Now posted on the Alamo Ministries web site are three letters dated January 3, 2011 from Tony Alamo; one to President Barack Obama, and one each to former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Taken at face value, all three letters seem to come from some parallel universe with only a passing similarity to the world we recognize. The letters come from a bizarre world in which presidents take seriously what Tony Alamo might have to say, are easily led to suppose that Tony Alamo’s federal conviction and 175 year sentence were actually persecution for his beliefs, and are willing to consider the possibility that Alamo has heard from God how to resolve the conflict in the Middle East.
This is all hilariously funny but at the same time puzzling. Can Alamo truly think Obama, Bush, and Clinton will possibly fall for such utter lunacy? The answer apparently is yes. What these letters suggest is that Alamo is possessed by a combination of narcissism and megalomania which leave him truly incapable of recognizing where his own malignant fantasies of power and grandeur end and the real world begins. He is not just a criminal. He is criminally insane. One must wonder what current members think when reading these letters and why they continue to support him.

This Bible verse defines Tony Alamo (2 Tim 3:13 KJV) But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

Excerpt from Alamo letter to Obama: “Therefore, as time is running out, I am asking your majesty to grant me immediate pardon so I can work out the different tactics, strategies, and ideas that God revealed to me and put them into immediate action, since we wasted so much time by not taking immediate drastic steps to end this conflict. It will not only be beneficial to the disputing parties, but to all Americans, to our homeland security and values, the freedom, justice, and equality that we stand for as the land of the free and the home of the brave. Our integrity needs to be an example for the entire world. The whole world is looking at us to resolve their problems, and we can’t afford to fail them. Let the needy, the hopeless, and the helpless know that America is there to listen, defend, and act on their behalf. We have become the hope of many nations and people, and we can’t let this conflict drag on any longer, putting our integrity and reputation into question. For the sake of peace, I ask you, President Obama, to act courageously by freeing me from my prison cell so I can help you deliver an end to this conflict. I am a man of truth, and I mean every word I say. I would welcome you visiting me in person, or, if for some reason you can’t come in person, I am willing to share the strategy that God revealed to me to any of your trusted representatives and to contact my lawyers to prepare the pardon papers. I am 76 years old. I am willing to direct all my influences, resources, and everything I have to help you end this conflict. I know and understand this conflict, and I know how to resolve it, as I know myself and I know how to get things done. Trust in me.”

TO READ ALL THREE LETTERS:
LINK: http://www.alamoministries.com/content/english/letters/tothepresident.html

To listen to the oral arguments United States vs. Bernie Hoffman, September, 21, 2010 click here: http://www.ca8.uscourts.gov

On the left side of the page, click on Oral Arguments

On the left side of this page, click on Case Number

Enter this number in the box and click Search: 09-3651

Evangelist Tony Alamo told a girl who questioned one of his orders that he was “still in charge” of his Arkansas religious compound even from a Texas jail cell, according to recorded calls played Tuesday in his sex-crimes trial.

Prosecutors allege that a domineering Alamo took five underage girls across state lines for sex between 1994 and 2005. Defense lawyers say the government targeted Alamo for prosecution because it is anti-Christian. Alamo, who has pleaded not guilty, has also said the Vatican is behind his troubles.

Alamo told the girl, who is not among those he is accused of abusing, to “shut up” when she began to question him, according to the recordings made in Texarkana, Texas, after a raid on his southern Arkansas headquarters.

“Just because I’m in jail, you’ll find out that I’m still in charge. OK, kid? You understand?” Alamo said in the recording.

Earlier in the tape, he threatened to kick the girl out of the community if she didn’t obey.

“You either have to do what you’re supposed to do or get out,” Alamo said. When she began to protest, he interrupted her by saying, “Shut up. Shut your face. Clean up your stinking mess.”

Prosecutors rested their case Tuesday after four days of graphic testimony in which five women said they were “married” to Alamo as teens or preteens and were sexually assaulted by him. They said they traveled to other states for sex with him or responded to his call and returned to Arkansas and had sex with him.

As the defense began presenting its case, Alamo’s legal wife, Sharon Alamo, said his trips with the girls were for legitimate church purposes. Under cross-examination, she said she couldn’t explain a handful of wedding rings found in Alamo’s bedroom.

“Didn’t you notice the girls moving into the defendant’s residence … were getting younger and younger?” Assistant U.S. Attorney Clay Fowlkes asked.

“No, I didn’t,” Sharon Alamo replied.

Later, she said her romantic relationship with Alamo was “over” but wouldn’t elaborate.

“My relationship with him is between myself and God and Tony,” she said. “I know you want me to label it but I just can’t do that.”

Alamo has said the girls, part of his estimated 100-200 followers, were traveling to help spread the ministry’s teachings. His apocalyptic tracts outline his hatred of the Vatican and his feared “one-world government” as well as his belief in flying saucers.

In other tapes played for jurors, Alamo asked a female follower if she was aware of what he did behind closed doors. On another, he makes light of the charges against him.

“Why the hell would I take her across Texas state lines? If I did it in Arkansas, would that be bad?” he asks as women and girls on the other end of the line giggle.

Alamo told reporters on the way to court Tuesday that he planned to take the stand, despite his lawyers’ advice against it.

“I’m going to testify. I’ve already won. They’ve got nothing,” Alamo said.

His legal team said it could call as many as 10 witnesses.

Each of the 10 counts against Alamo is punishable by 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

In court Monday, the evangelist blurted out a reference to the 1993 federal raid on the Branch Davidian religious compound in Waco, Texas. Branch Davidian leader David Koresh and dozens of followers died as the complex burned.

The outburst came as defense lawyers argued aboutwhether an FBI agent could say he worried about the safety of Alamo’s followers after the raid there.

“After Waco, they are looking for safety too, from the FBI,” Alamo interjected from the defense table.

Defense lawyer Phillip Kuhn said after the hearing that U.S. District Judge Harry F. Barnes heard the comment and asked that Alamo “cool it.”

But as Alamo left the courthouse Monday, he remained visibly upset.

“The FBI likes to burn Christians,” he told reporters. “I should be putting them on trial, not them on me. They’re guilty.”

Alamo’s followers set up a Twitter account in his name over the weekend and referenced a statement on his Web site deriding the FBI as “demonic.”

Alamo tells girl from jail: `I’m still in charge’

Evangelist Tony Alamo told a girl who questioned one of his orders that he was “still in charge” of his Arkansas religious compound even from a Texas jail cell, according to recorded calls played Tuesday in his sex-crimes trial.

Prosecutors allege that a domineering Alamo took five underage girls across state lines for sex between 1994 and 2005. Defense lawyers say the government targeted Alamo for prosecution because it is anti-Christian. Alamo, who has pleaded not guilty, has also said the Vatican is behind his troubles.

Alamo told a girl to “shut up” when she began to question him, according to the recordings made in Texarkana, Texas, after his arrest following a Sept. 20 raid on his southern Arkansas headquarters.

“Just because I’m in jail, you’ll find out that I’m still in charge,” Alamo said in the recording. “OK, kid? You understand?”

Earlier in the tape, he threatened to kick the girl out of the community if she didn’t obey.

“You either have to do what you’re supposed to do or get out,” Alamo said. When she began to protest, he interrupted her by saying, “Shut up. Shut your face. Clean up your stinking mess.”

Prosecutors rested their case Tuesday after four days of graphic testimony in which five women said they were “married” to Alamo as teens or preteens and were sexually assaulted by him. They said they traveled to other states for sex with him or responded to his call and returned to Arkansas and had sex with him.

As the defense team began presenting its case, Alamo’s legal wife, Sharon Alamo, said his trips around the country were for legitimate church purposes.

Alamo has said the girls, part of his estimated 100-200 followers, were traveling to help spread the ministry’s teachings. His apocalyptic tracts outline his hatred of the Vatican and his feared “one-world government” to his belief in flying saucers.

In other tapes played for jurors, Alamo asked a female follower if she was aware of what he did behind closed doors. On another, he makes light of the charges against him.

“Why the hell would I take her across Texas state lines? If I did it in Arkansas, would that be bad?” he asks as women and girls on the other end of the line giggle.

Alamo told reporters on the way to court Tuesday that he planned to take the stand, despite his lawyers’ advice against it.

“I’m going to testify. I’ve already won. They’ve got nothing,” Alamo said.

His legal team said it could call as many as 10 witnesses, but didn’t expect the minister to testify.

In court Monday, the evangelist blurted out a reference to the raid on the Branch Davidians at Waco, Texas. That came as defense lawyers argued whether an FBI agent could say he worried about the safety of Alamo’s followers after the raid on the southern Arkansas compound.

“After Waco, they are looking for safety too, from the FBI,” Alamo interjected from the defense table, referencing the Branch Davidian religious compound that federal agents stormed in 1993. Leader David Koresh and dozens of followers died as the complex burned.

Defense lawyer Phillip Kuhn said after the hearing that U.S. District Judge Harry F. Barnes heard the comment.

“The judge asked me to ask him to cool it,” Kuhn said.

But as Alamo left the courthouse in prison scrubs Monday, he remained visibly upset.

“The FBI likes to burn Christians,” Alamo told reporters. “I should be putting them on trial, not them on me. They’re guilty.”

Alamo’s followers set up a Twitter account in his name over the weekend and referenced a statement on his Web site deriding the FBI as “demonic.”

Each of the 10 counts in the indictment against Alamo is punishable by 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Evangelist Tony Alamo walked into court Tuesday and told reporters he planned to take the stand in his sex-crime trial, even though his lawyers have advised against it.

“I’m going to testify. I’ve already won. They’ve got nothing,” the 74-year-old Alamo said.

Prosecutors wrapped up their case Tuesday after playing recordings of phone conversations Alamo had from jail. In one, Alamo tells a girl she has to clean up a mess she made or leave his compound. In another, women and girls giggle as he discusses how the charges against him might differ had his alleged crimes occurred in Texas or Arkansas.

The defense team expects to call up to 10 witnesses, and their biggest liability might be their client.

Defense attorneys face a skeptical jury and the likelihood that Alamo will choose to testify even though they’ve advised him not to. Defense lawyer Phillip Kuhn said Alamo’s team planned to call as many as 10 witnesses. Whether that will include Alamo remains to be seen, Kuhn said.

“If he gets on the witness stand, it will be against my advice,” Kuhn said Monday.

In court Monday, the evangelist blurted out a reference to the raid on the Branch Davidians at Waco, Texas. The outburst came as defense lawyers argued whether an FBI agent could say he worried about the safety of Alamo’s followers after a Sept. 20 raid on Alamo’s Arkansas compound.

“After Waco, they are looking for safety too, from the FBI,” Alamo interjected from the defense table, referencing the Branch Davidian religious compound in Texas that federal agents stormed in 1993. Leader David Koresh and dozens of followers died as the complex burned.

Kuhn said after the hearing that U.S. District Judge Harry F. Barnes heard the comment.

“The judge asked me to ask him to cool it,” Kuhn said.

But as Alamo left the courthouse in prison scrubs, he remained visibly upset.

“The FBI likes to burn Christians,” Alamo told reporters. “I should be putting them on trial, not them on me. They’re guilty.”

Alamo’s followers set up a Twitter account in his name over the weekend and referenced a statement on his Web site deriding the FBI as “demonic.”

Jurors heard last week from the five former followers who say Alamo abused them as girls. In graphic testimony, they said that they traveled to California, Tennessee and West Virginia for sex with their pastor or responded to his call and returned to Arkansas from out of state and had sex with him.

Each count in the indictment is punishable by 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Woman: Alamo asked, ‘Think I’m a dirty old man?’

A former follower of evangelist Tony Alamo told federal jurors at his sex-crimes trial Monday that the preacher lashed out at her when she grimaced at the sight of a 9-year-old girl rubbing his thighs.

“Do you think I’m a dirty old man?” Alamo asked, according to the witness, whose daughter became one of his young brides at age 14.

Alamo faces a 10-count indictment accusing him of taking five girls across state lines for sex, including the 9-year-old. The woman testified that while she thought it odd that a young girl was touching Alamo on his thighs, she never thought that her children were in danger.

“I didn’t want to think anything bad about Tony. We were taught that everything Tony did was of the Lord,” said the woman, now 38 and living in Texas.

Alamo’s lawyers say prosecutors targeted him because they disagree with his religious beliefs. Alamo has said the girls were traveling to support the ministry’s work, and that the Vatican is ultimately behind the charges.

Under cross-examination, the witness who said she grimaced at what she saw said that, at the time, she didn’t know what to make of the touching and eventually didn’t do anything about it. She said she still questions herself about it.

“I’m just trying to figure out why a 29-year-old woman would be confused about what she saw,” said the woman, whose daughter testified earlier that she had sex with Alamo in California after flying there from Arkansas.

Jurors heard from all five alleged victims last week. In graphic testimony, they said that they traveled to California, Tennessee and West Virginia for sex with their pastor or responded to his call and returned to Arkansas from out of state and had sex with him. Each count in the indictment is punishable by 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The 38-year-old woman also testified Monday that she served as a bookkeeper for one of Alamo’s trucking companies and that he had called her and others in 2000, concerned that the operation was making too much money and would have a major tax liability. She said Alamo directed that the books be altered to show that the company had given money to a group thatAlamo had set up as a charity.

“We basically had to juggle the books” to avoid taxes, the woman said.

Tax charges are not listed in the current indictment. Alamo served four years in prison on a tax evasion charge beginning in 1994.

While lawyers argued Monday over whether an FBI agent could say he worried about the safety of Alamo’s followers after a Sept. 20 raid on the Arkansas compound, Alamo blurted out a reference to the Branch Davidian religious compound in Texas that federal agents stormed in 1993. Leader David Koresh and dozens of followers died as the complex burned.

“After Waco, they are looking for safety from the FBI,” Alamo said from the defense table.

Earlier Monday, a woman whose sister had claimed to be another underage bride of Alamo misidentified the preacher from the witness stand. She pointed him out correctly when given a second chance.

The woman, 20, spoke slowly and often appeared confused. Prosecutors had summoned her to verify details that her 17-year-old sister gave Friday, including that Alamo said the Lord had told him to choose a wife from between the siblings. The 20-year-old woman, a former Alamo follower, told jurors that several people were present when the preacher picked her then-11-year-old sister as a “wife,” but the previous witness had said only three people were there.

Alamo’s defense team hammered on the difference.

The mother of the two witnesses told jurors she had no problem with the girls going to Alamo’s home, calling him “a holy man of God” who had been blessed by “the blood of the Lord.”

Prosecutors also summoned the sister of a woman who still lives in the compound. The woman, 19, said her sister moved into Alamo’s home at age 12 and later became one of his wives. She said she often heard Alamo refer to several woman as wives and saw them massaging Alamo’s thighs, giggling and whispering in his ears.

She also said she helped prepare Alamo’s tour bus for a November 2004 trip. The 17-year-old who testified Friday said she had sex with Alamo on the bus while she was underage.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

Evangelist Tony Alamo joins me to talk about the raid at his Christian compound. He denies he sexually abused children, but wait until you hear what he believes about kids and sex.

Over the weekend federal agents raided a church compound after alleged reports of child abuse and pornography surfaced at that religious compound. We’re going to be talking live, here, to the church’s leader Tony Alamo.

Stay with us. We’ll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Let’s talk now about a story that has a lot of people — staring at it. It’s the story of Tony Alamo. Let me show you some pictures now. This is a raid that took place in Texarkana, Arkansas. It is where the religious facility for Tony Alamo, and others in his church, was raided by officials on the investigation that children may have been abused at this particular facility.

And we are fortunate enough now to have Mr. Tony Alamo joining us on the phone.

Mr. Alamo, thank you so much for being with us, sir.

VOICE OF TONY ALAMO, TONY ALAMO CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES: It’s my pleasure.

SANCHEZ: Prosecutors are saying that you are a polygamist who preyed on married women and girls in your congregation. That’s what prosecutors have said on the record. What is your response to that?

ALAMO: Well, even if I was a polygamist, which I’m not, what would be wrong with that when the Psalmists, David, Moses, and Solomon, and Gideon all those top people in the Bible, you can read about them in the 11 chapter of Hebrews, that they were polygamist as well. SANCHEZ: Well, the Bible, sir, is a — is a collection of stories, some of them to be used literally when they involve God’s word and –

ALAMO: Hey, man.

SANCHEZ: But there were also people who were stoned in the bible. Do you think you have the right to do that now?

ALAMO: Don’t tell me about the Bible, man. I’m a Jew. We wrote the bible. Let me teach you.

SANCHEZ: OK.

ALAMO: You don’t know anything about the Bible, OK, friend?

SANCHEZ: OK.

ALAMO: All right?

SANCHEZ: So you’re saying the Bible gives you the right to have sex with girls?

ALAMO: I have the right to have sex with my wife. Is there any problem with that?

SANCHEZ: No, absolutely no problem. No problem with your wife.

ALAMO: Some people are homosexuals today like the people at the Vatican and everything.

SANCHEZ: Let’s not go there, sir. Let’s –

ALAMO: Yes, let’s go there. Let’s go there. Come on now. Come on. You know there’s a bunch of faggots over there and nobody is prosecuting them.

SANCHEZ: I think people would find that kind of language repugnant. I would — I would ask you not to use it anymore. Let’s try and stick to the issues here.

ALAMO: Hey.

SANCHEZ: If we possibly can. Hey, just for the record, they’re saying for the record that you have possibly either promulgated or had sex with young girls at your particular facility. Is that true or not?

ALAMO: That is false.

SANCHEZ: OK.

ALAMO: All right?

SANCHEZ: You told the “Associated Press” that you are not guilty, but then you went own to say that — according to you — the age of consent is puberty — puberty? What do you mean by that? ALAMO: It’s not according to me. That’s according to the Bible. That means when a woman is able to conceive, and have a child, she is an adult and she could be married. But we don’t do that at our church. We never have.

SANCHEZ: Why would you be saying that then?

ALAMO: Well, because it’s Bible. I have a right to preach the Gospel, don’t I? OK? What kind of a — what kind of creep are you?

SANCHEZ: Puberty is — as early as eight years old. Are you saying that you would be for children, young girls as early as eight years old having sex?

ALAMO: No, you’re just trying to make me look that way. You’re part of the government regime to try to destroy Christianity. And I didn’t say that. I don’t know when girls reach puberty. Most of them around 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. God inseminated Mary at the age of around 10 to 12. Should we get him for having sex with a young girl?

SANCHEZ: Yes, yes, as a matter of fact, sir. If you go by the law, and we are a nation of laws, we should. And the law specifically states that you have to –

ALAMO: Hey, you’re not a nation of laws, you are the anti- Christ. You are the exact opposite of the law of God. The law of God what you’re going to be judged by and everybody else on this earth.

SANCHEZ: That’s fine, sir. Let me just ask you –

ALAMO: It’s not only fine. It’s going to really happen, OK?

SANCHEZ: Thank you, sir. But for the record –

ALAMO: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Are you saying that girls under the age of 18 should be allowed to have sex?

ALAMO: I believe if they’re married, that they could.

SANCHEZ: As young as what? As young as eight, as young as 10, as young as 12? Since that is in some cases when –

ALAMO: I’m not the one that sets the time. When they reach puberty, I wouldn’t recommend that any eight or 10-year-old girl gets married because — but in the event that it would be of the Lord, I would say it’s all right. But I don’t do that, OK? So let’s get that straight. I’m talking to you from the Bible, what God said, and you’re trying to make it look like I’m doing that and that –

SANCHEZ: Then why were those children — do you have any idea why those six children were removed from facility?

ALAMO: They were removed because they just want to make a big deal out of it. They haven’t found anything about them. They can check them for 27 hours, or 27 weeks, or months or years and they still will find out that they’re virgins, all right?

SANCHEZ: Let me ask you another question. The Southern Poverty Law Center which monitors the activities of extremist groups in the United States describes your ministry as a cult. How would you respond to that?

ALAMO: I respond that the Vatican is the cult. I’m very scriptural with the Bible. Anyone that is not scriptural with the Bible, such as yourself, are a cult. OK? The Lord is right and everybody else is wrong.

SANCHEZ: There’s someone named Anthony Justin Lane. Are you familiar with Anthony?

ALAMO: Oh, yes. He had his wife working at a topless bar and was tempting her and so –

SANCHEZ: Well, he says — well, he’s not here to defend himself so let me say what he’s said on the record about you. He says that you kicked him out for asking too many questions about your ministry.

ALAMO: Well, he’s a liar.

SANCHEZ: And that you keep him from seeing his children who live in the compound with — with their mother. Are you keeping this man from his children?

ALAMO: First of all — first of all it’s not a compound. It’s a church. It’s a facility. We have houses all over the place and they live in a single-family dwelling. And it’s her husband that doesn’t want him around, because he had her working at a topless bar and also was pimping her. It’s the husband, not me. I don’t know anything about that.

SANCHEZ: And Tony Alamo, you were convicted of tax-related charges in 1994. The IRS said you owed them $7.9 million as a minister. What are we to make of that?

ALAMO: Well, I don’t — you know, if you want to believe that garbage, that’s up to you. But the IRS dropped all charges after they sent back all those debts to me. They know very good and well that they were liars. They hid the books on me and they pulled a lot of people out of prison to testify falsely against me.

SANCHEZ: OK.

ALAMO: And I’m – you know, let’s stick with the subject. The world government is the polygamists. They are the –

SANCHEZ: Yes.

ALAMO: Also child molesters.

SANCHEZ: OK.

ALAMO: And so is the school system. SANCHEZ: World government? Mr. Alamo, I want to thank you, sir, for taking time to join us here.

ALAMO: Well, you’re welcome, Mr. Chanchez, (ph), or whatever your name is.

SANCHEZ: Thank you, sir.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

Alamo’s Last Stand: Controversial Preacher’s Ministry Raided by Feds
Tony Alamo, Who Once Sold Designer Jeans to Celebs, Has Long Stirred Up Scandal

Tony Alamo is laughing.

Sure, his Christian ministry’s compound in Arkansas was raided over the weekend by more than 100 federal agents as part of a two-year investigation into allegations of child pornography, physical and sexual abuse of children, polygamy and underage marriage.

And he’s been accused by ex-followers of beating children who misbehave and separating husbands from their wives and children to punish them for various infractions.

But Alamo (pronounced ah-LAM-o) seems relaxed when discussing the accusations and the raid with ABCNews.com, relishing the fact that the raid took place on his 74th birthday last weekend. And he remains defiant in his denial of the allegations and unrepentant about his promotion of marriage between older men and girls as young as 10.

“The government — those devils — they gave me this as a birthday present,” says Alamo. “These attacks on me and the ministry have been going on for 44 years. It’s nothing new. Nothing shaking but the leaves on the tree.

“They think they’re hurting me but I’m feeling pretty good. The Bible says that when they persecute you to leap for joy because the prophets were dealt with in the same manner.”

Alamo, who says that he has not been contacted by federal officials, denies some of the allegations and sidesteps straight answers on some other claims.

Asked if minors were abused, sexually or physically at the compound, Alamo sarcastically snaps, “Oh, yeah. We’re just open to have minors abused. We’re a church and we’re not phonies, and that’s why they’re so obsessed with us.”

Alamo denies that there was any child pornography at the compound.

“They ransacked our church, my bedroom, and they haven’t even found one porn picture. Why would I be into that? I’m legally blind, and I wouldn’t have been able to look at it.”

As for his controversial positions on underage marriage, which he has long promoted on his radio shows, Alamo defended his views.

“The Bible says the age of puberty is the age of consent,” he says, emphasizing that he supports the idea of marriage to post-pubescent girls but that members of his church don’t act on that view and follow the law. “We don’t have anyone married to children under the 18-year-old limit, but the Bible says that’s OK if they’re age 10 or 12, if they reached puberty.”

Dark Side to All-American Story

It’s the all-American story with a dark and dangerous twist.

A Jewish newspaper delivery boy from Montana moves to Hollywood in the heyday of the swinging ’60s and changes his name to Tony Alamo to pursue a career in music.

Later, he converts to evangelical Christianity and becomes a preacher who ministers to the homeless and drug addicts, raising money for his church by selling a popular brand of sequined denim jackets worn by celebrities such as Brooke Shields, Mr. T and Hulk Hogan during the 1980s.

But Alamo’s shadow side ended up dominating headlines.

The man once described by ex-Gov. of Arkansas and former President Bill Clinton as “Roy Orbison on speed” was accused of leading a cult, landed in prison for tax evasion and weapons violations, spouted anti-Catholic propaganda on the air and in pamphlets, and attacked the pope and President Reagan by calling them “Anti-Christ Devils” in a tract titled “Genocide”.

After his wife, Susan, died in 1982, he placed her body in a crystal crypt on his dining room table while his followers prayed for her resurrection; later, he was accused of spiriting the body away before his religious compound was raided by federal marshals in 1991, and her body remained missing until church members turned it over to law enforcement in 1998.

In the latest incident, the headquarters of his Tony Alamo Christian Ministries Church in the tiny town of Fouke, Ark., was raided over the weekend by more than 100 federal and state officials, and six children were removed from the compound while investigators searched for their parents, according to Arkansas State Police.

The two-year investigation was “aimed at allegations that children living at the Alamo facilities may have been sexually and physically abused,” according to Bill Sadler, spokesman for the Arkansas State Police.

“We did make the decision to remove the children that we felt were in harm’s way or in imminent danger,” said Julie Munsell, spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Human Services.

Ex-Followers’ Bad Memories

Media coverage of the raid brought back terrible memories for Jared Balsley, a radio DJ, who claims he was regularly beaten by Alamo’s aides and once when he was only 8 years old by Alamo himself after arguing with another boy over a Big Wheel.

“We were not spanked at Tony Alamo’s house on Georgia Ridge. … We were beaten,” says Balsley.

“Beaten for infractions of his rules. Tony would order four of his biggest guys to hold me up spread-eagled, and then they would hit you with a board that was nicknamed the ‘Board of Education.’”

Balsley continued, “There was a girl who had epilepsy and I remember her having a seizure one time, and Tony brought in dozens of families, saying, ‘Well, the devil is in this girl,’ and he had her hit, strung her up in the air, and said they would beat the devil out of her … He’s a horrible, horrible person. He makes Warren Jeffs look like an angel in my opinion.”

Alamo defends his treatment of his followers but admits, “Some of them got spankings and I tossed some of them out because they were doing things that were against Scripture. They’re miffed and disgruntled, and some of them bring accusations of child abuse.”

Asked about claims that children were kept out of school to work on his line of designer jeans, Alamo makes light of the charge.

“I had adults working on that, and kids would come in and count beads — like that’s real hard labor.”

Defending Polygamy

Alamo, who strongly defended the polygamy practiced by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Mormon sect after its Texas compound was raided in April, has long advocated that such unions between older men and teenage girls are God’s will.

“What I’m doing is fighting for these people that they, the ungodly beast, is throwing into prison for marrying someone 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, if they’ve reached puberty,” he told his radio listeners in an April broadcast.

In other radio sermons, Alamo contended that the Virgin Mary was only 6 when she conceived Jesus, asking his listeners whether that made God a pedophile.

Spokesmen for the FBI and the Arkansas State Police would not discuss whether an arrest warrant is pending for Alamo or whether he has been interviewed as part of their investigation.

“He has been around for a long time and he is really creepy,” says Heidi Beirich, deputy director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project. “We interviewed some of the ministry’s child brides, documented some of the virulent hatred directed at Catholics and have documented many complaints about the ministry and forwarded the info to the FBI.”

From Hollywood to High Fashion to Holy Days

It’s been a long journey for Bernie LaZar Hoffman, the son of Jewish-Romanian parents, who worked delivering newspapers in Montana as a boy.

Soon after heading out to Los Angeles, he changed his name several times while chasing a career in pop music, singing and producing albums, and claimed that the Beatles and Rolling Stones sought his services as a promoter.

But his life changed during a business meeting in 1964 when he claimed that God temporarily struck him deaf and gave him an ultimatum: Tell everyone that Jesus is coming back to Earth, or die, according to a SPLC report on Alamo and his ministry.

Soon after meeting Susan Lipowitz, a Jewish convert to evangelical Christianity, he changed his name to Tony Alamo. The couple set up their Christian foundation in 1969, distributing paranoid screeds about the end of the world to drug-addled hippies on Hollywood Boulevard.

His followers lived in sex-segregated dormitories and suffered a range of punishments –from beatings to losing their spouses and children — if they broke Alamo’s rules, according to several ex-followers.

“We were in fear of him,” says a former devotee who joined the ministry in the ’70s and left in 1996. “I joined because I was idealistic and wanted to make the world a better place, telling people that we have the truth.”

Former followers say that Alamo used to preach fundamentalist sermons about the return of Jesus, urging his followers not to use birth control and railing against the Vatican.

“I’m embarrassed now to think about it, but he somehow convinced us that he was a prophet of God and we had to obey him,” said a former sect member.

The ex-devotee says that followers were urged to work long hours and then turn all their money over to the ministry, including children who were kept out of school and forced to help sew rhinestones into the famed Alamo jackets.

While Alamo had a charismatic presence and attracted Clinton, Dolly Parton, Ronnie Milsap and other country stars to his restaurant in Alma, Ark., his followers saw a different side to the man.

“For us, he was a cruel taskmaster,” the former member explained. “He could kick you out in a heartbeat. We didn’t own anything, and he could take your house away. That’s how powerful he was.”

Despite legal problems ranging from tax troubles to labor-law violations, Alamo expanded his empire, setting up several churches and owning 30 businesses — from a hog farm and supermarket to a restaurant and banquet room — in Alma, where Clinton remembers seeing Dolly Parton perform, according to his autobiography, “My Life.”

Secretive Ministry Raided

When Susan Alamo died of cancer in 1982, he became convinced that she was an immortal prophet who would rise from the dead as a witness of the Book of Revelation. Rather than bury her body, Alamo embalmed it and set it up in a crystal casket on his dining room table, commanding his followers to pray in two-hour shifts around the clock.

Since his release from prison in 1998, Alamo relocated his main ministry to Fouke, a town with 800 residents, where his armed security guards have butted heads with local law enforcement.

“They’ve always had armed guards stopping people on a public road and telling them they could not come up on the property,” says Mayor Terry Purvis.

“It’s a secretive culture — they’ve got some trailer homes and a few duplexes up there where their members stay and live,” he said. “I’ve had several ex-followers call me up with allegations about polygamy and underage marriage.”

Purvis, who witnessed the raid, was thankful that it went smoothly and that federal agents did not encounter resistance.

“They didn’t tell me much, just that they were serving a search warrant that pertained to child pornography and child abuse,” he says. “I’m just glad that there was no resistance. My biggest fear was a Waco situation.”

In a phone interview Sunday, Tony Alamo gave his stance on the activities at his Tony Alamo Christian Ministries in Fouke, Ark., Click for Alamo Interview Saturday night, when federal and state agents raided the facility, executed search warrants and questioned young children about allegations of child pornography and sexual abuse.

“They’re just making all this up … They ransacked my house, my room. They went through everything—no pornography. They’re trying to make me out to look like some kind of pornographer and a pimp taking kids across country.”

Alamo believes the charges stem from the fact that he has been speaking out against the Vatican and sex education in public schools for many years. Alamo equates investigators involved in the search at his compound with being children of the devil and pawns of the Vatican.

“The Vatican is in charge of all the world government … The government is a very evil, evil organization. They murdered the people in Waco, took part in the blowing up of the federal building in Oklahoma City, and they certainly took part in the blowing up of the World Trade Center.”

Some Fouke residents do not like or want Alamo and his followers in the area. They say they do not feel comfortable having the group’s guards on public streets.

“People shouldn’t be stopped on public streets,” said the Rev. Doyle House, a Fouke resident.

Sherry Potts and her daughter were among some of the many who have been stopped by guards on Circle Drive, a road paved and owned by the city.

“We just kept right on driving. We’re not going to be scared off by those people.”

The Partnership Against Cult Activity, an active group in Fouke, has been vocal in its opposition to the ministries.

In a previous story published in the Texarkana Gazette, Alamo said he had offered residents the opportunity to visit the facilities.

“I’ve invited the whole town to go swimming. If they want to have a birthday party for their kids, I’ve invited them to come up here … I’ve been trying to be friends with the people here since I’ve been here.”

However, in the interview Sunday, he stated that the people of Fouke are nothing but a bunch of “hillbillies and I’m not enthralled with them, either.”

“They’re there because the federal government stirred up a bunch of stuff with a bunch of people that are not that bright … Ku Klux Klan is what it is, another division of the Vatican.”

Alamo added that there have been threats made against himself and his followers by citizens, and gunshots fired into his facilities. But the group has no intentions of leaving Fouke.

“We don’t run away from devils. Devils run away from us.”

Alamo does refuse to allow reporters and photographers to attend a religious service or enter the compound facilities to photograph or speak to followers.

“I don’t give a damn about these phony rumors from this sick federal government. They’re not going to come in nosing around our place … you’re not going to come in here, you’re not welcome.”

Saturday’s raid was the result of a two-year investigation into the abuse allegations. The warrants are sealed and the information into the cause for investigation is not being discussed outside of agents involved in the investigation.

Presently no arrests have been made, but six children were taken from the Alamo compound by van Saturday night after being interviewed. No further information is known as to whether any arrests are pending.

Alamo served four years of an six-year term in federal prison after being found guilty of tax evasion in 1994. He served his sentence at Federal Correctional Institution in Texarkana.

Alamo began a ministry with his wife, Susan, the Tony and Susan Alamo Christian Foundation, in 1969 while in Beverly Hills, Calif. In 1975, they moved their ministries to Dyer, Ark., near Alma. After his release from prison, he and his followers relocated to Fouke. There are also branches of the church in Fort Smith, Ark., and Los Angeles.

Tony Alamo Christian Ministries was listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center in October 2007 because of its anti-Catholic messages in print and on air.

Intreview with Tony Alamo continues in another article HERE/below

Tony Alamo

Controversial pastor says he knows who is behind raid on compound

It’s all a plot, of course.

“They’re just making all this up … They ransacked my house, my room. They went through everything—no pornography. They’re trying to make me out to look like some kind of pornographer and a pimp taking kids across country,” said Tony Alamo, leader of the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries in Fouke, Ark., and around the world.

Alamo was speaking Sunday to a Texarkana Gazette reporter about the raid Saturday night on his group’s compound in Fouke. Federal and state authorities swarmed the compound, executing search warrants on allegations of child pornography and sexual abuse. The raid was the result of a two-year investigation.

Alamo, soon to be 74 years old and currently in Los Angeles, said the allegations were false. But he knew the forces behind them, according to an interview Saturday with an Associated Press reporter:

“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.”

Alamo expanded on the theme in the phone conversation with the Gazette reporter Sunday evening.

“The Vatican is in charge of all the world government … The government is a very evil, evil organization. They murdered the people in Waco, took part in the blowing up of the federal building in Oklahoma City, and they certainly took part in the blowing up of the World Trade Center,” Alamo said.

He went on:

“They’re there because the federal government stirred up a bunch of stuff with a bunch of people that are not that bright … Ku Klux Klan is what it is, another division of the Vatican.”

Alamo’s screed against the Roman Catholic Church and his charges against the U.S. government are nothing new to anyone familiar with his ministry over the years. Anti-Catholic and anti-government rhetoric is business as usual for Alamo. The sad thing is that some misguided souls actually take them seriously—even some outside of his ministry.

Authorities are still investigating the charges, and children removed from the compound Saturday have been interviewed—The Associated Press reported Sunday that Alamo said the age of consent for sex is “puberty”—but so far the feds are keeping mum and no arrests have been made.

When all is said and done, Alamo and his group could be cleared of these charges. Or not. In any case, we’ll report it.

In the meantime, the Alamo group is hunkered down behind locked gates in Fouke, doing their best to avoid media attention. There has been no word so far about when or whether their leader will join them.

Alamo seems not too taken with Fouke these days. He characterized his neighbors as “hillbillies” when talking Sunday with the Gazette reporter.

We feel it important to remind Alamo that, although it was the federal government that brought him to our area when he was a guest of the correctional system, it was he who chose to remain.

Alamo chose us. We most certainly did not choose him.

Of course, Alamo and his followers have the right to live wherever he decides they will live. And it looks like he has decided to stay put.

“We don’t run away from devils. Devils run away from us,” Alamo said Sunday.

Clear enough. But if the hillbillies in this part of the world get to be too much for you, Pastor Alamo, remember the door is always open and the highways lead out in all directions.

Click on the link above to be directed to a phone interview that Tony Alamo did with Heather Crawford. You don’t want to miss this one!