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

[CTRLZero]

after the service one of the men that had been church disciplined about two years ago spent a good amount of time talking with me, and he seems to be truly examining himself and said God is really convicting him. Please pray that he will seek the Lord.

I vaguely remember the church discipline kerfuffle and am surprised this gentleman came back.  There is such a turnover at John's church, it's hard to keep up.

[Ozlsn]

On 5/26/2019 at 1:01 AM, Palimpsest said:

Pure hymnals."  Jebus, John,  Hymns are hymns.  Religious songs.  

Hymnals are books with hymns in, right? How hard is it to photocopy a couple and staple them together?

7 hours ago, Palimpsest said:

We quoted Scripture today for more than THREE SOLID HOURS STRAIGHT!!!!

Good Lord. Why? How... incredibly boring. 

On 5/25/2019 at 6:07 AM, Palimpsest said:

Also, the three young men on the right continued listening carefully for hours while sitting in the hot direct sun after the shade moved.

I have to wonder if it's perhaps impolite to move while the speaker is still going. A considerate speaker would likely pause and invite people to move into the shade, but this is John we're talking about. Far too much in love with the sound of his own voice to think of other people's comfort.

As for 6 hours of preaching... dear Lord, why?? Impolite or not I would have needed a loo break.

[Botkinetti]

At boring work meetings I would often keep myself awake by looking at all the faces of my colleagues. It was easy to see who was paying no attention and daydreaming. The longer the meeting the more people were off in their own worlds.

Either John can’t  recognize the look or he is able to delude himself that people are in deep contemplation of his words. 

[Palimpsest]

12 hours ago, CTRLZero said:

I vaguely remember the church discipline kerfuffle and am surprised this gentleman came back.  There is such a turnover at John's church, it's hard to keep up.

He's hinted before about people wanting to come back.  

From what we pieced together from different sources (including Handia who was already studying in Ukraine) the first 2 men John disciplined were Arcade and Jolis, the Burundian refugees.  The ones who were all set to set up a church plant back in Burundi, according to John.

Arcade was the orphan John picked up in Burundi who followed him to Kafue.  He was John's first baptism in Kafue.  John encouraged Arcade to outstay his visa so he could be discipled at the not-a-legitimate Bible college.  John screwed him over because Arcade couldn't get a student visa on the basis of Truthiness Bible Institute.  Last seen back in Burundi, possibly deported, and refusing to meet with a Pastor of John's choice.

Jolis joined later.  A friend of Arcade, Jolis had survived an attempted beheading in Burundi and was last seen in Tanzania, where he probably has refugee status.

Both were accused of wine, women, and song  rock music.  Also theft.  Although John couldn't figure out which one stole from him so he disciplined them both and chucked them both out.  Handia seemed to agree with the wine and women activities.

Fast forward a couple of months.  Roderick and Co, on the other hand, attempted to discipline John for arrogance and behaviour unsuited to a pastor using his own church rules.  They were obviously possessed by Satan. 

Huge row, police called, Roderick accused of theft (the cell phone John had given him.)  All men (and Jacqueline) evicted from the Timothy House and chicken coop where they were living.  John changed the locks and those buildings are now used for storage.  Poor Roderick.

Boyd was initially on Roderick's team but crawled back and repented.  Handia has suggested that it was money that bought him back.  Boyd is now flavor of the month.  Until he crosses John.  Then he'll be accused of theft too.

 

[Palimpsest]

10 hours ago, Ozlsn said:

Hymnals are books with hymns in, right? How hard is it to photocopy a couple and staple them together?

But they might contain impure hymns.  How does Johnny make the cut?

"Yes, Jesus Loves Me" = pure?

"Guide Us, O Thou Great Jehovah" = impure?  Because William Williams was the wrong sort of Baptist?

As John gets more extreme ,I think soon the sole "pure" hymnal will contain his own hymns and nothing else.

[Howl]

On 5/27/2019 at 2:45 AM, Ozlsn said:

As for 6 hours of preaching... dear Lord, why??

There's something about this that screams manic phase of bipolar.  To clarify, I'm not a psychiatrist and don't play one on TV and have never dealt with an (unmedicated) bipolar person directly.  

However, I do think that John has some type of personality disorder/psychiatric issues. 

The grandiose episodes alternating with bedrest seem to fit a bipolar pattern, but who knows.  And what kind of asshat rages on for six hours without giving a fig about the comfort of his listeners?  I'm assuming here that John was standing in the shade. 

Edited May 28, 2019 by Howl

[Palimpsest]

Johnny didn't like his thread falling off the first page.  He has given us a poem he wrote 5 years ago to snark on.

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An old poem I found that I had written almost five years ago after we had only been on the mission field for about five months...

But had already been grifting for years.

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The Missionary's Hands

These hands have worked at building, since I was just a boy,
at age of ten I worked with wood, and beside my dad with joy.

He taught me how to nail and screw,

Surely not!

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and how to work so hard,

Could have fooled me.

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he helped me start a business, mowing people's yards.

I learned the art of building,
from my hardworking dad,
he took the time, invested his life, to train me as a lad.

He's built not only buildings, but the lives of people too,
for my father's a servant leader, and has Eternity in view.

He modeled for me a leader, that lives for the Glory of Christ,
his passion for world-wide Missions, greatly impacted my life.

He modeled for me a grifter.  Missions will feed my kids.

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I too followed the call of Calvary, and surrendered my life to God,
and like my parents before me, a wondrous path have trod.

The only thing wondrous about it is that he has never paid his own way.

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 It's a life with pain and sorrow, just as our Saviour told,
but the joys both now and future, are more precious than costly gold.

My father's made a difference, buildings, yes, but more so lives,
and I'm honored to follow his example, as I too lay down down my life.

A pastor or missionary, both oft' called to do the same.
Building structures is exciting, yes, but building lives is Heaven's gain.

Building structures is hard work.  Claiming to save people for Jesus is not.

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For what we build with wood or stone will surely falter one day,
but Eternal souls that come to Jesus, will last to Eternity's Day.

I'm pretty sure that whatever John builds with wood or stone will fall down in a couple of years.  And he banished many of the souls he claimed to have brought to Jesus.

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You may not be a builder, with wood or brick or stone, but are you building others, or will you enter Heaven's Gates alone?

I think the Bible says that everyone knocks at the Gates as individuals and enters on their own merit.  Or not.

What out Johnny.  Shape up or:  "But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.  There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out."  Luke 13. 

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Let's give our lives for others, not seeking temporary gains, and build with Gospel power, 'til Jesus comes again.

Come on Shrader.  Don't make us laugh.  What about that plane you can't fly, and the refrigerator, icemaker, piano(s), and all that beef jerky.

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The world is lost and dying, while many play with toys, buy bigger screens and cellphones, and argue over sinful joys.

See above.  How many more toys did John grift in the years in Kafue.  I've lost count of all the tents, second cars, trailers, and sunflower seeds.

And it goes on and on.  And on.

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I cannot change your vision, or even alter your outlook,
but there is One Who can do so, if you'll read His Inspired Book.

In God's Book He commands churches "Go!" into "all the world" and preach,
but some don't even go to their neighbors...they're too busy with earthly goals to reach.

While many Americans waste time playing, half the world's still going to hell.
It's worth your time and thinking, about their coming death knell.

If they die without Salvation, forever fire is their doom,
are we obeying Christ to reach them, or just "vegging" in the living room?

Christ's hands are scarred and ruined, throughout Eternity, because of Love's great payment on the Cross for you and me.

So will you give your talents, your treasure and your time?
And ultimately give your life, don't hide your eyes and blind,
your mind to what's reality (not the junk that's on tv),
and lay your life at Jesus' scarred feet, and live for Eternity.

My hands are calloused and wounded, by work that's driven by love, but the building I'm most glad to be doing, is with souls for things above.

Bro. John Shrader
Kafue, Zambia
Sub-Saharan Africa

Nov. 19, 2015 (modifying a few lines in this posting here)

 He's all calloused and wounded.  Pass me a bucket.

Edited June 5, 2019 by Palimpsest

[Palimpsest]

Brace yourselves, my friends, because John is waxing prolific.  And revising history.

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On this day...

five years ago exactly...

our family left America for Zambia.

Our hearts are with the people of  Zambia.  And Beyond.

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We truly had no idea what we would face.

No kidding.

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We were exhausted from packing the container, excited for the future, and encouraged about what God had for us as a family in our new adopted homeland of Zambia.

Get back to me when you become a  Zambian national.

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We started the two day journey by air, Esther in her second trimester of pregnancy with our ninth child, who would be born just three months after we arrived.

His name is Stephen, as John seems to have forgotten it.

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Just a little over three months after his birth, we would be hit with a spiritual a-bomb, as our then closest friends and ministry associates changed their professed position on Biblical Repentance.

Actually, I don't think that is what went down with David Rea and Valley Baptist church.  IIRC, they tried to discipline John for boastful conduct about his "works."

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My preaching of the Bible message of submitting to the Righteousness of God (Romans 10:1-3) and historic Biblical Baptist stance on the doctrine of repentance cost us the other half of our ministry team as they literally turned against us and turned others against us, which resulted in the loss of dear friends, and about 20% of our support. It was a deep trial.

Only 20%?  It seemed like more.

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Just over three months from then, we would lose my only sister, Sarah Joy, to cancer.

 RIP Sarah Shrader Waller.  I hope her husband and daughter are doing well today.  I wonder if John ever gives them a thought.

And John used her untimely death to grift donations for himself.

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Our time of testing and trials was exactly what Isaiah 66:5 says will happen if you tremble at God's Word.

"Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed."

So John, you were the one who trembled at God's word and were ashamed.  Not noticeably.

Or did you mean that they should be ashamed ... oh, no!  Tell me you didn't go there.

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If you are reading this, and you are facing a situation like ours, please note the end of the passage. The Lord is coming back my friends. You want to please HIM!

Oh, sure.

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These trials caused one of our supporting pastors (a former veteran missionary) to comment that we would probably have to come off the field for a time to raise more support, but the Lord graciously, incredibly and marvelously sustained us, raising up replacement financial and prayer support from an unaffiliated Baptist church in China, another in Singapore, also one in Siberia, and several Hispanic unaffiliated Baptist churches took us on. For many of these churches, our family was their first missionary to support! It STILL amazes us to this day!! God also laid us on the hearts of some other churches in America as well, and He MORE than replaced what we lost from the false accusations of our now wayward erstwhile friends.

As I said, he probably lost more than 20% of support.  And had to reach out to foreign churches because his name was mud in the USA.  

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We are so glad we didn't go back to America, because our most faithful members in our first church plant started to trust Christ in the months to follow

Roderick and Jacqueline, Precious and Eugene, Handia, Mr. and Mrs Phiri (Esther's first midwife in Kafue), Bro. Kennedy ... ?

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, and they are faithfully growing and serving the Lord to this day. We also faced the coming of false brethren here, who made false professions of faith and calls to preach, simply because they wanted to escape, escape the poverty of Burundi or here in Zambia, or even others who were simply hoping to get something from us.

Roderick, Arcade and Jolis, watch out!  The bus is running over you again.  How dreadful of you to want to escape terror in Burundi or poverty.  You learned the hard way that John Shrader gives NOTHING away, however hard your condition may be.

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When this all started to become evident, we were faced with a difficult but simple choice.

Deal with the sin which had been exposed, but pay the price in ministry setbacks, loss of men who we were training and who had been assisting us (and women as well from the church). This was an incredibly difficult time, as several of those men also falsely accused us, even to the government, trying to get us expelled from Kafue, and even Zambia.

 

We called the cops and accused them of stealing. 

And it is a dreadful pity that they failed to get John deported.

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Even other missionaries here have mocked us, one even pointing to us as failures,

Oh, do tell us who that was!

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but purity is worth the price and the pain. We followed Matthew 18 and I Corinthians 5 time after time after time, and the little church grew stronger as the Zambian members exhorted their fellow Africans to not reject and rebel against the Word of God, but most times to deaf ears. Some even refused to come meet with the members, to "hear the church" (Matt. 18:17). Although a time of terrible heartache after heartache after heartache, both we as missionaries and our fledgling church plant grew tremendously through this incredibly difficult time.

We hung on with the skins of our teeth.

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God helped me with the words and music to my song "The Fellowship of Christ" shortly after passing through these dark trials. It is literally our testimony in song. We continued to learn "...the fellowship of His (Christ's) sufferings, being made comformable unto His death;" (Phil. 3:10).

That ghastly hymn.

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Once again passing through the crucible, having seen our hopes and dreams for training and sending men to Burundi and here in Zambia collapse in metaphorical "flames," and watch African men we had invested years of our lives into be exposed as frauds and deceivers, we sought comfort and solace in the fellowship of Christ, and continued on.

Well done, Johnny.  Honestly, this is like Churchill's propaganda turning the dreadful defeat and retreat from Dunkirk into a ratings bonanza.  Will people possibly fall for this revised version? 

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One man that had been attending our little church here in Kafue, and watched us pass through all this, would later be appointed Senior Chief over two districts about 13 hours from us in Western Province, and this amazing occurrence is chronicled and documented in our last major video update from late 2018 (if you've not seen it, go to www.tinyurl.com/tzfilms ). This has opened a unbelievable door of ministry through this Chief! To God be the Glory alone!!

Johnny is so proud of that "Senior Chief" thing.   I don't think he's ever told us the man's name so we can't check on the verisimilitude of the story.   And while he was all focused on the Western Province the church plant at Mulamba went to the dogs.  How are Bros Phellion and David, Johnny? 

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The dangers, toils and snares we passed through taught us much, and we returned to John the Baptist's approach of baptizing those who had brought forth fruits meet for repentance, and this has been such a blessing to our church.

We were doing quickie conversions and baptisms before.  That's why Rea and Valley Baptist dumped us,  but we won't admit that.

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We recently baptized a precious lady who had made a profession of faith in 2017, but had no fruit, so we did not baptize her at that time.

Is anyone else getting the impression that "fruit" = either money or some story they can blackmail her over in the future? 

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We are VERY careful with souls (we take 3-6 hours to share the Gospel, plus she had attended for years and heard many messages), but in January of this year she testified that she had true "godly sorrow" which worked "repentance unto Salvation" (II Cor. 7:10) and with her "...heart..." she believed "...unto righteousness..." (Romans 10:10), and her life immediately and radically changed! She became a "...new creature..." (II Cor. 5:17), and the whole church body could see it and rejoiced! Truly as Jesus said, "...wisdom is justified of all her children." (Luke 7:35).

Yeah, yeah.

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Another young man, Levy, who is the one that killed a spitting cobra inside our rental house four years ago,

I believe the original version of that story had John heroically battling the poor snake himself.

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has been so tender to the Gospel, and we could have easily "led him in a sinners prayer" (a practice found nowhere in the Bible), but just a few months ago, after almost five years of praying for his precious soul, sharing the Gospel with him, and countless messages and Bible studies, he had godly sorrow which worked repentance unto Salvation in his heart and he gave his life to Christ, and the dramatic change has been so joyous to see, as his deep and evident burden for his family, his home village, his schoolmates and friends, and even this area just flows out of him!

To me there is something terribly unBiblical about John making the decision whether or not someone is actually saved.

What do the real Christians amongst us think? 

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I could tell you the same story about others who have recently given their lives to the Lord with that same testimony of God truly breaking their heart through "godly sorrow," "repentance," and Biblical "salvation," like Hope, and Luckson,

He apparently makes them grovel for his approval.

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and Robert Rugema from the Congo, who God brought to us through a series of deep tragedies and minor miracles. By the way, he speaks the same language they do in Burundi (Kirundi), as well as French, Swahili, English, and he wants to be trained in the Word of God. This highly educated man has traveled the world, to America, Germany, Switzerland, etc, but God has brought him here, to us, and he even has contacts in high levels of Burundian Government that could open doors for us there to minister in the future! Those years of love, care, and prayer for Burundi have not been in vain!!

How long shall we give Robert Rugema to see through John? 

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We wouldn't trade anything we've gone through for the priceless privilege of seeing the greatest miracles ever, truly changed hearts and lives! It's been worth it all, and I believe we stand at the cusp of seeing God do some amazing things here in the future, I truly do.

After 5 years we are at the cusp, I tell you!

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To those of you who have supported, prayed, and encouraged us through this half decade (and some before that as we prepared to go to the field), we deeply and humbly thank you from the depths of our hearts. Words cannot express our gratitude and thankfulness to God for what you have done.

Good grief, yes!  Some of you poor suckers have been supporting John and his ever growing family for at least 8 years.  Perhaps even a full decade.

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Please, pray for us.

Sincerely.

Fervently.

Regularly.

 

Missed an opportunity for alliteration there John.  Faithfully, Fervently, Frequently.

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Pray for our FIVE greatest prayer needs:

H.E.L.P.S.

H - hearts and doors opened
E - every Word Pure (translation team for pure vernacular Bibles)
L - laborers (we need people to come)
P - preachers (20-200 men to train)
S - souls saved, lives transformed

 

And cash.  We need cash.

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May God alone receive all the Glory, and may the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, receive the Reward of His Sufferings, the precious Eternal Souls for whom He died.

Bro. John Shrader, Esther, and family
Zambia and Beyond

 

Oh FFS give up on Beyond, John.

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P.S. If you actually read this entire post, first of all, thank you! Secondly, I'd love to know it by you putting something about one of the H.E.L.P.S. prayer requests in your comments!!!

I may be the only person who did.  

H - Help us, Rufus!  Hear our prayers.

E - Every other word of this post of John's is dishonest.

L - Leave Zambia now, Shrader!

P - Piss off you Pompous Pestiferous Pusillanimous Pastor, and

S - Shove this Scrofulous Screed up your Sit-upon.

Edited June 6, 2019 by Palimpsest

[CTRLZero]

7 hours ago, Palimpsest said:

loss of men who we were training and who had been assisting us (and women as well from the church).

Whew.  That was quite the read!  I'm glad to see that the women of the church rated a parenthetical.  ?

Thanks for the recap, @Palimpsest

[Ozlsn]

7 hours ago, Palimpsest said:

We recently baptized a precious lady who had made a profession of faith in 2017, but had no fruit, so we did not baptize her at that time.

What the hell does that even mean? It sounds like she had no children to me, although that may be Gilead's influence. 

(Also how do you quote without it attributing to the poster?)

8 hours ago, Palimpsest said:

To me there is something terribly unBiblical about John making the decision whether or not someone is actually saved.

What do the real Christians amongst us think? 

Not sure I qualify as a 'real Christian' but that sounds dodgy as hell. Dodgier than both Prosperity Gospel and Gwod's "teachings", not to mention blasphemous. 

Actually it sounds really cult-like when I think about it - only our Godly Leader can determine if you are Saved. Run away Zambians! And get John kicked out ASAP! 

8 hours ago, Palimpsest said:

Oh, do tell us who that was!

Wild guess? All of them.

8 hours ago, Palimpsest said:

How long shall we give Robert Rugema to see through John? 

He certainly sounds educated and switched on... about a month, tops. Hopefully he has some good contacts in the Zambian Immigration department.

[Howl]

#WhereIsBroTheophil?

[Palimpsest]

5 minutes ago, Ozlsn said:

What the hell does that even mean? It sounds like she had no children to me, although that may be Gilead's influence. 

The only thing I can think of is that John thought she was an uppity and annoying (to him) woman.  She didn't show signs of being a suitable meek and quiet submissive woman so the Spirit wasn't working on her.  Galatians 5. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."

And it really does sound dodgy to me that John gets to decide when people are truly saved. 

 

[EyesOpen]

Interesting that JS is summarizing and revising history. Either he doesn’t have much going on and he’s reliving his um.,, successes so far, or perhaps he’s getting some questions and pushback from supporters? He seems focused on when they lost support... perhaps they are running short on cash. We’ll keep looking on and helping remember what’s really going down shrewder! <—- autocorrect. Not fixing it!

[formergothardite]

On 6/6/2019 at 9:30 AM, Palimpsest said:

Actually, I don't think that is what went down with David Rea and Valley Baptist church.  IIRC, they tried to discipline John for boastful conduct about his "works."

You are right. I'm pretty sure that he flipped out when he was disciplined about his behavior. Rea got custody of the Team Zambia website and one of the big printers. And if I remember correctly, he lost more than 20% of his supporters. Daddy Shrader had to work overtime to keep him in Zambia and the new churches that he has found to offer support are all non-America. Me thinks word about John has gotten around the IFB circle. 

[NonSOTDRT Teacher]

I remember on the last thread, there was a poster who claimed that John had abused her when they attended Papa Shrader's church. Were her claims ever verified? 

 

Sorry if this is coming out of nowhere, I just can't stand this modern-day Pharisee and want to eventually see him exposed. People like him,  JRod, etc. make me SEVERELY ill! 

[Howl]

On 6/6/2019 at 4:38 PM, Ozlsn said:

(Also how do you quote without it attributing to the poster?)

Just highlight the text (but don't click on the "Quote selection" box) and do a copy and paste. On my keyboard, it's CTRL + C to copy the highlighted text and then CTRL + V to paste it into your reply.  I type out the attribution, if one is needed. 

John is getting more obsessed with his version of "Historical Biblical Baptist" theological purity and repentance and I do think obsession is the correct word.  His obsession with getting it right (as if that's possible) is his sole justification for being in Zambia.  He completely ignores the verses that discuss works, the part where you are called upon to feed and cloth the destitute. 

That said, he seems to have totally forgotten his various grand schemes and is focused on sustained ranting, printing tracts and driving around here and there. 

 I cannot even imagine the blather he spews as he rages on hour after hour.

Edited June 8, 2019 by Howl

[Gobsmacked]

John's chickens appear to have fallen well and truly down the Well. They can't even come home to roost.

I sense the start of the homecoming countdown. 

 

[Howl]

17 hours ago, Gobsmacked said:

I sense the start of the homecoming countdown.

I wish! I didn't expect them to last six months, much less as long as they have. 

[Inky]

On 6/8/2019 at 5:50 PM, Gobsmacked said:

John's chickens appear to have fallen well and truly down the Well. They can't even come home to roost.

I sense the start of the homecoming countdown. 

 

Oh go on! You're just getting my hopes up!

[gustava]

I just can't see ALL of them returning to the states at the same time, because of the cost. 

[Howl]

John's ugly subtext? He NEVER talks about how much he loves Zambia and respects Zambians.  Because he does't. He's been there six (?) years.  SIX YEARS.  He has so few "converts" and ZERO friends, because he doesn't consider Zambians worthy of friendship or respect.

He can blather on about this precious person or praying for this or that, but he doesn't truly care about or respect Zambians, or anyone really, and that's part of the tragedy of who he is as a human being. What's truly sad is that this is what he is modeling for his umpteen kids.

[Palimpsest]

John is bringing out the big guns.  A picture of the Shraderlings.  My, haven't they all grown.

 

 

 

[gustava]

10 hours ago, Palimpsest said:

John is bringing out the big guns.  A picture of the Shraderlings.  My, haven't they all grown.

 

 

 

 Can you post the photo?

[Palimpsest]

57 minutes ago, gustava said:

Can you post the photo?

I thought I did.  I can see it.  Can anyone else?

[Ali]

9 minutes ago, Palimpsest said:

I thought I did.  I can see it.  Can anyone else?

I can see it.