The First Thing

by Tony Alamo

The Bible tells us that the first and most important thing we must know in this world is that we are not allowed by God to privately interpret His Word. God gave the Scriptures to holy men to insure that the Scriptures would have only one specific meaning. The Apostle Peter, by the power of the Holy Spirit, stated, "Knowing this first, that every prophecy of Scripture does not originate from any private explanation [held by the writer], for not by the desire of man did prophecy come aforetime, but being carried along by the Holy Spirit men spoke words from God Who is the ultimate source [of what they spoke]."1 In other words, the Word of God does not have two or more meanings, but only one meaning. This one meaning must be studied carefully, then received by faith in order for anyone to be considered righteous by The Almighty God.2

The second chapter of II Peter states, "There were false prophets" (teachers) "also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers" (who fabricate words) "among you, who privily" (secretly) "shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways;" (pernicious meaning they will follow their spreading of false doctrine, which will cause eternal death to their souls in Hell) "by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of."3 All false doctrine speaks evil of the Word of God because it distorts the truth of it, changing the truth for its own evil purposes. False doctrine is any evil speaking of the truth.

False doctrine of any kind is deadly for the human soul to receive, primarily because false words do not have the virtue of eternal life in them. God miraculously lives in His truthful words by the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, in false words there is no living God, none of God’s power, no grace, no life to give the human soul eternal life. False doctrine has none of God's power to help the soul overcome fiery trials, nor does false doctrine have the virtue of God's wisdom to guide, comfort, and bring joy to the human soul. It cannot give life, healing or deliverance in this world. False doctrine will not give comfort to those spending an eternity in Hell. Jesus said, "Take heed therefore how ye hear."4

There is a curtain of anger, ignorance, unbelief, hatred, and wrath between religions, governments, and races in this world which can only be slashed through by the dagger of God’s love. And what is God’s love? Love is first the putting away of all false doctrines. God says LOVE IS THE KEEPING OF GOD’S COMMANDMENTS.5 His commandments are His royal, holy, moral law and His order, the law and order of His Word. His commandments are His royal, holy, moral law and His order, the law and order of His Word.6 Rejecting the Word of God is the same as committing eternal suicide.7 False doctrines not only destroy the soul, but subvert God’s purposes here on earth while doing so.8

Jesus said, "The words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are Life."9 When God’s Word is properly received into the human heart, then Christ Jesus is properly received into the human heart. Jesus knows He is received into the heart when we continuously keep His commandments.10 Jesus said, "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you."11 This tells us that being a friend of Jesus is conditional. Jesus said, "He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."12 We know when we have received God’s holy Word by the power we receive from Him, enabling us to keep His commandments.13 We feel great joy in the presence of His power, which we feel within us.14 His powerful grace and strength in us brings us great victory and great joy. Paul said by the Holy Spirit, "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God."15 No other words, no other doctrine but God's will do, and nothing but faith in God’s Word will bring forth eternal life or any other gift from God.16 Jesus said, "He that hath an ear, let him hear" (let him receive by faith) "what the Spirit" (the Word of God) "saith unto the churches."17 Every person of God is a church. "Know ye not that ye are the temple" (the church) "of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?"18

If you are saved, you will continue to hear only the true Word of God.19 And If you are not saved, hear now only the true Word of God that you may be saved. Jesus said, "I am The Way, The Truth, and The Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me."20 This means that all other doctrines are false. All other ways are false. All other religions are false. Again, "No man cometh unto the Father" in Heaven but by Jesus.21 The true Word of God states that Jesus is the true Word of God.22 Receiving any other word would not be receiving Jesus, Whom you must receive in order to be saved.23 "For there is none other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."24 Again, this is the first and most important thing that we must know in this world. We are not allowed to privately interpret this statement or any other statement from the true Word of God.25 Today, there are many new false versions of the Bible and there are many false prophets.26 For the safety of your soul, in English, read only the old King James Version.27 The truth is you must be born again of the Spirit, the Word of God, which is Christ.28 When many of Christ’s disciples decided to become anti-Christ by going back and walking no more with Him [John 6:66, 1 John 2:18-19], refusing to receive His eternal, life-giving Words, Jesus asked Peter, "Will ye also go away?" (become anti-Christ?) Peter answered Jesus by saying, "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life."29 Christ is the only source of eternal life.30 Remember, "There is none other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."31

He is the wisest who seeks God through God's Word.32 He is the most successful who has found God in His Word.33 He is the most sure who continually is receiving and doing all the commands that are written in God's whole Word.34 Receive eternal life right now. Receive Christ into your heart by saying this prayer:

Prayer

My LORD and my GOD, have mercy upon my soul, a sinner. 1 I believe that JESUS CHRIST is the SON of the living GOD. 2 I believe that HE died on the cross and shed HIS precious blood for the forgiveness of all my former sins. 3 I believe that GOD raised JESUS from the dead by the power of the HOLY SPIRIT 4 and that HE sits on the right hand of GOD at this moment, hearing my confession of sin and this prayer. 5 I open up the door of my heart, and I invite YOU into my heart, LORD JESUS. 6 Wash all of my filthy sins away in the precious blood that YOU shed in my place on the cross at Calvary. 7 YOU will not turn me away, LORD JESUS; YOU will forgive my sins and save my soul. I know because YOUR WORD, the Bible, says so. 8 YOUR WORD says that YOU will turn no one away, and that includes me. 9 Therefore, I know that YOU have heard me, and I know that YOU have answered me, and I know that I am saved. 10 And I thank YOU, LORD JESUS, for saving my soul, and I will show my thankfulness by doing as YOU command and sin no more.11

Now that you are saved and forgiven of your sins, raise your hands and praise the Lord. "Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice: and let men say among the nations, The LORD reigneth."35

Christ now lives in you through the Holy Spirit.36 There is a way you can receive a fuller portion of the divine nature of God in you. God the Father lives now in you also. The more of the divine nature of God that lives in you, the more you will be able to stand against the temptations that so easily have moved so many millions of Christians away from salvation. This is caused by more man in us than God in us. Mankind has become so wicked that if Satan and his impish army were abolished, we would be our own devil.

Now that you are saved, pray for the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Prayerfully study the Word and pray always for more of the divine nature.37 For instructions on how to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and to receive more of God’s holy nature, ask for our literature or call. For without holiness no man shall see God.38

Now that you are saved it is a commandment to be fully submerged, baptized in water in the name of the Father and in the name of the Son and in the name of the Holy Spirit.39 Follow all of God’s commands and live.40


You've just completed the first step in a series of five steps which are necessary to receive salvation. Your second step is to deny yourself and take up the cross daily for the purpose of mortifying yourself, that is, for putting to death your own will, your soulful self, and the world with all of its lusts. All these must be baptized into the death of Christ.

Step three is your resurrection from the satanic life of Adam unto the sinless life of Christ. Step four is your ascension into a position of authority to reign for God on earth, and the fifth step is to reign for God on earth to the end for the purpose of bringing about the kingdom of Heaven on earth. You must learn the Word of God, then submit yourself and do what the Word says, so that the Church and the world may see evidence of your submission to God's Word, His order, and His authority in and by you.

Praise the Lord. May God reward you abundantly.

Pastor Tony Alamo


Our church receives much mail with thousands of requests for Bibles and literature. Much of our literature is printed in Hebrew, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Romanian, Polish, Czech, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Albanian, Serbian, Telugu, Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, and Arabic. Pastor Alamo’s ninety-one page book, The Messiah, is currently available in Hebrew, English, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Portuguese, German, French, Italian, Korean, Greek, Arabic, Japanese, and Telugu. Distributors for Alamo literature are on the increase every day throughout the world.


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CHRIST, THE WORD OF GOD, IS THE ONLY WAY, TRUTH, AND ETERNAL LIFE. 12 PASTOR ALAMO IS INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED FOR USING THE WORD OF GOD ONLY TO PRESENT IT. THIS LITERATURE CARRIES THAT TRUE PLAN OF SALVATION. 13 DO NOT THROW IT AWAY, PASS IT ON TO ANOTHER.

We encourage you to translate this literature into other languages, to print and distribute it to every nation and to give it to every creature in the world. "And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."41

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© Copyright December,1994 All rights reserved World Pastor Tony Alamo ® Registered December,1994

The Tony Alamo Christian Ministries is a division of Music Square Church, Inc.


"The First Thing" footnotes:

1 II Pet. 1:20-21, original Greek return

2 Heb. 11:1, 2, 4, 6 return

3 II Pet. 2:1-2 return

4 Luke 8:18 return

5 I John 2:5, II John 1:6 return

6 James 2:8, Rom. 7:12, I Kings 8:58, 11:38, Prov. 6:23 return

7 Prov. 8:36 return

8 I Tim. 1:5-7, Rom. 1:18, 24-25 return

9 John 6:63 return

10 I John 3:24 return

11 John 15:14 return

12 I John 2:4 return

13 I Peter 1:3-5 return

14 Rom. 5:11 return

15 Rom. 10:17 return

16 Rom. 16:17, I Tim. 1:3-4, 4:16, 6:3-5 return

17 Rev. 2:29, 3:22 return

18 I Cor. 3:16 return

19 Titus 2:7-8 return

20 John 14:6 return

21 John 14:6 return

22 Rev. 19:13 return

23 James 1:21 return

24 Acts 4:12 return

25 II Pet. 1:20 return

26 II Tim. 4:3-4 return

27 Read the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and the original Hellenic Greek, which is the Greek written and spoken by the Jews. return

28 John 3:3, 5-7,1:1 return

29 John 6:67-68 return

30 John 17:3, 20:31, Rom. 5:17, 21, 6:23, Col. 3:4, I Thes. 5:9 return

31 Acts 4:12 return

32 Prov. 2:6 return

33 Josh. 1:8 return

34 Josh. 1:7 return

35 I Chron. 16:31 return

36 Rom. 8:11 return

37 II Tim 2:15, Luke 21:36, John 15:3 return

38 Heb. 12:14 return

39 Matt. 28:19 return

40 Deut. 8:1, 30:16, Prov. 4:4, 7:2 return

41 Mark 16:15 return


"Prayer" Footnotes:

1. Psa. 51:5, Rom. 3:10-12, 23 return

2. Matt. 26:63-64, 27:54, Luke 1:30-33, John 9:35-37, Rom. 1:3-4 return

3. Acts 4:12, 20:28, Rom. 3:25, I John 1:7, Rev. 5:9 return

4. Psa. 16:9-10, Matt. 28:5-7, Mark 16:9, 12, 14, John 2:19, 21, 10:17-18, 11:25, Acts 2:24, 3:15, Rom. 8:11, I Cor. 15:3-7 return

5. Luke 22:69, Acts 2:25-36, Heb. 10:12-13 return

6. I Cor. 3:16, Rev. 3:20 return

7. Eph. 2:13-22, Heb. 9:22, 13:12, 20-21, I John 1:7, Rev. 1:5, 7:14 return

8. Matt. 26:28, Acts 2:21, 4:12, Eph. 1:7, Col. 1:14 return

9. Matt. 21:22, John 6:35, 37-40, Rom. 10:13 return

10. Heb. 11:6 return

11. John 5:14, 8:11, Rom. 6:4, I Cor. 15:10, Rev. 7:14, 22:14 return

12. John 14:6 return

13. Acts 4:12 return