Fred Kenison, God’s faithful servant, and my friend and mentor, died this week. He was just a few weeks shy of his 94th birthday. I will miss him immensely.
Fred called himself a simple country boy, blessed by the grace of God. But, I also believe that Fred was uniquely gifted by God to explain the deeper truths of the Bible to this age, almost like a modern-day prophet. I’m quite sure Fred would not go that far, although he readily credited God with whatever he was able to see in the scriptures.
Fred had a double ability to explain scripture. On the one hand, he could lay out the details verse-by-verse to reveal things that I never realized were there. On the other hand, he had a big-picture view of scripture from Genesis to Revelation, and he could unravel the major themes of the Bible, such as the covenant, the kingdom, and grace.
Fred studied scripture for three reasons: (1) because he believed God called him to study; (2) because he sincerely enjoyed it more than anything else; and (3) because he wanted to encourage others to study the Bible. His main point, and one that he emphasized regularly, was to get people to study the scriptures, and think things through for themselves.
I often marveled at how Fred could uncover so much truth in the Bible. I would like to quote what he said about that in his memoirs.
“Every time I prayed, a question came to my mind: “How much understanding do you want?” For awhile, this puzzled me because I thought that I wanted to know everything I could understand about the scriptures. What I didn’t know at the time was that I was still in training, and I had no idea of what was ahead of me.
"A bit later, the church was sponsoring a week of special services. It seemed to me that God was saying that if I wanted to know more of the scriptures all I had to do was stand before the church audience and verbally recite doubled numbers. He said that the highest number I reached would be the number of scriptural truths revealed to me. At first, I questioned whether this was really God speaking. I couldn’t conceive of God asking me to do something which seemed to be so inane, so I didn’t do anything. For the next couple of days I didn’t sleep much, and I again felt that my disobedience had brought me under the discipline of God.
"The next night, I waited until the service was about over and I went forward to speak. I began to recite the sum of doubled numbers: 1+1=2, 2+2=4, 4+4=16, 16+16=32, 32+32=64. God had said I couldn’t reveal what I was doing, and this made the experience much more humiliating. I only got a short way, less than a hundred, when everyone began to laugh and have a good time at my expense. I was so embarrassed that I quit. Bad as I thought this humiliation was, it was nothing compared to what I would receive later when I started teaching what I learned in the scriptures.
"When I got home that night, it seemed to me that God kept telling me all night long that if that was all I wanted to know from the Bible that he would close the rest of the book to me and I would be back where I was before. I definitely didn’t want that! So, the next night I stood up and began to double numbers again. Again, the people began to laugh, but as I continued some of them asked, “What do you think you’re doing?”
"I didn’t answer, but continued to recite doubled numbers, and some of the people became angry. By this time, I didn’t care. If this was what I had to do for God to give me a greater understanding of the Bible, then I no longer cared what the people thought. Finally, I doubled the numbers until I had reached 524,288, and then I sat down. I couldn’t explain to anyone what this was all about and I didn’t tell anyone about this for several years.
"I don’t know why I wasn’t supposed to tell unless it was to force me to live with the humiliation. From that time, God began to show me things that I had never even imagined, and I didn’t care what people thought about it anymore. I was rejoicing all the time as new insights, new truths, and new understanding leapt off the pages to me. What a joy it was to have the Bible open up to me in a new, unique way.”
For those who measure success by large numbers, Fred was not successful. He did not found a church, nor did he want to. His admirers were few, but that didn’t bother him. He said that God called him to study and teach, to point out the truths of scripture revealed to him. Fred certainly remained steadfast and true to that calling.
Unfortunately, announcing God’s truth is not always the way to build a large body of followers. Fred pointed out that none of the Old Testament prophets had many admirers or followers, and even Jesus had only a small group of followers. In fact, the scriptures show that the more truth Jesus revealed, the fewer followers he had.
The briefest of visits was always long enough for Fred to turn the conversation to something about the Bible. Studying scripture was both his vocation and avocation. As he put it, “I can think of nothing more pleasant than studying God’s word, just for the fun of it. While others may enjoy various hobbies, to me, studying scripture is my relaxation and entertainment.”
I wish I had met Fred many years ago, although I am very thankful for the hours I was able to spend with him. It has been my privilege to edit his eight books, and several articles, and there is still more to do. The eight books were all published in print and seven are now available free on our website. If you have not yet read what he wrote, I strongly encourage you to do so. www.biblestudybooksfree.com.
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