Posted on 09/13/2023 9:22:57 AM PDT by Morgana
Kirk Franklin has become an icon in the Contemporary Christian Music Gospel genre and has gained even more notoriety after touring with and becoming heavily involved in the contemporary worship music collective, Maverick City Music.
Franklin made headlines in 2019 after winning TBN’s version of the “Christian Grammys” called the Dove Awards in the Gospel genre. Franklin is known for his “gospel music” that features cursing and foul language. Franklin was intimately involved in the production of Kanye West’s new “gospel” music at the time and stated that “God Wrote” his first curse-filled album.
Kirk Franklin is pro-choice—meaning, that he doesn’t believe that abortion should be limited. In an interview with a former Grindr (a gay hook-up app similar to Ashley Madison) worker, he said that he personally believed in life, but doesn’t believe he should impose his beliefs on others.
He confirmed these sentiments in an interview with Charlemagne tha God. After telling about how his mother almost aborted him, and then how he paid to have a girl that he impregnated to have an abortion and drove her to the clinic, he told the host that he was “pro-life.”
“My point is that I am pro-life but I still believe that I do not have a right to force a woman to do anything with her body, the same way that I can’t force somebody to come to Jesus Christ,” Franklin said in the interview.
“There’s no way that I can’t force anybody to believe in my savior. So I hope that I can try to live a life and try to teach my daughters, try to portray what a loving family and loving children can be. At the same time, it’s got to be a choice. There’s no way that I can force anybody to receive anything.” Except, what Franklin is espousing isn’t a pro-life view, it’s the exact definition of a pro-choice view.
Franklin has also come out publicly in support of homosexuality. In an interview with TheGrio.com, Franklin, purportedly speaking on behalf of the “black church,” said about the LGBTQ community, “I want to apologize for all of the hurtful and painful things that have been said about people in the church that have been talented and gifted and musical, that we’ve used and we’ve embarrassed… and all this other horrible crap that we’ve done … We have not treated them like people. We’re talking about human beings, men and women that God has created.”
Thankfully, there are a few faithful men out there who were given the opportunity to reach him with a call to repentance. During an encounter with a street preacher, Kirk was rebuked for his lack of conviction for God. He attempted to defend himself by pointing out that he said the words “Jesus is Lord” during the BET awards. But the street preacher rightfully responded, telling him that it wasn’t enough.
“Friendship with the world is hatred towards God. Therefore, whoever is a lover of the world is a hater of God. You sat there rubbing shoulders straight. You rubbed shoulders straight with the world. You didn’t stand up at the BET Awards and say, hey guys, Jesus is coming back soon and the Bible says in the book of Revelation that the blood will be up to the horses bridle because the blood of the sinners and no one’s warning people,” the street preacher told Kirk Franklin.
“The Bible says if I say to the wicked, you shall surely die and you don’t warn them, their blood is on your hands,” the street preacher said. “You got a lot of people at the BET Awards that have, you got a lot of blood on your hands, sir.”
Watch: VIDEO ON LINK
So glad someone got to him and told him the truth.
Matthew 7:21
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
You can be a Christian or you can be for killing babies, but not both.
Well said.
I thought he was a gospel singer, not a rapper?
To borrow from Hank Hill....
“Can’t you see you aren’t making Christianity better, you’re just making Hip-Hop worse.”
I find this trend deeply disturbing, from Amy Grant to Jars of Clay, and now Kirk Franklin. There must be a cleansing.
Matthew 8:36
“My point is that I am pro-life but I still believe that I do not have a right to force a woman to do anything with her body...”
Basically, “I wouldn’t commit murder myself, but I won’t tell anyone else that they don’t have a right to choose to commit murder”.
But half of the gripes are about Franklin's past (i.e. he paid a woman to have an abortion). We should never condemn someone over his past -- while at the same time encourage repentance for today and tomorrow. Not only have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), but IMHO many of the people who have a bit of a sordid past can, after repentance, be some of the people God uses most to further His church.
And about Franklin's supposed support of gays with his comment: "...the hurtful and painful things that have been said about people in the church...", I'll reserve judgement for when I see context. If he was saying love the sinner but hate the sin, good. If he was saying embrace the sin that the gays "identify" as, bad. Again, I want context.
Now this I can tell you as someone who listens to Christian music. There are some songs over the years Franklin recorded that are selfless and give glory to God. But if I'm honest there are also plenty of songs on the same albums that Franklin uses to give a lot of attention to himself. The same for the only one of his concerts I went to years ago. Completely unlike the many concerts I attended done by Petra, Mylon Lefevre (RIP, I about cried when I heard on Sunday that Mylon passed), Third Day, Fred Hammond, Sonicflood, David & the Giants, CeCe Winans, Seven Places, Skillet, Newsboys, Newsong, etc. I left every one of those concerts fired up about the lord, convicted of my sin, and more dedicated to stick to Jesus like glue, no matter what no matter who.
He’s more of a church choir leader than either a singer or rapper.
bkmk
He's not wrong. I still listen to Jennifer Knapp's stuff. And am ashamed for how 'The Church' treated her after her shortcomings were laid bare for the world to gossip about.
As for whether someone is in the club or not... That's a real interesting question. My own thoughts on it would most likely get the Holy Rollers around here all geklepmpt and telling me I am not in the club... lol Glad to see someone here that is keeping an open mind.
Any songs I’ve heard with Kirk Franklin had him speaking, not singing (and not “rapping” as in speaking in cadence - just random comments that sound vaguely preacherly).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.