Natalie Grant will not be quiet about something that is important to her, even if it might cost her some fans. The Christian music singer and her husband, songwriter and producer Bernie Herms, were vocal in speaking out against racism after the senseless death of George Floyd, which some of her now-former fans didn’t appreciate.
“’Love one another,'” Natalie and her husband shared in a recent Instagram Live (via Christian Post). “To love as He has loved us because that love is this: that you would lay down your life for a friend. I don’t think that only speaks to actually dying for a friend. Personally, for me, it also means laying down platform, reputation and taking a risk,” she shared.
“What’s funny is Bernie and I have actually lost several thousand followers in the last five days because we posted about this issue, which, for me, shows the very thing I’m saying — it’s a heart issue,” she added. “At the very center of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a message of reconciliation. That’s the center of the message of the Gospel.”
Natalie and Bernie both shared some of what people posted, after they denounced racism on social media, including telling them that they should “just shut up,” “just keep writing and singing your songs” and calling Natalie an “out of touch liberal celebrity creating more division.”
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Fortunately, neither Natalie nor Bernie were about to be silenced about such an important topic.
“I am not a composer, I am not a producer, I am not a musician, I am not an entrepreneur, I am not a liberal, I am not a conservative, I am not an American Christian – I am a Christian American, in that order,” the post continued. “And I’m blessed beyond belief to be a US citizen.”
Bernie’s well-articulated post, which Natalie shared in full, concluded by saying, “Cultural Christianity hijacks the gospel. Kingdom Christianity fulfills the gospel.”
Natalie also vowed to keep fighting racism in their recent Instagram Live session.
“Maybe you’re like me and you’ve said, ‘I’m not a racist.’ I mean, I’m not a racist. And if you are a white Christian in America, I’m going to guess you’ve probably actually said that,” Natalie acknowledged. “What I am learning in humility is that just because I’ve never acted, or said, or bought into a racist rhetoric, that my silence doesn’t make me not a racist, that my silence actually adds to the problem of racism.”
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Natalie just announced that she is releasing a full-length album, her first in five years, since Be One was released in 2015. The record, No Stranger, was produced by Bernie, who also wrote the orchestration for the London Symphony, which appears on the project. No Stranger will be released on August. 28.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock / Jamie Lamor Thompson