Korn band guitarist Brian Welch clarified his statement last year about his Christian faith, which he called as his "new addiction."
According to the Church Leaders, some people took his remark as renouncement of his faith. However, Welch posted a video on his YouTube channel to explain the issue.
"So the Christian news media and other websites and stuff there, especially the Christian side. There's been a lot stories about musicians, Christian musicians renouncing their faith. So, it's really good for clickbait. A lot of these media outlets took it and listened to it and thought that I was renouncing it. So it was definitely taken out of context," he argued.
He went on to say that he just did not know how to describe his overwhelming encounter with God and associated it with something that he was familiar with at the time - addiction.
"When I first became a Christian I was coming off of methamphetamine. First of all and I had a massively powerful encounter where God was revealing Himself to me. And so those two sides of the coin coming off of meth and a powerful encounter, it just, I didn't know how to react and I just went out and I was overzealous. I was obnoxious with my faith and it took me a while to bring it down," the musician said.
He revealed that he decided to clarify the controversy upon the advice of his manager, but he stressed that things like this does not affect him anymore.
"I have an amazing relationship with God and I know where that stands. So, I'm very confident in that. So, I don't really worry about it," the guitarist concluded.
After he became a Christian, Welch left Korn in February 2005 to focus on charity and raise his daughter, Jeanea. The announcement of his departure from the band reportedly stunned the music world. Some of his fans even thought that it was just a "practical joke."
But the following Sunday, the CBN News shared that Welch testified about his conversion before thousands of audiences in a church fellowship in California. He revealed that he came to know the Lord Jesus Christ when his friend gave him a Bible.
A week later, the musician went to Israel to get baptized in the Jordan River.
Wanting to use his musical talent to honor God, Welch released his solo album, "Save Me From Myself," in September 2008. He also formed the Christian metal band, "Love and Death." His autobiography, which was also titled like his solo album, was published by HarperCollins in July 2007.
In May 2013, he rejoined Korn but continued to practice his Christian faith. Alongside his bandmate Reginald Arvizu who also converted to Christianity, Welch was seen praying and sharing the Gospel with their fans at the band's concerts. Arvizu, however, left Korn last year to work on "getting the bad habits out of [his] system."
In addition to being a guitarist, Welch also wrote songs for the band.
