UPDATE: A federal magistrate upheld a $66 mill. judgement against Tony Alamo last week. (9/14/2011) source: Washington Post
There are two items that have been getting a lot of press lately. I commented on another’s blog about Tony Alamo, and decided it was time to mention him myself. I read this AP report {no longer available; this post is now 3 years old} to get a little background. It’s a good little biography if you’ve never heard of this guy before. This is not his first 15 minutes, if you get what I’m saying. He’s been in and out of the news (and jail) for about 20 years now. Most recently the charges involve underage sex and marriage scandals, and once again he is defending his organization on the grounds that it is not a cult. Here’s a snippit from the AP:
On Monday he bristled at descriptions of his organization as a cult, saying enemies want to cast him as a “weirdo for preaching what the Bible says.”
I preach what the Bible says, and guess what? Tony Alamo is a weirdo. Let’s shift gears:
The other news item that I read several days ago but kind of ignored is this deal with LifeWay stores hinding magazines under the counter. Usually a bookstore keeps questionable items like Playboy behind the counter that discriminating customers must ask for by name. For LifeWay customers, the “questionable material” now includes Gospel Today magazine. Why? Because pictured on the cover are five women preachers. The ladies are fully clothed, it’s their preaching that apparently offends LifeWay. The Internet Monk points out that Gospel Today gets hidden under the counter, while Beth Moore books are the number one sellers in the same stores. He does a big write up and has generated quite a discussion with his Send in the Clowns post. I haven’t been all over this story, but he gets my props for doing a great job.
