Stryper frontman Michael Sweet took to social media over the weekend to share the following message:

"What’s the toughest thing about being in a band that has devoted its music, it’s life to God? Being judged often unfairly. 

From the mainstream side it’s 'You’re not good enough.' From the Christian side it’s 'You’re not holy enough.' If we don’t use the word Jesus we get reprimanded by Christian fans. If we use the word Jesus we get reprimanded by mainstream fans. It’s a constant tug of war, day in and day out.

Now, has that deterred us / me? Not at all! This isn’t a 'pity me' post. It’s simply a post to share a little piece of my mind and to let you all into the world of Stryper. We live in a judgemental world, that will never change. We will continue to make a bold stance in all that we do yet at the same time we will continue to be regular folks, who have regular lives. We’ll keep making the best music possible and we’ll keep representing God the best that we can. Maybe someday those who continue to judge us will realize: 

We’re just four regular guys trying to figure it all out like the rest of the world. I’d say we’ve done fairly well so far."

Stryper frontman Michael Sweet recently spoke with Brett Christesen and Dave Rose about the bootleg industry. The full interview is available via the band's Patreon page here, a preview can be viewed below.

Adding to this, Sweet has posted the following message:

Sweet: "I’m a long time Amazon customer and an Amazon artist. We’ve always done business (and very good business, mind you) with Amazon yet they continue to let counterfeit / bootleg Stryper items sell at Amazon.com. We have a staff member who deals with this time and time again, constantly having stuff pulled only to see it pop up again on Amazon. Now apparently they question our validity?

Here are just a few illegal items that Amazon allows to be sold.

A Stryper staff member has written time and time again (it’s a daily job) yet it seems to be a game of back and forth, on and off, yes and no. Maybe a public post like this will get the job done? We certainly hope so.

Stop allowing bootleg items to be sold with our trademark, Amazon. We own it, we control it and it’s our brand and our copyright. When a legitimate Stryper employee contacts you and asks you to remove illegal / bootleg items, there should be no question on your part to remove them. Just do it. I’m sure we’re not the only ones who have experienced this and I’m certain that you don’t want to be known as a company that allows this. So, unless it’s sold by Stryper.com, Portmerch.com (our merch company) or the labels that we’re affiliated with, it’s not official Stryper merchandise!"