Southend-on-Sea, England: Kung Fu master Tony Anthony and Avanti Ministries

**It is Fake** · Posted On: 5/29/2009 11:39am

Originally Posted by jk1809

Come on Bullshido, you're better than this.

Hmm read the thread and there is a ton of information in here on the guy.

Come on, why bring the thread back to add nothing and complain?

**madbull** · Posted On: 6/08/2009 12:36pm

I Believe in What Tony Athony has to say, unless proved otherwise. I have heard him speak 3 times on 3 different occasions, his motive is to bring others to Jesus Christ. He became a Christian in Nicosia in 1990.

I suggest if you continue to dig you will find out disappointingly that he is legit.
Regards,
Madbull

**CrackFox** · Posted On: 6/08/2009 1:13pm

Originally Posted by madbull

I Believe in What Tony Athony has to say, unless proved otherwise. I have heard him speak 3 times on 3 different occasions, his motive is to bring others to Jesus Christ. He became a Christian in Nicosia in 1990.

I suggest if you continue to dig you will find out disappointingly that he is legit.
Regards,
Madbull

How do you feel about the similarity between his description of his Kung-Fu training, and the opening sequence of the TV series, also called Kung-Fu?

Do you believe he played with a wild white tiger on mainland China?

If you feel that further digging will prove his legitimacy, then I'm sure you agree that we should get this investigation in gear and clear everything up. Maybe you could help?

**honesty** · Posted On: 6/08/2009 1:23pm

Unfortunately further digging will prove nothing, as there is no information out there. I've looked. Its basically all unprovable, as the only sources for the story all come back to Tony...

**icarusjfel** · Posted On: 6/22/2009 4:35pm

Found this:

YouTube - Kung Fu VS Jesus

Words fail me.

**Askanison** · Posted On: 8/09/2009 3:19pm

Hey Folks, first time poster here - I actually came upon Bullshido whilst checking this Tony Anthony guy out after reading his book. I'm an athiest, and the book was loaned to me by a christian friend who knew I was a martial artist - I guess he wouldn't be a good christian if he didn't try, eh? Anyway, I wasn't too far into it before it started striking me as dodgy, and the lack of any sort of independent coroboration clinched it for me. His crusade to turn people towards christianity and away from martial arts just annoyed me - only in a closed evangelical mind could the two be mutually exclusive. Anyway, by a strange coincidence, another christain friend, thinking I would be interested alerted me to the fact that Tony Anthony is coming to speak at some sort of christain gathering in the local area. The advert is heavily martial arts related, despite, as we know, Mr. Anthony is only intersted in decrying the fighting arts. I've already been in contact with a couple of clubs in the area, letting them know not to be drawn in to thinking that this guys actually has anything positive or interesting to say about martial arts, and was seriously considering getting in touch with the event organiser - I don't want to see christians getting taken for a ride by this guy, any more than I want to see martial artists drawn in by his fakery. Any thoughts?

**madbull** · Posted On: 8/10/2009 4:45am

I have met Tony Anthony personally on 3 occasions and heard him share his life story on 2 of them. Tony is on a mission to share his faith with others regarding the martial arts side his art was not just a sport but a way of life leading to the violence and crime in his life, if martial arts led you to a life of crime would you also not convince others that this was wrong. personally i have trained in BJJ for 4 years under the Gracie Banner, where care and respect for others is learned, but i could see that if one were involved at a young age taken away from one's family and forced into training every day for may years i would probably use my martial art to express my anger.

I just say if you have a chance to see Tony Anthony speak go and listen to what he has to say and then decide.

He is not teaching anyone or claiming to as other frauds do so he is not harming anyone so why knock what he is saying.

**madbull** · Posted On: 8/10/2009 4:47am

:waoya:waoya

Originally Posted by madbull

I have met Tony Anthony personally on 3 occasions and heard him share his life story on 2 of them. Tony is on a mission to share his faith with others regarding the martial arts side his art was not just a sport but a way of life leading to the violence and crime in his life, if martial arts led you to a life of crime would you also not convince others that this was wrong. personally i have trained in BJJ for 4 years under the Gracie Banner, where care and respect for others is learned, but i could see that if one were involved at a young age taken away from one's family and forced into training every day for may years i would probably use my martial art to express my anger.

I just say if you have a chance to see Tony Anthony speak go and listen to what he has to say and then decide.

He is not teaching anyone or claiming to as other frauds do so he is not harming anyone so why knock what he is saying.

**Chili Pepper** · Posted On: 8/10/2009 8:25am

Originally Posted by madbull

He is not teaching anyone or claiming to as other frauds do so he is not harming anyone so why knock what he is saying.

So that's your criteria for "harm"? As long as he doesn't teach anyone, then the possibility of him being a card-carrying "Liar for Jesus (tm)" is okay with you?

**CrackFox** · Posted On: 8/10/2009 9:43am

Originally Posted by madbull

Tony is on a mission to share his faith with others regarding the martial arts side his art was not just a sport but a way of life leading to the violence and crime in his life, if martial arts led you to a life of crime would you also not convince others that this was wrong. [...] i could see that if one were involved at a young age taken away from one's family and forced into training every day for may years i would probably use my martial art to express my anger.

Let's try and look at this from another angle. What would you say if somebody who was raised in an industrial school / convent, suffering a childhood of institutional abuse at the hands of the church, were to preach that religion is wrong, and that we should become atheists? Would you say "fair enough mate" and throw away your bible, or would you say "hey, wait a second, you can't judge religon as a whole based on your case of abuse. Your problem lies with the people who abused you, and those that helped them cover it up, not with god."

So we have to look at Anthony Anthony: assuming what he says is true (big assumption), then he was raised in an abusive family, and this abuse took the form of martial arts training. You can't take his experience of martial arts and use it to say all martial arts are bad.

He is not teaching anyone or claiming to as other frauds do so he is not harming anyone so why knock what he is saying.

Bullshit is bullshit. I don't know how much he makes from his books and public speaking, but that's not the point. The man regularly goes in front of large groups of people and makes fantastical and unsubstantiated claims, and we must make it clear that this is not acceptable.