Life Focus TV Interview (Sept. 17, 2016)

In this interview, Life Focus Ministries sits down with Alice and Sheryl Cooper along with their family to discuss the value of Christian upbringing, prayer, and other relevant topics. It’s a 25+ minute interview but well worth the watch. Some of the content has been discussed in other ‘Fridays with Alice’ posts, but we will be focusing on the new topics that were covered. Again, it’s fascinating to see how committed this family is to each other and the Lord. At a pivotal moment in Alice’s life and career, Sheryl refuses to allow him to self-destruct. Ultimately, her act of love not only saves his life but permits him to once again embrace his faith and allow God to use him despite his past and reputation. Thus, creating an even stronger force and persona – one that has no shame in giving God the glory for his salvation and survival.

There are six topics to focus on in this post. In no particular order, we will discuss the Power of Prayer, Crutches, Intervention, Healing, Putting God First, and Common Denominators.

The Power of Prayer. The word pray is used 313 times in the Bible (KJV) which makes sense if you consider its meaning. The word prayer means an address (or petition) to God in word or thought (but it also means listening for Him to speak as well). Prayer is a simple yet complex topic. We could spend a series of sermons and posts addressing prayers in the Word. In the interview, Sheryl explains that she gave Alice and his addiction up to God in prayer. There are two passages that do a great job depicting the power and need for prayer. In James 5:16-18 it says, “the prayer of a righteous man (or woman) is powerful and effective…” going on to describe how when Elijah prayed for rain to cease it did and when he prayed for it to rain it did as well. While in 1 Timothy 2:1-5, Paul protests that we should pray for all people – including our government officials. It’s as if God has chosen to let us help Him change the world through our discussions and pleading with Him. But don’t stop there – take time to research and study more about the power of prayer and the prayers spoken in the Bible. Don’t be afraid to quote scripture or reuse the ones spoken in the Word. The Lord’s Prayer (spoken by Christ in Matt. 6:9-13) holds so much truth, knowledge, and wisdom own its own – it’s no wonder so many churches recite it weekly during their services.

Crutches. Alice speaks about a time when he needed to have a drink before interviews, before stressful events, honestly before just about anything. He needed that drink. He empowered alcohol, allowing it to falsely provide him with support and/or reassurance. But the Truth is, Christ placed Himself in that role. In 1 Peter 2:24 it reads, “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed.” Instead of turning to that one thing that you think is empowering you, try leaning heavily on Christ instead. Rather than turning to a substance or some other ritual, start replacing those things with prayer and scripture. Look for passages and prayers that provide you with peace and hope. Start asking for your heart, mind, and soul to move towards allowing His Spirit to become your support and reassurance. Allow Him to be what he wants to be in your life, what He chose to be for you.

Intervention. Proverbs 19:21 reads, “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” Think about this verse, really soak up that wisdom. Sheryl states that she was not going to sit idly by and watch Alice succumb to his own fate. It was through prayer and loving intervention that Alice’s life was spared by her diligence and the power of our Lord. God does not expect us to allow those we have been given relationship with to suffer. He expects us to intercede but only with Love and proper Intention. Judgment and shame are not proper tools for intervention. An open heart and mind shows us that all humanity has fallen short and require His intervention. When the Lord is leading you to intervene on someone else’s behalf be sure you can stand in Righteous Authority on His Word, but remain humbled, slow to judge, yet quick to react. Place yourself in that person’s shoes while keeping in mind those moments in life when the Lord or someone else intervened for you. If you can’t think of any, think instead of Christ on the cross – the ultimate intervention for the sake of humanity.

Healing. Much like prayer and many other topics in the Word, a whole litany of sermons, messages, and series could be written about healing. There is so much to say. However, it seems healing begins with a willing heart – the understanding that there is a greater purpose and it begins with the repentant heart. Jeremiah 3:22 and 30:17 are great depictions of what the prophet foresaw in terms of humanity being healed by its Creator. In 3:22, Jeremiah predicted a day when sin would be seen for what it is. A day when the Lord would heal those caught in their wicked ways and return them to a state of understanding and love. In 30:17, again it talks about our health being restored after one allows the Lord to cure them from the disease of sin. This isn’t to say all disease and sickness is linked to sin. But there are definite instances in which it is. In Alice’s case, his addiction to alcohol kept his heart chained to that vice instead of it being surrendered to the Lord.

Putting God First. As a sobering mind replaced his drunken one, Alice spoke of the urge to rearrange his life – knowing that his priorities were out of whack, that he had not been giving proper attention to certain things in his life. One of those things being his Faith. He had grown up in the church and knew the Truth, but it was time to securely place that as his number one concern. In John 15:5 it states, “I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” If we are the branches and Christ, through His Spirit, is the vine, our first and number one goal is to remain attached to Him. Because being cut off from the vine, any branch withers and dies. Everything else about that branch stems from the vine. By pulling nourishment from its source, it continues to grow, sprout leaves, produce fruit – all these things are evident based on its connection to the vine. When we allow God to be our top priority, we start to see other things in our lives prosper and grow as well. In fact, when our fruit starts to ripen and others begin to see our demeanor and purpose – they too may seek connection to our Lord. Alice goes on to say that, by excepting Christ, his career should by all means be over. A Christian in the world of rock and horror is quite the oxymoron. Yet instead of his faith being a hindrance to his career, it seems it is instead peaking, and he has no plans of calling it quits any time soon.

Common Denominators. We live in divisive times. However, the world has always been somewhat divided. There is really nothing new under the sun. Afterall, the second generation of man brought us Cain and Abel – the story of brother killing brother. But let us not focus on our differences but instead on our common denominators. We all need air, water, shelter, etc. – some basic laws of nature. But yet there is more. We all contain a God-shaped Hole in our hearts as well. That longing to know His Love, to know there’s more to this life. Alice points out the fact that music is also a common denominator. A universal bridge between age, race, creed, etc. Life has many other bridges that connect us. Sports, Art, Entertainment, History, the list is literally miles long when reaching for points of commonality between individuals. In Philippians 2:3 it states, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves”. This in no way implies that we must agree with or condone the actions of others. However, it would be a much better approach to find something of interest and build a relationship with others around that instead of lofting pithy comments and loathing others for their opinions and stances. Think of Christ. In almost all of his interactions, he bestowed basic human needs upon others with humility – washing feet, healing the sick, providing food, performing miracles. He was willing to connect with others based on what they, as humanity, had in common.

Concluding this week’s post, there’s a lot to chew on in this interview. I hope you not only read this post but watched the interview as well. As the “Fridays with Alice” community has grown, so have the questions we’ve received. Is Alice really a Christian? Why are his shows still bloody and gruesome? Why doesn’t he do things differently? Why is he not a Christian artist? Listen, only Alice has the answers to such questions. What can be depicted from his interviews, songs (especially since The Last Temptation), and philanthropy, is a heart and mind yearning to make this world a better place. He also claims that his survival and salvation are attributed to his accepting Christ as his savior. He lightly touches on a song in the interview entitled, “I Am Made of You”. Next week’s post will focus on that song which absolutely spells out who we are in Christ – it’s a masterpiece. Those lyrics together with the last 20 seconds in the above interview should leave no one questioning the heart of Alice Cooper. We leave you with those last few words from that interview:

“Yes, I’m a Christian. Folks ask me what does that mean? Well, it means I have a relationship with Christ now, I’m a disciple of Him. I try to live the life He wants me to live. Does that mean I can’t be a singer? No, he made me a singer. He said this is what you were made to do. Go do it!” – Alice Cooper