John Shrader Part 11 - God's Grifter Falling Apart

[Granwych]

10 hours ago, Palimpsest said:

We blow Shrader out of the water when it comes to alliteration.

We blow John out of the water when it comes to anything/everything.  Thank the FSM.

[Carol]

If John had his own church, would it be called going to The John?   'Cause there's some serious shit going down in there.

[Lillymuffin]

Between this thread and Benessa's, I've heard the name Tozer so many times that it's starting to sound like a really good one. For a dog, that is. 

[Aine]

16 hours ago, Lurky said:

(Are any of his kids named after him, I see him as the type with a  John Shrader II, a Jonathan, a Johnette and Johniana...  Although I can also see him trawling the Bible looking the the Fundiest Names Of All....)

I don't know the older kids middle names but he mostly seems to keep with a pattern with the names of his kids- the girls all have Greek virtue names and the boys all have Old Testament Biblical names. With the birth announcements of Charis, Sophia, Stephen, and Isaiah, he placed a lot of importance on explaining all the meaning () in their names so I'd maybe guess the older ones are similar. He gets off on how much his kids' names are brimming with 'Godly meaning' though...which is equally John. (Edited: Or he gets off with how his Zambian born kids are so culturally in touch with them having "Zambian" names...ignoring that there are different languages within Zambia and no Zambian language and we have serious doubts that Stephen's middle name 'Lushomo' means what he says it does).

These are the names I know:

Enoch    
Alatheia    
Timothy    
Nehemiah    
Agape    
Elijah    
Charis Elizabeth    
Sophia Joy    
Stephen Lushomo    
Isaiah Kasimpe    

[anjulibai]

Alatheia's middle name is also Joy and Agape's is faith. Esther's middle name is also Joy, so that's probably why it was used more than once. 

I actually think the girls' names theme is kind of cute, but given that it's John, it's super pretentious. 

[Granwych]

10 hours ago, Lillymuffin said:

Between this thread and Benessa's, I've heard the name Tozer so many times that it's starting to sound like a really good one. For a dog, that is. 

I keep reading it as "tosser."

[Aine]

32 minutes ago, anjulibai said:

Alatheia's middle name is also Joy and Agape's is faith. Esther's middle name is also Joy, so that's probably why it was used more than once. 

I actually think the girls' names theme is kind of cute, but given that it's John, it's super pretentious. 

I don't mind the girls' theme (or either theme except that there are enough kids not being cared for of both genders to have a theme) either. It is more the pontificating that comes with his kids' names. I think I'm more offended by his naming of the "Zambian" sons when he has shown no knowledge or desire to learn about the cultures there. 

[DancingPhalanges]

12 hours ago, Carol said:

If John had his own church, would it be called going to The John?   'Cause there's some serious shit going down in there.

Why isn't he friends on FB with Jill R. because she has Plexus for all kinds of sh** issues except her own I guess. Hers must be holy sh**. 

I've been reading the FB pages and back threads on John and now I'm just not sure I can continue. Satan is attacking, I covet your prayers. This guy is unreal. 

It is so serious that I actually dreamed Jill R. And John were televangelists on tv together. I've been reading her backstory too.

These two interest/sicken me because I was raised under the "lake of fire" Baptist religion, it was unending for me. As a scared and anxious child I constantly worried about my skin being lapped by fire for eternity, and all those I loved. 

John and Jill R. just really get to me. But then so do the others when I go down those rabbit holes. Ugh! 

[catlady]

6 hours ago, DancingPhalanges said:

Why isn't he friends on FB with Jill R. because she has Plexus for all kinds of sh** issues except her own I guess. Hers must be holy sh**. 

John and Jill R. just really get to me. But then so do the others when I go down those rabbit holes. Ugh! 

the bolded made my day!!  and Jill would probably love the idea that her crap is holy.  

it has been imagined here--the disaster that would have been if Jill and John had married each other.  if they did, i think the internet might have eventually exploded and Mark Zuckerberg might have considered shutting down Facebook.

[formergothardite]

Quote

 

I had the privilege of meeting Bro. Beller before the Lord took him home.

I first met him just after he finished this book, and he sent me a manuscript copy.

Here's an opportunity to hear him present the the ways they are trying to take our Baptist heritage away from us.

 

I just cannot listen to this guy, but what?! People trying to take away the Baptist heritage?! No, what is happening is that people are pointing out that their fake Baptist history, is you know, fake. Jesus didn't start the IFB church! 

[Palimpsest]

38 minutes ago, formergothardite said:

I just cannot listen to this guy, but what?! People trying to take away the Baptist heritage?! No, what is happening is that people are pointing out that their fake Baptist history, is you know, fake. Jesus didn't start the IFB church! 

I can't listen to it either.  I lasted less than 3 minutes.  Pastor Beller wrote a few "history" books that all seem to be apocalyptic Trail of Blood stuff.  I tried to look into that once and the cherry picking and twisting of early Christianity was rather amusing.  Beller's historical "research" and opinion of the early US colonists, to say nothing of the Founding Fathers, would make most of us laugh and cringe.

For those blocked by Shrader:  He's shared a few posts on Beller but this is his only news:

Quote

 

Had a great group out for Scripture Saturation Evangelism today in Kafue! We gave out over 1,000 John and Romans with Gospel tracts!

What a blessing to have Gospel Seed to sow!!

Are you praying for the Harvest of priceless and eternal Souls with us?

 

Nope.

[Gobsmacked]

As I have said before, hope they are only printed on one side. Also hope the paper burns easily. It can be used as crackling for domestic fires. The temperature drops dramatically after the sun goes down. 

[Howl]

I'm sure many people took the tracts thinking, "Hey, the guy is creepy but Great! Free paper! The Lord has blessed us with 1) free TP! 2) kindling! 3) scratch paper! 4) stationary!" 

 

 

[Flossie]

1 hour ago, Gobsmacked said:

As I have said before, hope they are only printed on one side. Also hope the paper burns easily. It can be used as crackling for domestic fires. The temperature drops dramatically after the sun goes down. 

Only printed on one side?  Well, I guess that could be useful.  Depending on who they end up with those tracts could be used for many different things:  kids could color on them, people could make shopping lists and such on them, they could be used to start a fire for cooking or heating, kids could use them for their schoolwork.  I guess they could even be used as toilet paper.

Don't think I'm disparaging anyone when I say that, I really don't know what life is like in Zambia.  I imagine that there might still be people who use outhouses in remote areas.  I've got older relatives who told stories of using Sears and Roebuck catalog pages for toilet paper.  As I remember, the thin pages weren't too bad, but when it got down to the covers...  The covers were thick paper, and harsh on the butt, but not nearly as bad as using the corn cobs, which was all that was left by the end of winter.

[Gobsmacked]

Western loos in cafes and restaurants. Squat loos in the outskirts of Kafue and Lusaka. 

The village ladies earn some money keeping them rinsed with bleach and providing soft loo roll for visitors.

We also gave tips. They don't have a pleasant job.

Travellers the their own loo rolls just in case.

[Fascinated]

Guys!!!!  John has posted this explanation of a meme!  And he agrees with it!

Quote

Missionaries aren't superheroes. They are willing people serving an amazing God!

Goddamit, I really thought John and his ilk were superheroes!  This is devastating news. I am, however, very impressed with his humility in assuring us that, despite what his followers apparently think, John is a mere mortal.  Blown away. Send wine.

[Gobsmacked]

Glad they are not superheroes. 

I so do not want to see Shrader, Rea et al outside, in public, in their pants. (pants are underwear in the UK). 

Even over tights. Not a good sight.

 

 

[Fascinated]

Spoiler

What I envisioned.  So disillusioned!

[Carol]

6 hours ago, Fascinated said:

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What I envisioned.  So disillusioned!

You win the internet for the next thousand years.

[Meridae]

8 hours ago, Fascinated said:

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What I envisioned.  So disillusioned!

He looks like the Hamburglar.

[Grimalkin]

     Jumping Jesus on a pogo stick- John looks like an evil villain! So humble that John! Merely God's most special servant. Lest they forgot, it's not that John is petty, vindictive, or controlling . He is God's humble messenger giving biblical chastisement. Doing the Lord's work.

[subsaharanafrica]

17 hours ago, formergothardite said:

I just cannot listen to this guy, but what?! People trying to take away the Baptist heritage?! No, what is happening is that people are pointing out that their fake Baptist history, is you know, fake. Jesus didn't start the IFB church! 

I can understand the need to invent a history for yourself if you hold the problematic position of maintaining that your interpretation of the Bible is the only correct one and anyone who believes differently is going to Hell when your theology didn't exist prior to the second half of the last century. 

What I don't understand are the mental gymnastics required to simultaneously see a need for inventing a history for yourself while vilifying the practices and beliefs still in existence today that are actually documented as having been in use by the early church precisely because they DON'T come from an American 20th century Evangelical Protestant perspective. 

[nastyhobbitses]

20 hours ago, Gobsmacked said:

Western loos in cafes and restaurants. Squat loos in the outskirts of Kafue and Lusaka. 

The village ladies earn some money keeping them rinsed with bleach and providing soft loo roll for visitors.

We also gave tips. They don't have a pleasant job.

Travellers the their own loo rolls just in case.

That was how it was in China. Sit-down toilets in higher-end places, squat everywhere else (or very nice, clean squat with provided toilet paper in a lot of places), everyone brought their own toilet paper/Kleenex everywhere, since it was not guaranteed that there'd be toilet paper provided (though enterprising folks would happily sell you some outside the bathroom). I'll admit to having used a 5-mao (50 cents, which is something like 7 cents USD) bill in truly desperate times. So yup, I've wiped my ass with money.

[Granwych]

21 hours ago, Flossie said:

The covers were thick paper, and harsh on the butt, but not nearly as bad as using the corn cobs, which was all that was left by the end of winter.

I remember seeing a gag gift called "electric toilet paper,"  which was a corncob with an electric cord and plug attached.

I'll kindly see myself out now...

[apple1]

22 hours ago, Flossie said:

 I've got older relatives who told stories of using Sears and Roebuck catalog pages for toilet paper.  As I remember, the thin pages weren't too bad, but when it got down to the covers...  The covers were thick paper, and harsh on the butt, but not nearly as bad as using the corn cobs, which was all that was left by the end of winter.

It's not just a story. My grandparents, both sides, plus one uncle whose farm my family often visited as our "vacation", all had outhouses until I was about 13. The Sears catalog was used (not the covers) until it was gone, after which toilet paper was used. No corn cobs.

 

I am "old" - but not THAT old, FWIW. One side of the family was just that poor. The other side, well, I think some odd decisions were made, as they COULD have afforded a bathroom. They had plumbing to the kitchen; just needed to build a real bathroom (they did later).

On ‎5‎/‎6‎/‎2017 at 7:26 AM, formergothardite said:

I just cannot listen to this guy, but what?! People trying to take away the Baptist heritage?! No, what is happening is that people are pointing out that their fake Baptist history, is you know, fake. Jesus didn't start the IFB church! 

As for Beller and "Trail of Blood" stuff - I find myself astonished at the inroads into IFB.

My father is an ordained Baptist minister (he's almost 90 years old, retired, and when he pastored, he was bi-vocational; would describe himself as "independent Baptist"; has a secular college education, before attending and graduating from seminary). My father's seminary education included church history -- real, researched, historically accurate church history. No "trail of blood" fiction. My father also - still - is a big believer in real Bible study, starting with the Bible itself. When he last taught - I chose that word over "preached" - he received a lot of criticism from some church members because he taught instead of standing in the pulpit and screaming non-content at people.

I guess I am not sure exactly when IFB made the turn from seminary with real education to non-education and "trail of blood". (Yes, I know much of IFB did this).