Hi @ Steve Cline,
Can you receive calls OK?
If so, try starting the phone in [https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-33016|safe mode] (should be the same method for your model if it is an Alcatel phone - you didn’t say the model number) and see if you can receive texts OK.
If you can, then a ''downloaded'' app is the cause of the problem. The trick is to find out which one. You’ll need to uninstall each downloaded app, one by one, and test the phone in normal mode, between each uninstall, to see if the texts work OK. When it does then the last downloaded app uninstalled was the problem. Perhaps start with the ones that may have been installed or updated around the time that you noticed the problem happening.
If it also fails to work in safe mode, I suggest that you contact your mobile phone service provider about the problem as it may be at their end and not with your phone.