When Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan sat down with Michael Sweet, lead singer of the Christian rock band Stryper, on a recent episode of The Magnificent Others, he talked openly about his faith in Jesus and why he refuses to keep it hidden, even though he knows it could hurt his career. Rock music hasn’t always welcomed talk about God, and Corgan admitted as much. But for him, leaving his faith out of the conversation would mean giving fans only part of who he is. “If I can’t be willing to be honest with who I am,” he said, “well, what am I asking a fan to believe in?” Sweet knows that tension well. Stryper built its identity on an explicitly Christian message, and both men acknowledged the band might have enjoyed more commercial success without it. Yet Stryper’s music served a purpose beyond the charts, and now Corgan’s voice is doing the same.
Both men are learning that you don’t have to preach between songs for your life and your art to point people toward Jesus.
Corgan’s honesty is a good lesson for the church. Every Christian is called to follow Jesus in public, but some will also be called to develop a prophetic voice. That can mean speaking up against injustice, calling out bad doctrine and preaching that are contrary to the gospel, and naming unhealthy practices in our own churches. That kind of speaking rarely makes us popular. The prophets of Israel weren’t celebrated for their messages. Jeremiah was thrown into a cistern, and Amos was told to go home and stop prophesying. Jesus himself didn’t hold back when it came to criticizing the religious leaders of his day. This is not to say any of us should see oursevles as his equal, or even on par with Amos or Jeremiah. But we can’t refuse to stay silent when words are required.
If a rock star can decide that being honest about Jesus matters more than protecting his career, surely we can decide that faithfulness matters more than protecting our reputation, our position, or our comfort.
Of course, a prophetic voice isn’t the same as a harsh or loud one. Sweet shared that Stryper has moved away from pushing too hard, because pressure can drive people from faith rather than toward it. The best prophetic voices speak with both conviction and compassion. They love the church too much to stay silent, and they love people too much to be cruel. So here’s the question for us: where is God asking you to be honest, even if it costs you something? Whether it’s standing with the vulnerable, gently correcting a teaching that is distorting the gospel, or naming a practice that’s hurting people in your congregation, your voice can serve a purpose too.
