John Shrader Part 11 - God's Grifter Falling Apart

[clearingthingsup]

Handia posted a live video on his Facebook a couple hours ago saying basically that there's a situation back home that's stressful & making it hard for him to focus on school, it involves his former pastor & other church members, he basically insinuated that John's crazy and literally said he's "out of control". Hr also mentioned that his pastor keeps sending him messages, but he's ignoring them because it's really distracting. He seems genuinely stressed out about the situation. I feel bad for him. 

I know from experience that when John gets mad at you or just isn't "done" with you yet, he will harass you. (If he's "done" with you he'll block you). He's messaged people who haven't even been going to my former church or sending him support for *years* to get inside information about the church (his former sending church) or just to be obnoxious. (like "see you guys ripped me off when you dropped me, look at my great work in Africa, blah-blah". He harassed me for MONTHS before I finally called him out publicly about his pride & he promptly blocked me. 

FYI I know there's been a lot of speculating,lol. I no longer go to that church. No longer support Rea. So you can stop beating the dead horse.

I'm frustrated with how much of my life got spent believing nonsense that's not even in the Bible. 

[formergothardite]

27 minutes ago, clearingthingsup said:

No longer support Rea.

The concern, at least for me, was not that you were sending him money, but that you downplayed his horrific behavior so much. Rea is showing all the red flags that he is just as terrible as John, and it is very frustrating to see those brushed aside like you did. Can you understand? Do you understand why Rea is truly no better than John? 

I find Rea way worse than John. While John is a bumbling, narcissistic fool, Rea is mean, but better able to hold things together. I shared some of Rea's posts with other's to see if I was over reacting, and the people who read them were pretty horrified at what he wrote. And to see you downplay his actions is frustrating. 

And when it comes to making excuses for terrible people, I'm not going to stop point it out, because, just like with Trump, we should all remember this isn't normal. What Rea is doing isn't normal, even for an IFB missionary. No one needs to let that sort of behavior become normalized. 

[Grimalkin]

11 hours ago, PopRox said:

How sad is it when you have to say "well, my husband's a cheating molester; but at least HE has a decent source of income to keep our family housed and fed?" #FreeAnna #FreeEsther

(Sorry. It's after midnight here and I'm a little punchy.)

     I like it when you are punchy! I imagine Anna signed some sort of NDA but even if she left I believe she can fid a way around it and profit off of her situation. Not that it will ever happen. Also her "fame"can open doors for her. She doesn't seem to have much hustle though. Her parents did a good job breaking her.

[Carol]

John just posted that he has lost Arcade and stated that when he featured Arcade in a salvation video he really didn't know where Arcade "was at". 

This doesn't make sense...I thought he just posted that you couldn't fake fruit? 

Oh, wait, John will say anything that will make someone else look bad as long as it makes him look good

You're Creepy, John.

  

 

[DinglyDoll]

11 hours ago, turquoise said:

So for people living in 2017, a dictionary published in 1828 is the best way to understand a book written in 1611? Do these people not understand that language changes over time? There's a reason Chaucer looks so different to us today,

I love this SO MUCH! You are my cognitive dissonance hero of the month!

[apandaaries]

Just a little bit to share with those who can't see his posts and to save for posterity.  This message went up an hour ago on John's page: 

Spoiler

Dear Ministry friends,

It is with great sadness and an aching heart that I must inform you that after almost four years of sacrifice and pouring our hearts and lives out for him, Arcade Niyomwungere has turned against us, is now calling me a "deceiver," and is refusing to submit himself under a godly Baptist pastor that is ministering in Congo and Burundi. I had given Arcade some instructions, including asking him not to be contacting people.

He is rejecting all counsel and I'm now being contacted by multiple friends in the US who are telling me that is he contacting them.

Arcade has been accused by multiple individuals of hiding sin, so I had requested him to go and allow God to prove him either way by putting himself under this godly national pastor, Pastor Emmanuel, but Arcade is refusing to be accountable.

There's more, but this is all I can share at this time. I put his testimony in our last video, and at that time I was sincerely believing and desiring God to use Arcade to help us reach the precious souls in Burundi. I had no idea where he was at.

I must be honest with those who are sacrificing for us, even if we lose support. I desire transparency and honesty in our ministry here in Zambia and beyond.

Bro. Roderick is a witness to all that had transpired, so if there is a need to verify Arcade's rebellion and rejection of Biblical principles, or if he has contacted you about me, I would encourage you to contact those here that have observed and know Arcade very well. Bro. Boyd Sikakena is also very aware of the situation. Bro. Cholwe is a medical student that is also a member of our church. I'm not sure if he's on FB, but I can arrange contacts if someone wanted to ask.

All three of these men (Roderick, Boyd and Cholwe) are faithful members in good standing in our church here in Kafue, Zambia.

God knows.

Please pray for Him to work in Arcade's heart and life. We truly love him, even though he is doing this.

Please also pray for Jolis. He is also really struggling right now and is in a similar situation. We deeply love him as well.

Bro. John Shrader

As usual, Bro. John Shrader does an excellent and exceedingly Christian job of putting other people's business out there to the public, while obscuring his own involvement as much as possible.  Glad Arcade is out.  Roderick!  Run!

Also going to put his rant about not being able to fake fruit (despite his considerable issues with this problem).

Spoiler

You Can't Fake Fruit!

I just want to thank the Lord for my beloved Brother in Christ Bro. Roderick Malunga. I am so very encouraged to see the genuine humility that is developing and deepening in him, and what God is doing in his heart and through his life.

This man is not only the first precious soul God allowed me to bring to Christ after moving to Africa as Missionaries, but he is also the first Zambian brother that God laid His Wonderful Hand upon and called to preach.

I've told the brethren here in Africa that "one may be able to fake their own salvation or spirituality, but you just can't fake spiritual fruit! You can't fake genuinely leading OTHERS to Christ, and seeing their lives radically change!"

I've had several here in Africa claim that they were born again, and a couple even claim that they led someone else to Christ, yet those individuals are now not following Christ themselves, their lives are sadly against the Word of God (and only God Himself knows if they are truly Born Again or not), but you can't find their "fruit." Those they claimed to lead to Christ are not following after Christ, or leading others to the Lord.

I'm not seeking to lift up Bro. Roderick at all, and he would not want me to, but he also has been going through some discouraging things in his life as well.

We've both been struggling to keep our eyes on the Lord and not on others who are forsaking or even attacking the work and myself.

Bro. Rodrick's testimony and his witness is how Bro. Phellion Banda came to Christ from Mulamba Village.

Bro. Phellion is now faithfully leading our church plant there in the bush, Faith Biblical Baptist Church, and it is HIS heart, Phellion's heart, and HIS witness that is opening up villages in the Luangwa district, all the way to Boma, where Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Zambia all come together.

Bro. Phellion was with us Monday when we gave out almost 3,000 John and Romans and Gospel tracts in Chongwe, a large town about an hour and a half from Mulamba.

It was also the DRASTIC change in Roderick's life and his persistent and faithful witness that saw Bro. Boyd Sikakena come to faith in Christ. Bro. Boyd is growing in the Lord so rapidly, and has a genuine desire to see his people, the Lozi tribe, reached in Mongu, in the Western Province, and beyond. I love seeing his genuine joy and commitment to Christ.

We will be going back to Mongu with a team of Bro. Roderick, Boyd, White, Emmanuel, Paul and some of my sons in the coming weeks.

I am thrilled in the midst of heartbreaking sorrow to see what God is doing through men like Bro. Roderick, Bro. Phellion, and Bro. Boyd.

Bro. Boyd has been inviting so many people to church here in Kafue, and he is already a bold witness for Christ. Quite a few of those are visiting the church. What a blessing to see.

Bro. Boyd's nick name, which I am told is commonly given to Lozis, is "Black Bull," or what we call a water buffalo. He is very strong physically, but what encourages my heart so much is how strong he is growing spiritually.

Bro. Phellion is not on Facebook, but I've "tagged" both these men. Sadly, one of those who has, like Demas in the Bible, "...forsaken...having loved this present world," recently made a sad statement about those who are blinded by me. He was referring to faithful men like Roderick, Phellion and Boyd.

One of the things that is so encouraging about Bro. Roderick, Bro. Phellion, and Bro. Boyd is that these men do not ask me for things. They are not coming to me looking for me to be their provider. They are truly learning to live by faith, walk by faith, and to me, that is so very, very encouraging.

God is sustaining us, strengthening us, and showing us that He is genuinely saving souls and changing hearts and lives here in Sub-Saharan Africa.

How can I say that with confidence?

Because you can't fake fruit.

Seeking to decrease so that Christ might Increase,

Bro. John
a Baptist.
Zambia

 

[Grimalkin]

5 minutes ago, Carol said:

John just posted that he has lost Arcade and stated that when he featured Arcade in a video he really didn't know where Arcade "was at".  This doesn't make sense...I thought he just posted that you couldn't fake fruit?  Oh, wait, John will say anything that will make someone else look bad as long as it makes him look good

You're Creepy, John.

  

 

   John has so much fruit to show for his African adventure! 

Rodrick makes me think of A Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

[SoybeanQueen]

It would be interesting to have a little comparison to other pastors working in similar areas. I'm guessing it isn't common to lose the majority of your church mainstays within a couple of years.

His immaturity is showing, as well. A mature pastor wouldn't need to attempt to air a parishioner's dirty laundry or provide the names of people to give backup statements of how horrible the people who left his church are. Thirteen-year-old girls are less dramatic on social media than John.

[formergothardite]

I don't think Anna or Esther really want to leave. I think those two really want the fundie lifestyle even if that means putting up with husbands who are total assholes. 

Quote

 

Dear Ministry friends,

It is with great sadness and an aching heart that I must inform you that after almost four years of sacrifice and pouring our hearts and lives out for him, Arcade Niyomwungere has turned against us, is now calling me a "deceiver," and is refusing to submit himself under a godly Baptist pastor that is ministering in Congo and Burundi. I had given Arcade some instructions, including asking him not to be contacting people.

He is rejecting all counsel and I'm now being contacted by multiple friends in the US who are telling me that is he contacting them.

 

Look at all John's hard work gone to waste! How dare he be ungrateful and have a thought that doesn't agree with John?! He was supposed to be the fruit of John's labor that he could show off, but instead he ended up being an actual human with thoughts and opinions.

Quote

Arcade has been accused by multiple individuals of hiding sin, so I had requested him to go and allow God to prove him either way by putting himself under this godly national pastor, Pastor Emmanuel, but Arcade is refusing to be accountable.

So John is spreading gossip and rumors with no proof. Why should he have to prove he is innocent? John should make the other folks prove he is guilty.  This is really screwed up. No wonder Arcade jumped ship.

Quote

There's more, but this is all I can share at this time. I put his testimony in our last video, and at that time I was sincerely believing and desiring God to use Arcade to help us reach the precious souls in Burundi. I had no idea where he was at.

Translation: I spent sooooooo many hours on that video! I had to go to bed for days after making it! And Arcade RUINED it all! I can't even use it anymore. Plus it kind of looks now that I can't tell who is saved and who isn't after I bragged that I could! This makes me look bad. I'm pissed.

Quote

I must be honest with those who are sacrificing for us, even if we lose support. I desire transparency and honesty in our ministry here in Zambia and beyond.

Translation: Arcade talked to way too many people and Daddy told me I had to say something. I was trying to keep it hidden and hope no one noticed. Remember! I'm here for Zambia and BEYOND. I might be going Beyond soon.

Quote

Please also pray for Jolis. He is also really struggling right now and is in a similar situation. We deeply love him as well.

Translation: I'm about to lose another one of my fruit. This is not going as planned. i'm white, why don't they worship me? Where is my plane to Beyond?

[Coy Koi]

15 minutes ago, amandaaries said:

I had given Arcade some instructions, including asking him not to be contacting people.

Arcade can contact whomever the hell he wants and you have a lot of nerve trying to "instruct" him otherwise, John. He's a free human being, not your lowly robot.

[clearingthingsup]

39 minutes ago, formergothardite said:

The concern, at least for me, was not that you were sending him money, but that you downplayed his horrific behavior so much. Rea is showing all the red flags that he is just as terrible as John, and it is very frustrating to see those brushed aside like you did. Can you understand? Do you understand why Rea is truly no better than John? 

I find Rea way worse than John. While John is a bumbling, narcissistic fool, Rea is mean, but better able to hold things together.  

I can see your concern. I genuinely am not meaning to excuse bad behavior. 

I do argue that John is worse than Rea though. John is intentionally deceiving people. He's not just a bumbling fool (the narcissistic part is wholly accurate, though)... He is literally lying about God knows how many things (planes, printers, a well, chickens, converts, drama from back home, drama on the "home front" the list goes ON and ON), he's mean ON PURPOSE. He neglects his children. He neglects his wife. He can't hold down a job. 

By no means do I want to ignore all the bad behavior Rea has done, but he hasn't intentionally LIED (that I am aware of) to supporters & followers. He doesn't neglect his kids, he's actually a very involved parent from what I've seen (vs John sitting on his ass letting Esther do everything, which is legit what I've seen happen *many times*). He doesn't neglect his wife. I've seen him help her out with food prep & cleaning, & watching kids etc (again, John literally lets Esther do *everything*). He's held down good jobs for a long time before ever entering the ministry (John's only "real" jobs have been ministry and unsuccessful car salesmanship). So yeah, I hold Rea in slightly higher opinion than John because in comparison John does seem a WHOLE lot worse to me. That's just my opinion. I do recognize Rea has faults, and like I said, no longer support him. You can hold the fact that I think John is worse against me, I really don't care that much. I'm allowed my opinion. 

Knowing them both personally, I feel like I do have a more accurate view on both individuals. You only know them from social media. I've interacted with both in real life. So you have to give me that at least. 

And perhaps Rea is a little more blunt in what he posts on the internet because of shock value. Idk. 

[Milly-Molly-Mandy]

56 minutes ago, formergothardite said:

 

I find Rea way worse than John. While John is a bumbling, narcissistic fool, Rea is mean, but better able to hold things together. I shared some of Rea's posts with other's to see if I was over reacting, and the people who read them were pretty horrified at what he wrote. And to see you downplay his actions is frustrating. 

And when it comes to making excuses for terrible people, I'm not going to stop point it out, because, just like with Trump, we should all remember this isn't normal. What Rea is doing isn't normal, even for an IFB missionary. No one needs to let that sort of behavior become normalized. 

 I think discussing who is worse is a straw man. They are both horrible people. But who we think is worse is a matter of personal opinion

[clearingthingsup]

Just now, Milly-Molly-Mandy said:

 I think discussing who is worse is a straw man. They are both horrible people. But who we think is worse is a matter of personal opinion

That was exactly what I was trying to say. You said it better & in less words. 

[Freejin]

Is anyone able to post Handia's video?

[Grimalkin]

    John is using the same tactics as Scientology when people leave. A flat out smear campaign.

[clearingthingsup]

3 minutes ago, Grimalkin said:

    John is using the same tactics as Scientology when people leave. A flat out smear campaign.

"Don't contact anyone! That way I'm the only one who knows the true story if you actually decide to leave!!!!1!!1!"

[Gobsmacked]

John's math is slightly off. He arrived in Zambia in June 2014. That's almost 3 years?

I remember because he was at the airport exactly 1 week before us. It was our 25th wedding anniversary trip. (The one I broke my arm on).

[clearingthingsup]

1 minute ago, Gobsmacked said:

John's math is slightly off. He arrived in Zambia in June 2014. That's almost 3 years?

I remember because he was at the airport exactly 1 week before us. It was our 25th wedding anniversary trip. (The one I broke my arm on).

I think he's counting meeting him on the survey trip as the extra year. Which doesn't really count because he wasn't even in Zambia working with arcade till 2014, yes. But that's John for ya. Make things look bigger/better/worse/more grandiose than they actually are. 

[formergothardite]

The reason I think Rea is worse is because while John probably is going to not last too much longer in Zambia and manages to fail at every one of his ideas, Rea is going to make it and from some of the things I've seen on his FB, I'm not sure he is exactly winning father of the year. The real horror is that Rea doesn't have to lie because the IFB churches and people think treating Zambians with disdain and treating other people with disrespect is okay. They think shoving a man you are supposed to be saving is perfectly acceptable. They think not bothering to learn about the culture and then go in there being rude is okay. Rea is just as terrible as Shrader, but the IFB churches accept his terrible behavior as okay, even though it doesn't appear to be that normal even among IFB missionaries. Rea is a better scam artist and manipulator then Shrader.

But in the end they are both equally bad in their actions, the only real difference is that IFB churches accept Rea's awful behavior and will continue enabling him. while it appears many will not accept John's.

One thing that stand out to me is that both of them have no compassion or concern for animals. None. John killed a sheep during a Christmas program and Rea thinks torturing animals is funny and encourages his kids to agitate and upset his large, out of control guard dog because he finds it amusing. There is something seriously wrong with both of them. Rea seems more functional than John,  but you can tell a lot about a person from how they treat animals. It is really no wonder they were drawn to each other.

 

[slickcat79]

4 hours ago, FeministShrew said:

But does John consider himself a Protestant? Most IFBs I know insist that they are not Protestant. They have existed in an unbroken line straight from the Jesus and the apostles.

This is exactly what John believes. It's a good way of claiming an unbroken line of persecution too, since he can distance himself from early Catholic and/or Protestant groups who were persecutors in their own right.

[Howl]

1 hour ago, clearingthingsup said:

"Don't contact anyone! That way I'm the only one who knows the true story if you actually decide to leave!!!!1!!1!"

My thinking is that John is doing things that we know nothing about, causing this epic exodus and he's terrified of his grifting marks finding out -- even John realizes that some of his actions are deal killers, some things that even his  I'm-a-godly-biblical- baptist-pastor-saving precious-African-souls fu can't repair.  

@clearingthingsup, Do you have a sense, from having met John, what this hidden craziness might be?   Are you aware of or have you ever witnessed John acting in a way that could be considered manic or just plain crazy? I'm curious, since Handia said John is "out of control".   The fact that John has stalked/harassed people on the internet is very concerning. Might that be the way he is "out of control"?

 

[clearingthingsup]

9 minutes ago, Howl said:

 

@clearingthingsup, Do you have a sense, from having met John, what this hidden craziness might be?   Are you aware of or have you ever witnessed John acting in a way that could be considered manic or just plain crazy? I'm curious, since Handia said John is "out of control".   The fact that John has stalked/harassed people on the internet is very concerning. Might that be the way he is "out of control"?

 

I've seen him scream and yell at people (bang his fist on the table, storm around the room) who didn't agree with him. Only to (insincerely and grandiosely) apologise (grovel) later (that's how he got away with it). 

I've also watched him accuse several people of things they never did when they made him mad. 

He also *does* go nuts when he is losing control. I vaguely remember something about him mass emailing an entire list of pastors who were part of a missions group mailing list when he was in the middle of being dropped by his first sending church (I think he was hoping to save face by getting in touch with everyone before the sending church did) and accused his pastors of lying & doing stuff they never did. It ended up backfiring on him & he lost even more support lol

[FeministShrew]

I somehow posted this earlier in the Boyer Sisters thread. Oops!
@Lurky I have no idea how they came up with the idea, except just retconning history. Evidently there's always been a super secret group of True Believers lurking in the shadows. I think they consider the early followers of John Wesley as True Believers, too. The idea seems to be that when each new Christian movement began to be more influenced by man than God, the True Believers pulled away & went their own way.
It was a major thing in the IFB chrch I belonged to in the late 80s/early 90s during my first marriage.The pastor was adamant that Independent Baptist churches not be identified as Protestant in local church directories. (They still are.) First ex absolutely believed it (raised IFB and suffers from mental illness - you can imagine my life in those few short years), and when I tried to show him it wasn't true by using actual history he went ballistic. 

@anjulibai you are not wrong about the whackdoodles. But the act of public adult full-immersion baptism is sacred to them, as is the Baptist label.

None of it has ever made any sense to me.

[Jess]

The church I was raised in absolutely believed the whole were never catholic our church has always existed and the one true church stuff. I think by middle school age I had learned enough history and had the critical thinking skills to know that wasn't true. Got into a few fights about it with relatives over the years. 

[neurogirl]

On 4/23/2017 at 6:32 PM, Carol said:

Oh for heaven's sake!!!  Did Jesus accept debit cards!!?  Are they mentioned in the bible??!! 

You obviously don't know your bible or you would know Jesus said, "Never a borrower or a lender be".

Dumbhead. 

 

Great post @Carol! It took me a moment to notice this! (Quote is from Hamlet if anyone else was momentarily confused..just me?)