A judge entered a default judgement for $545 million against Alamo and his “church”. The lawyer suing Alamo says he isn’t sure if he’ll collect the entire amount. I’m sure. Alamo is in Federal prison serving essentially a life sentence.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/t/story/judge-orders-alamo-pay-abused-women-525m-23006240?from=related
If Tony Alamo is not familiar to you, he and his wife Susan ran televangelist ministry shows in the wee hours in the 1980s, competing with Gene Scott. Susan wore the pants in the family, or maybe nore accurately the sharon Falconer flowing robes (see: Elmer Gantry). The basic premise was they knew Jesus was real because Susan recovered from having Cancer. The ministry started falling apart when she died later from cancer. Tony promised that Susan would rise again from the dead, just like Jesus did. That hasn’t happened yet to the best of my knowledge.
Tony got in legal trouble because his church was involved in recruiting underage girls to become “brides” for middle aged men and taking them across state lines.
The Alamo ministries continued to air radio shows on KLAV in Las Vegas even after Tony was convicted and sent to prison.
True – not familiar to me, but then none of the televangelists would be. Any correlation between them and religion or spirituality is a coincidence.
Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker were big business in Charlotte – you used to have be very cautious if you suggested they might be less than genuine. A lot of people’s income depended on the money flowing in. I was a little surprised that my other next door neighbor (not the one from Alabama) knew that Tammy Faye was legendary for her shopping trips to SouthPark Mall to load up on jewelry. He is quite a bit younger than me, and didn’t live in Charlotte at the time. Maybe his mom told him about it.
In the linked Tony alamo article it quotes Texarkana lawyer David Carter as saying:
“What we’re doing is very much like what we’ve done with Ku Klux Klan,” Carter said. “They were ultimately put out of business by a series of lawsuits that resulted in large judgments. So, economically, they weren’t able to operate anymore. … Our objective is to put them completely out of business.”
Cross out the KKK and insert your own name in there, because this is what can happen to anybody, when the establishment wants to legally stifle you. One can be bombarded by lawsuits to the point where your entire existence is overwhelmed.
This is not to excuse Alamo (born: “Bernie Lazar Hoffman”, lol).
Further reading
http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/cri/cri-nwsl/web/crn0019a.html
Once upon a time there was a young man who walked around the countryside teaching anyone who cared to listen and learn. This man never asked for anything much, perhaps the occasional drink of water. It was reported he was able to heal the sick, heal the lame, open the eyes of the blind, and it was said he even brought a couple of people back to life. There is no record of him ever asking for money, and there is no record that he owned land or any other property. In fact there are many who dispute that he ever lived. Anyways, it was said that he drew a following and became notoriously famous, so famous that the men who ruled over the masses became concerned because they believed the people would rise up and overthrow them in order to establish him as their leader. He became so hated by the rulers that they began offering money to anyone who would betray him. One of his followers did betray him and the rulers ultimately put him to death.
Johnny Appleseed?
Did they make a painting of their last dinner with him?