January 1, Christian Rock Star Refuses to Bow to Culture

Wyatt’s Take

• Skillet frontman John Cooper refuses to bend his faith to fit modern culture.
• The band keeps reaching massive audiences with honest songs about real life struggles.
• Cooper shows how Christians can stay true to Scripture without chasing popularity.

Skillet has been bringing hard rock to Christian and mainstream listeners for thirty years. Their song “Monster” just became the first Christian track to hit one billion streams on Spotify. Frontman John Cooper says the band writes from a raw place where faith meets real pain.

“As a Christian, I believe that music should glorify God. That to me is its eternal purpose,” Cooper said. “And so because of that, I think that I should try and be as authentic and real as I can if I want to glorify God and if I want to point people in that positive direction towards looking for God, reaching out for God, considering whether God is even real in the first place.”

While many Christian artists have followed the crowd into deconstruction, Skillet has stayed rooted in Scripture. Cooper holds to a traditional view of the Bible and refuses to shift with every new cultural fad. “I don’t feel pressured because I honestly don’t really care what people think about me. I care about what God thinks about me,” he said.

The band’s new single “Scream” is not directly about God. It is about the silent screams people carry through mental health battles, loneliness, and addiction. Cooper points out that the Psalms themselves are full of honest lament, not just happy songs. “I think honesty is a really important thing. God already knows your thoughts anyway. So, it’s okay to be real with God,” he said.

“Lift Me Up,” written with his wife Korey, speaks to the shame many men feel when they need help. Cooper says the devil wants people to stay silent and pretend they are strong enough on their own. The song has helped listeners fight depression and addiction when they finally reach out for support.

One mother told Cooper that Skillet’s music was the only thing that calmed her autistic son during violent outbursts. After two years of listening, the episodes stopped. She tearfully shared the story while her six-foot-three son hugged the singer.

The track “Grave Stomper” came from reading St. Athanasius on the Incarnation. Cooper turned the truth that Jesus defeated death and the grave into a personal battle cry against the lies and chaos that try to trap people. “Jesus has overcome the grave, and he can help me overcome this,” Cooper said.

Cooper admits he struggles with consistent prayer and faithfulness. “So I’ll just be dead honest with you: I am not a very good prayer warrior,” he said. “I do a really bad job of praying. I do a really bad job of being faithful, and I try my very best. So, anybody, if you feel like a failure, I am with you.”

Wyatt Matters

Faith that holds firm in a shifting culture gives ordinary Americans the courage to face daily battles without shame or compromise.