In a recent episode of the Stand Up Dude podcast, host Tim Bisagno engaged in a heartfelt conversation with KORN guitarist Brian “Head” Welch, a former drug addict and reformed Christian. They delved into Brian‘s transformative journey from fame and addiction to faith and purpose. Brian shared his struggles with addiction, his relationship with his daughter and his profound encounter with Jesus. You can now watch the chat below.
Asked to name one reminder that he would give men, especially young men, out there that would enable them to be the men that they’re created to be, Welch said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I think just developing and actually spending time to develop a relationship with Christ one on one. That has been the pivotal piece of my journey. Going to church and praying before you go to bed during the week, going to church on Sunday, it’s not enough, in my opinion, for what Jesus died for. He wants to lead and guide you, and he wants you to talk to him. It is a mystery, and we’re getting guided, but we sometimes miss it. And that chasing and that trying to hear his voice or his messages, his signs, trying to see his signs and wonders of what we’re supposed to do, where we’re supposed to go, is the most important thing.”
He added: “Church is supposed to be the gas station to fill us up for the rest of the week. We’re supposed to read books, listen to books, listen to messages, podcasts. There’s so much information out there to help you grow. And so develop that personal daily walk with Christ.”
Welch went on to say that opening one’s heart to receive God’s love is a transformative experience.
“What’s God’s message in the Bible? It’s love. Love. Over and over — love, love, love,” he said. “And as guys, it’s hard for us, ’cause we think, when we find a woman, we love them, we date them, we hopefully marry them and we open our heart to ’em. It’s harder for sometimes guys, for the concept to open our heart to God. But we’ve gotta remember, Jesus, he walked the earth as a man, but he’s more than that. He’s the son of God where male and female came from God. He’s other than. So we just need to open our heart to learn how to receive his love as a God and give that love back to him.
“When I came to the place where I was ready to open up my heart to God, I didn’t necessarily know as opening my heart, but I was begging for help because I was in such a dark place where I wanted my life to be over,” he continued. “I wanted to sleep and never wake up. And so I got to that place where I was, like, ‘Please, help me.’ And that opened my heart a little bit. And then once I started going to church, learning what the Bible was saying, that’s when I found out that God is love. It says God actually is love. Not that just God loves us, that he is love. So his very nature is love. And so being a tough guy or trying to portray a tough guy all the time with the heavy metal music and all that, I slowly, by the Holy Spirit’s help, started to learn to be able to open my heart. And then I wanted this love, because I did so many drugs and drank so much alcohol over the years that it was like I wanted to escape. And meeting God and learning that God is love, it started to fill that place, the empty place in me that the drugs and the alcohol were trying to fill. And so it was like — sometimes I describe it as the best high I ever felt. It was God’s love entering, when I opened my heart. And so it’s done spiritually.”
Welch left KORN in early 2005, at the same time announcing that he kicked his addictions to drugs and alcohol by becoming a born-again Christian.
Less than a month after leaving KORN, Welch — wearing a white robe and sporting a long beard — was baptized in Israel’s Jordan River, along with about 20 other members of the Valley Bible Fellowship, the Bakersfield, California, church in which he spoke two weekends earlier. At the time, Brian told MTV News that he decided to be baptized in the Jordan after receiving a divine message.
Welch officially returned to KORN in 2013, one year after joining the band onstage at the Carolina Rebellion festival in Rockingham, North Carolina to perform “Blind”.
Since his conversion to Christ 20 years ago, Welch has been very open about how God changed his lifestyle and restored his relationship with his daughter.
In recent years, Brian has been preaching that people don’t have to wait until they die to see if having an encounter with the presence of God is real.
Both Welch and KORN bassist Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu have had highly public, though separate, conversion experiences, ones that have been greeted with a certain amount of skepticism.
Source: blabbermouth.net
