John Shrader 17: Boring Poems and I know it was you, Fredo

[Gobsmacked]

6 hours ago, subsaharanafrica said:

John’s on a roll. 

What is he doing? Saying? Tell all!!!!!

[Ozlsn]

They packed 27 into the bus, went out somewhere and did Outreach. After 3 hours they had lunch, divided up for gender-based bible study, then had their regular Sat night prayer meeting.  Two people got saved, or at least gave testimonies. John thinks more will be. The Young People are driving the church forward towards a successful fruiting of converts. (Why am I thinking there's not a lot going on nightlife-wise in some of these places, and youth groups are always fun?)

He's also got a meme up about Israel and land which seems to think Ethiopia, South Sudan and most of India are Muslim... John, petal, it's a crapload more complicated than that. Even Syria, Israel, Lebanon and Jordan have large Christian minorities.

Two posts on the 19th, one on the 21st and three on the 23rd - yeah, he's either manic or heading there again.

 

[DarkAnts]

But no talk about helping those who lives have been impacted by the flooding.

[Petronella]

2 hours ago, Ozlsn said:

He's also got a meme up about Israel and land which seems to think Ethiopia, South Sudan and most of India are Muslim... John, petal, it's a crapload more complicated than that. Even Syria, Israel, Lebanon and Jordan have large Christian minorities.

 

Ethiopia is 62% Christian. John is an idiot.

[Ozlsn]

1 hour ago, DarkAnts said:

But no talk about helping those who lives have been impacted by the flooding.

No he posted a link to a news report about the flooding earlier, on the 19th March, and asked for people to pray for them. Which is nice, but suggesting donating to Red Cross/Crescent would be more useful.

[PopRox]

On 3/25/2019 at 4:27 AM, Ozlsn said:

No he posted a link to a news report about the flooding earlier, on the 19th March, and asked for people to pray for them. Which is nice, but suggesting donating to Red Cross/Crescent would be more useful.

Pffft! Why should anyone donate to the Red Cross or Crescent when they could donate to JOHN? After all, he probably needs more of his favorite sunflower seeds by now....

I understand your point, but TIJWTA (This is John We're Talking About-- hey, that acronym works here, too!).

[Howl]

On 3/25/2019 at 3:02 AM, Petronella said:

Ethiopia is 62% Christian. John is an idiot.

On a bike ride yesterday, I passed an Ethiopian Evangelical Christian Church.  Here's their website:  eeccaustin.com/

[Ozlsn]

Ok so I skimmed over his previous thoughts (23rd March) on the correct way to preach, but seriously here? "Careful exegesis" of the Bible will only get you so far, particularly if you are determined to not actually follow any of Christ's actual teachings. Using examples from time points close to our own (or, you know, less than 408 years old which is when John's sacred text was published) can be very helpful in understanding relevance and application to modern life. Parsing the hell out of something is (a) boring after a while and (b) irrelevant to most. Perhaps John (or, more likely his Zambian convert preachers) could use examples from modern Zambian life to better illustrate the points they are trying to make?

[Ozlsn]

Oh Lord John has videos up, titled "God's Provision of Pure Scripture" parts 1 and 2. OK.

*takes deep breath and hits play*

Part 1:

John is being filmed by one of the kids while standing under a tree in shadow next to what looks like a BBQ. The troupie is in full sunlight. Apparently this is at the plot where they have the church, but all you can see is a dirt clearing with a hill. Very green, they probably got some of the rain that mostly hit Mozambique. 

John is blessed to have the KJV which is pure and in English, and has been available as the untainted Word for over 400 years. He picks up a copy from the BBQ to show us.

Zambia has 73 languages, with 7 main ones and while there are Bible translations in those languages available they are NIV versions and so not Biblically Pure. They are missing verses and everything!  When John came to Zambia on reconnaissance 7 years ago (it's that long, seriously?) he saw a need for pure Scripture translations. No one is helping them achieve this despite them praying for help.

But! After their pamphlet of John/Romans that they put out a church in Malawi felt a burden to send them more pamphlets which are in this box (damn, I really was hoping it was a BBQ) which have John and Romans in both English and Nyanja (he refers to it as Chichewa, probably for political reasons given that's the Malawian name for the language.) They are personalised copies, with a Bible study segment and the church name and address under the "this is a free gift" bit at the back. Helpful to have a return address.

John is praying for men to have s burden to translate the entire KJV (he emphasises quite heavily, no female translators wanted apparently) into Chichewa but at least they will have a Pure Book of John and Romans available.

Oh dear Lord the Malawian churches are sending an entire shipping container of them. Send them to Mozambique guys, they need paper for various uses there! Better yet, save the printing/shipping costs and donate to the NGOs helping out post-cyclone, sheesh.

Out of curiosity, why those two books? I would have thought the Gospels maybe?  Part 2 to come.

[Ozlsn]

Ok, part 2. John is sitting in the troupie by himself, still wearing his hat. He starts off by saying he knows he already posted about this but you couldn't really see him in the shadow and he wants you to see how excited he is - the eyes are the window to the soul and we need to see the thrill in his eyes.  I suspect the previous video was filmed by one of the Zambian converts for several reasons - it's still up, John is doing a lot of justification, and his accent in the previous video was a lot more modulated than now - he's back to strong American from a much closer to South African variation (it sounded almost Australian to me). Maybe he just realised the Katy church members probably found him harder to understand, who knows.

Anyway he'll try to make this second video a bit shorter as it's mostly a recap (part 1 is 4'56"; part 2 is 7'44". Good try John.) He goes through what he's already said in the last one but holds the pamphlet up to the camera so you can really see it. He has the image reversed so all the text is backwards. Either that or they sent him a really bad copy.

They've handed out 250K of the previous pamphlets that the Malawian church sent them (and converted how many people again? Not a great rate of return there) and are running out so these new dual language ones come just in time. The text is in two columns with English on one side and Chichewa on the other. It tells you what the three things the Holy Spirit approves of are! In both languages!

John goes into how when he came here he noticed that cults like the JW were printing full colour local language versions of the Watchtower and he knew there was a need for the One True Translation from the KJV because people were being Led Astray. But if they were also getting converts John, maybe that might tell you something?

He has just come back from town and even though English is the official language of Zambia he's noticed people tend to talk in their own languages (well duh) and having access to the Bible in Shakespearian English translation would be beneficial... somehow.

He thanks Sam Martin and the seedline churches and all the people who collated, stapled and are now sending him this container load of tracts in April. He asks everyone to pray that it will get there in 60 days. He's so excited, he's been praying for 7 years for a tract with two New Testament books translated into one of the seven main languages. He asks everyone to pray that they can translate these two books into Lozi, Bimba and the other 68 or 69 languages.

I am still wondering why John and not Luke? Why Romans and not Acts? In seven years John has managed amazingly little... I kind of want to know what the JW conversion rate is like now.

Also what are the three things the Holy Spirit approves of?

Edited March 31, 2019 by Ozlsn
Mostly typos but also Holy Spirit question.

[Petronella]

31 minutes ago, Ozlsn said:

I am still wondering why John and not Luke? Why Romans and not Acts? In seven years John has managed anazingly little... I kind of want to know what the JW conversion rate is like now.

John and Romans makes sense to me. It’s the obsession with translating from the KJV rather than from the original that’s whackadoodle.

[nastyhobbitses]

On 3/25/2019 at 8:02 AM, Petronella said:

Ethiopia is 62% Christian. John is an idiot.

Do They Know It's Christmas? 

Yes, they fucking do, Bob Geldof. Ethiopia has been predominantly Christian since Jesus was getting nailed to the cross. 

Though also, just like with Sintrul Amurrika, you have to remember that even if Ethiopia is one of the oldest predominantly Christian countries in the world, they're not the right KIND of Christian. You see, unless you have giant gaudy megachurches and the only music you perform is glurgey Adult Contemporary hymns that kinda sound like you wanna fuck Jesus and the only interpretation of the Bible you'll accept was basically a 17th century king's efforts to establish religious authority and make people stop remember that his mom was Catholic, you're not REALLY Christian. 

[Howl]

The World's Worst Missionary"  is an idiot (but we knew that already) since he doesn't realize that amateur translators might not do such a good job of creating a "pure" translation, and the only way that John could get it right is if HE learned the language himself and worked with bilingual native speakers to make sure that the translated text conveys the essence of  what he believes. 

7 years?  That he hasn't learned to speak a local language is shocking.  Oh, who am I kidding?  Of course he hasn't learned a local language!  If the kids had local friends or if there were speakers of these languages in their household, the kids would be growing up bi- or even multilingual.  It's remarkably sad that Bro. Shrader has lived in this country, sponging off supporters at home, and learned NOTHING and even sadder, given NOTHING to his host country.  

Are the Reas are English only?

The only good thing is that the kids have all managed to survive in presumably good health and Esther has had relatively uncomplicated pregnancies and births.  

[formergothardite]

3 hours ago, Howl said:

Are the Reas are English only?

I think so. Rea hasn't shown signs of bothering to learn the local languages either.  Which isn't strange when you consider Rea is a die-hard Trump lover who seems to think all countries need to become like America.  He is trying to create an American garden over in Zambia despite being told some of the plants won't do well in that climate. 

[DarkAnts]

15 hours ago, nastyhobbitses said:

Do They Know It's Christmas? 

Yes, they fucking do, Bob Geldof. Ethiopia has been predominantly Christian since Jesus was getting nailed to the cross. 

Though also, just like with Sintrul Amurrika, you have to remember that even if Ethiopia is one of the oldest predominantly Christian countries in the world, they're not the right KIND of Christian. You see, unless you have giant gaudy megachurches and the only music you perform is glurgey Adult Contemporary hymns that kinda sound like you wanna fuck Jesus and the only interpretation of the Bible you'll accept was basically a 17th century king's efforts to establish religious authority and make people stop remember that his mom was Catholic, you're not REALLY Christian. 

There is even a church in Ethiopia that claims to be protecting the Ark of the Covenant. 

[Seahorse Wrangler]

8 hours ago, Howl said:

 

7 years?  That he hasn't learned to speak a local language is shocking.  Oh, who am I kidding?  Of course he hasn't learned a local language!  If the kids had local friends or if there were speakers of these languages in their household, the kids would be growing up bi- or even multilingual.  It's remarkably sad that Bro. Shrader has lived in this country, sponging off supporters at home, and learned NOTHING and even sadder, given NOTHING to his host country.  

 

Much as though I hate to defend The World's Worst Missionary but learning a second language as an adult is hard especially if there are enough people around you to make speaking your first language the easy option.

I've lived in Quebec for nearly 20 years and I'm only fluent in some areas of French speaking. Shopping, schools and kid related stuff, I can do. The intricacies of serious medical complications...not so much.

[gustava]

11 hours ago, Seahorse Wrangler said:

Much as though I hate to defend The World's Worst Missionary but learning a second language as an adult is hard especially if there are enough people around you to make speaking your first language the easy option.

I've lived in Quebec for nearly 20 years and I'm only fluent in some areas of French speaking. Shopping, schools and kid related stuff, I can do. The intricacies of serious medical complications...not so much.

I agree that learning another language as an adult is difficult and I commend your fluency, even if only in some areas.  I spent a month in Botswana and at least learned some basics, and would have made an effort to learn more if I'd been there longer.  The World's Worst Missionary simply doesn't give a shit.

[formergothardite]

Things are going poorly for John Mulamba village where John was given land to start a church. He starts off describing this "beautiful war zone". 

Quote

Bro. Boyd and I are in Mulamba village right now. It's a beautiful war zone.

The stars overhead last night were breathtakingly brilliant, sparkling like diamonds against black silk. It's simply incredible how bright they are and how many you can see with the naked eye here in the Bush. It's almost unbelievable. I wish I had a way to capture it with a camera to show you!

The low mountains in the distance jutted up to meet the deep blue sky, as we sat in the traditional Zambian thatched building.

No one really came to John's meeting. A guy who had been drinking showed up and told John he was already Baptist but John says he isn't. John wouldn't give him any money. I can't help but wonder if Daka was mocking John. 

Quote

Just a handful of people came Saturday, two men, two women, a handful of children, and one drunk at the end named Daka who was claiming to be a Baptist and said he wanted the Word of God, but sadly, really was just hoping for some more beer money. How heartbreaking (he didn't get his money).

Satan is battling John for this village and so far Satan is winning. 

Quote

This little tiny village off the Great East Road is not lusted after by the powerful in this life. It has no oil, minerals, gold or jewels, yet a battle is raging for this small remote place.

We have been visiting, preaching, laboring, and praying for this place for now more than three years, but Satan has seemingly strategically won battle after battle.

Battle number one is when John showed up, told them he wanted to start a church and it took eight months for them to reply. And then the one person who was really interested in what John was selling died.

Quote

The first battle lost was that we didn't hear of their interest in God's Word for eight months, due to the lust and rebellion of a former member here in Kafue. Though we were told the wife of the headman was looking for the truth in church after church, she died in the hospital in Lusaka as we ended our first visit. To our knowledge and deep sadness, she never heard the Pure Gospel.

Battle number two. One of the people who invited John to the village and traveled with him has now turned against him.

Quote

Then, one of the two men who initially invited us and used to travel with us as we went outward from Muteneka Village, Mulamba, also completely rebelled against and rejected the Word of God. His wickedness has now continued for more than one year.

John has been rebuking the village in love but they are not paying attention to him. 

Quote

We have lovingly rebuked and patiently exhorted the small handful of believers here time after time. We pray for them weekly as a church in Kafue.

The headmaster donated land for the church but still the village is not interested in John. 

Quote

Though the headman donated land, and the believers built the building (we only helped with cutting down and transporting donated trees), a plot and a building a biblical church does not make.

John then rambles on a bit about how we need to pray that God raises of real believers in that village and mentions by name that one of the women who came to his sermon had a husband who cheated on her. I bet he didn't get permission to put that on the internet. 

Anyway he is heading off to another "battle zone" to plant churches. 

Quote

We next head to the battle zone of Mongu, Western Province, 10 hours driving from Kafue, where we are seeking to plant Freedom Biblical Baptist church with Bro. Boyd, then from there to Kaanja Village, where the Chief is.

Is it worth the battle for such a small return in some places? Well, what is the worth of a soul? What's the worth of your soul?

Thank you so much for praying for us. That's a major key to success in spiritual warfare according to Ephesians 6. We are counting on it, and that's no cliche friends. As serious as eternal life and eternal death.

A picture of his meager crowd. They look less than thrilled to be around John. 

 

Spoiler

 

[Ozlsn]

36 minutes ago, formergothardite said:

He starts off describing this "beautiful war zone". 

I have to admit that confused me - John was in a war zone? There are areas of active conflict in Zambia? Then I realized he meant spiritually. Very pretty area.

36 minutes ago, formergothardite said:

John has been rebuking the village in love but they are not paying attention to him.

It strikes me that the biggest obstacle to John succeeding in doing anything is John. He must irritate the locals no end.

36 minutes ago, formergothardite said:

I can't help but wonder if Daka was mocking John. 

I suspect he just saw him as someone who most likely had spare cash to give away. No point hitting up your fellow villagers when there's a random outsider present!

Edited April 1, 2019 by Ozlsn

[Lurky]

1 hour ago, formergothardite said:

A picture of his meager crowd. They look less than thrilled to be around John. 

That looks like a hostage photo taken by a serial killer

Quote

Though we were told the wife of the headman was looking for the truth in church after church, she died in the hospital in Lusaka as we ended our first visit. To our knowledge and deep sadness, she never heard the Pure Gospel.

I always think Jill Rod is the lowest of the low, but WOW!  Some poor woman dies, and all John can think of is how unfair it was that he couldn't convert someone?  It's so transparent that he wishes she hadn't died, not for her own sake, or that of anyone who loves him, but because if he'd converted her, he would be one step closer to the headman.  He's absolutely vile. No feeling sorry for her, or for anyone grieving for her, just a dig that she wasn't a proper Christian, like him.

[formergothardite]

I could have this wrong, I'll have to check later, but I think Rodrick helped get this church started or introduced John to the people who helped get it started. John has been very, very nasty about Rodrick so if the village knows him I wouldn't be surprised that they have rejected John. 

[Gobsmacked]

John news is very sparse. Is this because  John is a totally hopeless /hapless missionary?!!!!!!. Ok we all know that he is. How how how and why why why do John's griftees STILL pay to keep him in Zambia? (I think we know the answer to that also!!!).

Edited April 2, 2019 by Gobsmacked
Spell

[lilith]

How does he seem to be looking younger than when he went there? He certainly hasn’t been laboring under the sun!

His whole tone is just so patronising and entitled. 

[luv2laugh]

Question: Where is he posting his videos?

I tried finding him on YouTube... I haven't gone down this rabbit hole of insanity yet.

Also:
Is it true that he was kicked out of his dad's church?

I heard a rumor that he interprets the Bible differently than his IFB family and is a different type of fundie? 

Edited April 2, 2019 by luv2laugh

[Gobsmacked]

John is a different kind of human!