Cooper: ‘Music Belongs to God’
On a deeper level, Cooper stated that he believes that all “music belongs to God. There’s something of eternity with music. The Bible doesn’t talk about music a lot, but there is something eternal. We know that the angels were singing before we were ever created. We know that music is singing and worship, and we know that’s gonna be for eternity, [which is] one of the few things we have here that in some form is going to exist before the throne for always and always and always, when time has ended, right?”
Cooper explained that his goal is to not let the devil steal something that God created. Just like the late Christian rock pioneer Larry Norman sang, “Why Should The Devil Have All The Good Music,” Skillet’s lead singer said, “We’re not gonna let the enemy steal something that God created. [The devil] may have distorted it, but we’re bringing that back under the Lordship of Christ, where music and art belongs, because everything is the Lord’s. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof—everything in it is His. So that’s kind of the way that I view it.”
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The lyrics to Skillet’s song “Surviving the Game” reiterate what Cooper shared with Idelman: You can try to defeat me (Beat me). You don’t know it’s the pain that’ll feed me. And I’m gonna take back what you took me for. ‘Cause I was born for this. All the bones that you’re breakin’. You pretend that you’re the one that can save me. Now I’m takin’ it back; it was never yours.
Skillet Shares the Hope of Jesus at Secular Shows
Just this past summer, Cooper told ChurchLeaders that he has shared how God changed his life when the band toured with and opened for Korn and performed at festivals with other bands who have blatantly anti-Christian messages like Slipknot, Motionless in White, Metallica, Mudvayne, Ghostemane, and Rob Zombie.
“I might give a Bible verse” like John 1:4 to share with them, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men,” Cooper said. “That doesn’t feel preachy to people. It feels like you’re saying something that you believe,” especially in a time when many are struggling with depression and hopelessness during the pandemic. Cooper shared that he has seen people tend to react better that way, because they don’t take it as him telling them what to do.
“I’m saying, this is something I believe is real,” Cooper said.
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That isn’t the case when Skillet plays shows that draw more of a Christian fanbase. Cooper will take more time during the set to address Christians in the room and give a mini-sermon. This is something those who attended Winter Jam earlier this year experienced, when Cooper warned about the dangers of the Christian deconstruction movement and fake Christianity.
