Bro Gary Hawkins 19: God Even Uses the Perforated People

[Four is Enough]

"driving the snakes out of Ireland" refers to the Druids, who tattooed themselves with snake motifs.

[Ozlsn]

On 3/8/2022 at 3:10 PM, postscript said:

Or does running with the wrong woman also pull women out of a Christian life? 

In these people's extremely narrow worldview yes. 

On 3/11/2022 at 8:41 AM, thoughtful said:

A Noyes who married a Venable. Could Gary and Jill be distantly related?

Now there's a crossover I wouldn't have expected. I know fundie circles are small but given the relatively recent conversions of their parents... it's an interesting thought. Who would grift more - Gary's tent or Jill's travelling circus? Maybe they should join forces!

[Ozlsn]

For the first time inyears I checked out Gary's FB. Still nothing since Mountain View Baptist. Has he gotten bored? Sick? Lost his phone??? Enquiring minds here Gary!!

Becky on the other hand is running MLM parties left, right and centre - and presumably bringing in the family income through cute bowls and cleaning products.

[Cults-r-us]

On 3/9/2022 at 9:24 PM, Joyster said:

Thank you!  I've been trying to research Holiness. I can find things about the American Holiness Movement.  I was raised in a denomination that formed from the movement.  I also learned a lot about the Wesleyan-Holiness origins of a christian college that I attended; the top three denominations of the students make a little more sense now.

I never heard of "Holiness" phrased like a denomination, however. Churches that describe themselves as "holiness" seem to have some strict dress codes, so I can see Bro. Danny appreciating that.   

Nazarene and their more conservative cousins, Church of the God if Holiness" are Holiness religions. When I went to a Nazarene college, they were Severely opposed to speaking in tongues.

 

[Joyster]

10 hours ago, Ozlsn said:

For the first time inyears I checked out Gary's FB. Still nothing since Mountain View Baptist. Has he gotten bored? Sick? Lost his phone??? Enquiring minds here Gary!!

Gary's mom has been in the hospital for over a week according to Caleb and other family members' Facebook pages.  She had kidney stones in her only kidney, which I believe were taken out surgically.  However, in the beginning of Gary's dad's Wednesday night ramble, he said was something else wrong with the kidney that they couldn't figure out.  Bro. Danny Hawkins was really not doing well and difficult to understand.  He talked a lot about how when he was preaching in a trailer he rented when the family was young, he didn't know how he was going to pay for the heat one Sunday, his tires on his truck blew out on the way home, and the family ate lettuce sandwiches.  However, God provided.  Two people showed up with tithes-- the heat was paid for!  He was asked to preach somewhere and they paid for new tires!  They had a little bit of mayonnaise on the lettuce sandwiches and nobody starved!  He also talked about how he faced criticism from other preachers when he pulled his children out of the public schools. 

His mom being in the hospital would be a good reason for Gary not to be posting.  However, I don't think it is.  My guess is he had an accident with his phone.  The last two sermons on his page were recorded by Becky.  He is writing "preaching the word"  a lot of days on his Hawkins Family Ministries page.  

[Joyster]

13 hours ago, Ozlsn said:

For the first time inyears I checked out Gary's FB. Still nothing since Mountain View Baptist. Has he gotten bored? Sick? Lost his phone??? Enquiring minds here Gary!!

It appears Gary and his recording equipment are fine. I always forget that Gary has a Youtube channel.  Hawkins Ministries Youtube  He posted his latest sermons on it. I listened to the beginnings of each one to see if he mentioned his mom.  He did not.  He did get Chinese food though and was ecstatic that there would be Chinese food in heaven.

[postscript]

3 hours ago, Joyster said:

It appears Gary and his recording equipment are fine. I always forget that Gary has a Youtube channel.  Hawkins Ministries Youtube  He posted his latest sermons on it. I listened to the beginnings of each one to see if he mentioned his mom.  He did not.  He did get Chinese food though and was ecstatic that there would be Chinese food in heaven.

Everything is entitled “Preaching the word” and nearly everything has single-digit views. Anything over 5 views is a huge audience. He has 31 subscribers. Guess he’s not reaching the number of people he’d like to think. I’m curious about what he’s been up to but not enough to add to his view count. 

 

Edited April 2, 2022 by postscript
Corrected factual info,

[patsymae]

"The poor in England/Ireland/Britain/the UK got a good amount of their vitamins and calories from beer and ale, including low alcohol small ale for children and breakfast, all the way through the 19th century."

In the three-part TV series "How Booze Built America" (which I highly recommend, it's hilarious), the Puritans on the Mayflower had a ration of 1 gallon of beer per day for everyone on board, including children. And they ran out!

Being Irish American Catholic, I was never aware of any Christian theology that banned alcohol, lol. My understanding is that the temperance movement was partially about protecting women (Carrie Nation) but largely an anti-immigrant movement by native WASPs after the Germans (beer gardens), Irish (pubs) and Italians (wine) started showing up.

 

[Joyster]

Well, Gary is faithful with posting his sermons on YouTube.  Very few people are watching them. I wanted to hear if he mentioned his mother; she is supposed to have surgery tomorrow, but they are not sure if they can do it because of extremely low blood pressure.  Of course he didn't.

To try to make my view count for something, I tried to listen to the latest one to summarize it, but I only could last 3 minutes!  @thoughtful deserves an award for listening to and summarizing so many.

Here's the summary of the first three minutes:

Preaching the word, April 3:

Gary starts his sermon with O- Bomb-A.  Gary personally believes, he’s heard it two times, that O Joe is being controlled by Obama.  Other than China and Russia, Obama is controlling the ship.  Some brother in Maine who recently died preached on Obama's evil plans and used a lot of scripture.  This sounds like one of my middle school students who wasn’t using the text to support their conclusion.  Except the student is 12, and Gary is in his 40's. 

ABC, NBS, and CNS or whatever you want to call it, they were doing this years ago., They were lying way before this pandemic or “plan”demic.

Bruce Kinder (referring to Caitlyn Jenner), he, she or it or “whatever that thing is” is now working for Fox News.   Gary doesn’t care about being kicked off of Facebook because of saying things like this.  “Either Facebook hates me enough they don’t follow me, or they don’t care”.  If he doesn’t preach on this stuff once in a while, we will be heretics. He then goes on to talk about the former guy and how he was doing God's work even though he isn't saved.  My guess is that Facebook just doesn't understand Gary, like me usually.

I like to read snark on this guy, but I can't stand listening to him, similar to the former guy.  I'm not giving him anymore clicks.

 

[postscript]

10 hours ago, Joyster said:

Well, Gary is faithful with posting his sermons on YouTube.  Very few people are watching them. I wanted to hear if he mentioned his mother; she is supposed to have surgery tomorrow, but they are not sure if they can do it because of extremely low blood pressure.  Of course he didn't.

To try to make my view count for something, I tried to listen to the latest one to summarize it, but I only could last 3 minutes!  @thoughtful deserves an award for listening to and summarizing so many.

Here's the summary of the first three minutes:

Preaching the word, April 3:

Gary starts his sermon with O- Bomb-A.  Gary personally believes, he’s heard it two times, that O Joe is being controlled by Obama.  Other than China and Russia, Obama is controlling the ship.  Some brother in Maine who recently died preached on Obama's evil plans and used a lot of scripture.  This sounds like one of my middle school students who wasn’t using the text to support their conclusion.  Except the student is 12, and Gary is in his 40's. 

ABC, NBS, and CNS or whatever you want to call it, they were doing this years ago., They were lying way before this pandemic or “plan”demic.

Bruce Kinder (referring to Caitlyn Jenner), he, she or it or “whatever that thing is” is now working for Fox News.   Gary doesn’t care about being kicked off of Facebook because of saying things like this.  “Either Facebook hates me enough they don’t follow me, or they don’t care”.  If he doesn’t preach on this stuff once in a while, we will be heretics. He then goes on to talk about the former guy and how he was doing God's work even though he isn't saved.  My guess is that Facebook just doesn't understand Gary, like me usually.

I like to read snark on this guy, but I can't stand listening to him, similar to the former guy.  I'm not giving him anymore clicks.

 

Thank you for even the small amount of listening, I’m fascinated by him, in part because he’s frequently unwittingly humorous, but life is too short to listen to his rants. I also don’t want to give him views. 

So we are back to Gary Does Politics? Of course he’s getting his facts via the weirdest possible conspiracy theories. Has he been threatened with being kicked off Facebook? Why even bring that up? 

[thoughtful]

  I apologize for not keeping up with Bro Gary for so long. But I am back.

On 3/31/2022 at 5:22 AM, Ozlsn said:

On 3/10/2022 at 4:41 PM, thoughtful said:

A Noyes who married a Venable. Could Gary and Jill be distantly related?

Now there's a crossover I wouldn't have expected. I know fundie circles are small but given the relatively recent conversions of their parents... it's an interesting thought. Who would grift more - Gary's tent or Jill's travelling circus? Maybe they should join forces!

It would be fun to find out they are somehow related. They do know one another (at least cyber-know) - we found out about Gary and Becky via Jill's Facebook, I believe.

When last I listened to Gary, it was the 12/12/21 evening service. I think I'll finish that one and jump to newer ones, and occasionally go back for the ones I missed.

At the midpoint of the 12/12 evening service, when Gary was church/house/dogsitting for the Pridgens, he had just announced "Psalms chapter 32 - chalms - psalms chapter 32."

He stares at his bible, mumbles something about a drink of water, takes out his pen, and writes something on his steno book, while the congregation waits. He mumbles "Psalms 32 - 19 ain't in there,"  something else I can't understand, then "Hold ohn jest a second." More waiting. "Verse - it's chapter 31 - ah got 32 'cause mah page says 32. It's 31 - Psalms 31. Look in verses 19."

KJV: Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!
Bro Gary Version: Oh how great an' how - an ' - an' - oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hath laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hath wrought for them that trust in thee before the son - of - min!

As ever, Gary's vocal stylings are a mix of stressed pushing through his throat and outright shouting - no shrieking yet, but the evening is young.

He babbles about the house they're staying in, and the guy who may or may not be able to fix the van, and how God is always good and provides a house and food and a bed and a couch. Also, if your children are alive and "ya ain't buried 'em," you should thank God. The Bible says "chil'ren are an inheritage."

Gary says he's a clean person, and likes running water and showers. "Ah remember ah usedta work up in Brunswick County an' we had this one day job an' we got in their an' listen, hey, when ah got done with the job you mighta thought ah was a peeg,  that's just how muddy an' stuff it was. An' th' gah - mah boss-man was jus' nice enough to me t'let me go take a shower but the only thing was when ah got outta the shower an' ah got dressed, it didn't - ah didn't wanna go back t'work, man ah was lookin' - ah was feelin' pretty good."

Par for the course with Gary stories, this tale is full of holes.

He starts to tell a story by mentioning that he already told it to someone there named Brother Stephen and "Miss B. J. she don't know what her name is she got two or three different ones amen."

The story is about a friend of Gary's who's "got the covit" and is in the hospital. Gary says he's "doin' a little bit better."

"You know what, if yer still - if yer still above ground, which ah dunno, ah tell mah wahf if ah was not above ground ah'd be in better shape amen? She mentions her husban' once in a whahl  - ah know when yer married t'somebody lahk that fer that lengtha tahm, it's gotta be rough. Butcha know what?  Weuh gotta realize th'pain an' agony that they wuz in an' th'sicknesses they in - they doin' a whole lot better. Amen?

That took me aback at first - the pronoun  "she" seemed to be referring to Becky, and, for one brief shining moment, I indulged in the fantasy that we'd actually hear about Becky's first marriage.

But no - I guess the "she" was his friend's wife. Or some other woman whose husband has actually died.

Gary stumbles into talking about finding out about the McFaddens' accident, starting with "a preacher frienda mahn in Arkansas" who runs a Facebook page called "In End Tahms."

No, Gary, it's called "In Times Like These." This was the infamous "beat 'n' the bump 'n' the bam" sermon, by the bunk beds.

He says he was preaching, "an mah wahf jest all of a sudden 'Aaaaaahhhh!' Ah said 'What in the worl' ah mean ah'm here on lahve facebook an' you makin' all these rackets.'"

Actually, Becky just gasped, and he didn't react that badly at the time - I don't know why he wants to paint both of them in a bad light.

He goes on to talk about how Brother McFadden was glad his wife went to Jesus right away, rather than lying in a hospital bed "all mounded up or whatever."

Edited April 6, 2022 by thoughtful
I couldn't get the post to go through - had to do it in sections., to find the part that was the problem.

[thoughtful]

On to Isaiah 26:3:

KJV: Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
BGV: Thout will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on the Lord: because he trustess in thee.

"How 'bout this - He gives us peace."

His usual routine about not being afraid he'll die in his sleep follows.

Unlike people who are all worried about how to afford Christmas gifts, Gary is calm. Becky is giving everyone Tupperware for Christmas.

What that has to do with having peace from God/Jesus, I have no idea. It sounds more like Becky has extra stock or stuff she's "won" that she can't use because she has no home, and Gary is a cheapskate. He even happily announces how it's cheaper for him that way.

Gary tells a modern parable - I will paraphrase. A man makes $500 a week, and tithes 10% to the church. He asks the pastor to pray for him to get a better job, so he can give more to the church. The pastor prays, the man gets a job that pays $5000 a week, and then says he can't afford to tithe 10% of that. The pastor prays for him to lose the better job.

The end.

What makes you happy is "havin' the peace of Jesus Crisssssse."

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke+15%3A17&version=KJV

He does his usual shit about the Prodigal Son, then gets back to his main theme of keeping your mind on God. You can talk about sports, or deer hunting (he reminds them that, if they get any, he'll be in South Carolina for a few more weeks - I guess he's hinting that he'd like some venison), but then get back to Jesus.

The commenting man has been mumbling now and then, and I think it is disturbing Gary's train of thought and need to be The Only One Speaking. He hurries on to the next misreading:

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+1%3A8&version=KJV

When you keep your mind on the Lord, you'll be looking for sinners.

He screams a totally garbled mess, in the middle of which are the words "we need to stay focused!"

Ah, irony.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Thessalonians+4%3A13-18&version=KJV

He struggles with this as if he has never read it before, followed by "Ah wanna comfert w'ya we say our -  keep our mahnds on th'Lord whir sayin' even so come Lor' Jesus."

Gary rants about how ready he is for the Rapture.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+9%3A1-8&version=KJV

Edited April 6, 2022 by thoughtful
trying to get more of the original post in here.

[thoughtful]

Saul was headed for Damascus to

Quote

kill people that was proclaimin' the name-a Chrissst.

But the Lord

Quote

started dealin' with his heart, the score started prickin' with his heart.

Lots of people may die before Christmas, 2022 may not come at all - the usual.

He says something about people already being "gohn," and something that sounds like "Because wha? Because God's took 'em."

But he's in his winding-down quiet phase, and the captions have some trouble with his mumble.

Spoiler

Beg God to save you before it's too late.

Edited April 6, 2022 by thoughtful
Found the culprit - the quotes from the Saul/Paul bit. Hence the quote boxes instead of quote marks (and it still took a few tries)..

[Dana723]

On 4/4/2022 at 10:44 PM, Joyster said:

I like to read snark on this guy, but I can't stand listening to him, similar to the former guy.  I'm not giving him anymore clicks.

During thoughtful's hiatus, I tried to listen to him to see if I could do a recap, but I couldn't.  I just couldn't.  Thoughtful deserves every good thing in the world for being able to listen to him.

[Xan]

Gary still isn't posting on his Facebook page and I dislike hearing him so much that I don't feel like looking him up on YouTube.  Becky still occasionally posts about Tupperware.  That leaves us with Caleb.  Fortunately, he doesn't disappoint.

If you start with Grandpa Danny (who is not exactly a thinking man), go on to Daddy Gary (who is only smart enough to understand how to grift), you end up with "bro Caleb".  Yep, Caleb.  "He coming back."

SMH

[Joyster]

I looked up Gary's YouTube just for fun.  He's not getting many views, but he's the KJV Bunny: he keeps preaching the word, preaching the word, preaching the word...It really doesn't matter if nobody is listening.

The following funny was on one of Jill Rod's followers' pages and I thought it was appropriate for Gary:

Spoiler

ETA: Caleb and his fiancee seem so young.  I know, the majority of fundies do.  I love the reply his fiancee gives to his wedding countdown.  How many fiancees do you think she had? 

Spoiler

 

Edited April 18, 2022 by Joyster

[postscript]

5 minutes ago, Joyster said:

I looked up Gary's YouTube just for fun.  He's not getting many views, but he's the KJV Bunny: he keeps preaching the word, preaching the word, preaching the word...It really doesn't matter if nobody is listening.

The following funny was on one of Jill Rod's followers' pages and I thought it was appropriate for Gary:

  Hide contents

ETA: Caleb and his fiancee seem so young.  I know, the majority of fundies do.  I love the reply his fiancee gives to his wedding countdown.  How many fiancees do you think she had? 

  Hide contents

 

Oy, that grammar and lack of punctuation.  And these kids intend to homeschool?  Their kids will be even less literate than Gary, if that's possible. 

 

On 4/5/2022 at 9:45 PM, thoughtful said:

Because wha?

Even though I can usually interpret Gary's accent, for some reason, whenever I see "wha" I think it should be pronounced "whuh" (as in "say whuh?") as opposed to "whah" (as in "whah is Gary so stupid?"). 

 

 

[Ozlsn]

On 4/17/2022 at 11:37 PM, Xan said:

Gary still isn't posting on his Facebook page and I dislike hearing him so much that I don't feel like looking him up on YouTube.  Becky still occasionally posts about Tupperware.  That leaves us with Caleb.  Fortunately, he doesn't disappoint.

If you start with Grandpa Danny (who is not exactly a thinking man), go on to Daddy Gary (who is only smart enough to understand how to grift), you end up with "bro Caleb".  Yep, Caleb.  "He coming back."

SMH

I read it as "he coming back bro", and my mind immediately went to "I'm beached az bro" and Caleb with a strong Kiwi accent is amusing me far more than it should.

 

[Joyster]

Becky has always been an interesting character in the Gary story.  Some days, I feel sorry for her and have to remind myself that she chose this.  This is the life she seems to want.  

Becky's daughters have the right to live their life in privacy outside of the fundie world,  and I don't really want to bring them into the story.  I check to see what they are doing every once in awhile and leave it at that. However, when I peeked at her one daughter's Facebook today, and wow.  Becky daughters have spunk, minds of their own, and are fun.  Today, as a mom, I would like to say they are daughters I would be proud of.  

Three things that impress me:

She  is grappling with her relationships in a therapeutic way.  She re-posted this:

Spoiler

Second, while she's clearly looking at the whole picture on pro-life.  Here's one re-post:

Spoiler

And here is the most interesting re-post about religion controlling others.

Spoiler

 

[Joyster]

It looks like Caleb and Sarah spent Mother's Day with Becky, Jacob, and I'm assuming Gary.  Either Caleb doesn't believe in periods or he just doesn't know how to use them.  He hasn't used a period once in his last 15 posts (I stopped counting there).  Also, his future father-in-law, bro Jaime,  got him a new BIBLE at the wedding shower.  I don't think the apple is going to roll away from the tree for this offspring--unfortunate.

Spoiler

 

[postscript]

I miss Gary, so I went poking around on the various Hawkins social media. The Hawkins Family Ministries Facebook page has a series of posts, all saying “Preaching the word”. Nothing else, nothing attached. I assume he is trying to link the YouTube videos, but failing to do so. Typical Gary. 

The sermon videos are all on YouTube. He’s picked up a few subscribers, but averages 2 views per video. One can only assume those are from family members. I could do with a few Garyisms, but not enough to give him clicks or sit through his word salad. 

Caleb is getting married in about 2 weeks. Hopefully Gary will take time from his travels to attend the wedding. Caleb’s punctuation- and grammar-free posts are eerily reminiscent of his father’s writing style. 

[Xan]

Okay.  I'll admit it.  I've missed Gary.  I wish he's just put his stuff up on Facebook where it's easier to find, though.

I watched a bit of his video from 5/15.  I'm not sure which church this is beyond the fact that he mentions being in Montana.  He pops up around the 18 minute mark and his sermon is on "Who is Jesus?"  Unremarkably, Gary says that Jesus is everywhere and everything.  Jesus is our father.  (In my church, they always said God was the Father.  However, Gary seems to use God and Jesus interchangeably so there's that.)  Jesus saved Gary and makes sure that we all have food to eat, clothes to wear, a roof over our heads, and a job.  (Jesus seems to have failed to get Gary a real job but let's not even go there.)  

Now he jumps from the New Testament back to Old Testament Psalms to describe what Jesus is to him.  He says that Jesus gave him salvation and, in the next sentence, he says that salvation belongs to God.  (Jesus isn't in the Old Testament, Gary.)

I need to pause here and speak to Gary.  Look, Gar -- you really shouldn't be saying that God and Jesus are the same entity.  It doesn't work that way.  And when you end up with "the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit", those aren't just one thing.  I'm not sure why someone never calls you on this.  

Back to the sermon.  He's getting some good callbacks and he's doing his usual walking around and pulling on his ear.  He says that God isn't an "Indian giver".  Oh, Gary.  You'd think after interacting with Native Americans, he wouldn't keep using this.  He says that he might be having to hang out "in this dark world" but Jesus is the light of the world.  He's used "salvation" so many times already that I've lost count.  "Jesus Christ is shining through Gary Hawkins."  (If this were true, Gary, then Christianity would be in a steeper decline than it already is.)

Gary thinks he's being clever by saying that we won't need the s-u-n light when we go to heaven because we'll have the s-o-n light there.  This would have been a better line if he hadn't mucked it up.  Good old "closed captions" had trouble deciphering him too.

Spoiler

Yes, he spelled out "sousom".

This one made me laugh.  It was supposed to be "we need to be a shining light for Jesus Christ".

Spoiler

He does a lot of his usual "You say whah?" and "I'm gonna tell you right now, hey..." and "Listen, hey".  Poor old closed captions struggles.  We go on for a while before he does his usual, "Am I making sense tonight?"

Gary says that he has "somebody on the inside of me that gives life".  I know he's still talking about Jesus here but it sounds a little creepy.  "When you get somebody as big as Jesus on the inside of you...."   He doesn't complete that thought but an earlier statement was comparing being saved to being pregnant and he said that, as it goes on, it becomes more evident.

I'm getting lost -- which is about where I usually end up with Gary.  He's hard for me to listen to and he meanders and misspeaks.  First he says that Jesus is gone and we need to be shining his light in the world.  Now, he's saying that Jesus isn't dead anymore.  He's on the throne.  Is He gone, Gary, or is He on the throne?  Pick one.

As he goes on, the crowd seems to be enjoying him.  Gary tells them to practice smiling so people will ask why they're happy and they can be witnesses for Jesus.  He says to get a mirror when they go home.  (Subdued merriment.)  He goes on to tell them that some car pulled up beside him with loud music so Gary cranked up his Christian music CD to drown it out.  (Outright laughter.)  

We've got about 20 minutes left and he's reading John 14, which I've always liked.  No feeling to the reading.  It's just reading words.  It's a pity because I think it's a beautiful passage.  This is the point at which I'm going to nope on out of here.

Anybody who wants to see the rest, here's the link:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

[Alisamer]

21 minutes ago, Xan said:

I watched a bit of his video from 5/15.  I'm not sure which church this is beyond the fact that he mentions being in Montana.  He pops up around the 18 minute mark and his sermon is on "Who is Jesus?"  Unremarkably, Gary says that Jesus is everywhere and everything.  Jesus is our father.  (In my church, they always said God was the Father.  However, Gary seems to use God and Jesus interchangeably so there's that.)  Jesus saved Gary and makes sure that we all have food to eat, clothes to wear, a roof over our heads, and a job.  (Jesus seems to have failed to get Gary a real job but let's not even go there.)  

Now he jumps from the New Testament back to Old Testament Psalms to describe what Jesus is to him.  He says that Jesus gave him salvation and, in the next sentence, he says that salvation belongs to God.  (Jesus isn't in the Old Testament, Gary.)

I need to pause here and speak to Gary.  Look, Gar -- you really shouldn't be saying that God and Jesus are the same entity.  It doesn't work that way.  And when you end up with "the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit", those aren't just one thing.  I'm not sure why someone never calls you on this.  

I'm getting lost -- which is about where I usually end up with Gary.  He's hard for me to listen to and he meanders and misspeaks.  First he says that Jesus is gone and we need to be shining his light in the world.  Now, he's saying that Jesus isn't dead anymore.  He's on the throne.  Is He gone, Gary, or is He on the throne?  Pick one.

 

I'm no theological scholar, but having been raised in Baptist churches in the South, at least one of which was pretty small and leaned toward fundie... Gary is talking about the Trinity the way I always understood it.

God, Jesus, Holy Spirit - all the same entity. A triune God. Like one person with three physical representations, essentially. God is Jesus's father but he is also Jesus himself and they are also the Holy Spirit. The Trinity is three in one, not three separate beings. 

It's confusing. And I strongly suspect the concept comes from the Maiden/Mother/Crone triple goddess archetype you see in many pagan religions. Possibly as far back as Hecate, who would have predated Christianity - and it looks like sculptures of Hecate in a triple form were pretty common before and through the early Christian period, so would have been known to writers during New Testament times. Son/father/spirit compared to daughter/mother/wise older woman seem pretty similar to me. And the triple goddess archetype is associated with the life cycle of humans, the passing of the year and the phases of the moon. Interestingly Jesus's crucifixion is celebrated about a third into the year, which fits with that same pattern.

The thing about Jesus being gone or on the throne, he's saying Jesus is gone from this plane, but is on the throne in heaven. So he's not really contradicting himself there. 

Also, this:

Quote

Unremarkably, Gary says that Jesus is everywhere and everything.

Seems awully pagan to me, also. Like animism, kind of. 

Honestly the more research I do the more I find elements of Christianity that are really just paganism repackaged. Usually in a more patriarchal form. 

[Xan]

3 hours ago, Alisamer said:

I'm no theological scholar, but having been raised in Baptist churches in the South, at least one of which was pretty small and leaned toward fundie... Gary is talking about the Trinity the way I always understood it.

The little church I was raised in believed that Jesus sat at the right hand of "God, the Father" in Heaven.  I understand what you're saying about the Great I Am being all three.  I just didn't figure that Gary thought of it the same way.

I agree that a lot of Christianity is repackaged paganism and uses lots of old myths.  Christmas is Saturnalia and Easter is based on a a holiday honoring Eostre, the Saxon goddess of fertility.  And there are numerous virgin birth stories in early religions.  It's a mess.

[Joyster]

Gary’s daughter Michaela announced on Facebook that she just miscarried a baby at 19 weeks.  Her daughter is with relatives in Tennessee.   I watched the May 19 sermon. He did not mention Michaela, but he did mention Becky.  Becky has not been traveling with Gary the last three weeks.  She is in North Carolina.  I believe, from the pieces of Gary's babbles, that she has thyroid cancer.  I included the sermon summary below. The topic was Job (which close captioning kept reading as Joe or Jill), sickness, and dying.

May 19, 2022 Summary

Gary thanks the church for the nice motel.  Gary starts off telling the congregation that they’ll soon find out he’s a different breed; they made him and threw the clay away as far as the east was to the west; they wanted to make sure it was not found anymore.  He is thankful for being saved.

He asks for prayers for Becky.  She has something wrong with her thyroid, and they talked to different people about different things.  She goes in (I assume the hospital) on the 27th.  He’s concerned because it’s called life, which he’ll talk about.  He later mentions that Becky should be watching tonight.

He talks about his tent which he’s putting up in Vinton, Iowa a week from Saturday, which is about an hour from where he’s at.  He just got done with another part of Montana (later mentions Superior) at a missions conference. His sermon is based on Job 1.  He says he’s Baptist, but CC picks up what he really is:

Spoiler

Gary talks about the trials of sicknesses.  Gary has had heart problems and his mom had diabetes.  The hardest thing is dealing with sickness mentally.  His wife sometimes says, “I have cancer; I’m going to die.”  He then is the biggest asshole and explains how that puts a toll on HIM.  His message appears to be we should  just focus on God.

He goes on about all the sickness people he knows have.  He tells the congregation that he’s 49, and his wife is a little bit younger than him, but he won’t tell her age.  He then tells a big lie:

Spoiler

He talks about some guy named J. Herald Smith who left his wife after the burial and went straight back to preaching.  Gary doesn’t want to do that, but God has taken a few things from him in his 23 years of being saved.  Everyone’s watching us to see what we’re doing.  Job was just a man who stood up for right.

Gary said the only time he was off the road the last 9 years was two times for his wife.  She said she had to get to North Carolina because that’s where her insurance and doctors are.  He said he’d cancel everything, but she told him he had to go on.  It’s been three weeks since he’s been without her.  

Gary was introduced to Mormonism the past three months.  He talked to two different ones for two and a half hours.  He found out that if you go for the truth, your friends and family disappear.  He dealt with that in Catholics also because that’s what’s in upstate New York.  When Catholics get saved, they got forsaken by their family.  Catholic religion is wrong.  Methodists are wrong.  But now, it doesn’t surprise him what’s going on in Baptist churches today.  It’s because they are following in the same footsteps as the Catholics and Southern Baptists did.  I have no idea why he mentioned any of this.

Gary goes on about churches during the pandemic closing down.  He believes God sent the pandemic to see what people would do.  Job lost it all, and we are too.  He believes in being cautious, but he didn’t go around spitting in people’s faces before masks, amen?  Now he’s in chapter 2 of Job.  Job lost his friends who stabbed him in the bag.  How many friends have you lost during the ministry?  He shouts, “Do you know why Gary Hawkins is losing friends today?  I’m not changing.” The King James Bible is perfect with no errors.  He believes in standards, assembling together, and the old hymns.  He then tells them they were a little bit Yankee for him tonight, but CC heard:

Spoiler

Since he’s been traveling by himself, he’s come across this radio station called K Love.  It’s rock and roll.  It’s whirling music, but people say it mentions God.  Well, country music mentions God.  And Southern gospel music-- a lot of it is wicked.  He only listens to the old styled Gospel music.

Gary goes on for a bit and then blames his weight gain on two years ago going to Indian reservations and having fry bread.  He’s trying to lose weight again.  When your health starts to go, it’s bad.  About five years ago, he was at a meeting in Florida and he ended up in a hospital.  About half his heart arteries were clogged up so he takes aspirins.  He does what he can to change his health.  He then says, “Fat people and gospel hands don’t work together.”  He’s experienced with it because he was fast when he first started and he’s still a little overweight.

I fast forwarded a little bit.  Gary tells us the sane person says, you are going to lose people, but let’s worship God. He knows people who have died from COVID, but do you know how long people have been dying?  Since Genesis.  Don’t blame God.  I don't blame God, Gary.  I blame idiots like you.

Edited May 22, 2022 by Joyster