Ep253, How To Have Gods Life Living In You, Part 151, Two Bodies, Two Paths: Faith, Falling Away, and the Call to Spiritual Life Program 253, Prayer, and Musical Opening Tony Alamo opens program 253 by identifying it as Part 151 of How to Have God’s Life Living in You and reminding listeners that free CD or audiotape copies are available. He describes the large volume of letters, emails, and faxes the ministry receives and says the episode will include testimonials, scripture readings, and songs. His opening prayer focuses on the end times, false prophets, persecution, truth, judgment, and a request for God to act against people he regards as enemies of the gospel while still calling for their repentance and salvation. Tony then introduces a prerecorded country-gospel song that he says was written by Dolly Parton and recorded with Porter Wagoner at Fireside Studios in Nashville. He praises Wagoner’s professionalism, mentions the book A Satisfied Mind, and recalls their shared Missouri roots before turning to listener correspondence. Letters from Uganda, Australia, and Ghana Sharon reads three international letters that Tony presents as evidence of the ministry’s worldwide reach. Francis from Uganda thanks the ministry for gospel literature, reports 60 new converts during a three-week period, requests more publications, and invites Tony and his international team to hold a crusade and ministers’ conference in Uganda. A listener named Carl from Adelaide, South Australia, praises Tony’s teaching on the Godhead and asks for continued blessing on the ministry. George from Agona, Ghana, says friends have repented after reading the ministry’s literature, requests additional gospel material and Bibles, and asks for a ministry T-shirt. Tony responds positively to the letters and then shifts into a prolonged scripture-centered sermon beginning with 1 Timothy chapter 4. Departing from the Faith and the Question of Sin Using 1 Timothy 4, Tony focuses on the warning that some people will “depart from the faith” and give heed to “seducing spirits.” He connects that passage with his criticism of religious leaders whom he believes teach that believers can continue sinning and still remain saved. Jimmy Swaggart becomes a central example in this section, as Tony discusses a reported scandal and argues against what he characterizes as the Baptist doctrine of “once saved, always saved.” He cites passages from Romans, Ezekiel, and 1 John to argue that sin leads to death and that those who commit sin are aligned with the Devil. Tony contrasts the flesh with the Spirit, describes Christianity as a battle between the Word of God and worldly propaganda, and insists that believers must receive Christ’s Spirit and continually increase their faith through reading scripture. Property, Pilgrimage, Faith, and Healing Tony then expands the sermon into a teaching about material possessions and spiritual mobility. He argues that believers should not become too attached to houses, property, money, or a particular country because they should remain ready to follow wherever the Holy Spirit leads. He recounts the government’s seizure of ministry property and his imprisonment, describing his response through the biblical sentiment that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. He contrasts the dull and temporary nature of earthly material things with a bright, everlasting Heaven that he says he personally saw in a vision. The discussion then turns to faith: Tony teaches that faith grows through the Word of God, says believers should regard healing and divine protection as already provided through Christ, and claims that sufficiently developed faith can enable believers to lay hands on the sick or command demonic spirits to depart. Seducing Spirits, Social Conflict, and the Falling Away Returning to 1 Timothy 4, Tony applies “seducing spirits and doctrines of devils” to a wide range of cultural, political, sexual, and religious issues. He criticizes abortion, fornication, sex education, homosexuality, government, media, food destruction, and the Roman Catholic Church, while making numerous serious allegations against political and religious institutions. He also invokes Waco, the World Trade Center, Oklahoma City, Iran, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as examples within his broader worldview of deception, hypocrisy, violence, and world control. Sharon then reads from 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, and Tony interprets the predicted “falling away” as a present worldwide departure from biblical faith. He compares marriage to Christ with the desire to remain close to someone one loves and argues that people who reject the Word of God are demonstrating that they do not truly want closeness with God. The Natural Man, the Spiritual Man, and the Choice of Salvation The final teaching section centers on the “man of sin,” the “son of perdition,” the temple of God, and Paul’s contrast between a natural body and a spiritual body. Tony presents the first Adam as the natural man and Jesus as the last Adam or spiritual Man, then builds a two-path framework in which every person must belong either to what he calls the natural, Antichrist system or to the spiritual body of Christ. He interprets the temple of God as the individual believer and warns that accepting worldly doctrine allows Satan to occupy that inner temple. Tony closes by asking listeners to choose whom they will serve and leads them through a salvation prayer affirming Jesus as the Son of God, His crucifixion, shed blood, resurrection, forgiveness, and entry into the heart. Sharon gives the ministry contact information, and Tony signs off by introducing a prerecorded performance with J.D. Sumner and the Stamps Quartet of “Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho.” SEO Keywords / Key Phrases departing from the faith, seducing spirits, born again salvation, natural man spiritual man, faith and healing, Christian end times, man of sin prophecy, Bible faith and obedience, spiritual warfare, salvation prayer
