2 hours ago, Jb003 said:

Does anyone know when and why Tedd Anger stepped down as Gwen's right hand man?

Don’t know. Did he step down or was he removed from that position? I’ve not seen a truly concrete explanation.

It was after Joe was in the picture. Maybe Gwen didn’t need him in that role, as she was grooming her groom for it. Maybe, and I suspect this might be more accurate, she couldn’t afford him in that role anymore after her costly divorce. Maybe there was some kind of more juicy falling out — after all, the Angers and Days all were dropped from leadership at the same time (the Bakers were too, but they’re back in).

But … they’re still church members, so it couldn’t have been that bad?

3 hours ago, EmCatlyn said:

You have to wonder what (if anything) Anna is saying privately to Josh.  (Is she saying, “Take it to court, you are not guilty and should trust that the truth will prevail,” or is she saying, “Your lawyers know what they are talking about, and even if you are innocent, my husband, you should plead, so you can come back sooner to your family,” or is she saying something along the lines of, “I can’t believe Satan got you again.  I am praying for you,” and not having an opinion?

First, I imagine Anna wondered what her (perceived) role in Josh's actions might have been. So often it seems in this culture if the husband has an affair it is partly the wife's fault because she didn't make her husband feel wanted/loved/desired, and wasn't as available as he desired. After Josh's involvement with Ashley Madison came to light I wonder if Anna tried to be more available, make Josh feel more wanted/loved/desired. Clearly there were porn concerns (I'm guessing/hoping they just felt it was adult porn, not CSAM) because Josh had the Covenant Eye's program with Anna as his accountability partner, so I would think Anna would try even harder to be available to Josh so he wouldn't be tempted to view porn.

I imagine Anna is replaying the times she got a little snippy with Josh, or pretended to (or on purpose) fell asleep with the kids while putting them to bed so she didn't have to go to bed with Josh, or made a meal he didn't really like just because she had enough of his crap. She may be wondering what she could have done differently to prevent Josh from viewing online content. 

As for Anna's input I would not be surprised is Jim Bob and Michelle made it clear it is not her decision, and they aren't looking for her input. Michelle may have more of the one on one conversations saying we are paying for the attorneys, Jim Bob is praying on the topic and when the Lord tells him how to proceed we will let you know. I imagine Michelle has said if Josh goes to prison you will need us to support you, and we will if you tow the line. Michelle would probably add a lot more Jesus and bible, but the point would be crystal clear, keep your mouth shut. 

I also wouldn't be surprised if Anna found Josh's actions despicable, but not worthy of criminal scrutiny. If Anna feels CSAM and adult porn are the same in level of sin she may feel her husband is being unjustly targeted for his Christian beliefs. If she feels CSAM and porn are the same she knows plenty of adults view porn and no one is arresting them, ruining their lives. She may concede CSAM is worse, but may feel he was "only" looking at it online, and can get help with rehab, more levels of internet protection, etc. I also wouldn't be surprised if she thinks yes he is guilty of the crimes he is accused of, but he was only found out because is a vocal Christian conservative. 

By no means am I trying to equate an affair and CSAM, or CSAM and porn. I do wonder if Anna feels they are equal. 

10 hours ago, thoughtful said:

But sometimes I think "People, that was an hour of near-constant nonsense! It was  mostly just babbling - how can you want that?"

Maybe people come to see him for the entertainment value. I mean, his schtick is a curious admixture of Jonathan Edwards (Sinners in the hands of an angry God), Robin Williams at his most manic, and Don Rickles. 

ETA: also a dash of Henny Youngman

On 9/30, after his scary lecture to someone who he thought might not have been totally entranced by his What Would You Do With Jesus message, Gary read Genesis 5:24 - And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

"Ahwanna ask ya a question. Enoch took it serious, an' said hey ah believe the for mah children's sake because if you read the whole story there read the whole chapter maybe ya oughta go home an' do that amen? Won't hurtchu to read a chapter of the Bahble today ah read uh 27 today. That make ya say wha? Ah wanna know more about Jesus. Ah didn't just say it, ah put actions on it, amen? You say 'Yeah but you're a preacher, you don't have nothin' else t'do.'"

He stops for a weird and rather evil-looking smirk and some congregants laugh:

"You'd be surprahsed. Ah'll tell ya what - bein' that you don't think ah do nothin' else, ah invite you to Miss Stout's house at ten o'clock in the mornin' an' come an' help me load mah stuff up. You'll fahnd out how hard ah work, amen? But walkin' with God. That's an important thing in your life, amen?"

Oh, I guess we're back to Enoch. He never did ask them a question - guess that was just one of Gary's verbal farts.

He says there are people today that can walk the walk, but can't talk the talk, and then corrects himself (I wonder if Becky gives him a "flip it around the other way" signal of some sort at those moments).

He says he doesn't know anything about being in the Army, because he never was, but he's been learning over the last few days - it sounds like he's been having or overhearing conversations with a woman who serves in the Army, who is there in church. He says "she's the leader," and uses her as an example of needing to keep people "walking within the line."

Well, he was able to acknowledge a woman in the armed forces, and being in charge of others, with no sarcastic comments (so far). Practically miraculous, for Gary.

He says they have to do the same thing for "the Lord Jesus Crah." He talks about how he didn't like "the footprint" because he didn't understand it, but now he does.

Reminding them they have to take every opportunity to talk about Jesus, Gary says he's:

After yelling at them (or maybe just that one person he got pissed off at before - hard to tell) about reading the Bible for a while, then starts in on how the mysterious "they" are going to take away all the Bibles someday.

He brings up how "they were tryin' to git rid of Dr. Seuss." "What that is is they gotta git you inbrained an' they gotta git you instilled an' they gotta git you sold out for the news media, amen, an' believin' what they're sayin' an' they kin take the Dr. Seusses an' then they come gitcher King James Bahble. If you've got an NIV they prob'ly won't mess withya ya say wha? Heh - there ain't much in there about God amen."

I love that "ingrained" has turned into "inbrained." It's one of those semi-logical malapropisms.

Gary does his usual crap about his love affair with the KJV, and admits he doesn't understand all of it. But he seems to have an odd idea of what that means.

He's "fixin' t'go through Chronicles" next week, "an'  ah'm gonna say 'Joe,' an' 'Bob,' an' 'Sue,' an' th'rest of 'em, ya say wha? Ah'm not gon' be able t'pronounce all them names."

Gary says he's "not makin' fun" or "makin' laht." But then makes his joke about being thankful his Momma didn't know all of those names when she named him.

So, not being able to pronounce the names in Chronicles is the only way in which you think you don't understand the Bible, Gary?

I grant, Chronicles has some long lists of names - I don't think most of them are difficult, but I'm a word nerd and a musician who loves to mimic sounds, and have had the sounds of the original Hebrew that the transliteration is supposed to represent in my head for over 60 years. So I can only try imagine how they look to someone who only knows English, and then to someone who barely reads English, like Gary.

Not to mention that, when it comes to using the Bible as a guide for life, morality or anything important, all of those name lists in Chronicles are useless. Tom Lehrer's Elements, various Cole Porter and Stephen Sondheim songs, Tchaikovsky, that little Mozart ditty about all of the women Don G. has shtupped, and many other catalog songs are much more entertaining, and some are useful!

Gary, skip the lists of names altogether, unless you really need to know who begat who for some reason.

Well, looking those songs up was a fun distraction from Gary - let's see what he said next.

Oh, just more about the KJV, then "Go t'Proverbs chapter fahve. No, Proverbs chapter three."

I'll meet you there later, Gary. First I need to listen to I Can't Get Started.

I just went back on Tinder for the first time since before covid. Now that I live in a red state- as opposed to Seattle- it seems like half the guys on there either have multiple children or are posing in their camo with a dead animal in every one of their pics. It's wild. Crossing my fingers that I meet someone who's more my scene.