Tony Alamo Ministries

[RyanMcC]

I know the name vaguely reminds you of Tony Llama who has his own brand of boots, but I'm talking about Tony Alamo who has his own brand of denim jackets (which can still be found on ebay).

Here is the homepage of Tony Alamo Ministries, which includes a mention of "Patriot Hero Joe Banister":

http://www.alamoministries.com/content/ ... index.html

Here are some gems from his ministry website:

IRS–ROMAN CULT’S COLLECTION AGENCY

The Roman Catholic Jesuits started the international banking system called the Illuminati and the Agentur (and blamed the Jews for this). Rome’s motto is, “He that holds the money bags runs the nations.” The Vatican started all the wars (inquisitions) to rid the world of heretics (non-Roman Catholics) and then made loans from her banks to nations so they would have enough money to fight them. We foolishly permitted this cult’s collection agency into our country (the IRS—which answers only to Rome).

http://www.alamoministries.com/content/ ... crets.html

No one is surprised when government officials lie—in this case we're talking about the IRS. The IRS is well-known for its harassment of American citizens. These abuses were most recently documented in congressional hearings. But what happens to the numerous people whose lives have been ravished by the IRS?

Pastor Tony Alamo, head of the Alamo Christian Ministries, was convicted in 1994 of tax abuse and spent four years in prison because of IRS lies. The IRS stole church property, threw hundreds of church families out of their homes, confiscated their personal property, and totally disregarded the most cherished of American freedoms—religious freedom—the right to choose a religion of ones personal beliefs.

http://www.alamoministries.com/false_ac ... ocent.html

During this same period, the IRS began to move against Alamo and the churches. In 1985, prodded by CAN members, they revoked the church’s tax-exempt status retroactively for the years 1977 to 1980. Despite the church’s attempts to reverse this ruling, it was upheld in 1992. The IRS simultaneously opened a criminal investigation against Alamo, thus effectively denying him the right to testify in the tax exempt case.

In 1990, the IRS filed liens of $7.9 million against church-run workshops (businesses) for taxes it claimed were due in six states -- Tennessee, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Oklahoma and Florida. The IRS then issued a (jeopardy) assessment against Alamo claiming he owed $745,000 in personal income taxes for the years 1977 through 1980, and that Alamo-related companies owed another $5 million in corporate income tax, and $1.6 million in unpaid employees withholding taxes.

http://www.alamoministries.com/content/ ... _Story.htm

Sounds like a colorful character to say the least, that's not even a fraction of the good stuff, suprised I haven't heard him mentioned here before.

Here is a website which tracks news about him: http://www.tonyalamonews.com/

[grixit]

In 1978 i was taking the bus a lot between Orange County and the Valley. One day, posters suddenly appeared everywhere i looked, on fences, trees, telephone poles, walls, etc. Soon i heard on the news that they had blanketed both counties. If the total distribution was as dense as what i could see from the bus it would have taken an army of people on foot accomplish it. The posters were generally creditted to Tony Alamo's group, which at that time was called the Tony and Susan Alamo Foundation. I already knew about him because religion in general and religious wackos in particular are a hobby of mine, but i'd never seen his wackiness spelled out so succintly.

The posters described a conspiracy in the Roman Catholic Church. Not the whole church, but the inner core which used the rest of the church as a front. They controlled all 3 tv networks, all major newspapers and news magazines, both political parties, all the major multinational corporations, etc etc. They sought to dominate everyone, but they wanted to specifically kill the members of two groups: orthodox jews and born again christians.

My thought at the time was if i really believed all that, i'd immediately sign up for Jesuit school.

[RyanMcC]

In 1978 i was taking the bus a lot between Orange County and the Valley. One day, posters suddenly appeared everywhere i looked, on fences, trees, telephone poles, walls, etc. Soon i heard on the news that they had blanketed both counties. If the total distribution was as dense as what i could see from the bus it would have taken an army of people on foot accomplish it. The posters were generally creditted to Tony Alamo's group, which at that time was called the Tony and Susan Alamo Foundation. I already knew about him because religion in general and religious wackos in particular are a hobby of mine, but i'd never seen his wackiness spelled out so succintly.

The posters described a conspiracy in the Roman Catholic Church. Not the whole church, but the inner core which used the rest of the church as a front. They controlled all 3 tv networks, all major newspapers and news magazines, both political parties, all the major multinational corporations, etc etc.

That last part is still on his website, in his "Pope's Secrets" screed.

Because of her age-old desire to control the world government and church, the serpent-like Vatican has infested the world and the U.S. government with so many of her zealous, highly-trained and dedicated Jesuit devotees, that she now controls the United Nations (which she created), the White House, Congress, every state, federal, civic, and social government agency, including the U.S. Department of Labor, the IRS, the FBI, the Supreme Court, judicial systems, the armed forces, state, federal, and other police, also the international banking and federal reserve systems (called the Illuminati and Agentur), labor unions, the Mafia, and most of the heavyweight news media.

http://www.alamoministries.com/content/ ... crets.html

Here is a news clip from this year about Alamo which is a fairly good summary.

He had foundation volunteers working making his high-priced jackets who were aparantly paid "substandard wages" (food, clothing, shelter), which is what got him in trouble with the IRS and the Department of Labor and had his foundation declared a business if I'm not mistaken.

I'll also cede Alamo might not be a typical tax protester, although the smell is similar, as such if anyone wants to move the thread to another forum that's fine with me. The perfect storm of religious wackery, conspiracy theory, and tax issues got me a bit excited.

[Demosthenes]

Tony Alamo's real name is Bernie LaZar Hoffman and he grew up Jewish. His wife Susan was born Edith Opal Horn.

[Demosthenes]

His most recent sermon:

DATE: Sat, 26 Apr 2008
SIZE: 26.0 MB
DOWNLOAD EPISODE
Pastor Tony Alamo program #633

Baptists and other people that call yourselves Christians you marry and divorce, you marry and divorce. This is polygamy and so you're judging me, people that actually are polygamist they take care of their wives and children. Not like you serial polygamists where you marry them and then you divorce and get yourself another wife because your first wife was a little bit old.

Ironically, Tony has been married eight times and had some very ugly divorces. One ex accused him of forcing her to have plastic surgery so that she'd look more like his dead wife Susan.

[ASITStands]

Ironically, Tony has been married eight times and had some very ugly divorces. One ex accused him of forcing her to have plastic surgery so that she'd look more like his dead wife Susan.

People usually criticize others for the very things they do themselves. Interesting.

[grixit]

Oh, i forgot to mention that those posters had a description of World War II: The Vatican's man Hitler was getting ahead of schedule which threatened to expose the master plan. So the Vatican's man Stalin and the Vatican's man Roosevelt were ordered to take him out. No information on who Churchill and Hirohito were working for, though.

[RyanMcC]

Ironically, Tony has been married eight times and had some very ugly divorces. One ex accused him of forcing her to have plastic surgery so that she'd look more like his dead wife Susan.

Tony Alamo supposedly had claimed that his wife Susan would be resurrected when she died in 1982, he seemed quite attached to her, even after her death.

Susan Alamo entombed in Tulsa
The Associated Press/August 11, 1998

Van Buren, Arkansas -- Susan Alamo's remains were placed in a crypt in Tulsa, putting to rest a years-long fight over the body.

Mrs. Alamo, the wife of evangelist Tony Alamo, died of cancer in 1982. She was entombed Monday.

In February 1991, Alamo ordered his followers to bring along his wife's body when they evacuated the Tony and Susan Alamo Christian Foundation compound in Crawford County. The compound was about to be raided by federal marshals in the wake of a civil lawsuit against Alamo.

Alamo was ultimately arrested on tax-related charges and was convicted in 1994. He is completing a six-year federal sentence, now in a halfway house in Texarkana. His scheduled Dec. 8 release would have been in jeopardy had the body not been returned.

Alamo was ordered in 1995 to return the body. The Chancery Court judge stipulated that if Alamo did not produce the body, he would be sent to the local jail upon his release from federal custody.

Alamo agreed last month to deliver the corpse. His followers from the Alamo Foundation brought the body in a sealed casket to a Van Buren funeral home on July 23. Last week, state medical examiners in Little Rock, where the corpse was subsequently transported, affirmed the body was indeed that of Mrs. Alamo, clearing the way for the burial.

The court order to deliver the body came when Christihaon Coie of Los Angeles, Mrs. Alamo's daughter, went to court because she wanted to bury her mother near relatives in Van Buren. However, she said she would not contest a previous order releasing the body to Alamo for suitable burial following its identification.

A Nashville dentist who had made a bridge for Susan Alamo identified his work, and Circuit-Chancery Judge Floyd Rogers accepted the identification.

Mrs. Alamo's body was returned to Van Buren on Thursday.

[Paul]

No information on who Churchill and Hirohito were working for, though.

In an amazing display of how to hide something in plain sight, Churchill was working for the Queen.

[The Observer]

No information on who Churchill and Hirohito were working for, though.

In an amazing display of how to hide something in plain sight, Churchill was working for the Queen.

In World War II, the monarchy was headed by KING George VI. Elizabeth Windsor, a teenager, served in the Army as a mechanic and driver and did not become Queen until her father died in 1952. And she only became Queen because her uncle Edward abdicated because edward preferred tapping hot American divorcee *ss to being King of England, Ireland and Emperor of India.

He never said Queen Elizabeth. He said "the Queen." And if you can't figure out which Queen he was talking about, you are farther down on the Illimunati chain than you imagine.

[Famspear]

No information on who Churchill and Hirohito were working for, though.

In an amazing display of how to hide something in plain sight, Churchill was working for the Queen.

In World War II, the monarchy was headed by KING George VI. Elizabeth Windsor, a teenager, served in the Army as a mechanic and driver and did not become Queen until her father died in 1952. And she only became Queen because her uncle Edward abdicated because edward preferred tapping hot American divorcee *ss to being King of England, Ireland and Emperor of India.

(bolding added).

I have a picture in a book somewhere of Her Majesty as a teenager during World War II, working on a truck motor. It is a funny and, strangely, almost comforting thing to know that the current Monarch ("Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of her other realms and territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith") almost surely knows more about the workings of an internal combustion engine than I do (I hardly know which end of a screwdriver is which).

[Mr. Mephistopheles]

I have a picture in a book somewhere of Her Majesty as a teenager during World War II, working on a truck motor. It is a funny and, strangely, almost comforting thing to know that the current Monarch ("Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of her other realms and territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith") almost surely knows more about the workings of an internal combustion engine than I do (I hardly know which end of a screwdriver is which).

I found this http://www.flickr.com/photos/castlekay/2421062681/ which includes a photo of her changing a truck tire. The link includes the following text, but I can't get the photo to display here:

In 1945, 18-year-old Princess Elizabeth convinced her father that she should be allowed to contribute directly to the war effort. She joined the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service, where she was known as No 230873 Second Subaltern Elizabeth Windsor, trained as a driver, and drove a military truck while she served.This training was the first time she had been taught together with other students. It is said that she greatly enjoyed this and that this experience led her to send her own children to school rather than have them educated at home. She was the first, and so far only, female member of the royal family to actually serve in the armed forces, although every monarch is nominally the Commander-in-Chief of both the British and Canadian Armed Forces, and other royal women have been given honorary ranks. During the VE Day celebrations in London, she and her sister, Princess Margaret, mingled with the crowd after midnight to celebrate with everyone.

[Mr. Mephistopheles]

J. Edgar Hoover - that has to be the Queen you are talking about........

Yes, and Clyde was the actual Prime Minister.

[Gregg]

No information on who Churchill and Hirohito were working for, though.

In an amazing display of how to hide something in plain sight, Churchill was working for the Queen.

In World War II, the monarchy was headed by KING George VI. Elizabeth Windsor, a teenager, served in the Army as a mechanic and driver and did not become Queen until her father died in 1952. And she only became Queen because her uncle Edward abdicated because edward preferred tapping hot American divorcee *ss to being King of England, Ireland and Emperor of India.

There just ain't no substitute for a good ole american hottie!

[wserra]

J. Edgar Hoover - that has to be the Queen you are talking about

Ah, c'mon, being a closet cross-dresser wasn't that unusual among that type in that generation. Why, Richard J. Daley - the real Mayor Daley - was one too.

They called him Women's Wear Daley.

[LDE]

Jewish composer Barry Drogin wrote a one-man opera using the words of Tony Alamo as text (especially some of the anti-Semitic and anti-Catholic parts). Here's a link:

http://www.notnicemusic.com/alinpark.html

[RyanMcC]

Sept. 20, 2008

FOUKE, Ark. (AP) — Federal authorities conducting a child-porn investigation raided the headquarters Saturday of a ministry run by a convicted tax evader once labeled by prosecutors as a polygamist who preys on girls and women.

Social workers interviewed children who live at the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries complex, which critics call a cult, to find out whether they were abused. The two-year investigation involves a law that prohibits the transportation of children across state lines for criminal activity, said Tom Browne, who runs the FBI office in Little Rock.

"Children living at the facility may have been sexually and physically abused," Browne said.

The raid, conducted by state and federal authorities, started an hour before sunset at the complex in tiny Fouke, in southwestern Arkansas. Armed guards regularly patrol the headquarters, but there was no resistance as agents moved in, state police said.

No one was arrested, but U.S. Attorney Bob Balfe said before the raid that he expected an arrest warrant for Alamo to be issued later. The federal investigation centered on the production of child pornography, while state police were looking into allegations of other child abuse, he said.

In a phone call to The Associated Press from a friend's house in the Los Angeles area, Tony Alamo — who was also once accused of child abuse — denied involvement in pornography.

"We don't go into pornography; nobody in the church is into that," Alamo said. "Where do these allegations stem from? The anti-Christ government. The Catholics don't like me because I have cut their congregation in half. They hate true Christianity."

About 100 state and federal law officers raided the 15-acre compound housing the ministry, which the Southern Poverty Law Center describes as a cult that opposes homosexuality, Catholicism and the government.

The ministry's Web site says it is "dedicated to spreading the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and the winning of souls worldwide."

John Selig, head of the Arkansas Department of Human Services, said state workers were talking to children.

A passenger van with about 12 people inside left the compound heading for Texarkana with a police escort shortly after 8 p.m. It appeared some of those inside were children, but Selig said he didn't know whether any children would be taken into state custody.

Police said the Alamo church complex would be allowed to open for Sunday services, although officers did not indicate when the search would end.

Alamo's church is in a single-story building that used to be a convenience store. A white cross stands atop the structure, with a small steeple to the right side. A helicopter circled overhead, and onlookers stopped along the two-lane highway to watch the raid.

There had been complaints about the ministry since Tony Alamo arrived in town in the late 1990s, said Terry Purvis, mayor of the town of about 850 residents.

Four members of the Alamo ministries are vying for City Council seats in November, said Purvis, who added that he has gotten calls from former ministry members with allegations of child abuse, polygamy and underage marriage.

Purvis said he turned over all the complaints to the FBI.

Fouke resident Mary Coker said that she has filed complaints with police about the Alamo ministries and that she has become close to some former ministry members who sought her counsel. Coker applauded Saturday's raid but said, "The wheel of justice is slow."

"He has scammed the people long enough," she said.

Alamo was once accused in California of directing the beating of a church member's 11-year-old son. In 1994, he was sentenced to six years in prison on tax evasion charges filed in Memphis, Tenn.

The judge in the tax case ordered him held pending sentencing after prosecutors argued that the evangelist was a flight risk and a polygamist who preyed on married women and girls in his congregation. U.S. District Judge Jon McCalla said he was concerned over "the very great control Mr. Alamo has over a number of people."

Alamo told the AP on Saturday that he believed the raid was part of a push by the federal government to make same-sex marriage legal while outlawing polygamy.

The raid had been set for October but was moved up after an e-mail exchange between Justice Department employees was inadvertently sent Friday night to media outlets, including The Associated Press. The U.S. attorney asked the media to hold stories until after the raid began.

Purvis, the mayor, worried the raid would harm his town's reputation.

"When people think of Waco or Eldorado, Texas, now, they think of cults," Purvis said. "When people think of Fouke, Ark., they are going to think of the Alamo ministries, not the great people in this town."

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iM_k ... AD93AQNHG2

[fortinbras]

Elizabeth Windsor, a teenager, served in the Army as a mechanic and driver and did not become Queen until her father died in 1952.

"Lieutenant Windsor" was in the motor pool, but slept each night at Buckingham Palace (she was a mere 13 when the war started for England in 1939). One day her base was visited by her father and it was arranged that she should be his driver -- probably the first royal lady to drive a car herself. Except the Army jeep wouldn't start -- her father had disconnected something as a prank.

[Mr. Mephistopheles]

Evangelist Alamo faces charges in child sex probe By JON GAMBRELL, Associated Press Writer
Fri Sep 26, 7:12 AM ET

Evangelist and convicted tax evader Tony Alamo says the age of consent is puberty and there's a mandate in the Bible for girls marrying young.

"In the Bible it happened. But girls today, I don't marry 'em if they want to at 14-15 years old," Alamo said Saturday after federal agents raided his southwestern Arkansas compound and placed six girls into state custody. "We won't do it, even though I believe it's OK."

But authorities don't believe it's OK — and now Alamo faces charges he transported children across state lines for sexual activities, in violation of the Mann Act. And so once again, the one-time rock promoter and street preacher that former President Clinton likened to "Roy Orbison on speed" will return to federal court.

Alamo is likely to appear Friday in federal court in Flagstaff, Ariz., where federal agents and local police arrested him outside of a mountainside resort. Police officials said there were several women traveling with Alamo when agents arrested him, but none were minors.

Authorities did not say when minors were taken across state lines or which states were involved, but Alamo has ministries in California and Arkansas.

FBI documents identified Alamo by his birth name, Bernie Lazar Hoffman. Alamo has said he was born Jewish but converted to Christianity.

He turned 74 the day federal agents and Arkansas state police had raided the Fouke headquarters of Tony Alamo Christian Ministries on Saturday. Officials removed six girls ages 10 to 17 from the compound and sought evidence that children there had been molested or filmed having sex.

Prosecutors sought Alamo's arrest after interviewing the girls this week, but Little Rock FBI spokesman Steve Frazier would not disclose what the children said. He said the affidavit describing the FBI's evidence against Alamo would remain under seal even after Alamo's initial court appearance.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, describes the ministry as a cult. Alamo's church rails against homosexuals, Roman Catholics and the government.

In a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Saturday, Alamo said girls are fit for marriage once they are sexually mature, but denied any involvement with pornography.

"We don't go into pornography; nobody in the church is into that," Alamo said. "Where do these allegations stem from? The anti-Christ government. The Catholics don't like me because I have cut their congregation in half. They hate true Christianity."

An Arkansas judge has hearings set for Friday and Monday on whether the state Department of Human Services can keep custody of the six girls. The girls will attend the hearings.

"We will transport them to and from hearings. We will take part in any future hearings," agency spokeswoman Julie Munsell said. "Our job right now is to basically take care of them."

State Circuit Judge Jim Hudson said two hearings would be conducted Friday and the other four Monday in Texarkana.

The six hearings will be split among three judges who will decide whether the state had enough evidence to temporarily remove the children from their homes on the Fouke compound. If a judge rules against the state, the girls would be returned to the parents.

Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler said that no further arrests were planned that would involve his agency.

Alamo and his late wife Susan were street preachers in Los Angeles before forming a commune near Saugus, Calif. Susan Alamo died of cancer in 1982; Alamo claimed she would be resurrected and kept her body on display for six months while followers prayed.

Alamo was convicted of tax-related charges in 1994 and served four years in prison after the IRS said he owed the government $7.9 million. Prosecutors in that case argued that Alamo was a flight risk and a polygamist who preyed on married women and girls in his congregation.

Since establishing his ministries in Arkansas, Alamo has been a controversial and flamboyant figure in the state. Snapshots often show him wearing large dark sunglasses, and he recently said he is legally blind.

In his autobiography, "My Life," former President Bill Clinton, an Arkansas native, described Alamo recalled traveling in 1975 to see Dolly Parton sing at Alamo's compound in the town of Alma.

Remembering the fiasco after Susan Alamo's death, Clinton wrote: "A couple of years later, he got involved with a younger woman. Lo and behold, God spoke to him again and told him Susan wasn't coming back after all, so he took her out of the glass box and buried her."

[Doktor Avalanche]

Remembering the fiasco after Susan Alamo's death, Clinton wrote: "A couple of years later, he got involved with a younger woman. Lo and behold, God spoke to him again and told him Susan wasn't coming back after all, so he took her out of the glass box and buried her."

I thought it was because it was creeping out the dinner guests when he insisted they dine over her dead body.

That, or the new hottie drew the line at dusting her.