He Gets US: An introduction into discernment.

The past several months friends of mine have been talking about the multi-media campaign: He Gets US focusing on trying to make Jesus mainstream in the wake of the church losing young people to the world. I have not seen anything about this; for one, I don’t watch Television. I have an antenna in my attic in case I want to watch something special, like the Des Moines Opera during Covid-19 or an occasional football game. Secondly, nothing in mainstream media interests me; whether it’s news, sitcoms, or in between. I just don’t do it.

But last Sunday while my wife and I were at a friend’s house watching the Superbowl when a commercial from the website, He Gets US came on. After it went to the commercial our friend raved about how awesome of a ministry they were, sharing Jesus with the world. Intrigued, I went on a hunt through the website to find out more.

The Agenda Page

The next morning after devotions I went to their website to get more information. Right on the first page it read in big, bold letters: “He Gets Us has an agenda.” I thought, great — let’s cut to the chase. So I started reading. The main focus on the page was highlighted:

“Our agenda is to rediscover the love story of Jesus. Christians, non-Christians, and everybody in between. All of us.

https://hegetsus.com/en/he-gets-us-has-an-agenda

I started reading the page out loud to my wife and found myself pausing, re-reading, and saying, “Did I read that right?” Unforturnatly I did. There were several things on the page that made me pause, think, and wonder what was really going on here. I had high hopes: the website is well done, videos are eye-catching, and the whole package prompted you to share it with your lost friends and family. But I soon started to ask myself, what Jesus are they really trying to portray?

Key Words

After years of teaching and doing Precept Ministries method of Inductive Bible Study, I have gotten used to picking out key words in the Bible text to gain knowledge of what the author meant when he wrote the book I was studying. I started looking at this, and had some startling revelations. Several words were repeated multiple times:

• WE – 32 times
• JESUS – 16 times
• LOVE – 9 times
• STORY – 7 times
• OTHERS – 6 times
• CULTURE / CULTURAL – 4 times
• AGENDA – 3 times
• RELIGION – 3 times
• IDEOLOGICAL – 2 times
• UNCONDITIONAL LOVE – 2 times

Hashtags at the bottom of the page were: #AboutUs and #Love. This shouldn’t suprise us since love presented itself 9 times in the page. But let’s look at some words not present that maybe should have been:

• CHRIST
• REPENT / REPENTANCE
• SIN
• FORGIVE / FORGIVEN / FORGIVENESS

I thought it was odd that none of these words were highlighted anywhere on the AGENDA page. Words mean things; when they are highlighted, and when they are not even mentioned. If this was an Inductive Bible Study, and you pulled out all the words that were listed, what can you conclude would be the theme of the page? What would be the agenda? Maybe, ‘The story of Jesus inspires us to love one another?’

That is not a bad summation of the agenda in a nutshell. But, why the word, story? When people think of stories, they generally think of fiction, things that are not historically accurate, or maybe a bedtime story. They think of narratives, fables and folktales; ghost stories around a campfire. But hardly anything to do with history, an eye-witness account, or fact. Also, what about the word, Christ missing from the entire paragraph? Doesn’t that seem odd to you? Even when you hear unbelievers curse, they use the whole term as if they’re using his full name. But, Christ points to His divinity, His name points to His humanity. Therefore I can conclude that they are making Jesus to look like us, hence the 32 “We’s” throughout the AGENDA page and the title of the website — He Gets Us. We are the object in the sentence.

Uncomfortable Sentences

I dove even further past the terms and keywords to the sentences used, all taken from the AGENDA page. Here were a few that made me take a hard pause.

“Throughout our shared history, Jesus has represented the ultimate good that humankind is capable of aspiring to. And though some no longer believe in God, most are still compelled by the idea of a person capable of unconditional love for others despite their differences.”

https://hegetsus.com/en/he-gets-us-has-an-agenda

Two things struck me here. First, that Jesus represents the ultimate good that humankind is capable of aspiring to. Meaning Jesus was a good teacher, a leader, and even a good human example to follow. Second, that humankind, no matter what religious or non-religious background, can achieve ultimate goodness. He is not the Christ, God, or the Savior of mankind. He is depicted as a human example equal to but not limited to: Buddha, Gandhi, Mother Theresa, the Pope, Mary, Joseph Smith, or any other human in history. How is this possible? The next quote I stopped on tells you how they came to this conclusion:

“He Gets Us is a diverse group of Jesus followers with a wide variety of faith journeys and lived experiences. Our work represents the input from Christians who believe that Jesus is the son of God as well as many others who, though not Christians, share a deep admiration for the man that Jesus was, and we are deeply inspired and curious to explore his story.”

https://hegetsus.com/en/he-gets-us-has-an-agenda

This was telling of so many things. First, they equate Jesus followers not necessarily with Christians in particular. Second, they share a deep admiration for the man that Jesus was, neglecting the GOD THAT HE IS. Again, this movement elevates Jesus’ humanity over His divinity. Why? I can only imagine because it was His divinity that caused the Judaizers to crucify Him to in the first place. His divinity is what causes tension among those who believe the Bible to be the inspired Word of God and those that don’t. It’s the most divisive thing between Christianity and cults like Mormons and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who believe that Jesus was the brother of Satan; Jehovah’s Witnesses, who believe Jesus was Michael the Archangel; Islam that believes that Jesus was just a man and prophet; or Roman Catholicism that believes Jesus was ‘one of several ways’ to get to heaven. With all of the world’s religions pooling to add their take of who Jesus was, I can only imagine that when it comes to churches and places of worship to send people if they have questions is just as wide. Therefore, as far as I can tell, there is no vetting process to accept people and share Jesus with those who are searching.

Who’s Paying For This, page?

Which brings me to my next thought, “Who’s paying for the website, all the marketing campaigns and running this organization?” That’s a great question, because the website doesn’t make it clear.

In the, “Who’s Paying For All of This?” page, it doesn’t give a clear explanation or answer to the pages’ question. This raises concerns for me in a big way. Throughout this page they say things like, “This is a unique effort,” and “Funding comes from a diverse group of individuals and entities with a common goal of sharing Jesus’ story authentically.”

Being a 501c3, their 990 tax forms are a matter of public record under the name: Servant Foundation, doing business as The Signatry: A Global Christian Foundation. Their 501c3 Tax Exempt status can be found here, along with the foundations employees and key officers. Total revenue for the past tax filings can be seen here as well. In 2020 they have revenue of almost $1 Billion.

Within the Form 990 filed by The Signatry, the organizations mission or most significant activities is listed only as one item:

The Signatry exists to inspire and facilitate revolutionary, biblical generosity.

https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/431890105/download990pdf_03_2022_prefixes_43-47%2F431890105_202103_990_2022030219676874

Generosity? Not biblical truth. With that much money involved, and input of many different religions, denominations, and beliefs, I cannot imagine the confusion that will ensue when people start calling or writing to He Gets Us wanting to connect to a local church to learn more. It’s terrifying to imagine what they will get in return: Mormonism? Roman Catholicism? Jehovah’s Witnesses? Scientology? As far as I can see, there is no vetting process regarding churches or denominations to consider them doctrinally solid.

About Us Page

The About Us page of He Gets Us, tells somewhat the same information that is in the Agenda Page, it shows more about His divinity than anywhere else in the website (excluding the word: Christ), then mixing it in with what everyone else believes He could be. In one paragraph it is a mishmash of word vomit that doesn’t make sense.

It wouldn’t be hard to guess that we’re led by Jesus fans and followers. People who believe he was much more than just a good guy and a profound teacher. And that Jesus is the son of God, who came to Earth, died, and was resurrected, then returned to heaven and is alive today. We also have included many voices in our work here — welcoming diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences to help us address the many concerns and issues we all face.

https://hegetsus.com/en/about-us

The Focus is US

Elevating His humanity at the expense of His divinity, relegating He teachings to mere experiences, and dismissing the fact that Jesus CHRIST is the only way to heaven (John 14:6) is a very wide road they are traveling on, indeed (Matthew 7:13-14). The glorious gospel is that because of our sinful nature, we were by default destined for hell. Christ, God incarnate, died as the spotless Lamb of God to save sinners as the only sacrifice accepted by the Father to restore us back to Him. That if a person puts their trust and faith in Jesus Christ as that sacrifice, by faith, that person receives His righteousness freely offered as a gift. Then, by faith, we are grafted into the vine of Christ and live for Him to bear good fruit (John 15).

Not only does it share an incomplete humanistic Jesus, skews the gospel, it puts the focus on us human beings instead of Christ. Some of the hashtags found throughout the website were: #love, #hope, #forgiveness; but also #justice, #Activist, #outrage, #inclusive, #struggle, #refugee, and #judgment. Maybe that is why “Us” is highlighted in the title, because from what I looked at so far, the focus is US.

I emailed He Gets Us to ask them for a list of churches or places of worship in my local area that I can learn about Jesus. I am anxiously awaiting their response.

Next, I will look at what Jesus’ purpose on earth, and if that purpose is reflected in the videos of He Gets Us.

Because frankly, so far — I don’t get it.