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

[stephenprunetti]

re tony 'bullshitter' anthony

Hi. One of the most glaring mistakes that Tony Anthony makes in his book, and there are very many, is that he stroked, even played with a wild WHITE tiger (pure, unadulterated fantasy). This is written about in the early part of his book.
He claims this took place in the forest somewhere in Guangdong province in South China. It is easy for anyone to check in this day and age, and is an irrefutable fact that the only tigers that have ever inhabited South China, are, funnily enough, South China tigers. They are not WHITE and all authorities agree that not one specimen has been seen in the wild for at least 20 years.
WHITE tigers are a sub-species of the Bengal tiger and are totally unknown anywhere in China.
Tony Anthony would have maintained more credibility saying he swam the back-stroke with the Loch Ness monster. At least this claim could not be entirely disproved.
Sincerely, Stephen Prunetti.

[Fantasy Warrior]

So the guy is a demonstrable liar. I bet every one's surprised at that revelation. An more blatant porkies to report?

[Jadonblade]

Good stuff Stephen!, when you confronted him did he have any sort of reply on topic?. He must of tried to make some sort of excuse. The other problem is Im wondering how he is making money, as he was giving away his books for free at the talk I was at. I guess from people paying for his talks? (our one was free for some reason).

[Fantasy Warrior]

Let's set a rule to this thread; no religious discussion regardless of how misled you think he might be.

[Jadonblade]

Fair enough, his religon isnt the issue as far as Im concerned. Its just very confusing, how he has done so well out of some very blatant lies. I want to know how far his lies extend as well, as he even been to china?. Did he ever train?

[DuckofDeath]

possibly competed in BJJ in Australia in 2002(?).

Say what?

[ChingChuan]

I wonder if this guy has some international recognition, since I remember article about kung-fu-badass-who-has-killed-people-but-now-is-christian in local christian sect newspaper.
.

I hope you don't mind that I revive a very old topic, but I think that it's quite important - as this man has indeed an 'international' reputation.
In 2006, his story appeared in 'Opwekking' (a dutch magazine for evangelical christians - it's quite well known) and he was one of the 'featured speakers' at the 'Opwekking pentecostal convention' of that year. (Here's a list of people who spoke at the convention)
I'm not entirely sure, but I estimate that about 4000 people were present - and his book was actively promoted.

I bought his books on that convention because I was interested in the martial arts part and I didn't doubt his views at all - until I decided to find out whether he was also known in the martial arts world.

That's why I'd like to know more about this, since I think that it would be wise to contact Opwekking (one of the major christian organisations in our country, after all) about this. I am sure that they wouldn't continue to support him and his books if there's substantional proof that he's lying.

So. The main arguments are
1) He's never been a world champion in Kung Fu (Is there a list or something? That would make better proof... Also, isn't it possible that his name was removed 'because he became a christian'? I don't think so, but others could think that way).
2) The IKFF doesn't exist / isn't the association that it's said to be (Proof? I had a look at their website, but I couldn't draw a good conclusion from it... After all, it could be possible that the IKFF has a 'secret' part or whatever.)
3) There are no white tigers in the part of China he described
4) The ritual he described to attain a 'master rank' was directly taken from a TV series on Kung Fu.

Are there any more arguments or does anyone know more about this? I appreciate your reply.

Thanks in advance!

[honesty]

Hi,

Just to pick up on 4 there. It wasnt a programme on Kung Fu, it was a programme called Kung Fu with David Caradine.

There is a wikipedia page on this here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_An...8evangelist%29

having a look at their policies this should be removed because its completely unsourced. I'm not good at wiki stuff though, so can someone with more wiki knowledge put this up for deletion/alteration

[honesty]

Vids:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjT0vv23ovg

More here:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_lis...2E83FAB8AA8985

Seems he also has done a video ad here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/GeorgieOoi

[honesty]

Sorry about the post spam...

He seems to be represented by The Lighthouse agency, a Christian Celebrity agency. See his page here: http://www.lighthouseagency.co.uk/single.htm?ipg=6696

Finally, he seems to be listed as the director of this company: http://www.avantiministries.com/

There is both a charity number and a company number, so should be rather easy to look these up. Anyone got access to these databases?

[honesty]

the book Taming the Tiger was co-written by Angela Little, a freelance author who specialises in testimonies. Her website is here: http://alittlecreative.com/

Under the books section is states that Taming the Tiger has sold a 100,000 copies. The books published through http://www.authenticmedia.co.uk.

[ChingChuan]

Thanks! However, I don't think I could just e-mail them and say 'I demand proof of Tony's statements', could I?

Also, I took a look at the video's. He's wearing a long-sleeved shirt there, so I can't see whether there are burn marks or not... (That's also a nice argument, by the way, I forgot to list it). I don't recall that he rolled up his sleeves to prove that his story was true...

[Asriel]

I live in Southend-on-Sea, does he teach around here?

[DuckofDeath]

I hope you don't mind that I revive a very old topic...

Not at all; in fact, I was thinking of bumping this one myself.

[DuckofDeath]

Vids:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjT0vv23ovg

More here:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_lis...2E83FAB8AA8985

Seems he also has done a video ad here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/GeorgieOoi

I watched the first video and was surprised to hear him say that when he was serving as a bodyguard in the Middle East he unnecessarily took people's lives because instead of shooting armed assailants in the shoulder or leg to disarm them, he would instead aim for the chest or head. As a kid, he apparently watched a lot of TV westerns in which one gunslinger would beat the other to the draw and shoot him in the shoulder or the knee before he could get his gun out of the holster. His implication that "winging" an armed assailant would have been the appropriate course of action positively smacks of bullshido...

Addendum: If an armed assailant has weapon in hand, would shooting him in the leg preclude his being able to return fire?