Dec
7
The Skillet Christmas Controversy That Shouldn’t Be
“I don’t hear a ‘demonic growl.’ I hear the Lion of Judah ROARING in this song!! 🔥 Come quickly Lord!!” — fan comment on YouTube
As you may or may not be aware, the popular Christian rock band Skillet recently released a music video with their cover of the traditional Advent hymn “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”. To say that it wasn’t to the liking of a certain contingent of Christians would be an understatement. Several people even accused the song and/or the band of being “Satanic”.
What might be equally surprising to some of you is that Christian apologist/author James R. White came to the band’s defense. White is a Reformed Baptist and very conservative in many ways, so some would paint him with the “fundamentalist” stereotype. That particular stereotype rails against rock music (and many other things), so many of Skillet’s detractors may indeed fit that label. While White may rightfully be called “fundamentalist” in some sense, he does not fit the aforementioned stereotype.
White discussed the “Skillet non-controversy” on his podcast, “The Dividing Line”, not long ago, so I decided to share his comments (which I agree with). I have edited the transcript to eliminate filler and other extraneous words, sidetracks, etc., and for general clarity….
“If you’ve listened to this program for any period of time at all, you know that I am literally good friends with the band Skillet.
John [Cooper] and I talk a whole lot more than I do with anybody else [in the band]. But, when I was in Nashville just a matter of weeks ago, I drove out to John and Korey’s house. Corey cooked dinner and Seth and Jen were there, too, and we talked about church and church problems and all sorts of real life stuff like that. I’ve also spent hours in the Skillet [tour] bus at various concerts, and [John] and Korey flew out for our 40th anniversary for Alpha & Omega and surprised me.”
White mentioned how the band has had “global impact”, playing and ministering to huge crowds worldwide. He also told how he (among other people) has been campaigning for Skillet to do a full Christmas album. He explained that his usual taste in music runs more toward things like Mannheim Steamroller, John Tesh, John Denver, and big-band music from the ’30s and ’40s. But, he supports Skillet.
“I have all of Skillet’s music and there’s some beautiful ballads and stuff in there. I mean, ‘Your Light Will Terrify the Dark’ [is] just a gorgeous, gorgeous song. And on the last album they had ‘In the Valley of Death’. Wow. I mean, that is deep, deep.”
White relates his initial impressions and observations of their new music video for “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” from when John sent it to him a couple days before the official release:
“The first thing that caught me was ‘that looks like a monitor behind him and that looks like an IV bag and what’s going on here?’ And [John’s] looking at an empty hospital bed and he’s talking about ‘o come, o come Emmanuel’, free your people; it’s talking about death. This is an empty hospital bed, someone has died, and there’s sadness, and it’s longing for the eventual banishing of death. It’s based on the words and the imagery that the words evoke. I think a lot of their critics just sing these songs without ever thinking about what imagery this is supposed to evoke.
Then it switches to a church. I asked John, ‘Where’d you find the church?” He said, ‘Wasn’t a church. It was a set. It looks just like a church, but it was a set here in Nashville.’ Most of the vocals for Skillet start with John and then Jen comes in. And so I thought it was really cool. He’s starting the next verse and then she’s walking in, so that when she starts doing the sort of echo refrain vocal thing they do on a lot of their songs, she’s now sitting in one of the pews, too. But again, it’s really dark and it’s longing.
So as it develops, light starts coming in through the windows, the stained glass windows and stuff as it’s talking about the Advent and of the Messiah and the banishing of death and all the rest of this stuff. And so it’s really, really well done in following what the music’s about. Then of course they do a Skillet verse, you know, where it’s back to ‘Dominion’ and ‘White Horse’ and all the big hits they’ve had. It’s hard rock, you know….
John swings his bass around his neck… Jen’s going on the drums… And Korey’s swinging her head around [as she plays guitar along with Seth]. So anyway, they do that and then it immediately breaks into the conclusion, which is just a brief [?????] right back down to the quiet ‘O come. He is with us. He is with us.’ It’s just super well done….”
Then White brings up the online complaints and accusations made about the song from various Christians:
“[After the release,] here come the people that are still putting on the talks at churches that my parents took me to 50 years ago about how certain beats came from Africa and are demonic. And you know, there’s one guy — he’s written a self-published book on the evils of Christian rock — and he’s going at it. They start just picking the band apart….
You might say, ‘Well, I don’t like that song over there. I don’t like that.’ Okay, fine. And I’m not saying you have to love their style. I mean, they do a wide variety of stuff, let’s be honest. But, okay, you don’t like the guitars, you don’t like the driving sounds…. Fine, no problem. I’m not sitting here saying because they’re Christians, you have to like that kind of music.
But man, the stuff that I started seeing from from people that obviously had not even sat there long enough to go, ‘Wow, that’s a pretty strong message, right there.’ And ‘Boy, they really did that really well, thought through the lyrics. That really does communicate powerfully.’ [They can just] ignore the guitar riff section and Jen going crazy on the drums. Leave that aside. Watch the rest of it. Leave that out and ask, ‘Did they nail this or did they nail this?”‘ I mean, how many people sing that song [and] never even think about what it’s [saying]? It’s actually a postmillennial theme, if you listen to it carefully. Most people don’t even realize that. They put it into a different context, but if you listen to it carefully, that’s what it’s doing….
But, you know, I am Skillet’s ‘official theologian’, so I have been defending them online. Seth’s been online. John has contacted me and said, ‘Hey, thanks for having our back.’ And let me just tell you one thing, okay? I could tell you a lot of things about John and Korey and Jen and Seth that demonstrate they’re real. Okay? They’re not playing games.”
White then talks a bit about the band ministering to people from London to South America. One fan told John, “Basically it was… I had given up. I was ready to commit suicide. Your music kept me from killing myself.” As White put it,
“John Cooper has boldly proclaimed the gospel in places that most of these [critical] people not only would never go, but they would never open their mouth if they found themselves there. So there you go. Those of you who have just said, ‘Well, you know, this is not my cup of tea. I have different musical tastes.’ Fine. No one was saying anything other. But for all these [complaining] people, get a life. Please, get a life.
Go back and listen to the programs we’ve had. (We need to have John on again.) Listen to the story where he talks about one of his favorite songs that was born out of a situation with abortion and stuff like that. Don’t just judge because he’s got a big beard and tattoos or something. That’s just so surface level. Judge on the basis of content and character over time. That’s what you need to do.”
Other notable defenders of Skillet and this music video include the likes of Allie Beth Stuckey, Alisa Childers, and Owen Strachan — all rather conservative Christians. Also according to RNS, “The song has earned the No. 1 spot across several Billboard charts, including ‘Christian Digital Song Sales,’ ‘Holiday Digital Song Sales’ and ‘Rock Digital Song Sales.'”
Congratulations, Skillet! To God be the glory!
P.S. Just FYI, I’m not even a big fan of Skillet. I have listened to their first three or four albums, which were more grungey, and wasn’t impressed. But, I have yet to take the time to listen to their later material (Collide and forward) after they adopted their current, heavier style. I should do that.
