STRYPER's MICHAEL SWEET: 'Tossing Out Bibles' During Concerts Is 'One Of The Most Important And Integral Parts Of What We Do'

In a new interview with Spain's Stairway To Rock, Michael Sweet of Christian rockers STRYPER was asked about the band's long-running practice of throwing Bibles into the audience during STRYPER live shows. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yeah, we've been doing that from the very beginning. And that is really one of the most important and integral parts of what we do, tossing out Bibles. And the reason being is because everything we sing about is in the Bible. The message we portray, the message we write and sing about, it's all in there. And that's our foundation. So we want other people to know about that. So when we toss out Bibles, our hopes are that they'll take them home and read them. And a lot of people do; some people don't. I don't even know how many we've tossed out over the years, but you're talking about almost 42 years of doing that. So it's a long time."

Asked why there aren't so many other Christian hard rock and heavy metal bands out there, Sweet said: "Well, there are. I think if you really dive into that and research, there are — there's a lot of Christian bands, and maybe not as many popular Christian bands, bands that have crossed over and broke out and made a lot of buzz and noise in the music world. But there's still — there's a lot of bands, definitely. And a few that come to mind, bands that I'm talking about that have made a lot of noise, like P.O.D. You, of course, remember P.O.D. Obviously bands like SKILLET. I don't know if you're familiar with SKILLET, but they're very popular — very popular. But, yeah, STRYPER's one of those bands, we're definitely a rarity in the sense that we crossed over and we were able to sing about Jesus but to a mainstream world and get airplay on MTV and on secular radio stations and whatnot. So that's really cool and kind of a unique, one-of-a-kind situation, to be honest."

The STRYPER Bibles, which are emblazoned with the band's logo, are not for sale. "They're free," Sweet said a few years ago. "People have asked if they could buy our Bibles but no, they're not for sale."

Back in 2012, Sweet told the Dallas Observer that STRYPER has "always thrown Bibles and we always will. We consider that to be a very important part of what we do," he said.

Asked if he has ever nailed anyone in the head with a Bible, Michael responded: "We have. We have to be real careful. Back in the day, we used to take them up so that they would fly further. We hurt a few people. I know recently we were doing a gig in Massachusetts and there was a guy who was carrying four beers. We threw a Bible and knocked all of the beers out of his hand. I thought that was pretty funny."

Four and a half years ago, Sweet told Brazil's Rock Mania that God is "everything" to him. He added: "I'm not one of those guys that reads my Bible every day, is quoting scriptures every hour or going to church four times a week. That's not what God is about to me. But yet at the same time, God is everything to me, because I feel that I owe everything to God. I feel that he's given me my life, I feel that he's given me my talent and my abilities, and I wanna give back to him because of that."

Sweet recently revealed that he has been diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer, the most common type of thyroid cancer. The diagnosis came less than a month after he underwent a biopsy of a nodule in the right lobe of his thyroid.

STRYPER released its long-awaited Christmas album, "The Greatest Gift Of All", on November 21 via Frontiers Music Srl. The 10-song effort includes five original Christmas tracks and five traditional Christmas cuts, including remakes of "Reason For The Season" and "Winter Wonderland", both of which originally appeared on a 1985 single and were also made available on the 1986 re-release of STRYPER's debut EP, "The Yellow And Black Attack".

STRYPER's latest all-original studio album, "When We Were Kings", came out in September 2024.