Weird Tract Number 20: "Terri Schiavo Says Let Me Live" by Tony Alamo

Troy Davis writes:

I have profiled some real religious wackjobs and predators such as Brother Ralph Stair, Bill Bright, and David Berg. Tony Alamo  (1934-2017) is one of the worst of the weirdos. Alamo and his wife Susan ran a Pentecostal ministry in the late '60s until her death in 1982. By that time, Alamo was running a wacko cult and he became convinced that he could raise his wife from the dead. Susan's body was kept on display; A waggish local disk jockey heard about this bizarre attempt at reanimation and would play the Everly Brothers' song "Wake Up, Little Susie" on his radio show to commemorate the attempted feat. Apparently the late Mrs. Alamo began to reek from the decomposition after six months on display and Alamo finally admitted defeat and put the body in a mausoleum (the body was missing for several years thereafter). Despite this bizarro behavior, Alamo's ministry was running on all cylinders; the ministry had locations in several major US cities in the 1980s.

In fact, Alamo landed on his feet after the Rotting Corpse Fiasco in an unlikely way. In the '80s, Alamo became the jacket designer to the Stars, selling really tacky stonewashed and painted rhinestone-bejeweled jean jackets to Hollywood actors (and to anyone with more money than taste). Each jacket was sold for several hundred dollars; Alamo became rich because they were made with sweatshop labor by members of his cult who worked long hours in horrific conditions with no pay. One news report found that Alamo bought trailer tractors full of stale and insect-infested food for the workers while Alamo hobnobbed with celebrities.

Alamo was also using his converts to spread his anti-Catholic propaganda. Like Jack Chick, Alamo adheres to the belief--not uncommon in 19th century Protestant thought--that the Roman Catholic Church is the Whore of Babylon from the Book of Revelation.

Tony was doing something else in the '80s: abusing the children of the cult. No only did Alamo use unpaid child labor for his jackets, he was sexually abusing the children. Law enforcement eventually caught wind of what was going on, Alamo became a fugitive but was caught and served several years in the slammer. 

By the 21st century, Alamo was still in business. When I lived in Los Angeles, Alamo's people passed out tracts on Hollywood Boulevard and invited people to a free meal at the Alamo compound. I never took them up on the offer but being a collector of religious tracts, I always grabbed their free newsletter & swag. Alamo's tracts sucked. Some were anti-Pope conspiracy essays. Others were PR newsletters for his ministry.

In "Terri Schiavo Says Let Me Live," a tract made in 2005 when the comatose Schiavo was still alive, Alamo claimed that he could heal her. Alamo writes:

If I am permitted to spend some time in the room with Terri Schiavo (her father and brother can be there or anyone else as long as there are no distractions), I know that if I were permitted to talk to her and explain to her the things that God has already provided for her, such as salvation and healing, and if I were permitted to pray with her for her, I know that she would be healed. I’ve done this before with people who seemingly were hopeless.

Not surprisingly, Alamo has harsh words for Schiavo's Catholic religion:

There are many people in the secular government and throughout the world that would be saved and healed if miracles like this were printed and broadcast in the media rather than watching the man in Rome sitting on a balcony, waving his hand or a wand at people. He has his reward. It’s obvious that the Vatican and all religions do not believe God, but I do. Mark 16:17-18 states, “These signs shall follow them that believe; In My name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; THEY SHALL LAY HANDS ON THE SICK, AND THEY SHALL RECOVER.” God gives this power to those who believe all His Word. Christ is the Word of God (Rev. 19:13). “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ [the Word of God], and thou shalt be saved [and healed]” (Acts 16:31). . . We are not to live by our opinions or ideas. Our opinions and ideas, the Word of God indicates, is of Satan. We have the Word of God in this world which tells us the right way to go. What I’ve written here is not my opinion or my idea. It’s the Word of God. The Roman cult, its “new world order,” and its media are soon to be punished eternally for its blatant disregard for God’s Word, God’s people, and all humanity.

The media has painted me to be a Catholic hater, yet the woman whose life and soul I’m fighting for is a Catholic. What’s happening on television and in the media today is that Rome, the new world order, and the mouth of Satan, the media, is attempting to condition the world into believing that it’s all right to kill someone if they’re sick, including family members. According to God even if they will to die, someone who knows God should be allowed to pray for them, to raise them up from their sick bed. Then if God takes their life, at least there was an attempt made to follow God’s perfect instructions. If that woman’s soul goes into eternity unsaved, she will be in Hell. So the ones responsible for murdering her are not only condemned for murdering her but for sending her soul to Hell before she had an opportunity to repent and believe the Gospel.

I and my church are praying that at least one of you who has any ability to save this woman’s life that you repent before it’s too late for you. The Lord is very capable of extracting the spirit out of your body by just telling it to come out, and if He does, your soul will be in Hell for eternity. And in the end Hell with you and Satan in it will be cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:14-15).

Alamo again ran out of luck again in 2009 when he was once again convicted for sexually abusing children and died in prison in 2017.

The Museum of Weird and Demented Religious Tracts is a project of Les Zazous Postmodern Art Galley of Bellaire, Ohio. Read the Welcome Statement of The Museum here.

For more on the gallery, check out the web site here and the gallery's Twitter handle is @ZazousLes.  The Twitter handle for the museum is @WeirdTracts

The index of tracts for the museum's website is here. 

Contributions of weird tracts to the museum can be made by mail: send your weird tracts to Les Zazous Postmodern Art Gallery 3475 Guernsey Street, Bellaire, Ohio 43906.

 

I pity the fool who makes fun of my Alamo jacket!

Alamo zombies handing out lit on Hollywood Blvd.