That headline should be enough to tell you that whoever uttered it, is not someone you would want in your life, and definitely not around your kids. To have him as your pastor which apparently thousands of people did is even worse. Tony Alamo aka Bernie Hoffman was arrested yesterday for violating the Mann Act. The Mann Act prohibits taking minors across state lines for illegal purposes. Apparently the FBI is convinced that Alamo was taking girls between the ages of 10-17 across state lines and having sex with them. He also has a group of minor girls who live in his ministry compound in Arkansas, and the FBI has hinted that Alamo made porn starring the girls.
Alamo was arrested in Arizona where he was traveling with several women, and they were all staying in one room, with a king size bed. And this is a guy that people all over the world gave money to on a daily basis. People all over the world have been funding this lifestyle. Now, granted the contributors didn't know about the alleged sex with minors or the alleged filming of it, but they did know he went to jail for four years for tax fraud. Four years in jail. He owed the government $8M in taxes. Do you know how much money he must have collected to owe that much in taxes?
And people still just keep throwing money at him. For what? I am trying to remember a tv evangelist that at some point has not let the public down. I guess Billy Graham hasn't done anything that anyone has ever publicly discussed. That's it though. Everyone else it seems has always been discovered doing something they shouldn't. Just because someone is on tv does not make them better than you or worthy of your money. Just because they are on tv does not mean they know more than you or more moral than you. Just because they are on tv talking about God, doesn't mean they actually believe in God or anything in the Bible. Just because they said they would pray for you doesn't mean they are going to pray for you. And when they ask for donations of digital cameras, movie cameras, and pictures of your children, then you really need to start worrying.
If you are bored and want to read some really good dirt on Tony Alamo and all of his "wives", you have got to check out this website.
Well, there went my lunch.
ReplyDeleteas a christian, i wholeheartedly agree with your third paragraph. we all put on our pants one leg at a time.
ReplyDeleteHas there ever been a religion whose leaders aren't completely corrupt?
ReplyDeleteApart from the fact that he hangs out with celebs too much, the Dalai Lama ain't that bad.
ReplyDeleteMoney, fame, sex..Damn I need to start a church!
ReplyDeleteAs a pastor's daughter I can whole heartedly say there isn't a person in this world I put my faith in not to let me down, pastors included, except for 1. Ralph Nader 2. My dad. Every single big name out there, except Billy Graham, is either corrupt or batshit insane in one way or another. Almost all churches have lost sight of the big picture and use their tithes to benefit themselves instead of the less fortunate, as Jesus ordained. They think its ok to be rich, ok to be full of pride and backstabbing and corruption, because its in the name of God. In that sense, they're like Scientologists, only with thousands of years of history to back them up.
ReplyDeleteThe best thing is to NEVER put anyone on a moral pedestal, no matter who they are or what they do. You'll only set yourself up for disappointment and inevitable struggle with your own faith as you have a hard time reconciling the image of God's self proclaimed representatives, versus who God really is. Humans are very flawed, no one is immune, and when you get a taste of power, its easy to get carried away. I won't even tell you how many times I'd watch supposedly good, moral women, one after another, all falling in line to hit on my dad and try to steal him from my mom--even flirting with him at the reception line after church! People love power, to be near it, to have it. It corrupts everyone.
At this point, and this is a very scary thought, our government is being more of a church than our own churches are. When I give my money in taxes to the government, at least I know that its out there doing things for people: welfare for that needy mom, safe roads for citizens. I like that. I don't mind paying taxes for that. When I give my money to a church, it could go to maintenance, salaries, fancy churches with big parking lots, nice carpeting, multi million dollar sound systems, and the pastor's wife's plastic surgery....you name it. I say this as someone who's mouth was fed on people's tithes, because that's where my dad's meager salary came from (he was not the head pastor, so he did not make much. They had to save all that cash for the head pastor!)
And they don't have to be accountable for their money, so its free reign to do as you like. That's why L Ron Hubbard went to all that trouble to pull off the hugest infiltration of the US Government in our history, when his people snuck their way into the IRS in the 70s, so as to influence the decision on Scientology's tax exempt status. He knew how much that meant, to avoid that accountability to the government. And Christian churches are rarely any different.
In other words, all these religious types are just as skeazy as the rest of us, they just have a better way to hide it for awhile. Actually some of them are worse than us, because they use the image of decency to mask their darker intentions and manipulate masses of good hearted, well meaning people.
With every corrupt pastor coming to light, I become less and less interested in renewing my faith or membership in the church at all. My parents became so disillusioned that they now just spend their Sundays in the soup kitchens instead, they say its a better way to feel as though they're actually serving. I love them for it.
a couple of things about billy graham. he and his wife did not live a lavish lifestyle. they were not poor, but they did not live it up.
ReplyDeletesecondly, graham does not have church. he is an evangelist. he has the samaritan's purse which is a fine organization btw.
he was not perfect, but he did not use the Bible as an excuse for whatever transgressions he had.
the Bible teaches not to put one's trust in others because you will be deceived. my faith is in God not these mere mortals down here.
great post bad fish.
ReplyDeleteThis is more about an evil, corrupt, morally bankrupt man using the name of God to abuse women and children.
ReplyDeleteI believe that many of the greedy tv evangelists that we are familar with may not have started out that way, but became greedy b/c they realized they had power to influence people and their pocketbooks. And as their ministries became bigger and wealthier, they became greedy and corrupt.
HOWEVER, this guy is just disgusting. His only purpose is to exploit women and children. You can't even compare this guy to the greedy TV folks. This guy is a bad, bad, evil, bad seed.
This guy is a known criminal and con man and has been for decades. It's ridiculous to slam him for being a Christian minister in that it is only one of his many cons. But, if you have a bug up your butt about Christianity, you can also drum up so faux-outrage over this clown.
ReplyDeleteno one's slamming him because he is christian. i get the feeling many of us here don't care for people using there religion as a scapegoat. i'm sure this idiot will find some scripture to defend his behavior.
ReplyDeleteSTUPID ASS SICK MOTHERFUCKER. OR SCUZE ME...MAKE THAT CHILD FUCKER.
ReplyDeleteSICK, SICK, SICK.
I HATE ALL RELIGION FOR THIS VERY KIND OF REASON.
Oh, and Billy Graham's family is just plain GREEDY.
ReplyDeleteWhatever, j, you're missing the point completely. We're complaining about the Christian con in the first place, a commonplace occurance today. Why don't you pull the bug outta your own butt, and the "I'm gonna contradict everyone because its cool" stick while you're at it.
ReplyDeleteChecked out Franklin's latest building?
ReplyDeleteActually, great posts, BF and QS.
ReplyDeleteBilly and Ruth Graham were good people. I question their offspring, though.
Regardless, it is so hard to hold onto our faiths with so much corruption and greed out there...and MISTRUST.
My husband was raised strict Catholic and won't step foot inside a church anymore due to the sexual abuse scandals.
He found out many years later that the Monsignor (sp?) at their old parish abused many boys RIGHT after his family had to move away. Scary!
I'd like to throw this Alamo fucker into a pongee pit with Warren Jeffs and a bunch of other sickos in this world and burn them to a crisp.
please discuss billy g's kids more. i don't keep up with them.
ReplyDeleterev hagee from texas gives me the creeps.
ReplyDeleteThe new museum is what I meant. Very showy and kinda tacky for such a humble man.
ReplyDeletewhatevs, just MO and not worth a dime, peeps!
I was watching a documentary on this cult leader. His name I think was David can't remember his last name. Anyway the people in the cult were so blinded by him that they would do anything he said. Oh he would say that God told him to have sex with his daugther-in-law which he did. I can't believe he did this to his own son. He would have sex with young girls that were virgin and he would bring up that God gave him a message to have sex with so and so. I was just with my mouth open as to why these people didn't open up their eyes to what was going on and accept his word. Also in the story at a certain month, date and year he was suppose to merge with God which nothing happen and the people still kept on like if nothing.
ReplyDeleteJust a bunch of people that don't want to face up to the real world.
This is just fan-freakin-tastic! Another reason for people to think that Arkansasans are a bunch of retarded bible thumping uneducated redneck white trash!
ReplyDeleteAnother thing to go on the "S**tacular-Arkansas List" it's right under WM3. Which made our police force look like dumb jackoffs.
Sorry, we were discussing this in my criminal law class today and it frustrates me to no end that our law enforcement didn't get him sooner for the alleged kiddy porn. The whole "the Gov. is a Satanic conspiracy covering up 9/11 and Pearl Harbor" thing and the Armageddon talk should have been a huge red flag. (anybody remember Jim Jones?? Branch Davidian? HELLO!) And.... he is being extradited back to Arkansas.
May Tony Alamo rot in hell for what he has done to those children and whatever else the investigation digs up.
yup...ok...done venting now.
NOW...for the real opinion.
So, you say he's Christian. I would say he's a cult leader who has some obviously fucked up power issues. In a cult it's easy for the leader, who originally preached the word of God, to morph his preaching, his sermons, his power over people, the way he sees himself into such a way that it becomes a morbid distortion of any actual church that soon it doesn't focus on God and the bible anymore but to the leader and the church as a physical group. Now a church is great, the community that people create there is nurturing and a very positive place. This isn't what I'm talking about. When a church starts listening to their minister’s rantings about the end of days, the Government as Satanic adversary, when they blindly fallow their leader and trust him because they think that they are accepted, that they have a reason to stay. When they live on a "campus" (compound, compound, COMPOUND!!) with their leader, cut off from the outside world things tend to warp the mind. They become brainwashed by the constant input from "Tony Alamo Christian Ministry New Jerusalem", which I will make a safe bet is far from the actual teachings of Christ and the bible but more Alamo's own distorted philosophy, the people begin to think that whatever he does, it is good. Just be glad that he didn't have his mind set on sending his followers to their deaths (or ours! thank God I live far away from the compound) like Koresh or Jones. If you want to see how blind his fallowing is, go to the ministries web site and listen to the audio taken from the ministries radio show.
This is a cult. Not a church, so distorted it's not Christian, it's all about Alamo.
bad fish: your parents sound like wonderful people. What a great way to spend a Sunday truly helping others.
ReplyDeletebad fish:
ReplyDeletethank you for putting that so well. i was raised episcopalian (catholic "lite" some call it!), and i have no problem with my religion, God, or any of that.
but, since mr. bunny was on the staff at the age of 12 (chapel organist), and we were best friends with the associate rector's son, we were privy to a lot of inside poop. we were also raised in what was fondly referred to as "the richest parish in the diocese". our friend's dad worked under several rectors (head priest, for you guys that don't know, and yes, we do refer to them as rectums now), for many, many years, and was treated badly, and finally drummed out, because he was honest, and did know too much. he also had a photographic memory, but never said boo to anyone but family, because it would have hurt the parishioners.
mr. buns was also let go after 20 something years by the rectum at that time, just after i was laid off, and he lost the lousy $200 bucks a month they paid him. we nearly lost everything. not too long afterward, they cut almost all the children's programs all together (no money in that, you know?).
anyway, this guy should be drawn and quartered. the old fashioned way. after he's been stoned in public. i think jail is too good for these kinds of people. he'll get out one day, and go right back to it. once an asshole, always and asshole.
or a rectum.
I am just heartsick that people like this disgusting creep Tony Alamo even exist, and that it always seems to take so long for them to get nailed, if ever.
ReplyDeleteI just finished reading everybody's comments, and have to say Enty has some really good people who read him regularly.
One comment: If he goes to prison, WILL he get out? I've heard the prison population has a much different attitude towards child molestors than they do tax evaders.
enty, amen.
ReplyDeleteyou can be my preacher anytime.
just dont ask for money for a tripod or anything....."viewing related"
ha, ha
I am trying to remember a tv evangelist that at some point has not let the public down.
ReplyDeleteI disagree. I've never been let down by any televangelist ever. They've all lived up to exactly what I expected.
truly disturbing situation, this guy should be under the jail along with the parents of the children and his "wives" that allowed this to happen.
ReplyDeletei also found it odd that the site that enty linked only hid the identity of one of the pervs three children. the other two deserve the same protection, probably more. this is just ugly from every angle.
If a person and their deed(s) can cause you to abandon your faith, then you may want to look up the definition of faith.
ReplyDeleteThis guy is no Christian and don't worry Elizabeth, he was in Nashville long before he decided to contaminate your state. As a matter of fact, while in Nashville he ran a 'clothing store' (which was a front for his cult and the reason the IRS became interested in him) His wife died. He was so convinced she would resurrect he kept her body in a freezer in his basement.
I couldn't make this up if you paid me. Google it.
He's nuts
Bad Fish: I loved your post and agreed with every word.
ReplyDeleteI went to an evangelical Christian school and received a top-notch academic education. And a thorough education in Christianity.
MOST of the "Christians" I knew were hypocrites. There were a few families who lived by the teachings of Christ and were humble and kind and good. A few. Those people made it possible for me not to completely despise Christians in general.
If there is a God, I don't think those hypocrites are fooling her.