Latest / Crosswalk Talk: Celebrity Christian Interviews / Monster Has 4 Billion Streams and John Cooper Is Still Shocked

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Monster Has 4 Billion Streams and John Cooper Is Still Shocked · Crosswalk Talk: Celebrity Christian Interviews

0:02
Speaker 1: Life Audio.
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Speaker 2: Hey, John, thanks for joining me.
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Speaker 3: Great to be here. Do you like this background I
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Speaker 3: gave you with my stinky stage clothes right here? This
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Speaker 3: is pretty good.
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Speaker 2: Man, you could sell those on eBay or something, John.
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Speaker 2: Those are nice.
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Speaker 3: I like that. I'm trying to pretty it up.
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Speaker 1: You did it.
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Speaker 2: John Cooper, lead singer of the band Skillet, which has
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Speaker 2: a new song, Scream. It's getting lots of attention right now.
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Speaker 2: Lots of people are enjoying it.
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Speaker 1: You also have a new EP coming up. I think
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Speaker 1: it's called After the Storm. John, it's my understanding that
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Speaker 1: the song Scream is.
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Speaker 2: Very personal to you. Give us the story behind the song.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, it is a personal one. Probably the most, what
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Speaker 3: do you want to call it, vulnerable we've been in
0:45
Speaker 3: a while. Probably just because of the season we've been through.
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Speaker 3: But the song Scream is really written about suffering. And
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Speaker 3: I think it's something that most people can relate to
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Speaker 3: on some level. Different times you go through suffering things
1:01
Speaker 3: in your life. And some people have had the blessing
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Speaker 3: maybe of not going through that dark night of the
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Speaker 3: soul yet. But we know you will. We all will.
1:10
Speaker 3: You're going to lose people. I lost my mom to
1:13
Speaker 3: cancer when I was quite young. Some people go until
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Speaker 3: they're 40, 50 years old before they ever lose somebody.
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Speaker 3: But there's death and there's sickness and there's disease. There's
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Speaker 3: all sorts of things. Having a child with cancer or something,
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Speaker 3: God forbid, you know. And so a lot of times
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Speaker 3: with this stuff, people end up suffering in all sorts
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Speaker 3: of ways. Something that Skillet has sung a lot about
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Speaker 3: over the years has been mental health, anxiety, depression, people
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Speaker 3: who suffer with addiction and all sorts of things like that.
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Speaker 3: And that depression, that anxiety, all that stuff could be
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Speaker 3: what this song is about. And so I think that
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Speaker 3: sometimes people have these literal screams of, That's the name
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Speaker 3: of the song, Scream, where they just break out and
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Speaker 3: they freak out. Most of the time, people have sort
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Speaker 3: of what you call a silent scream. You're lashing out
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Speaker 3: in some sort of a way and it ends up
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Speaker 3: hurting yourself because you don't know how to cope. Sometimes
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Speaker 3: that's going to be addiction, substance abuse, or something like that. Ultimately,
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Speaker 3: a lot of times these things come into play with
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Speaker 3: people's suicidal thoughts and things like that. People that just go,
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Speaker 3: I just don't want to live anymore. My life is
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Speaker 3: worth nothing. That's what this song is about. And so
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Speaker 3: it's very broad, but on a personal level for me,
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Speaker 3: without getting too into it, I've been through a very
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Speaker 3: dark night of the soul the last couple of years
2:39
Speaker 3: dealing with things in my life. Some real betrayal and
2:44
Speaker 3: some anger and just being personally being lied about, slandered,
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Speaker 3: really feel like the rug was pulled out from under
2:52
Speaker 3: me and my wife's lives. with the church that we
2:56
Speaker 3: were a part of and all sorts of stuff. And
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Speaker 3: all of a sudden you just, it's all pulled out
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Speaker 3: from under you. And you just wonder like, what's real
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Speaker 3: and how could people do this? And you're trying to
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Speaker 3: pick up the pieces. And so I wanted to write
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Speaker 3: this on screen. It's not actually about anger. It's about
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Speaker 3: reaching out for, it's like, I need, I need to
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Speaker 3: break through this. And there's so many people that feel
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Speaker 3: that way. I need to break through this and sort
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Speaker 3: of the, climax of the song is reaching out to
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Speaker 3: god come pull me out from under the noise and
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Speaker 3: thunder what have i become i want to i want
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Speaker 3: to be different i need to know that my life
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Speaker 3: matters i need to know that you're still listening and
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Speaker 3: i need to know that things are going to be
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Speaker 3: okay so it's kind of raw and i hope that
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Speaker 3: people hope that people relate to it you.
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Speaker 1: Know and the new ep is coming out as well
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Speaker 1: in a few months as we record this is it
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Speaker 1: are these themes found on the ep as well.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, the EP is called After the Storm. And that
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Speaker 3: really is aptly named because we're on the backside of
4:00
Speaker 3: it now. And, you know, I think the chorus line
4:03
Speaker 3: of that song, which I've not talked about yet, it's
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Speaker 3: the first interview I've ever talked about it, actually, says,
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Speaker 3: picking up the pieces after the storm, how am I
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Speaker 3: still standing? And it was a devastating couple of years,
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Speaker 3: to be honest. And you're going to see those themes
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Speaker 3: on really on the whole record of like, man, I
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Speaker 3: was not prepared for that. But that's how suffering is.
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Speaker 3: God doesn't promise us that we're not going to go
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Speaker 3: through suffering or just because you're a Christian, guess what?
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Speaker 3: Life is amazing every day and everything's hunky-dory. You are
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Speaker 3: going to suffer. I mean, it's actually a promise we
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Speaker 3: have in scripture, isn't it? You're going to share in
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Speaker 3: his sufferings. Jesus was a man of sorrows as well,
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Speaker 3: the Bible says. You are going to go through suffering.
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Speaker 3: So You are not promised not to go through it,
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Speaker 3: but we are promised that Jesus will walk through it
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Speaker 3: with us and that he knows what we're going through
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Speaker 3: because he has experienced that suffering and humanity when he
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Speaker 3: took on humanity into his nature to become the God-man
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Speaker 3: and our savior. So that brings me a lot of hope,
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Speaker 3: but that's what After the Storm is about.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, so many skillet songs are kind of like hype songs,
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Speaker 1: songs that you work out to. And this is a,
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Speaker 1: Different song thematically. I guess that's a good thing, though,
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Speaker 1: don't you think, John? People know you're a Christian and
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Speaker 1: you're showing all sides of the Christian faith that God
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Speaker 1: walks you through storms.
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Speaker 2: I don't know if you have any thoughts on that,
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Speaker 2: but that seems to.
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Speaker 1: Me a good positive aspect of what you're doing.
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Speaker 3: Well, that's interesting that you say that. That's insightful because
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Speaker 3: it is true. A lot of what people know us
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Speaker 3: for is like feel invincible, legendary. It's sort of like
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Speaker 3: Nothing can get us down. We're go to the top,
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Speaker 3: to the top. Ain't never gonna stop. That's one of
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Speaker 3: our songs, you know, legendary. And I like those songs.
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Speaker 3: We have a record called Victorious. I love the fact,
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Speaker 3: and I've written a lot of songs about the fact,
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Speaker 3: and since this is a Christian channel, I can go
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Speaker 3: into it into more depth than other times with people
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Speaker 3: that might not necessarily care. But I love singing about
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Speaker 3: the fact that Christ is victorious and And because of
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Speaker 3: his victory, we have victory. And again, that doesn't mean
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Speaker 3: you're not going to suffer. Doesn't mean everything's great, but
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Speaker 3: it's just, it's more like we have a foretaste. We
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Speaker 3: have a foretaste of that victory and a sureness of it.
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Speaker 3: We know for a fact that Christ is victorious. And
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Speaker 3: I find a lot of joy in that. So I
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Speaker 3: sing a lot about not giving up and going the distance.
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Speaker 3: And it makes you want to work out harder. And
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Speaker 3: then all of a sudden it's like, okay, This has
6:46
Speaker 3: been a different couple of years and it's put my,
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Speaker 3: I'm gonna just be dead honest, it's put my faith
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Speaker 3: to the test in huge ways because I have not,
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Speaker 3: I have not suffered like this since I was a teenager,
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Speaker 3: which is a big part of my testimony about Christ
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Speaker 3: bringing me through that darkness. And I've talked about that.
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Speaker 3: I've written about that. I just didn't expect it to
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Speaker 3: come back like this. And so I think it's like, okay,
7:13
Speaker 3: now let's talk about that other thing they're both real
7:17
Speaker 3: so i like those fight songs this is a different
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Speaker 3: kind of fight song this is a fight through his
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Speaker 3: song you know.
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Speaker 1: We need those we need that we need it we
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Speaker 1: need all those songs you know we need a song
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Speaker 1: for every aspect of the christian walk kind of changing
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Speaker 1: subjects uh i was reading a quote from you and
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Speaker 1: you were talking about i think you were probably talking about.
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Speaker 2: This album and and i should say the ep and the.
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Speaker 1: The song scream but you were saying that Today's culture
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Speaker 1: is chaotic and overwhelming at times.
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Speaker 2: And you were calling social media a cesspool. We've all
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Speaker 2: seen that.
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Speaker 1: And I was going to ask you, because I think
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Speaker 1: a lot of times in today's culture, we all want
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Speaker 1: to scream because it seems like wherever we turn, people
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Speaker 1: are just not getting along and people are screaming at
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Speaker 1: one another.
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Speaker 2: Well, I'm just curious, John, what practical advice would you
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Speaker 2: give Christians.
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Speaker 1: And others out there for living in this culture and
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Speaker 1: maybe even practically on social media?
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Speaker 3: Yeah, that is a great question. I mean, specifically, I
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Speaker 3: was thinking about social media and certain aspects of the lyrics.
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Speaker 3: I think that if I could remember my lyrics, the
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Speaker 3: song starts with the lyric that says, inside the silence
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Speaker 3: behind the screen, the light is dying while your sound
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Speaker 3: bites deafen me. And I was kind of specifically thinking
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Speaker 3: about just all the noise. I mean, it's like everybody
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Speaker 3: is telling you how to live. Even if sometimes it's
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Speaker 3: not even, in other words, some of it can just
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Speaker 3: be benign. It could just be somebody going, hey, here's
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Speaker 3: the new secret for weight loss. You've got to stop eating,
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Speaker 3: fill in the blank. You have to start doing this exercise.
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Speaker 3: For years, everybody told you this, this was going to
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Speaker 3: help you, but it doesn't. It keeps fat around your
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Speaker 3: gut and everybody's selling something. Everybody has the new secret.
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Speaker 3: And that's like the benign side of the internet. The
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Speaker 3: other side is the, I hate you because you don't
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Speaker 3: agree with me and you are ruining the world. You,
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Speaker 3: you listener, all the things you love are ruining society.
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Speaker 3: And there's so much vitriol and you don't know who
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Speaker 3: to trust. Now, let's just say that you're already living
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Speaker 3: like that. And let's just say you're in a bad
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Speaker 3: home situation. I mean, I don't know what that is,
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Speaker 3: but hypothetically, maybe you're in a broken home. Maybe you're
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Speaker 3: in a home with an abusive parent who shouts at
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Speaker 3: you or worse, or where you don't feel that you
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Speaker 3: can be yourself. Maybe you're bullied at school as well.
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Speaker 3: All of these things, man, they just beat you down.
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Speaker 3: Now you begin to suffer with depression, or now you
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Speaker 3: begin to have violent thoughts or thoughts about, some very
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Speaker 3: dangerous things. Like which voice is going to win? And
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Speaker 3: so social media, it really can be a cesspool. And
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Speaker 3: I think the internet is just like anything else. It
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Speaker 3: can be used for really good stuff. It can be
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Speaker 3: used for really bad stuff. I think it got created
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Speaker 3: so fast it just became like a beast, you know?
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Speaker 3: And now we're all trying to like tame the beast
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Speaker 3: and try to, how do I make him a good beast?
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Speaker 3: Maybe he can be a nice dragon, you know, a
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Speaker 3: nice lion that won't eat me. And it's very difficult.
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Speaker 3: So I would just, my encouragement to people is probably
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Speaker 3: multiple aspects. Number one, don't spend your whole life on
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Speaker 3: social media. Just don't do it. I mean, I hardly
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Speaker 3: ever go on. I hardly ever read. If I say
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Speaker 3: something about something I believe, I'm just not going to
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Speaker 3: read all the comments. There's no reason to because people
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Speaker 3: find a sick sort of satisfaction in being as rude
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Speaker 3: as they can. I mean, for what we believe as Christians,
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Speaker 3: you go, yeah, that's like proof of the sin nature
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Speaker 3: right there. There's like a sick, twisted thing that makes
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Speaker 3: you want to yell at somebody. Not to say that
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Speaker 3: I haven't also done these things on social media, so
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Speaker 3: it's not like I'm perfect and everybody else is messed up.
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Speaker 3: You just see it. So I would just say, limit
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Speaker 3: your time. Maybe don't do it at all. If you're
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Speaker 3: going to do it, limit that time. And before you
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Speaker 3: start judging someone else, judge yourself. Have I done this
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Speaker 3: to people? Have I yelled at people that disagree with me? Yeah,
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Speaker 3: I think I have. Let's change the way I am
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Speaker 3: and exhibit a different kind of behavior. I think that
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Speaker 3: could be a really positive thing. And then the last
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Speaker 3: thing I would say about it as just a broader conversation,
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Speaker 3: even with Scream, I just would say it would be
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Speaker 3: great for Christians if we could begin to be, and again,
11:54
Speaker 3: I'm not saying for all the people listening, this starts
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Speaker 3: with me. This is what I'm trying to do. If
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Speaker 3: I can just be loving towards people that disagree with
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Speaker 3: me and just disagree well, just say, that's not what
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Speaker 3: I believe because I'm a Christian. I believe A, B,
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Speaker 3: and C. And so then I can't support that. But
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Speaker 3: it doesn't mean that you and I can't be friends.
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Speaker 3: It doesn't mean I hate you. I'm not saying you're
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Speaker 3: ruining the world. I don't want to be that person
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Speaker 3: to you. I want to show the love of Christ
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Speaker 3: to you the best way I can. And sometimes we
12:25
Speaker 3: have to do that. We have to speak the truth.
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Speaker 3: But I know for me, there have been times I
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Speaker 3: thought I could have done that nicer. I could have
12:32
Speaker 3: done that more loving. And how can I be part
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Speaker 3: of the solution rather than be part of the problem
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Speaker 3: while still speaking what is true?
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Speaker 2: Amen to that.
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Speaker 1: Sometimes I think that the scripture says the heavens declare
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Speaker 1: the glory of God. Sometimes I think Twitter declares the
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Speaker 1: depravity of man. I think if you want to learn
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Speaker 1: the sinfulness of mankind, just go to Twitter. I think
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Speaker 1: that's probably the best place to go. Let's turn to
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Speaker 1: a few positive themes here. Monster recently surpassed 4 billion
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Speaker 1: global streams. John, I know as a songwriter, you hope
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Speaker 1: that every song that you write does that. But has
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Speaker 1: it surprised you that it's been that popular for so long?
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Speaker 1: Did you think it would be a hit when you
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Speaker 1: were writing it?
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Speaker 3: Right. I am shocked. I mean, nobody is more shocked
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Speaker 3: than me of Skillet's success. The song Monster. I mean,
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Speaker 3: so I probably would nuance it like this. I thought
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Speaker 3: that Monster was a really good song when we wrote it.
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Speaker 3: Funny thing is, is the label wouldn't let us record it.
13:46
Speaker 3: They wouldn't let us record a record. They're like, we
13:48
Speaker 3: like the song. We don't think it's like a hit.
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Speaker 3: And they made me keep writing for like another year
13:54
Speaker 3: and a half. And I don't think anybody thought it
13:58
Speaker 3: was like a hit like that. I thought it could
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Speaker 3: be a very big rock song. I did not think
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Speaker 3: it would break bigger than rock, which is what it did,
14:06
Speaker 3: which is why it's so big. We did not think
14:09
Speaker 3: the kids were going to like it. In fact, we
14:11
Speaker 3: kind of felt like Skilla's audience has always been kind
14:14
Speaker 3: of young. This is a little bit more of an
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Speaker 3: older audience. We did not think that moms would like it.
14:20
Speaker 3: But so many moms, you know, like soccer moms were like,
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Speaker 3: oh my gosh, I love your song, Monster. That's exactly
14:26
Speaker 3: how I feel. I'm so stressed out with all these
14:28
Speaker 3: kids and cooking the dinner. I'm going to work and
14:32
Speaker 3: my kids are freaking out. I never considered that like
14:35
Speaker 3: a soccer mom would hear Monster and say, yeah, I
14:37
Speaker 3: feel that way too. So it was kind of shocking
14:40
Speaker 3: to me. But I do think that there's something about
14:42
Speaker 3: the lyrics that I think everybody can relate to. It's funny.
14:46
Speaker 3: There is a segment of Christians who really had a
14:50
Speaker 3: problem with that song. And I was always a little surprised.
14:53
Speaker 3: I mean, I realized it was kind of dark. But
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Speaker 3: as you just said, Twitter displays the sin nature of
14:58
Speaker 3: man or however you just said that. I mean, that's
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Speaker 3: what the song Monster is about. And to me, I
15:05
Speaker 3: think it's a very Christian message because we are born
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Speaker 3: into sin. We are born in, I believe, into the
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Speaker 3: guilt of Adam. We're born into it. There's nothing you
15:17
Speaker 3: can do to stop sinning. There's nothing you can do
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Speaker 3: to make yourself perfect. All have sinned and fallen short
15:23
Speaker 3: of the glory of God, even after you become a Christian.
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Speaker 3: And this is why I think some Christians don't like
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Speaker 3: a Christian band singing it. Some Christians feel like after
15:32
Speaker 3: you're a Christian, you should no longer say you're a sinner.
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Speaker 3: You're a saint. And I do understand what they're saying.
15:39
Speaker 3: And I'm not saying that that's a ridiculous thought. I
15:42
Speaker 3: do understand. But as I have understood the Bible, we
15:47
Speaker 3: in Christ, we are simultaneously sinners and saints. We are
15:51
Speaker 3: saints in terms of our legal standing before God because
15:56
Speaker 3: of the work Jesus did on the cross. But I
15:58
Speaker 3: know for my life, every single day I am sinning
16:02
Speaker 3: and I need Christ every single day or I'm not
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Speaker 3: going to make it. I'm going to be rude to people.
16:08
Speaker 3: I'm going to be angry. I'm going to want to
16:10
Speaker 3: hurt people. I'm going to want to lash out to
16:13
Speaker 3: people that don't like me. I'm going to want to
16:14
Speaker 3: go to all the Twitter and yell back at somebody.
16:17
Speaker 3: I'm going to be selfish with my kids. I'm probably
16:20
Speaker 3: going to treat my wife poorly. If I don't have
16:22
Speaker 3: a daily meeting with Jesus to focus myself and say, God,
16:28
Speaker 3: I want you to be reflected in my life and
16:31
Speaker 3: I want to put myself to death today, I am
16:34
Speaker 3: not going to make it. And I think I just
16:36
Speaker 3: think that's a very biblical message. So I think that's
16:39
Speaker 3: why people can relate to the song.
16:41
Speaker 2: I agree. I agree. Completely agree. You travel. You guys
16:45
Speaker 2: have been traveling through Europe, I believe. I forget all
16:47
Speaker 2: the countries.
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Speaker 1: I was going to ask you, since America is celebrating
16:50
Speaker 1: its 250th birthday anniversary this year, does traveling throughout the
16:54
Speaker 1: world kind of change your perspective on the U.S.? And,
16:58
Speaker 1: of course, you guys have been doing this for years
17:00
Speaker 1: and years.
17:00
Speaker 2: This is not a new tour for you guys. You
17:02
Speaker 2: guys have been touring for a long time. But I'm
17:03
Speaker 2: just curious. Does it change how you view your own
17:07
Speaker 2: country when you travel the world?
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Speaker 3: It does. You know, I usually tell people, so for
17:13
Speaker 3: people that don't know who I am that are watching
17:15
Speaker 3: this right now, I'm like, we don't have time to
17:17
Speaker 3: get into this, but like, I love America. People probably
17:22
Speaker 3: that have followed me a bit probably know that. People
17:24
Speaker 3: call me a Christian nationalist. I get accused of being
17:27
Speaker 3: a Christian nationalist all the time. I'm actually not a
17:30
Speaker 3: Christian nationalist, and I've rejected Christian nationalism. A con, but
17:33
Speaker 3: I still get called that. And the reason it is,
17:36
Speaker 3: is I do think this is the greatest country in
17:38
Speaker 3: the world. I do not think that America is Israel.
17:42
Speaker 3: I do not think that God has a special covenant
17:44
Speaker 3: with America. I do not think that America is part
17:46
Speaker 3: of God's end time plan for Jesus to return. I
17:50
Speaker 3: just think this is a wonderful country. We have liberty
17:55
Speaker 3: and we are not going to be put to death
17:57
Speaker 3: or put in prison because we worship God or because
18:01
Speaker 3: we don't worship God. And I support, I just love freedom.
18:05
Speaker 3: And when you go overseas, I tell some of my
18:07
Speaker 3: friends who are Christians that are not comfortable with what
18:11
Speaker 3: I just said about America. I'm like, I'm telling you, brother,
18:16
Speaker 3: I wish you could come with me. We've toured Russia
18:19
Speaker 3: 11 times. Come with me to Russia. We haven't been
18:22
Speaker 3: in several years because of the war, but this is
18:24
Speaker 3: pre-Ukraine war. Come to Russia. Come to the Ukraine with me.
18:30
Speaker 3: Come to Eastern Europe. come to places like Poland that
18:34
Speaker 3: were so devastated by World War II that in some
18:39
Speaker 3: places it was just never rebuilt in the same way.
18:43
Speaker 3: Go to South America where there was dictators on the
18:47
Speaker 3: left and on the right. I've been to both, like
18:50
Speaker 3: the right-wing dictators, fascists, and then the left-wing communists. Go
18:55
Speaker 3: to other places in the country and I think that
18:59
Speaker 3: you'll see that America with all of its blemishes and
19:04
Speaker 3: all the history that is bad. There's tons of bad
19:07
Speaker 3: history in America. With all of the things that are bad,
19:10
Speaker 3: you're going to kiss the ground, man. You're going to
19:13
Speaker 3: come and realize how much we have. And I'll just
19:17
Speaker 3: say this. We have freedom of speech and a lot
19:19
Speaker 3: of people that haven't been overseas, even in Western civilization
19:24
Speaker 3: like Europe and places like that, they don't understand that
19:28
Speaker 3: America is like the bastion of freedom of speech now.
19:33
Speaker 3: There are things that you cannot say and cannot preach
19:38
Speaker 3: in Europe the way you can in America. And hey,
19:42
Speaker 3: I just think it's a really wonderful thing. You can
19:44
Speaker 3: preach the gospel. We are free to preach the gospel.
19:47
Speaker 3: We're free to have a say into the kinds of leaders.
19:50
Speaker 3: that we have. Oh, it is just so good. I
19:53
Speaker 3: could go on for a very long time about America,
19:55
Speaker 3: but I'm not a Christian nationalist, but I do believe
19:58
Speaker 3: our form of government, as flawed as it is, was
20:03
Speaker 3: really built upon the ideas of the reformers, which based
20:06
Speaker 3: their ideas off of Old Testament law and Old Testament
20:11
Speaker 3: civil laws. And I think it's just a beautiful thing. Yeah.
20:15
Speaker 1: During the last few weeks when we were celebrating the
20:17
Speaker 1: 250th birthday, I really started wondering.
20:19
Speaker 2: Okay, how unique is America?
20:21
Speaker 1: And we really are unique in terms of now the
20:24
Speaker 1: rest of the world does have freedom. But at that
20:26
Speaker 1: time when we were founded, nobody else was doing that.
20:30
Speaker 1: And so it's really, I think we forget that.
20:33
Speaker 2: We get used to it.
20:35
Speaker 1: We forget how unique and special this was. Final question
20:38
Speaker 1: for you. You and your wife and your kids have
20:42
Speaker 1: been in the public eye for a long time. How
20:45
Speaker 1: have you guys been able to stay strong in your
20:47
Speaker 1: faith and stay grounded while being.
20:50
Speaker 2: In the public eye and while being quote unquote famous?
20:53
Speaker 3: You know, I think there was always an agreed upon foundation.
21:01
Speaker 3: And I do realize this might sound simplistic or trite
21:04
Speaker 3: to some people, but it's true. This isn't my Christian tradition.
21:07
Speaker 3: Christian YouTube answer, this is the truth. We all had
21:10
Speaker 3: a common agreement. When I say we all, I mean
21:13
Speaker 3: me and my wife. That Christ is the cornerstone of everything.
21:18
Speaker 3: Christ is the foundation. And we are going to live
21:21
Speaker 3: our lives to the standard of the Bible. If you
21:25
Speaker 3: want to know who Jesus is, you got to read
21:27
Speaker 3: the Bible. There's a trend happening in Christianity right now
21:31
Speaker 3: that I don't think is great. I say a trend.
21:33
Speaker 3: Probably been going for a long time, but I didn't
21:35
Speaker 3: think it. I would say it's a little more popular
21:38
Speaker 3: the last 20 years, 30 years maybe, with the seeker-sensitive
21:41
Speaker 3: movement and then some more of the experiential movements of
21:44
Speaker 3: this idea that I just want to be close to Jesus.
21:47
Speaker 3: I'm not really into doctrine. It's not about studying the Bible,
21:50
Speaker 3: but I just want to be with Jesus, man. And
21:53
Speaker 3: I keep telling people like, if you want to live
21:55
Speaker 3: for Jesus, you have to study the Bible. That's how
21:58
Speaker 3: you know who he is, okay? So me and my
22:01
Speaker 3: wife had that agreement and that's how we lived and
22:04
Speaker 3: we raised our kids that way. And so I do
22:07
Speaker 3: think that that accountability was really important. We're also blessed
22:11
Speaker 3: because my band, my guitar player, Seth, my drummer, Jen,
22:15
Speaker 3: everybody has this common understanding and this common agreement. And
22:20
Speaker 3: we are not unequally yoked in that way. We are
22:23
Speaker 3: absolutely together for the gospel. And so because of that,
22:27
Speaker 3: it just creates this, not just accountability, but life, you know,
22:32
Speaker 3: exciting life that we get to live for Jesus together.
22:36
Speaker 3: And we believe, as I hope that everybody listening believes,
22:40
Speaker 3: that we are on mission for Christ. Dad's listening to this.
22:44
Speaker 3: You're on mission for Christ to raise your family and
22:47
Speaker 3: teach your kids, raise them in the fear and admonition
22:50
Speaker 3: of the Lord, the Bible says. And moms, you're on
22:52
Speaker 3: mission to raise those kids. You're on mission at your work.
22:55
Speaker 3: Young people, you're on mission at your school to live
22:58
Speaker 3: a life that reflects the love of Christ so that
23:01
Speaker 3: some may be saved. Always be ready with an answer
23:04
Speaker 3: for the hope that you have. And so that's what
23:06
Speaker 3: we've done. And I'm not saying we've done everything perfectly,
23:10
Speaker 3: but I think the thing we did well was we
23:12
Speaker 3: all had that common agreement and we said, this is
23:15
Speaker 3: what we're about. And just like America, we always said
23:22
Speaker 3: the Bible is above everything. And the reason I say
23:26
Speaker 3: just like America, I always like that about America, that
23:29
Speaker 3: the law is above the king is based on what
23:32
Speaker 3: we're saying, which is why we broke away from England.
23:35
Speaker 3: And The reason we broke away from England was because
23:38
Speaker 3: the king thought he was above the law. And the
23:41
Speaker 3: analogy I'm making is that just because I'm the owner
23:44
Speaker 3: of Skillet and I'm the front man and I'm the
23:46
Speaker 3: boss doesn't mean that I am above the Bible. I
23:49
Speaker 3: am not above the Bible. The Bible is above me.
23:52
Speaker 3: And that's how we run my household. And that's how
23:54
Speaker 3: we run the business.
23:58
Speaker 4: If you enjoyed today's interview, please make sure to subscribe
24:00
Speaker 4: and share the episode with a friend. A big thanks
24:03
Speaker 4: to the team at Life Audio for their partnership with
24:05
Speaker 4: us on the podcast. If you go to lifeaudio.com, you
24:09
Speaker 4: will find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network.
24:14
Speaker 2: See you next time.