Sean Feucht, the Christian rocker anointed a “Holy Troller” last month by Rolling Stone magazine, says such brickbats “kind of [get] me excited” because they draw the curious to what he says is just a message of hope.
“It causes a lot of people to go, ‘OK, what is this guy really doing? Let’s go to his events. Let’s see what’s happening. Let’s look under the hood,” Mr. Feucht said in a recent interview. “We’ve had so many amazing testimonies of people who wanted to come either to persecute us or investigate us, and God touches them at our meetings.”
You might not find Mr. Feucht’s music on the Billboard charts, but four of his “Let Us Worship” albums have hit the No. 1 spot on iTunes’ Christian Worship category, with three “ranking number one over every genre in the world for multiple days in a row” on the Apple music service, according to his website.
He’s just released “Bold: Moving Forward in Faith, Not Fear,” which Salem Books picked up after HarperCollins — and another publisher Mr. Feucht did not name — rejected the title. And on Sept. 29, a documentary about his concerts held against pandemic-engendered restrictions, “Superspreader,” will be shown in select theaters across the country.
The book, he said, is designed to help Christians defend their beliefs in a world that has largely turned against things such as a strong stance on marriage and sexuality, citing the House’s passage of the Respect for Marriage Act, now pending in the Senate, as a bellwether issue. The measure would enshrine same-sex unions in federal law.
“The hot topic is gay marriage because of the vote on this bill,” Mr. Feucht said. “We went from ‘Just let us do what we want to do in the bedroom’ to ‘You have to affirm what we believe’ to ‘You have to celebrate what we believe.’”
“I just think at some point we have to raise our hand up and say this is crazy,” he said. “And not only is this crazy, [but] we are not going to comply with your demands to force us and manipulate us into agreeing and celebrating something that we don’t believe is right … They don’t want peace, they want compliance.”
Resisting such demands might exact a price from Christians, he conceded.
“if you go against their narrative, you are an enemy,” Mr. Feucht said. “It actually does take boldness and courage for people to rise up and say, ‘You know what, I’m not going to come into agreement with that. I don’t care what you call me. I don’t care how you censor me. I don’t care what pushback you come against me. I’m going to stand strong.’”
Mr. Feucht, who turns 39 on Aug. 15, lives in California with his wife Kate and their four children. He finished third in the Republican primary for California’s 3rd Congressional District seat in 2020.
He’s been linked to former President Donald Trump and criticized for holding concerts and other events in defiance of COVID-19-related bans on gatherings.
An article by Shawn Schwaller published at ANewsCafe.com accused Mr. Feucht of “grooming” believers in Generation Z “for far-right Christianity.”
In 2020, Mr. Feucht organized a rally on the National Mall that drew 40,000 participants, while “we probably had over 20,000” for a 2021 rally there. He said a second gathering is planned for October 22, and he predicted a “historic” event.
He dismisses his critics as trolls and says his YouTube channel and Facebook page contain video archives of his meetings that anyone can view for themselves.
“You could go right now in a deep dive and watch every service we’ve ever done across America,” Mr. Feucht said. “You can see for yourself; they’re not political. They’re not brainwashing. We’re literally out there in the cities worshipping God and inviting people to have hope again.”
Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the release date for the “Superspreader” documentary film and misidentified the website where the accusation of political “grooming” was published.
• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.
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