Christian Rocker Confronts Culture Head On

FOUNDATIONAL TRUTHS    

When John was five years old, he remembers seeing a figure in his bedroom. He raced downstairs to tell his mom and dad. Frustrated that he kept getting out of bed, they told John no one was in his room and to go back to bed. When he returned to his room, he saw the figure again and these words came into his mind, “You need to give your heart to Jesus.” In his bedroom that night John gave his heart to Jesus. His life changed when Jesus became his Savior and his boss.

During his teenage years, John entered some of the hardest and loneliest years of his life when his mom, the spiritual leader of their family, died after a three-year battle with cancer. John prayed to God and asked Him to take away the hurt and loneliness he felt, but nothing changed. Then one day he asked Jesus if he could know Him differently. He asked to know Jesus as his friend. In that moment he felt God became not only his friend but his dad. Through the years, John has grown to understand God more and know Him better which has kept his faith strong while being in the entertainment industry. 

FINDING TRUTH

In 2011, before Skillet had sold 12 million albums, they were on tour as the opening act for some very successful bands. After a show one night, John was approached by a man who was a mover and shaker in the music industry. He recognized how good Skillet was and how they could even become the biggest rock band in the world if John stopped talking about Jesus, stopped playing Christian shows, and did Christian radio interviews. "The Jesus stuff hurts your brand," said the man. He reminded John how many poor people he could help in the world if he was rich and famous. His lie sounded almost like the truth. John and his wife, Korey, discussed it but decided that not talking about Jesus was not an option. 

When John called God his boss it was his way of saying he would trust and obey whatever He says. God calls us to obey Him and the truth He gave us through Jesus. Unfortunately, today there is much confusion in the world, “Lies have become truth, truth has become emotion, and emotion has become God and God has become whatever one desires (self-worship, sexual desire, dreams of fame and fortune),” shares John. Twenty years ago, those who did not believe in Christianity would not claim to have their own version of truth. They didn’t believe in the God of the Bible but held a different truth claim. Sadly, today our society has moved away from a belief in absolute objective truth based on the following philosophies of our culture:
•    Post-Modernism – Philosophical stew, a little bit of this, a little dash of that. The belief that reality is nothing more than a conceptual construct. Postmodernists believe there is no absolute truth, no absolute morality, and no absolute reality. 
•    Relativism – Although similar to post-modernism the main difference is that according to relativists truth is not absolute, but it can be true for now or truer than something else. Many churches have adopted the relativistic thoughts of the day. For example, some believe morality is subjective. 

WIMPY, WEAK AND WOKE 

John says that Critical race theory, gender identity, statism, anti-Americanism, D.E.I., socialism, Marxism, the attack on civil liberties and religion, and progressive Christianity… all of this is sometimes referred to as merely “culture war” issues, and it is wildly incorrect. All these destructive philosophies are born out of an atheistic religion: utopianism. 

As he writes in Wimpy, Weak, and Woke, “What we are witnessing is an age-old war between gods. It’s a winner-takes-all battle between the living God and the false god of Man.” 

The West was built on the belief in objective truth, objective reality, and absolutes, all of which are being destroyed as we speak. In his book, John further explains where these destructive philosophies come from; why they won’t work; how they differ from the Christian worldview that built America and the West; and how a revival of the truth of the Bible can save us from far-left humanistic fantasies run amok. He says conforming to objective reality leads to human flourishing and meaning. 

John shares, "I have written this book because I have been forced to. Apparently, I am not allowed to stay silent. I will be bullied if I do not conform to the secular Leftists, and I will be a coward and a liar if I do. Christians have adopted and made use of the lies and unrealities of the current age… All I wanted to do was play music in peace. But since that is no longer an option, I will play music in war. Ours is not a war against flesh and blood, of bullets or bombs. It is spiritual, theological, and philosophical. There is no such thing as utopia. It is a lie. It denies the sinful nature of man, the existence of a transcendent God, and it denies God’s created order. We must burn utopia to save the world.”

To purchase John's book, "Wimpy, Weak, and Woke," please visit John Cooper's website: www.JohnLCooper.com.