K-4 - PEOPLE FILES
- Daniel Kirk - Scott Kluesendorf - Monte Knudsen - Denys Kondiuk - Steven Kopp - Greg Kouki - Rich Kozlovich - Deborah Krause - Paul Kroll - Bjorn Krondorfer - Don Krow - Michael J Kruger - Kris Kubal - Tim Kueper - Hank Kunneman -
==daniel kirk======
July 6, 2023: Presbyterian Outlook: On women pastors and biblical authority: A Presbyterian reflection
But as Daniel Kirk perceptively notes in Jesus Have I Loved, But Paul?: A Narrative Approach to the Problem of Pauline Christianity, viewing the genders through this lens seems to give “the last word to the curse of the fall rather than to the redemption of Christ.” Kirk continues: Does not the subordination of women in the church “as a norm for all times and places undermine the scope and power of God’s redemptive work and of our own calling to make the church the living story of new creation”? These are important questions with which to grapple!
But as Daniel Kirk perceptively notes in Jesus Have I Loved, But Paul?: A Narrative Approach to the Problem of Pauline Christianity, viewing the genders through this lens seems to give “the last word to the curse of the fall rather than to the redemption of Christ.” Kirk continues: Does not the subordination of women in the church “as a norm for all times and places undermine the scope and power of God’s redemptive work and of our own calling to make the church the living story of new creation”? These are important questions with which to grapple!
==scott kluesendorf======
Mar 20, 2015: Wretched: Voddie Baucham and Scott Kluesendorf: Should we publicly display pictures of aborted babies?
Episode 1555
Episode 1555
==Monte Knudsen======
July 13, 2023: Politico: DeSantis is hoping Iowa evangelicals can make his campaign born again
Monte Knudsen, a pastor at Faith Christian Outreach Church in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, compared DeSantis to Pence — the former vice president and evangelical who hasn’t broken out of the bottom tier this election — saying he would “have greater confidence in DeSantis because of his track record.”
Monte Knudsen, a pastor at Faith Christian Outreach Church in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, compared DeSantis to Pence — the former vice president and evangelical who hasn’t broken out of the bottom tier this election — saying he would “have greater confidence in DeSantis because of his track record.”
==denys kondiuk======
March 24, 2023: Religion Unplugged: On The Front Lines: In War-Torn Kherson, Church Is A Symbol Of Hope And Resilience
“The longer people are at war, the less they are skeptical about God,” said Denys Kondiuk, the dean of a theological seminary located just outside Kyiv and pastor of the Protestant community New City Church in Ukraine’s capital. “Yet, people still die at war every day, and this is something that the church has to be ready to help its members or newcomers to process.”
“The longer people are at war, the less they are skeptical about God,” said Denys Kondiuk, the dean of a theological seminary located just outside Kyiv and pastor of the Protestant community New City Church in Ukraine’s capital. “Yet, people still die at war every day, and this is something that the church has to be ready to help its members or newcomers to process.”
==steven kopp======
Steven Kopp
The call to “cast all your anxiety on him” is linked logically and grammatically. English translators split these verses into two sentences, but in Greek verses 6-7 form a single sentence: “Humble yourselves… casting all your anxiety.” As we humble ourselves before God we should be casting our anxieties on him. His is a mighty, but also a loving, hand. He cares for us and so we can give our anxieties to him, trusting in his sovereignty. -Steven Kopp; Slasher Pastor; 1 Peter 5:6-14 Stand Firm 9/25/23
==greg kouki======
Greg Kouki founded Stand to Reason in 1993 and currently serves as President of Stand to Reason. He has spoken on more than 70 college and university campuses both in the U.S. and abroad and has hosted his own call-in radio show for 27 years, advocating for “Christianity worth thinking about.” He has debated atheist Michael Shermer on national radio and Deepak Chopra on national television. An award-winning writer and best-selling author, Greg has written seven books, including The Story of Reality—How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between; Tactics—A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions, and Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air. Greg has been featured on Focus on the Family radio and has been interviewed for CBN and the BBC. He's been quoted in Christianity Today, the U.S. News & World Report, and the L.A. Times. Greg received his Masters in Philosophy of Religion and Ethics at Talbot School of Theology, graduating with high honors, and his Masters in Christian Apologetics with honors from Simon Greenleaf University. He is an adjunct professor in Christian apologetics at Biola University.
Greg Koukl
Relativism is the defining characteristic of the age and has influenced the church in subtle yet profound ways. When an objective claim (a verse) communicates completely different meanings (“truths”) to different subjects (people), that’s relativism. Since truth is not in the objective meaning of the words but in the personal, subjective experience of the reader—in this case, an experience allegedly caused by the Holy Spirit—a personal prompting can be “true for me but not for you.” Since there are different experiences for different people, there are different “truths” for each.
Let me speak plainly: There is no biblical justification for finding private, personal messages in texts originally intended by God to mean something else. This approach is the wrong way to read the Bible. One reason I know this is because of what the Bible teaches about itself.
The Bible on Bible StudyFirst, the Bible teaches that the written words of Scripture are inspired.
“All Scripture [graphe, Gr.—the “writing”] is inspired by God” (2 Timothy 3:16). The wording here is important. Paul says that the writing itself is “God-breathed,” not the thoughts, impressions, or private messages that occur to us when we read the writing.
God told Moses to speak to Pharaoh the specific words of God: “I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say” (Exodus 4:12). “Let them hear My words,” God said later at Horeb, “so they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth” (Deuteronomy 4:10). These are the “living words” that Stephen said have been passed on to us (Acts 7:38).
God told Jeremiah, “Write all the words which I have spoken to you in a book” (Jeremiah 30:2). He said to Isaiah, “My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring” (Isaiah 59:21).
God has always been concerned with the words because precise words are necessary to convey precise meaning. That’s why Paul confidently refers to God’s revelation not as words of human wisdom, but as “words...taught by the Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2:13).
Second, the Bible teaches it is important to accurately understand these inspired words of Scripture.
Note Jesus in Luke 10:25–28:
And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And He said to him, “You have answered correctly.”
Jesus did not ask, “What does the Spirit say to you on this issue?” He asked, “What is written? How does it read?” Then he waited to see if the lawyer got it right.
There is a correct and incorrect way to read the Bible. Paul tells Timothy to handle the Word accurately to avoid bringing shame on himself (2 Timothy 2:15). Jesus scolded the Pharisees for not understanding the Scripture properly. He then made an argument for the resurrection that hinged on the tense of a word: “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead but of the living” (Matthew 22:29–32).
Third, the Bible teaches that private interpretations do not yield the accurate meaning.
Peter is clear on this point. He writes:
But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation; for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. (2 Peter 1:20–21)
Because there is a divine author behind prophecy, the apostle argues, there is a particular truth—a determinate meaning—that God intends to convey. Individual, personalized interpretations that distort this meaning only bring danger (note the reference to false prophets and false teachers in the next verse).
-Greg Koukl; Stand To Reason; Silly Putty Bible Study; 9/1/23
Let me speak plainly: There is no biblical justification for finding private, personal messages in texts originally intended by God to mean something else. This approach is the wrong way to read the Bible. One reason I know this is because of what the Bible teaches about itself.
The Bible on Bible StudyFirst, the Bible teaches that the written words of Scripture are inspired.
“All Scripture [graphe, Gr.—the “writing”] is inspired by God” (2 Timothy 3:16). The wording here is important. Paul says that the writing itself is “God-breathed,” not the thoughts, impressions, or private messages that occur to us when we read the writing.
God told Moses to speak to Pharaoh the specific words of God: “I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say” (Exodus 4:12). “Let them hear My words,” God said later at Horeb, “so they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth” (Deuteronomy 4:10). These are the “living words” that Stephen said have been passed on to us (Acts 7:38).
God told Jeremiah, “Write all the words which I have spoken to you in a book” (Jeremiah 30:2). He said to Isaiah, “My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring” (Isaiah 59:21).
God has always been concerned with the words because precise words are necessary to convey precise meaning. That’s why Paul confidently refers to God’s revelation not as words of human wisdom, but as “words...taught by the Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2:13).
Second, the Bible teaches it is important to accurately understand these inspired words of Scripture.
Note Jesus in Luke 10:25–28:
And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And He said to him, “You have answered correctly.”
Jesus did not ask, “What does the Spirit say to you on this issue?” He asked, “What is written? How does it read?” Then he waited to see if the lawyer got it right.
There is a correct and incorrect way to read the Bible. Paul tells Timothy to handle the Word accurately to avoid bringing shame on himself (2 Timothy 2:15). Jesus scolded the Pharisees for not understanding the Scripture properly. He then made an argument for the resurrection that hinged on the tense of a word: “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead but of the living” (Matthew 22:29–32).
Third, the Bible teaches that private interpretations do not yield the accurate meaning.
Peter is clear on this point. He writes:
But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation; for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. (2 Peter 1:20–21)
Because there is a divine author behind prophecy, the apostle argues, there is a particular truth—a determinate meaning—that God intends to convey. Individual, personalized interpretations that distort this meaning only bring danger (note the reference to false prophets and false teachers in the next verse).
-Greg Koukl; Stand To Reason; Silly Putty Bible Study; 9/1/23
==Rich Kozlovich======
January 21, 2023:
Rich Kozlovich (a rabid right wingnut) opened a blog post with these statements:
"On December 30, 2022.............posted a piece noting, 17% of Assaults on NY Jews Were Carried Out By Muslims “64% of the assaults were committed by black individuals, 17% by Asians (Muslim/Arab).”
And he summized: "Did you know that? No? Why not? I did! Why? Because I’m searching news sources all the time, so the fact I know these things and most people don’t isn’t the fault of the people. It’s the fault of the media because they focus on “their” narratives, and mostly those narratives are misdirection, logical fallacies, lies of commission and lies of omission."
He then goes through small list of other issues of which he blames the media for not reporting on. But, interestingly, he was using a blog post, which can be shared to social media, and found in a Google search (How I found it) so I am to assume that only his chosen "media" is not the enemy but all the others are?
What emphasizes my assumption is the fact that the info was posted on quite a few right - wing propaganda sites...and it appears that the information has no solid source for legit reporting. This, however, is the way the right wing media operates: They decry every media that does not push their narratives (or use that stupid two word idiom: "Fake News") .
The right-wingers battle with themselves for the most part when it comes the evilness of a media that will not report their baseless arguments. And they will be the first..(tho maybe the only) to tell you how much wisdom is in their information.
Kozlovich ends his argument with:
"One has to conclude there’s something seriously wrong with these people, and have no doubt in your minds, they really hate us, in fact, leftists hate humanity, and truth be told, they hate themselves, and the media is the agar and Petri dish in which their hate and vile behavior grows, thrives and spreads like an infectious plague on humanity."
Just a reminder: "Evil" to the right wingers is simply anyone or anything that does not accept their information as hard cold indisputable facts. Hillary's emails, Hunter Bidens laptop, Benghazi (and more) are a important talking point to the Right Wing media. Just baseless and not important in the real world.
Rich Kozlovich (a rabid right wingnut) opened a blog post with these statements:
"On December 30, 2022.............posted a piece noting, 17% of Assaults on NY Jews Were Carried Out By Muslims “64% of the assaults were committed by black individuals, 17% by Asians (Muslim/Arab).”
And he summized: "Did you know that? No? Why not? I did! Why? Because I’m searching news sources all the time, so the fact I know these things and most people don’t isn’t the fault of the people. It’s the fault of the media because they focus on “their” narratives, and mostly those narratives are misdirection, logical fallacies, lies of commission and lies of omission."
He then goes through small list of other issues of which he blames the media for not reporting on. But, interestingly, he was using a blog post, which can be shared to social media, and found in a Google search (How I found it) so I am to assume that only his chosen "media" is not the enemy but all the others are?
What emphasizes my assumption is the fact that the info was posted on quite a few right - wing propaganda sites...and it appears that the information has no solid source for legit reporting. This, however, is the way the right wing media operates: They decry every media that does not push their narratives (or use that stupid two word idiom: "Fake News") .
The right-wingers battle with themselves for the most part when it comes the evilness of a media that will not report their baseless arguments. And they will be the first..(tho maybe the only) to tell you how much wisdom is in their information.
Kozlovich ends his argument with:
"One has to conclude there’s something seriously wrong with these people, and have no doubt in your minds, they really hate us, in fact, leftists hate humanity, and truth be told, they hate themselves, and the media is the agar and Petri dish in which their hate and vile behavior grows, thrives and spreads like an infectious plague on humanity."
Just a reminder: "Evil" to the right wingers is simply anyone or anything that does not accept their information as hard cold indisputable facts. Hillary's emails, Hunter Bidens laptop, Benghazi (and more) are a important talking point to the Right Wing media. Just baseless and not important in the real world.
==deborah krause======
July 6, 2023: Presbyterian Outlook: On women pastors and biblical authority: A Presbyterian reflection
As Deborah Krause observes in 1 Timothy, Readings: A New Biblical Commentary, “You don’t tell women to shut up, unless they are talking.” You don’t command them not to teach unless they are, in fact, teaching.
Thus, 1 Timothy 2 documents the struggles of foremothers in the faith, straining against prescribed reality, from whom we can take courage. As Krause puts it, this Scripture preserves the site of a debate in an early church about who has a voice in the church and authority to speak, inviting our own engagement with this enduring question. Indeed, engagement with this text (and others invoked in debates over women’s ecclesial leadership such as 1 Corinthians 14:33b-36) can be a means by which the Spirit, “in a broken and fearful world, … gives us courage … to hear the voices of people long silenced, and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace” (A Brief Statement of Faith).
As Deborah Krause observes in 1 Timothy, Readings: A New Biblical Commentary, “You don’t tell women to shut up, unless they are talking.” You don’t command them not to teach unless they are, in fact, teaching.
Thus, 1 Timothy 2 documents the struggles of foremothers in the faith, straining against prescribed reality, from whom we can take courage. As Krause puts it, this Scripture preserves the site of a debate in an early church about who has a voice in the church and authority to speak, inviting our own engagement with this enduring question. Indeed, engagement with this text (and others invoked in debates over women’s ecclesial leadership such as 1 Corinthians 14:33b-36) can be a means by which the Spirit, “in a broken and fearful world, … gives us courage … to hear the voices of people long silenced, and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace” (A Brief Statement of Faith).
==paul kroll======
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a leader in the German Confessional Church, was arrested by the Gestapo in April 1943. A year later, he was jailed in Berlin’s Tegel prison. He was hanged by the Nazis at Flossenbürg concentration camp only two weeks before the camp was liberated by Allied armies.
But on April 30, 1944, Bonhoeffer was still very much alive, though imprisoned. He was mulling over the significance of what it meant to be a Christian in such trying times. Nazi Germany was testing Christian discipleship in a direct and crushing way. We in today’s Western society have not been tested in the same way.
Bonhoeffer had seen a tragic appeasement among Christians in Nazi Germany. Most church leaders and their flocks had gone along with the pagan and anti-Christian sentiments at the heart of Nazism. Only a few had spoken out, like those Germans who formed the Confessing Church. Bonhoeffer’s Christian faith as a member of this group was on the line, and so was his life.
When Bonhoeffer sat down to write a letter to his friend Eberhard Bethge on that day in 1944, the meaning of the Christian faith was uppermost on his mind. “You would be surprised, and perhaps even worried, by my theological thoughts and the conclusions that they lead to,” he wrote. “What is bothering me incessantly is the question: what Christianity really is, or indeed who Christ really is, for us today” (Letters and Papers From Prison, edited by Eberhard Bethge, page 279).
Christianity in Germany had become, in Bonhoeffer’s view, nothing more than pious talk and a sterile repetition of creeds. Those who call themselves Christians “do not in the least act up to it,” he wrote. Bonhoeffer was dismayed at the many German Christians who had sold out.
What about us?What happened to Christianity in Nazi Germany should send chills through us who call ourselves Christian. But it’s easy for those of us who live in democratic and nominally Christian nations to take Christianity for granted. Well more than half of Americans call themselves Christian. Some even consider the practice of Christianity be patriotic. It seems easy to be a Christian.
We may not be forced to face human tragedy and madness in the profound way Bonhoeffer and his community, the Confessing Church, did. But we can be overcome by the world in more subtle ways. For this reason, we all need to ask ourselves a basic question: What is Christianity? When we say, “I am a Christian,” what do those words mean for us who were born into a Christian world?
The word Christ is the foundation and basis of the words Christian and Christianity. It is logical to assume that Christ would also be the foundation and basis of Christianity, and of each Christian’s life. But as Bonhoeffer asked, who is Christ for us today? Where does he fit into our Christianity?
--Paul Kroll; Grace Communion International; THE MESSAGE OF JESUS: NEW LIFE IN CHRIST
But on April 30, 1944, Bonhoeffer was still very much alive, though imprisoned. He was mulling over the significance of what it meant to be a Christian in such trying times. Nazi Germany was testing Christian discipleship in a direct and crushing way. We in today’s Western society have not been tested in the same way.
Bonhoeffer had seen a tragic appeasement among Christians in Nazi Germany. Most church leaders and their flocks had gone along with the pagan and anti-Christian sentiments at the heart of Nazism. Only a few had spoken out, like those Germans who formed the Confessing Church. Bonhoeffer’s Christian faith as a member of this group was on the line, and so was his life.
When Bonhoeffer sat down to write a letter to his friend Eberhard Bethge on that day in 1944, the meaning of the Christian faith was uppermost on his mind. “You would be surprised, and perhaps even worried, by my theological thoughts and the conclusions that they lead to,” he wrote. “What is bothering me incessantly is the question: what Christianity really is, or indeed who Christ really is, for us today” (Letters and Papers From Prison, edited by Eberhard Bethge, page 279).
Christianity in Germany had become, in Bonhoeffer’s view, nothing more than pious talk and a sterile repetition of creeds. Those who call themselves Christians “do not in the least act up to it,” he wrote. Bonhoeffer was dismayed at the many German Christians who had sold out.
What about us?What happened to Christianity in Nazi Germany should send chills through us who call ourselves Christian. But it’s easy for those of us who live in democratic and nominally Christian nations to take Christianity for granted. Well more than half of Americans call themselves Christian. Some even consider the practice of Christianity be patriotic. It seems easy to be a Christian.
We may not be forced to face human tragedy and madness in the profound way Bonhoeffer and his community, the Confessing Church, did. But we can be overcome by the world in more subtle ways. For this reason, we all need to ask ourselves a basic question: What is Christianity? When we say, “I am a Christian,” what do those words mean for us who were born into a Christian world?
The word Christ is the foundation and basis of the words Christian and Christianity. It is logical to assume that Christ would also be the foundation and basis of Christianity, and of each Christian’s life. But as Bonhoeffer asked, who is Christ for us today? Where does he fit into our Christianity?
--Paul Kroll; Grace Communion International; THE MESSAGE OF JESUS: NEW LIFE IN CHRIST
==bjorn krondorfer======
Björn Krondorfer is Director of the Martin-Springer Institute at Northern Arizona University and Endowed Professor of Religious Studies in the Department of Comparative Cultural Studies.
Björn Krondorfer
“Our Protestant churches have greeted the turning point of 1933 as a gift and miracle of God.” Omit the date and that sentence could have been penned by Graham. In fact it is the opening of Althaus’s 1933 book Die deutsche Stunde der Kirche (The German Hour of the Church). To see the hand of God in the election of nationalist leaders is a rhetoric not lost on a contemporary audience. A day after the 2016 election of President Donald Trump, Graham posted these words on Facebook: “I believe that God’s hand intervened Tuesday night to stop the godless, atheistic progressive agenda from taking control of our country . . . God showed up.”
- Bjorn Krondorfer; Christian Century; It’s 1933, and Franklin Graham is German theologian Paul Althaus 11.4.20
- Bjorn Krondorfer; Christian Century; It’s 1933, and Franklin Graham is German theologian Paul Althaus 11.4.20
don krow
Don Krow
False teaching and teachers “deny the Lord that bought them” (2 Pet. 2:1), that is, they deny the Lordship, his right to control one’s life. Although a person may be religious, their life and actions can deny Him. “They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate” (Titus 1:16). The Greek word “deny” is arneomai and means “to contradict” (Vine’s Greek Lexicon). False teaching contradicts Jesus as Lord, Master, Ruler and King. False teaching contradicts Jesus words, teachings and lifestyle. A teaching of justification (being right with God) without sanctification (being under his rule) is false and should be avoided. A teaching of “grace” that says, “after we become Christians we can do just as we like” (Jude 1:4, Living Bible) is a false teaching on grace that is addressed by the Apostle Paul in Romans 6:1-2,15 and Titus 2:11-13. --Don Krow; Don Krow Ministries
==michael j kruger======
Dr. Michael J. Kruger serves as the President and Samuel C. Patterson Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the Charlotte campus of Reformed Theological Seminary. He earned his Ph.D. under one of the world’s leading text-critical scholars, Larry W. Hurtado, at the University of Edinburgh, where he researched a parchment fragment of an apocryphal gospel, P.Oxy. 840. He graduated summa cum laude with a M.Div. from Westminster Seminary California, and received his B.S. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Michael Kruger
Mark is arguably the least popular Gospel among the masses, so why is it my favorite? Here are a few quick reasons:
1. Straight to the point. While the brevity of Mark might be a negative for some, I see it as the main positive. Mark has the same skeletal structure of the other Gospels but its streamlined content allows the reader to get to the point more quickly. Thus, it is beautifully simple (which, by the way, makes it a great Gospel to study with a non-Christian).
2. Easy to teach. Mark is not only short overall (just 16 chapters), but also the individual stories tend to be tight little nuggets, rather than extended discourses. This allows for a sermon series or Bible study of more reasonable length, with each individual message covering similarly sized chunks of text. You won’t need a 5-year sermon series to finish Mark.
3. Action-oriented. If Mark were a movie, it would definitely be an action movie. Yes, Jesus delivers profound teaching, but it tends to be in more digestible bite-sized chunks, rather than the long teaching sections found in both Matthew and John. The pace of the story moves along quickly, keeping the reader/listener engaged. Proportionally, therefore, Mark tends to accentuate the remarkable deeds of Jesus.
4. Gentile focus. While Mark was likely not a Gentile, he is clearly writing for Gentiles—particularly those in a Roman context. Thus, he is keen to make sure the reader understands Jewish customs and the broader OT context in ways that Matthew and John just take for granted. This is a great help for modern readers who are often unaware themselves about these issues. Moreover, Mark’s Roman context is quite similar to the context of our modern western world where Christianity competes in a marketplace of pagan/polytheistic systems. If I were teaching a Bible study in ancient Rome, I would use Mark.
5. Unique and Intriguing Details. Since Mark is the shortest Gospel, people often assume his stories include less detail than the other Gospels. But this is one of the paradoxes of Mark’s Gospel. Mark is the shortest Gospel because he includes fewer stories overall, but the stories that Mark does include often contain details that appear in no other Gospel. Only Mark tells us the name of the blind man outside of Jericho (Bartimaeus). Only Mark tells us that the Simon of Cyrene had sons named Alexander and Rufus. Such unique details make for fun Bible studies.
6. Connections to Peter. Since Mark himself was a rather obscure figure in the early Christian movement (popping up a few times in Acts and Paul’s letters), this may explain his Gospel’s lack of popularity. Wouldn’t you rather read from an apostle like Matthew or John? But there are good historical reasons to think that Mark’s Gospel is essentially the reminiscences of the apostle Peter. Time and again in our historical sources, we are told that Mark basically got his material from Peter, and that essentially Mark’s Gospel is Peter’s Gospel. This sheds a whole new light on what you are reading when you read Mark. You’re seeing Jesus from the perspective of the preeminent apostle of early Christianity and the one who betrayed Jesus.
7. Routinely Underestimated. One of the joys of teaching the Bible is taking books that people generally underestimate or neglect, and showing why they are more important than they think. That always creates a fun “reversal” in a teaching context as the audience moves from a posture of shrugging their shoulders to a posture of wide-eyed amazement. You can do that with the Gospel of Mark.
--Michael J. Kruger; Canon Fodder; Here's Why This Gospel is My Favorite July 16, 2024
1. Straight to the point. While the brevity of Mark might be a negative for some, I see it as the main positive. Mark has the same skeletal structure of the other Gospels but its streamlined content allows the reader to get to the point more quickly. Thus, it is beautifully simple (which, by the way, makes it a great Gospel to study with a non-Christian).
2. Easy to teach. Mark is not only short overall (just 16 chapters), but also the individual stories tend to be tight little nuggets, rather than extended discourses. This allows for a sermon series or Bible study of more reasonable length, with each individual message covering similarly sized chunks of text. You won’t need a 5-year sermon series to finish Mark.
3. Action-oriented. If Mark were a movie, it would definitely be an action movie. Yes, Jesus delivers profound teaching, but it tends to be in more digestible bite-sized chunks, rather than the long teaching sections found in both Matthew and John. The pace of the story moves along quickly, keeping the reader/listener engaged. Proportionally, therefore, Mark tends to accentuate the remarkable deeds of Jesus.
4. Gentile focus. While Mark was likely not a Gentile, he is clearly writing for Gentiles—particularly those in a Roman context. Thus, he is keen to make sure the reader understands Jewish customs and the broader OT context in ways that Matthew and John just take for granted. This is a great help for modern readers who are often unaware themselves about these issues. Moreover, Mark’s Roman context is quite similar to the context of our modern western world where Christianity competes in a marketplace of pagan/polytheistic systems. If I were teaching a Bible study in ancient Rome, I would use Mark.
5. Unique and Intriguing Details. Since Mark is the shortest Gospel, people often assume his stories include less detail than the other Gospels. But this is one of the paradoxes of Mark’s Gospel. Mark is the shortest Gospel because he includes fewer stories overall, but the stories that Mark does include often contain details that appear in no other Gospel. Only Mark tells us the name of the blind man outside of Jericho (Bartimaeus). Only Mark tells us that the Simon of Cyrene had sons named Alexander and Rufus. Such unique details make for fun Bible studies.
6. Connections to Peter. Since Mark himself was a rather obscure figure in the early Christian movement (popping up a few times in Acts and Paul’s letters), this may explain his Gospel’s lack of popularity. Wouldn’t you rather read from an apostle like Matthew or John? But there are good historical reasons to think that Mark’s Gospel is essentially the reminiscences of the apostle Peter. Time and again in our historical sources, we are told that Mark basically got his material from Peter, and that essentially Mark’s Gospel is Peter’s Gospel. This sheds a whole new light on what you are reading when you read Mark. You’re seeing Jesus from the perspective of the preeminent apostle of early Christianity and the one who betrayed Jesus.
7. Routinely Underestimated. One of the joys of teaching the Bible is taking books that people generally underestimate or neglect, and showing why they are more important than they think. That always creates a fun “reversal” in a teaching context as the audience moves from a posture of shrugging their shoulders to a posture of wide-eyed amazement. You can do that with the Gospel of Mark.
--Michael J. Kruger; Canon Fodder; Here's Why This Gospel is My Favorite July 16, 2024
Michael J Kruger
John is the most theological gospel. Just to be clear, all the gospels are theological in their own right. But scholars have noted that John’s Gospel is distinctive in regard to the more direct, and more developed ways, that he affirms a number of important theological truths. At the top of the list, of course, is the divinity of Jesus. John wastes no time on this point because the very first verse says: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” --Michael J. Kruger; Cannon Fodder; 7 Reasons Why the Gospel of John is So Special 8.15.22
==kris kubal======
May 2, 2023: CBN: Worship Evangelist Sean Feucht Says 98 SatanCon Attendees Gave Their Lives to Christ
Kris Kubal, chief program officer at IFA, had reported the group's strategy beforehand. "We want to pray that they'd be set free from this and that we want to be loving, and we want to pray for them to find the truth," she said.
Kris Kubal, chief program officer at IFA, had reported the group's strategy beforehand. "We want to pray that they'd be set free from this and that we want to be loving, and we want to pray for them to find the truth," she said.
==tim kuepfer======
Pastors oppose Franklin Graham crusade in Canada
Two Canadian Baptist pastors have announced publicly they won’t be taking part in a citywide crusade next March in Vancouver, British Columbia, featuring U.S. evangelist Franklin Graham. Tim Kuepfer, pastor of First Baptist Church of Vancouver, and Tim Dickau, pastor of Grandview Calvary Baptist Church, joined three other local religious leaders in publicly declining a request by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association that they endorse the Festival of Hope gathering scheduled March 3-5, 2017, at the 18,000-seat Rogers Arena. The pastors said they “unreservedly oppose” the invitation to Franklin Graham, citing public comments by the evangelist they say are a poor witness for the gospel message. “Given that the express goal of this event is evangelism, with the commitment of new believers to Christ, we do not believe that Rev. Graham, with his expressed broader belief system, should be the exemplar that impresses itself upon these new believers.”
(Bob Allen/Baptist News Global 9/2/16)
READ MORE>>>>>
Two Canadian Baptist pastors have announced publicly they won’t be taking part in a citywide crusade next March in Vancouver, British Columbia, featuring U.S. evangelist Franklin Graham. Tim Kuepfer, pastor of First Baptist Church of Vancouver, and Tim Dickau, pastor of Grandview Calvary Baptist Church, joined three other local religious leaders in publicly declining a request by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association that they endorse the Festival of Hope gathering scheduled March 3-5, 2017, at the 18,000-seat Rogers Arena. The pastors said they “unreservedly oppose” the invitation to Franklin Graham, citing public comments by the evangelist they say are a poor witness for the gospel message. “Given that the express goal of this event is evangelism, with the commitment of new believers to Christ, we do not believe that Rev. Graham, with his expressed broader belief system, should be the exemplar that impresses itself upon these new believers.”
(Bob Allen/Baptist News Global 9/2/16)
READ MORE>>>>>
==hank kunneman======
FlashPoint, a show that Rolling Stone recently described as “a rising media platform for Christian nationalists,” airs twice weekly on The Victory Channel’s TV and streaming channels, including on Rumble. The show is helmed by a panel of regular contributors who are longtime Christian nationalist figures and self-proclaimed “prophets,” including pro-Trump “prophets” Lance Wallnau and Hank Kunneman. Wallnau and Kunneman often push hard-right politics and make apocalyptic predictions about political opponents. In the last few months, Wallnau has called Biden the “antichrist,” referred to opponents of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill as the “trans taliban,” and warned that God may soon start killing those who are “persecuting” Trump, while Kunneman said last year that Biden should be in prison for “treason” and a “demonic agenda.” --Media Matters: Fox’s Jeanine Pirro appears on Christian nationalist program FlashPoint to warn of “takedown of religion” in America 6.2.23
