In October 2024, Iced Earth guitarist Jon Schaffer was sentenced to three years of probation and 120 hours of community service for his role in the U.S. Capitol riot. He was also ordered to pay $1,000 in restitution and a $200 fine. Schaffer was later among roughly 1,500 individuals involved in the riot who received pardons from President Donald Trump.
Originally facing six charges, including physical violence and using bear spray against law enforcement, Schaffer ultimately pleaded guilty to two: obstructing an official congressional proceeding and unlawfully entering restricted Capitol grounds while carrying a deadly or dangerous weapon. As part of his plea agreement, Schaffer agreed to cooperate with authorities and potentially testify in related cases. In exchange, the Justice Department recommended leniency during sentencing and offered to sponsor him for the witness protection program.
After being sentenced for his involvement in the Capitol riot, Schaffer opened up about his renewed faith during an interview with Riffs From The Couch. You can watch the interview down below.
When asked how his relationship with Jesus Christ helped him through the experience and how the situation affected his spiritual beliefs, Schaffer shared (as transcribed by Blabbermouth): “Well, I would say that as brutal as it’s been in the big picture, it’s been the biggest gift of my life to go through this, not only for the cause, but for the fact that it is what led me to Christ.”
“My life’s journey has been incredible — I mean, you can’t make this stuff up — and so it’s, like, it took that to break my stubborn… I was very stubborn, very, very hardheaded and very driven,” he continued. “But I realized that all the things that I’d been writing about [in my songs] and the sort of the warnings and stuff through the catalog and various projects, and that I feel like God was working through me and I didn’t even know it. And so when I was locked up in solitary, the only book that I could get was a Bible. And even that request took about three weeks to get it.”
He then went on to say: “And I started reading and… ‘Cause I was a Christian when I was a kid. Then I went to a religious school and things changed for me after that experience. And I’ll get into more of that in my testimony. But if it wasn’t for this, I am certain that I was on a path to destruction and that it took this and this time, these years of solitude, to understand and learn, and I’m still learning. I have a lot to learn. I think there’s a lot to the Bible. But I look at the Bible as a… We’re in a fallen state, and the Bible is like the operator’s manual to help you not just live, but thrive in the fallen state. And Jesus is the only way — that is absolutely clear to me now. And this has come in various steps of my…”
Schaffer then added: “I’ve always been awake to corruption and held very strong views against government corruption and what’s happening and this level, but when you start to understand it from a biblical standpoint, then it gets real and that’s when the dots start connecting. And I just feel like — without getting too deep in the weeds about everything that happened — if it wasn’t for what happened, I would not have been saved and called by Christ. And I feel like this is the beginning of a new chapter. I don’t know what that looks like, and that’s okay, ’cause he’s in the driver’s seat.”
When prompted for any final thoughts or messages for viewers of the interview, Jon concluded: “I think we’re in an unprecedented period of time for humanity, and I just strongly encourage you to look at Jesus’s teachings, what he stood for, what he died for, what he rose for, and realize that regardless of how horrible things may appear, there is a way out and it will bring you a sense of peace that you cannot possibly imagine. When you’re in a fallen state, you have no clue, but when you see that pathway and when it’s in you, it brings a level of calm and strength that it’s just hard to put into words until it happens.”
