During a recent appearance on the BlazeTV podcast "Relatable", hosted by Allie Beth Stuckey, John Cooper of Christian rockers SKILLET spoke about how he first got into playing hard rock and hey metal, even though his mother — who was "a fanatical Jesus freak", according to John — "felt that rock music was the biggest tool of the devil." Cooper said in part (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's not by any means I was like Mr. Theology or anything like that, but I did recognize the inconsistency, even as a young person… The church I went to was a Bible-believing church. So we were always taught this, that it's about grace. It's not about rules. And we were always taught things like the Pharisees, they added all these rules in order to earn God's for and how that wasn't right. And I would always be, like, 'Yeah, but I think you're doing that with music.' … The church I was at was fixated — I mean, obsessed — about the way you dress. So, like, black was bad; black was the devil's color. So my mom didn't want me wearing black. And they were fixated on these really weird rules, arbitrary rules. And even as a young person, I was, like, 'I just don't see this in the Bible.' And on one hand you're telling me that we don't wanna be like the Pharisees, it's all about grace, but the other thing is every day they're fixated on this stuff. And it ge me a really, really bad taste. And that is why I can relate to people when they actually do go through deconstruction [of faith, which involves critically examining your beliefs, practices, and traditions to discern what feels authentic and what doesn't], and they he these stories of church hurt and church abuse. I'm, like, 'I'm against deconstruction, but I know what you mean. I honestly do know what you're saying, and I do think that we could do a better job in the evangelical world of showing the joy we he in Christ,' instead of just seeming angry all the time. We're not angry. We're really joyful. We love God. So let's fight what we need to fight and let's calm down about some of the other things. So even as a young person, I really did not understand this weird music thing. I didn't understand the idea that the devil had created a style of music because I remember saying to my mom once, 'But you taught me that the devil doesn't create anything. He distorts things. So how can it be that he created an evil drumbeat?' Even as a seventh grader, I was, like, 'This isn't adding up.' All that to say I did wanna go away from some of that legalism, and I did go away from that, but I never wanted to go away from Christianity. I never wanted to go away from the Bible or Jesus. I was into that."
John added: "I guess what I'm saying is I can relate to some of the deconstruction people. I understand what they're going through, and if anybody is listening that's like that, I just wanna encourage them. I feel you. I hear you. Don't deconstruct from the Bible. Don't lee Jesus over this stuff. Just get rid of some of the things that people probably good-heartedly added on to the faith that they really shouldn't he. Get rid of that stuff, but don't deconstruct from Christ."
Circling back to how he first decided to pursue playing rock music wholeheartedly despite objections from his own mother, who died of cancer when he was just 15, John said: "I remember I got very serious in my relationship with the Lord when I was 18. And I really believed it with all my heart — I believed God was calling me to play music. It was hard because on my mom's deathbed, my mom had gotten very into word of faith before she died. So we were Southern Baptist, but she kind of was looking for that miracle. She kind of went Kenneth Copeland-ish [American televangelist associated with the charismatic movement], went to some of those things. And so for the last three weeks that my mom was alive, I didn't get to say bye to her because she didn't want us to lose faith. She was gonna be healed. She was in the hospital, didn't want us to lose faith seeing her like that. And if we came to say bye, that would be an admission of not hing faith. And again, I am never disparaging about my mom; she's the reason I'm walking with the Lord. So that's not disparaging; that's a sad piece of this story. But I knew in my heart I was supposed to be playing music, but I had been told — by people that love me dearly — that on my mom's deathbed, she's pumped full of all sorts of morphine or whatever it is that they give to you when you're in that sort of agony at the end, she was hing visions and dreams and whatever, and part of those visions were that one of her sons — me — I was going to lead people to hell through Christian music. I was gonna play Christian music and the devil was gonna use me to lead people to hell, and things like that. So that was also kind of over me — it was hanging over me — but I just knew God had called me to it. And I just was, like, I'm 18. This is one of those things, are you going to do what God's called you to do? Or are you going to — I don't know. I don't know if I'm stretching to say this, but it kind of felt like let the dead bury their own dead, kind of a thing. Not that she was dead, but almost, like, I can't live with that over my life. I know God's called me to this. And I don't believe it was real. I just think there were really godly people that were wrong about something."
In 2021, Cooper was asked by the "Undaunted.Life: A Man's Podcast" what he would say to someone who says that Satan works through rock music, and thus Christians shouldn't play rock music. He responded: "I would say Satan can work through just about anything. I would say that music is created not by the Devil; [it is] created by the Lord. All things were created by God. So instead of thinking that the Devil owns a genre of music, I would say capture that music and bring it back into subjection under the lordship of Christ."
As for what he would say to someone who says it is sinful for Christians to he tattoos, Cooper said: "I understand why Christians think that, because of the Old Testament. I would say it probably takes a little bit of a longer explanation of Old Testament law and what it meant. But a short version would be there are some things in the Old Testament that were a picture of something in the New Testament. There are some things that are not pictures, like murder — we don't murder, we don't steal, so and so forth. Dietary restrictions, things like that, were a picture of something.
"Here's what God wanted: God wants to make his people set apart and holy unto his name," he continued. "And I don't think that God does that any longer from the way that we look; he does that now because of Christ's work on the cross, his resurrection, and he sanctifies us, which sets us apart from the sinner and the pagan."
John has written in depth about his views in the two books he has released so far, "Awake & Alive To Truth", which came out in December 2020, and "Wimpy, Weak, And Woke", which became ailable in late 2023.
Cooper told Baptist Press about how his faith directs him to speak out on cultural issues: "If Jesus is the truth, then that means He has something to say about culture, politics, abortion and sexuality. The Bible has something to say about these things."
SKILLET's latest album, "Revolution", arrived in November 2024 via the band's Hear It Loud imprint.
SKILLET released its first-ever Christmas recording, "O Come, O Come Emmanuel", in November.
John Cooper press photo courtesy of The Media Collective