Bro Gary Hawkins 24: Smoking Meat

[thoughtful]

8 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

Likely Gary would not understand what he was being called out for. He'd argue with Jesus just as much as anyone else. It KJB, you need to read it Jesus man, and what's with the gay sandals?

 

And the robe!

Rhonda (obnoxious pastor Bessinas' wife) has chimed in to chide Brian - the laugh emoji is from Brian, so I guess he didn't take it too hard:

Spoiler

New comments for the original post (likes are from Gary, so he's still paying attention):

Spoiler

 

[postscript]

Evan and Carlin just posted their weekly video. In it, Evan says they may be having a Super Bowl party after church. Good thing Bro Gary doesn’t follow them. He would probably drive straight over to Knoxville and denounce the Bateses as not the right kind of Christians. 

[Ozlsn]

6 hours ago, thoughtful said:

the laugh emoji is from Brian, so I guess he didn't take it too hard:

Closest you can get to an eyeroll emoji on Facebook. 

I actually appreciate Cory's response - would be better if it wasn't just church going that reflected the importance of Christ in his life to his unsaved family - and who knows, maybe his actions do reflect this, or he's just become a Christ-honouring sanctimonious arsehole instead of just an arsehole as far as they can see. Which is why works (not just church going!) can change people's views, Gary. 

It's a bit like AA - you can go to all the meetings you want and be out and loud about it, but if you're still knocking back beers every night and encouraging people to come down the pub with you most people aren't going to believe the meetings are that important to you or have made any difference in your life.

Edited February 11 by Ozlsn

[FiveAcres]

19 hours ago, thoughtful said:

The Brian fight continues, less nasty without Gary:

  Reveal hidden contents

More individual comments, at the bottom:

  Reveal hidden contents

And it's me, really - I've been meaning to change my avatar for a long time, and just never got around to it. I still love Alan Rickman, but the caption couldn't be read anymore, so now I have a lovely reminder to stop and smell the roses. Of course, I had to take the picture before she decided to stop and eat the roses . . .

Thanks for the explanation of changing your avatar. Love the greyhound smelling the rose.

[thoughtful]

At this morning's service, Pastor Baker starts the announcements by joking that the evening service is cancelled so they can watch the Super Bowl, then tells them he was kidding (like he had to), and jokes that someone will clip just that part of the video to claim that he was serious.

He reiterates that church will be at the usual time, and he'll have a message that's "helpful, and good and neat and special."

Again, the congregation was not shown, but as I fast-forwarded, stopping now and then to hear a bit of the message, I got lucky. For some reason, Baker was asking congregants to tell him if there was "a type food" they could eat every day. He looks over to Gary's usual spot. I can't hear the person he calls on, but, when he repeats what they said, it's "Chinese."

Then, at the end of the service, after the altar call and Baker exhorting them to go over his message by checking their notes if they took any and watching the video if they didn't, because it will change their lives. And he asks Brother Gary to dismiss them in prayer. So, unless there's another Gary, he was there.

Baker starts the evening service by saying how much he likes services when there is "big stuff going on in the World, and that way the people at church are the dedicated, sold out, godly men on fire - Brother Wayne what're ya doin' here? Uhhhhhh, just kidding, so uh . . ."

Is there a predictable, insulting joke this man won't try?

He reminds them not to tell anyone else the final score if they check it on their phones after church, for people who recorded it and don't want to know until they've watched it. Then he jokes that anyone watching during church should be careful not to yell "Touchdown!" or "Yay!" Because it would give it away, you see.

Spoiler

"Blessings, neat, special, good, encouraging?" He gets some soul-winning stories, including one from someone who says she and her soul-winning partner saw two teenagers under an awning in the rain, went over to them, and says she led one of them to the Lord.

Nice - a captive audience. I would have run out into the rain.

It sounds like his message was about abuse, but I didn't have the patience for it. Maybe later.

No way to know if Becky and Gary were there, but I figure Gary wouldn't miss church after all of his self-righteous posturing.

[thoughtful]

We have a bonus! There are new comments under the original anti-supper bowl post. Gary seems to think that Sunday games are some sort of conspiracy against True Christians ™️, and gets his back up with the second commenter for no reason, until the guy calms him down.

I can't imagine living with the mindset people like Gary and his pastor have - it's so full of suspicion, superstition and anger - it has to be exhausting.

Spoiler

 

[Alisamer]

On 2/10/2024 at 7:23 PM, thoughtful said:

Gary and Brian continue to argue:
 

  Hide contents

 

 

 

Did Gary just say Matthew 18:20 is wrong? Which would mean Jesus was wrong?

Because it totally looks like he just did.

In any case these people are insufferable. They show up at church every time the door is open not because they believe if they miss a day they'll get kicked out of heaven, but because they know people will talk about them if they do. They know this because THEY talk about people who miss a day of church. 

I think it's a lot less about following what Jesus or the Bible says (pretty sure with all the traveling around Jesus did, he wasn't popping into a temple every time it was open) but way more about appearances. They don't want to be gossiped about the way they gossip about others, and being there every time the door is open is a way to try and look more Christian than those people who might miss a service once in a while.

[Botkinetti]

If they did change the Super Bowl to Saturday Gary and others like him would be annoyed because it would be one less thing to feel holier than thou about. They love the yearly arguments about how they’re better Christians than millions of other people.

[Xan]

Why is Sunday night church a thing?  Where I grew up, the church had youth fellowship on Sunday nights so I still had to go but there was no sermon so the adults went home after dropping us off.  We had Sunday school, Sunday sermon, and Wednesday services.  We had vacation Bible schools, visiting preachers, and revivals.  Did any of you have Sunday night preaching?

[Hane]

3 hours ago, Xan said:

Why is Sunday night church a thing?  Where I grew up, the church had youth fellowship on Sunday nights so I still had to go but there was no sermon so the adults went home after dropping us off.  We had Sunday school, Sunday sermon, and Wednesday services.  We had vacation Bible schools, visiting preachers, and revivals.  Did any of you have Sunday night preaching?

I think this is a thing among certain old-timey Christian denominations: Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday evening services. I remember someone complaining in TV Guide that a show she liked was on Wednesday nights, when “most Christians” (according to her) went to church.

[Alisamer]

3 hours ago, Xan said:

Why is Sunday night church a thing?  Where I grew up, the church had youth fellowship on Sunday nights so I still had to go but there was no sermon so the adults went home after dropping us off.  We had Sunday school, Sunday sermon, and Wednesday services.  We had vacation Bible schools, visiting preachers, and revivals.  Did any of you have Sunday night preaching?

Yes, most definitely. Every Sunday night. (Southern Baptist Church, for the record, a small one I'd consider fundie-lite.)

The church we moved to after that eventually did away with the Sunday evening service maybe in the mid-90s? Not sure how it all works right NOW, but typical pre-pandemic was Sunday School, then Sunday Morning service, then Sunday later afternoon was youth stuff - youth choir practice and then a youth program often with "snack supper." So 2-3 hours for youth depending on what activities/groups you were in. During youth choir rehearsal there'd be an adult Bible Study for an hour or so. Adult handbell rehearsal would be in there either prior to youth choir or during the youth activities/supper. 

Wednesday night was supper (you'd sign up and pay for your plate) children's and younger youth bell rehearsal, groups like GAs/RAs, a youth group activity/Bible study, children's choir, preschool choir, when I was a teen we had a puppet group, an adult Bible study and/or group meetings, and at the end was a couple hours of adult choir practice. It was arranged so the younger kids stuff was first, there were things the parents could do during if they chose to, and then the older kids activities followed, and adult choir last. 

Two mornings a week before school the advanced children's handbells would rehearse, if there were enough kids who made the cut to have the group that year.

Tuesday mornings were Joy Choir practice (senior adults) and at some point there would be a "Jubilant Seniors" group meeting as well each week, and they did monthly get togethers or day trips too. Deacon's meetings and any church league sports games would usually be Tuesday or Thursday evenings. 

Now most of that stuff is back up and happening, but with some staff shakeups the church is in a rebuilding phase. The music ministry is rebuilding especially, as is the youth group. There are TONS of children now though!

[whitney37354]

5 hours ago, Xan said:

Why is Sunday night church a thing?  Where I grew up, the church had youth fellowship on Sunday nights so I still had to go but there was no sermon so the adults went home after dropping us off.  We had Sunday school, Sunday sermon, and Wednesday services.  We had vacation Bible schools, visiting preachers, and revivals.  Did any of you have Sunday night preaching?

Sunday: Sunday School, Morning Service, Youth Choir & Supper, Training Union, Evening Services

Wednesday: Children's Choir, Supper, Night Service/Youth/GA's/RA;s/Acteens, Adult Choir Practice

Saturday: occasional singings

Week long revival usually in spring and fall.

Otherwise, there were deacon meetings, my dad cut the church lawn, WMU meetings once a month at different times & places, VBS, Egg Hunt, Christmas play practice and performance.  

My husband & I were both deacon kids, going to church any time the doors were open. Even now, at least one of the three of us is at church at least three nights a week between three church services and praise band practice.

I've never been able to Biblically find a reason for anything other than a Sunday morning service.  In adulthood, we have not always gone to church on Wednesday night and Sunday night.  At this point, because the church we are members of is three minutes from our house, and my husband is a deacon, we are there if anything is going on!

 

[thoughtful]

Becky has changed her profile picture - it's one she's used before, but it used to be captioned "I just want to thank you, Lord" and now the caption is gone.

She also posted this:

https://events.nationalmssociety.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&participantID=439921&fbclid=IwAR1h1XpgdXX4T-JMzn_CX5L3F5tEclg4uZv6myT-7gwi-zB8Vrjc15YyCIo

She makes no mention of her faith on her fundraising page, and is quite complimentary of the MS Society. I'm guessing that she's hoping to get contributions from non-IFB people for the walk, and is trying to appear more neutral about religion than usual. That may explain the changed Facebook photo as well, since she used that picture for her profile on the MS walk site.

It's nice to see one of them helping out a secular, science-based cause for a change.

[Dana723]

14 hours ago, Xan said:

Why is Sunday night church a thing?  Where I grew up, the church had youth fellowship on Sunday nights so I still had to go but there was no sermon so the adults went home after dropping us off.  We had Sunday school, Sunday sermon, and Wednesday services.  We had vacation Bible schools, visiting preachers, and revivals.  Did any of you have Sunday night preaching?

Growing up, I went to a non-denominational Christian church that had communion every Sunday.  The reason we had Sunday night services was so that if someone missed the morning service - say due to work - they could still receive communion at the evening service.  I'm not sure of the reasoning for those churches who didn't have communion every Sunday though.

[thoughtful]

Gary made a "special prayer request" at last night's service. I guess that's the same as an unspoken, since Baker didn't ask for details.

Again, we don't get to see the congregation. I don't know why they are doing this now. I'm not one to jump to the "they read here!" conclusion. So I don't know what is causing the concern. But seems like someone there doesn't want the congregation being seen by outsiders (except the teens at the front during the greeting and people coming up for the altar call - so, if someone there is reading here, how about changing the camera angle to protect them?).

I feel bad for whoever Waving Guy used to wave at.

Another man asked for prayers due to a death in the family. Baker, in his usual list-reading bored tone, said "Uncle's wife passed away this morning. Pray for them. That's a  - hard thing on that. Anybody else?"

I didn't listen to the whole bible study and sermon, but Baker reads about Korah, who rebelled against Moses and was swallowed up by the earth, with his followers. And I catch enough of the ending to hear Baker talking about how people who try to do things out of God's will end up not succeeding.

Then he has everyone stand, bow their heads and close their eyes, and does the altar call, saying a few things about God's will, then checking his phone as the piano bangs away.

Then, while people are still standing, waiting for dismissal, he tells another story, which sounds very much like one of Gary's gossip stories, complete with the whole "I won't name names" bit. He gets almost as incoherent, and stammers almost as much, as Gary does. All that's missing is the whiny tone of voice.

"It's one of the saddest things as a pastor that you see. People ya love, People ya care about, People ya wanna help. There was a guy, and he thought God may want him to pastor, and came to me and we talked. I said, 'Yeah, if God wants you to do that, that's great, I'll help ya.'"

"There's a church, a certain state, he wanted to - thought maybe God wanted him to do that, an' hey, 'Lemme help ya,' won't tell you what because you may know then who it is, but I I I helped him and said 'Here's what y'need to do,' and 'Here's how, and and and go' and so gave him direction and hope and it didn't work well, and, uh, he was trying to see if that's what God wanted him to do,  which was an easy way to say, 'Yeah, that's not what God's called me to do,' and God wasn't calling him to do that."

"But instead of that," he inserts a chuckle here, "All that I tried to do to help him to do that, he gets now stirred up and cause a problem with me, and family, and other people. I mean, really? Y'know, man, you're tryin' to help people to serve the Lord and do what God wants, and literally, it's a Korah situation. Then when you watch and you see how it ends up and where it goes, it's never good!"

"Ya can't tell 'em. Ya can't make 'em do it. Korah's gonna do what he's gonna do, but, as Moses, you just fall on your face and say 'Lord, ahhh, I don't want to see this happen. Make sure that doesn't happen to you."

As far as I can tell, he's hurt because a man who followed his advice is blaming him for failure. How, exactly, his congregants are supposed to prevent that happening to them is unclear, but he got to air his grievances in public, while they waited for dismissal.

Then he gives incoherent directions for a chore he wants volunteers to do, moving the chairs. Of course, only men can move chairs, so he says, "If you want to hang out, fellowship, ladies and babies and stuff, uh, come up here and come over there, good place for you."

He says he's not in charge, and the men should come up with a system, and has a man dismiss them in prayer.

Edited February 16 by thoughtful
riffle

[thoughtful]

Stop the presses! We have a scoop!

Spoiler

 

[Gary Hawkins]

On 2/12/2024 at 1:31 PM, Alisamer said:

Did Gary just say Matthew 18:20 is wrong? Which would mean Jesus was wrong?

Because it totally looks like he just did.

In any case these people are insufferable. They show up at church every time the door is open not because they believe if they miss a day they'll get kicked out of heaven, but because they know people will talk about them if they do. They know this because THEY talk about people who miss a day of church. 

I think it's a lot less about following what Jesus or the Bible says (pretty sure with all the traveling around Jesus did, he wasn't popping into a temple every time it was open) but way more about appearances. They don't want to be gossiped about the way they gossip about others, and being there every time the door is open is a way to try and look more Christian than those people who might miss a service once in a while.

 

On 2/15/2024 at 4:14 PM, thoughtful said:

Gary made a "special prayer request" at last night's service. I guess that's the same as an unspoken, since Baker didn't ask for details.

Again, we don't get to see the congregation. I don't know why they are doing this now. I'm not one to jump to the "they read here!" conclusion. So I don't know what is causing the concern. But seems like someone there doesn't want the congregation being seen by outsiders (except the teens at the front during the greeting and people coming up for the altar call - so, if someone there is reading here, how about changing the camera angle to protect them?).

I feel bad for whoever Waving Guy used to wave at.

Another man asked for prayers due to a death in the family. Baker, in his usual list-reading bored tone, said "Uncle's wife passed away this morning. Pray for them. That's a  - hard thing on that. Anybody else?"

I didn't listen to the whole bible study and sermon, but Baker reads about Korah, who rebelled against Moses and was swallowed up by the earth, with his followers. And I catch enough of the ending to hear Baker talking about how people who try to do things out of God's will end up not succeeding.

Then he has everyone stand, bow their heads and close their eyes, and does the altar call, saying a few things about God's will, then checking his phone as the piano bangs away.

Then, while people are still standing, waiting for dismissal, he tells another story, which sounds very much like one of Gary's gossip stories, complete with the whole "I won't name names" bit. He gets almost as incoherent, and stammers almost as much, as Gary does. All that's missing is the whiny tone of voice.

"It's one of the saddest things as a pastor that you see. People ya love, People ya care about, People ya wanna help. There was a guy, and he thought God may want him to pastor, and came to me and we talked. I said, 'Yeah, if God wants you to do that, that's great, I'll help ya.'"

"There's a church, a certain state, he wanted to - thought maybe God wanted him to do that, an' hey, 'Lemme help ya,' won't tell you what because you may know then who it is, but I I I helped him and said 'Here's what y'need to do,' and 'Here's how, and and and go' and so gave him direction and hope and it didn't work well, and, uh, he was trying to see if that's what God wanted him to do,  which was an easy way to say, 'Yeah, that's not what God's called me to do,' and God wasn't calling him to do that."

"But instead of that," he inserts a chuckle here, "All that I tried to do to help him to do that, he gets now stirred up and cause a problem with me, and family, and other people. I mean, really? Y'know, man, you're tryin' to help people to serve the Lord and do what God wants, and literally, it's a Korah situation. Then when you watch and you see how it ends up and where it goes, it's never good!"

"Ya can't tell 'em. Ya can't make 'em do it. Korah's gonna do what he's gonna do, but, as Moses, you just fall on your face and say 'Lord, ahhh, I don't want to see this happen. Make sure that doesn't happen to you."

As far as I can tell, he's hurt because a man who followed his advice is blaming him for failure. How, exactly, his congregants are supposed to prevent that happening to them is unclear, but he got to air his grievances in public, while they waited for dismissal.

Then he gives incoherent directions for a chore he wants volunteers to do, moving the chairs. Of course, only men can move chairs, so he says, "If you want to hang out, fellowship, ladies and babies and stuff, uh, come up here and come over there, good place for you."

He says he's not in charge, and the men should come up with a system, and has a man dismiss them in prayer.

 

[thoughtful]

 

https://www.facebook.com/reel/747676823959787

A screenshot:

It's a reel of a woman looking solemn, with an insert of another video, a man preaching about how God allowed "them" to install Biden (falsely, of course) as president, because he is forgetful. It was to remind us that we are forgetful of God.

Full on tin foil hat stuff.

Interestingly she seems to fit Gary's definition of "nekkid" in her avatar, and the preacher is clearly not IFB. I tried every image search I could think of to try to figure out those vestments, or to find the original video, to no avail. I'm guessing he's some sort of Orthodox Christian.

I guess, if they agree with him about Biden, Gary's a fan.

ETA - I found the priest - he's Mar Mari Emmanuel, described in a blurb under another video as "an Iraqi-born Assyrian Australian bishop, originally of the Ancient Assyrian Church of the East, who serves as pastor of Christ The Good Shepherd Church."

https://cgsc.org.au/

Edited February 17 by thoughtful

[thoughtful]

So many Preachers Pres h it and want the congration to do as we Preach.

Spoiler

 

[thoughtful]

The coming of the LORD is closes, you think things are night now waiting till then, and GOD can us Him again!

Nice job capitalizing Him when referring to Trump, Gary. Who is it you actually worship?

[SisterCupcake]

2 hours ago, thoughtful said:

The coming of the LORD is closes, you think things are night now waiting till then, and GOD can us Him again!

Nice job capitalizing Him when referring to Trump, Gary. Who is it you actually worship?

That's a whole lotta words that don't say much...

[Ozlsn]

21 hours ago, SisterCupcake said:

That's a whole lotta words that don't say much...

Certainly not coherently. Although I do like the "if that is the LORD will" tacked on there, having a bob each way Gary?

[postscript]

I’ll definitely vote for the good of my family and my country, which is why Trump will never get my vote. 

“GOD can us Him again” - I didn’t see any evidence of God using Trump the first time around. 

Apparently there is a new presidential rankings survey out, which puts Obama in the top 10, Biden in 14th place, and Trump dead last. Even Republican and conservative scholars put Trump in the bottom 5. I’m not sure where Gary and his cronies are coming up with the idea he’s the best president ever. 

[thoughtful]

4 minutes ago, postscript said:

Apparently there is a new presidential rankings survey out, which puts Obama in the top 10, Biden in 14th place, and Trump dead last.

I don't believe in an afterlife or ghosts, but, for the last few years, it's been hard not to picture James Buchanan yelling "YES! Finally!"

[thoughtful]

Pastor Baker was preaching about being deceived at yesterday's morning service.

"P. T. Barnum, American showman of the mid-19th century, uhhh, it's associated with him that he said 'There's a sucker born every minute. There's a sucker born every minute.' And he had the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey circus, that was part of it, but it started off with freak shows, y'know, the two-headed whatever and y'know they make something up. 'Yep, we'll sell tickets, have 'em come in and see the freak show, it's fake, it's not real, but hey, we got 'em to believe it. There's a sucker born every minute.' It's something he supposedly have said."

What a fine, inspiring start to a message. Let's look at it's qualities:

- way too long - it could have been two short sentences.

- bad grammar, and sentence fragments that don't make sense.

- using the disgusting term "freak show."

- incorrect information, part of which was ignoring the fact that many of the people in the sideshow were not fake, but had medical conditions that made them outcasts, so the circus was one of the few places they could survive.

I fast-forward and find a part of the message in which he is talking about the wedding at Cana. He says that people are deceiving you if they tell you that Jesus drank wine. 

"When you see wine in the bible, please understand, it is not always alcoholic wine. Now, if they drank wine and were drunken, then you know it was what? Alcoholic wine, OK? When they said about Jesus, 'You saved the best wine for last!' What is the best wine? The best wine is fresh. It's not fermented. It's not rot-ten. You understand? Wine, alcoholic wine, is rotten grape juice. You understand that? That's how they get it that way?"

He goes on to tell a story of his father taking the family on a tour of a brewery when he was a kid, and how badly it "stunk."

And he goes back to how Jesus turned the water into fresh wine, which was "sweet Welch's grape juice." 

Later, he has the same young man he always seems to choose for his little skits act out keeping the Lord at your right hand: "I'll be the Lord, you be a wicked sinner. Come on up. Umm, very good application here."

I think, from his tone of voice, that the last bit of that was supposed to be a joke, implying that the young man was easy to typecast as a sinner. Hahahah. 🙄

He swigs water and checks his phone during the altar call.