Tony Alamo was born Bernie Lazar Hoffman on September 20, 1934, in Joplin, Missouri; his father was a Jewish immigrant from Romania. As a teenager Bernie went to make his fortune as an entertainer in Los Angeles, California, where he came to own a health club and worked in the music industry. He initially changed his name to “Marcus Abad,” and later adopted the name “Tony Alamo.” Serving time in jail on a weapons charge, in 1966 he married Edith Opal Horn from Alma, Crawford County, Arkansas. Horn, who changed her name to “Susan,” was also of Jewish descent. She had gone to Hollywood hoping to find work as an actress but ended up supporting herself and her daughter by scamming churches under the guise of being a missionary seeking funds. While in California the Alamos converted to an evangelical form of Christianity and established the Music Square Church, a ministry which sought converts among drug addicts, alcoholics, and prostitutes on the streets of Hollywood. Alamo preached a pentecostal theology with strong anti-Catholic and conspiratorial undertones.

In 1975 the Alamos relocated to Dyer, Crawford County, Arkansas, near Alma. There they became embroiled in a number of controversies, and the ministry gained the reputation of being a “cult.” Among other things Alamo was charged with violating the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1976, had his ministry’s tax exempt status revoked by the Internal Revenue Service in 1985, and in 1994 was convicted of tax evasion. He received a six year sentence in the Federal Correctional Institution in Texarkana, but was paroled in late 1998. The most bizarre controversy involved the body of his wife Susan, who died of cancer in 1982. Proclaiming that she would be resurrected, he placed her embalmed corpse on display for six months, after which it was interred in a mausoleum. Fearing a raid by federal officials, Alamo followers took the body in February 1991, and it remained hidden for several years. A custody battle over the body ensued between Alamo and Susan’s daughter, Christhiaon Coie. In 1995 a chancery court judge ruled in favor of Coie; three years of legal battles followed. Only in 1998 did Alamo’s followers surrender the corpse, which was finally interred in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Following his release from prison Alamo established the headquarters of his Tony Alamo Christian Ministries in Miller County outside of Texarkana. His followers also established branches in Fort Smith and Los Angeles. In 2006 the ministry remained active, broadcasting services over radio stations in the United States, Africa, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines.