In the world of gospel music, even in the 21st century, there are a lot of old school beliefs at work. Kirk Franklin was vilified on his social media accounts by followers who disliked a gospel artist working with a hip hop artist. Kirk Franklin has consistently sampled hip hop music, vocals, and instrumentals into his Grammy award winning songs, but the appearance of a rapper like Kanye was a step too far for his sanctified following. Kirk Franklin, however, had a special word for the naysayers on his Instagram account from February 2016:

Kanye is not me. I am not him. He is my brother I am proud to do life with. No sprints, but Marathons; like most of us are on. Before one song was released, I was crucified because my brother asked me to take a picture. Again "no Kanye, you're not good enough"? No. That is a dangerous message I believe we send to the world when our posture is they have to meet certain requirements before they are worthy to kiss the ring. It says people are not redeemable, forgivable or candidates for grace. That my friend is religious. I will not turn my back on my brother. I will love him, prayerfully grow with him. However long he'll have me, and however long the race takes. To a lot of my Christian family, I'm sorry he's not good enough, Christian enough, or running at your pace...and as I read some of your comments, neither am I. That won't stop me from running. Pray we win.

A photo posted by Kirk Franklin (@kirkfranklin) on Feb 13, 2016 at 10:11pm PST