After years of freestyle living, 22-year old Canadian singer and songwriter, Justin Bieber, has finally identified himself with Christianity. Bieber boldly declared his faith through his fashion choices thanks to the creations of his “Purpose Tour” clothing designer, Jerry Lorenzo.
According to a report from WWD, Lorenzo’s clothing line,Fear Of God, combines Christian faith with grunge culture from the late ’80’s and early ’90s. The “Sorry” singer reportedly contacted Lorenzo in 2015, asking him to create 15 pieces for his Purpose Tour – including a shirt emblazoned with the phrase“Bigger Than Satan,”which he has worn on several occasions.
Recall that the Miley Cyrus look-alike singer was discovered on YouTube in 2007 by a talent manager. Bieber was signed to RBMG, where he released his debut EP, My World, in late 2009. The young dude became the first artist to have seven songs from a debut record chart on the Billboard Hot 100. Bieber released his first full-length studio album, My World 2.0, in 2010. It debuted at or near number one in several countries and was certified triple platinum in the U.S. It was closely followed by his most successful single, “Baby”.
However, the last five years of the singer’s life has been unstable as he keeps breaking the news for the wrong reasons. From egging his neighbor’s house to patronizing prostitutes and to using illegal drugs which landed him months in jail, Justin Bieber has had a rough time in his personal life which has also affected his music career. Nonetheless, Bieber has found the real purpose of his life. Although Jerry Lorenzo’s designs cost thousands of dollars, Bieber is not worried about the money he spends making these customized shirts, he simply wants to share the Gospel in a unique way.
The designer, who frequently shares quotes from pastors such as Joel Osteen on his personal Twitter page, has branded his clothing into a movement calledThe Fear generationto encourage young people to embrace the Christian faith. Lorenzo says he can’t imagine doing a clothing line without inspiring people. He does designs using subtle but deliberate words from the scriptures and shares them on various social networks especially Instagram.
Bieber’s decision to wear Christian attire is unsurprising, as he was famously baptized by Hillsong Church pastor Carl Lentz in 2014, and now frequently speaks about his faith.
“The Fear generation to me is this new generation of cool kids that believe in God and that are really the coolest kids at school or the coolest kids [period],” he said during an interview with The Mirror. “I don’t know if you did youth groups when you were a kid, but the Christian kids were always not as cool as the real cool kids at school. So now [I want to show] that, ‘we look cool and there’s some depth about us that is cooler than whatever is fleeting at this moment.
“I was rebelling against the world. I started to believe the hype and was acting a certain way. I was just being a jerk. I got so involved in ‘me me me’. You’re young, people are telling you you’re great all the time and you start believing it. It became Justin Bieber, reality star, rather than the musician…I just found myself in a place I didn’t want to be.”
In an earlier interview with GQ Magazine, Bieber credited his new found faith with saving him from being a “terrible” person. He says he feels it’s time to have a relationship with God, because he needs it. He says knowing him gives him hope, security, a feeling of being wanted, and a feeling of being desired.
Eze Afrika
