
Each count also carries possible fines of $250,000.
Alamo stood silently as the verdict was read, in contrast to his occasional mutterings during testimony. His five victims sat looking forward in the gallery. One, a woman he “married” at age 8, wiped away a tear.
After the verdict, Alamo – born Bernie Lazar Hoffman into a Jewish family – said:
I’m just another one of the prophets that went to jail for the Gospel.
The jury of nine men and three women took about 11 hours to consider the charges against Alamo. The 10-count federal indictment accused him of taking his underage “wives” across state lines as early as 1994.
US Assistant Attorney Kyra Jenner said Alamo’s conviction would end his cycle of abuse, as he told his followers God instructed him to marry younger and younger girls.
We believe he will face the rest of his natural life in prison,
The five women, now age 17 to 33, told jurors that Alamo “married” them in private ceremonies while they were minors. Each detailed trips beyond Arkansas’ borders for Alamo’s sexual gratification.
With little physical evidence, prosecutors relied on the women’s stories to paint an emotional portrait of a charismatic religious leader who controlled every aspect of his subjects’ lives. No one obtained food, clothing or transportation without him knowing about it.
Tony and Sue Alamo
In the end, prosecutors convinced jurors that Alamo’s ministry offered him the opportunity to prey on the young girls of loyal followers who believed him to be a prophet. They described a sect that ran on the fear of drawing the anger of “Papa Tony.”
Alamo founded his ministry with his wife Susan in the 1960s. After Susan Alamo’s death in 1982, Alamo began focusing his tracts on bashing Catholicism and the Vatican. His ministry, built on the backs of followers who worked in various businesses to support the church, designed and sold elaborate denim jackets for celebrities.
Federal agents seized a large portion of his assets in the 1990s to settle tax claims after courts declared his operations a business, not a church.
Alamo is due to be sentenced later.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
July 27th, 2009 at 9:59 am
Yet another freakish pervert religionist running a corrupt ministry…. How many is that now?
It would be interesting to calculate how many of these preachers AREN'T involved in some kind of pathetic sex scandal or get-rich-quick scam.
And religionists claim a monopoly on morals?
July 27th, 2009 at 10:38 am
It should be no surprise. The "ministry" business seems to attract the kind of peole who are amoral control freaks. What amazes me is that christians who, after all , are "wise as serpents" don't see through the scam. But then, religion is never about seeing things as they are, rather it is just phenomenal self-delusion which is easily exploited by criminals who love the protective cover religion gives them.
July 27th, 2009 at 10:49 am
"The Lord Thy God" is about 400 years behind on his English, I think.
July 27th, 2009 at 10:57 am
Just look up Prosperity Gospel on Wikipedia. One of the biggest crooks is actually a guy named Creflo Dollar (I'm not making it up!).
TONY ALAMO is an anagram of A LOTA MONY!!
July 27th, 2009 at 11:55 am
The now infamous Jim Bakker used to preach the Prosperity Gospel ("Give all your money to me and the Lord will REALLY bless you!"). Whilst in prison he apparently saw the light, and now says: "I was wrong." (Evidently, he had never actually read the Bible before, to find out what it was that it was saying – I was really shocked!) However, as with all snake-oil salesmen, you can't believe a word he says, because he is back in business again, preaching and writing, and raking in the millions, though he leaves out the obvious lie that if you hand over all your wordly wealth to cunts like him God is somehow going to reward you a thousand-fold. (There are sites on the net which review research that demonstrates that charismatics in America are amongst the POOREST members of society, not the richest – what a surprise!) Evidently Bakker still owes the IRS around $6 million (mere chicken-feed when your Father owns "the cattle on a thousand hills" surely?), so though he lives in the lap of luxury once more, as befitting any humble servant of Christ, none of his assets are in his name!!
July 27th, 2009 at 11:57 am
Cont (sic): Isn't it reassuring to know that America's religious leaders are people of such high moral standards, honesty and probity?
July 27th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Kenneth Copeland is the so-called "Godfather of the Prosperity Gospel". Read the truth about him here: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories...../cbsnews...
July 27th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
They certainly are conts…
July 27th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
And about 4,00 years behind with his philosophy!!!
July 27th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
And about 4,000 years behind with his philosophy!!!
July 28th, 2009 at 5:14 am
Wow, in a world of big hairdos, Tony Alamo must have a claim to the crown…(if he could get it to fit).
July 28th, 2009 at 7:20 am
And BIG HAIRDO is an anagram of I HOARD BIG.
I`m sure you realized this, Tim, but didn't want to come over as a smarty-pants!
July 28th, 2009 at 7:23 am
Thanks to Tim, every time we use that abbreviation now it is going to contain a hidden meaning!
July 28th, 2009 at 7:39 am
BTW Tim, I did check your claim on the net, and, according to one site, although cont does in fact mean "cunt" in Welsh "in Caernarfon iawn cont is considered a warm greeting"! I also couldn't fail to notice that cwd means "scrotum", but, as ever, "in Caernarfon smae cwd is a greeeting"!! What exactly is wrong with those stupid conts in Carrrrrrrrrnarrrffon, as Huw Edwards refers to it?
July 28th, 2009 at 9:29 am
PS Before all three of our Welsh readers take umbrage at my use of language there, I think I should point out that I hail from Hampshire myself, and in this part of the world the phrase stupid cunt is used as a term of endearment. Similarly, as tousle-haired, freckle-faced youths gaily cycle past local pensioners attempting to navigate the local high street, one often hears the charming, but oft-misunderstood, greeting "get out the way yer fat bastard" ringing in one's ears! Cwds!!
July 28th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Actually 'Cwdin' is more often used for 'scrotum' (literally, it means 'pouch'). It also means 'teabag' — '80 cwdin tê' is often seen on the side of boxes of tea. And we all know what part of the body 'teabagging' involves…
And yes, 'cont' is more often used as an (type of) endearment: 'Sut wyt ti, felly, yr hen gont?' How are you then, you old so-and-so…
July 28th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Heh, heh, heh.
July 28th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
"Learning all the time", as Benny Hill said! Remember that one?
July 28th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
PS I'm going to have to pretend that I have absolutely no idea what your reference to "teabagging" means!!
July 28th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Morris Cerullo has a ridiculous "comb-over" (see the photos on his website), and Benny Hinn has always had the most stupid hairstyle in the world (remember him on Clive James many moons ago?), which looks even worse than Donald Trump's confection! How come such humble, self-effacing spiritual men appear to be so vain?
July 28th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Morris Cerullo has a ridiculous "comb-over" (see the photos on his website), and Benny Hinn has always had the most stupid hairstyle in the world (remember him on Clive James many moons ago?), which looks even worse than Donald Trump's confection! How come such humble, self-effacing, spiritual men appear to be so vain?