Oakspear

I know that we hid the "pear juice" (for those who don't know, that's code for "moonshine") in one of the tents as well as some of the more expensive stuff (Crown Royal maybe?) before the man in uniform saw them. One of those survival reflexes or sumpin'

There have been fluctuating numbers of moderators over the years. I periodically would get tired of one mod handle and switch it up. For about a year there were two of us sharing the moddishwasher handle. I don't think that there's ever been more than 3 or 4 active moderators at a time.

My sinuses are permanently cleared due to the "pear juice"... That joke went on and on, didn't it? Sudo had some other priceless moments that weekend: trying to drink as much as he could while allegedly pouring out our booze as ordered by the cop, and the infamous pole dance

One night I logged on after midnight and some idiot had started about a dozen threads featuring explicit pics of bestiality. Spent a lot of time deleting threads as he (or I guess she) kept posting more. After awhile I figured out that I could just suspend him and mass-delete all his threads.

I've got a copy of the video. Not suitable for family viewing due to Sudo's joke at the end.

It seemed that TWI always talked out of both sides of their mouths when it came to holidays and any other observances of days and seasons. There is no sabbath anymore, but you've got to have a Sunday morning fellowship. Always a big deal on Easter aka Resurrection Sunday and Pentecost and don't forget the so-called anniversary of TWI's founding. Then they preached against Christmas, but celebrated it in just about every aspect as the mainstream did, just called it something different. Same thing with Halloween. Ooh...pagan observance...but calling it "Bless or Treat" solves everything They talked a good game, but compromised when it was convenient.

Well I do dabble in "the occult" and I can tell you that there are a lot of similarities between much of what he taught and what is taught in metaphysical circles. I doubt that he was aware of it though. There was a lot of that kind of thought in some Christian circles.

Sure Fabio, sure.

For about five years starting in 2002 a group of Greasespotters got together, usually in Tennessee or the general area, to drink, laugh, carouse, drink, reminisce, plot, drink and camp. Oh yeah...and drink. I missed the first one, but managed to make it down for the 2nd in 2003. Several of us reserved a multi-bedroom cabin, some of us stayed at a campsite, Pawtucket was going to attend. On Friday evening, most of those who planned on being there were gathered in the main room of the cabin, eating and drinking beer; Pawtucket had not yet arrived. As it turned out, no one in the group had ever met Pawtucket or had seen a picture of him. I remembered seeing somewhere that he had been described as looking like Fabio. So here we are, waiting for a Fabio-like being to show up. The women were expectant, the men ready to feel inferior. At about 7:00PM in walks a tall grey-haired man that no one knew, who looked nothing like Fabio. Rascal asked him his name: "Paw" he replies. Every one of us swore that he said "Paul". Paul? Who the heck is Paul? So Rascal questions him a little further, "What's your other name?" Pawtucket gives his first name, which happens to coincide with the screen name of militant pro-Wierwille poster who was very active at the time. It got very quiet. At this point Pawtucket is thinking that maybe he's in the wrong place. Again, Rascal asks - "Your Greasespot name, what is it?" - and he replies "Pawtucket". So I tell him that we were expecting a, shall we say, more blonde and sculpted guy. I still don't remember where I eard that he looked like fabio

Most of us who moderated here at GSC have chosen to maintain a Moderator identity separate from our "regular" GSC identity. Some of you thought that was a bad idea, some of you agreed with it. Since we will be closing the doors and shutting off the lights here pretty soon, I've decided to come out of the moderator closet. Currently I moderate under the handle "Mod Kirk", I've been Mod Cow and Moddishwasher and maybe one or two more that I can't remember! Since I don't plan to do any moderating for the rest of the month, I thought this was a good a time as any to unveil the secret identity! I've been moderating for about seven years, ever since the first Weenie Roast and am proud to have helped Pawtucket mop the floors and wash the dishes. I've always tried to be fair, haven't always succeeded, but have enjoyed the ride. Anyone else want to "come out"?

Thank you Mr. Tucket (you're not my "Paw". I have many, many, happy memories from this place. When I was separated pending divorce slightly over 9 years ago, you people were my lifeline...there are people here who literally (and I use that word literally) helped keep me sane and off the ledge (figurative) - my first Christmas alone was spent with several of you in the chat room. I have had the privilege to meet about 35 of you face to face...some of you in your homes (thanks for the omelette Sushi!); in a Burger King in New Jersey as Cindy found out she was offered a job in Chicago that would bring her close to Steve; at two of the infamous Weenie Roasts (full name: Southern Comfort Weenie Roasts) as we missed being jailed for consumption of alcohol in a state park due in part to Rascal confessing to everything except the whereabouts of Jimmy Hoffa (and found out that Pawtucket doesn't look like Fabio - another thread maybe); the "!" wedding in Chicago (it's a spiritual ring!); breakfast at Village Inn with Lindyhopper, beers at Duggan's Pub with GS (what do you mean he's in a meeting?); and various other spots across the country in my used-to-be-frequent travels. I've gotten to know many more of you over the phone and through Facebook. In addition to the people, I believe in what this site has tried to accomplish and have supported it the best that I could. Some of you know that I've been a moderator here. A couple of you who are good at analyzing writing styles have figured it out. I've suspended a few of you, deleted a few posts and have gotten called a few names! I'm proud to have helped Pawtucket with his vision and proudly wear my Grease Spot Cafe shirts in public. Thanks Pawtucket for a great run, and thanks to all of you for making it fun and rewarding. For the next few weeks I've changed my display name to include my real name. It's always been "available" to know it, even in previous incarnations. I started out as Taoiseach, spent some time as Twyril and finally settled on Oakspear quite a while ago...good bye and good luck everybody!

Yup!I never understood those 'If God would do A...then the Devil could also do A' things. If God is the supreme being, without peer, then why would his taking some action necessarily mean that the Devil, an inferior being, could do it too? It doesn't hold up to even the weakest scrutiny.

I agree with this statement and have given a few examples over the years, but what and who specifically was Wierwille misunderstanding in this case?

Curiously he was again ready to throw in the towel in 1951(?) just before his trip to Tulsa where he supposedly spoke in tongues for the first time.

I never heard anyone speak in a language that I recognized, and I was never present when it supposedly happened to other people. Several people who post here claimed to have heard it though.

Never mind...found 'em...through Facebook...

Needs more cowbell...

I had most of my six children over for dinner. They are a rowdy bunch...it was great

True, what looks like a "P" really has the "R" sound in Greek, for example Hah! I agree with you there! An overabundance of vowels and consonants that are pronounced differently depending on what vowels they are near...beautiful sounding language IMHO Something I just thought of, if he could quote Genesis then surely he knew that the first word in "the original" (as far as we know - Hebrew)wasn't God" but Beresheeth - "In the beginning", the second word barah and it was only the third word that was "God"

Yes, "Heart" was newspaper format on was done on newsprint, not glossy pages. It was around when I got involved in 1978...don't remember it much past '82 or '83 though

It sounds like you're talking about "Heart" magazine

Learning to read the Greek alphabet isn't that difficult in my opinion, most of the letters bear a resemblance to the letters that we use (is 'Roman' letters the correct term?), but Hebrew and Aramaic characters are a lot tougher, a lot more different. Most of the "research" that was promoted by Wierwille and The Way didn't really require an ability to even transliterate Greek characters, let alone read and understand the language. Just look up your word in a Young's concordance and there you go. I knew many people who owned interlinears, a study aid where you should at least be able to read the Greek letters, but just looked at the word-for-word English translation above the text. While there were folks who had some real research chops in The Way, nothing Wierwille ever did or said convinced me that he was one of them.

In case anyone doesn't already know, I am neither a Christian nor an atheist, but I do have some opinions about forgiveness. For day-to-day small stuff, I find that it's not worth the effort to think about it, hold it over anyone's head or hold a grudge. For the people that I know and love, I try to not assume the worst and ask for clarification if I think I am being hurt or offended. The vast majority of things that I could be mad about just aren't worth the trouble or are so insignificant compared to the relationship that I have with the "offender" that they don't even really hit the radar screen. For things that are a little more serious, after making the other person aware of how I feel about the situation, I generally move on as if it didn't happen, but file the information away in case it becomes a pattern. If it doesn't come up again then I chalk it up to a bad day, stress, toothache or whatever, and put it out of my mind, but if it keeps coming up then I take whatever action is appropriate to prevent it from happening again. For truly harmful situations I may decide to still interact with that person, but always watch out, always protect myself and those around me. For example, I have a family member with a history of anger issues, who I witnessed being abusive with a girlfriend some years ago; I have heard reliable testimony from other family of other incidents. While I still interact with him and have him in my home, I still don't fully trust him. Forgiveness is one of those concepts that mean different things to different people. To me, it's a two-way street: if you have wronged me, you vow to never wrong me in that manner again and demonstrate your sincerity by not wronging me in that manner again and I refrain from reminding you of your offense if you have truly changed. There are people from my past who, according to this definition, I have not forgiven, either because they continue to wrong me or because they refuse to acknowledge that their actions were in any way wrong. I don't spend much time thinking about these offenses, but neither do I interact with or otherwise trust these people. On the other hand I routinely act with other people as if previous offenses have not happened because they have changed their behavior toward me. Mainly, I "forgive", not because one of the gods, or a holy book tells me that I should, but because this is how I want to be treated, and because it makes life a lot less stressful. It's practical.

I usually volunteer for "Boo at the Zoo", a fundraiser for the children's zoo, each year. One year I went as a cow. Udders and everything. Had several attractive moms asking if they could rub my udders...seriously! Was Braveheart another year, complete with kilt, blue face paint and a sword. I was the devil a few years back, red face paint, rubber horns and a black cape. Oh yeah, black hair dye. I was the devil again this year, but used a mask instead. Several years I was a shaman, wizard or something. I have a long hooded cloak that I use for rituals; I've added feathers, rattles and skull necklaces.