Jesus Included Everyone? “He Gets Us” Posts False Gospel at Angels Game (Universalism)

Hello and thank you for listening to the Testing the Spirits podcast. Today we're going to be talking about the He Gets Us campaign. They're pretty well known at this point, very well funded. They got a lot of attention for their Super Bowl ad this past year and now they're at it again.

They put up an ad at a major league baseball game and they basically are preaching a universalist version of Jesus. So, this is from The Dissenter, their article, the headline says, He Gets Us Posts False Gospel at Angels Game Claiming that Jesus Included Everyone.

Okay, so I bet you thought that you actually had to believe in order to be saved or that you had to. And I can just already hear people trying to defend this. The Bible says Jesus, you know, God so loved the world.

Well, if they actually posted a Bible verse, God so loved the world that he gave it, then we wouldn't be saying anything about it. But they didn't do that. They said Jesus included everyone. We know what they're trying to do.

Okay, so I, I can, like I said, just hear the people already trying to make excuses, but I'm going to explain the problem. Okay, let's just read the article. Last night, the He Gets Us campaign, a marketing ploy headed up by Ed Stetzer that rebrands Jesus.

They displayed a sign at the Angels Game proclaiming that, quote unquote, Jesus included everyone. This silly slogan, which is designed to subtly or not so subtly implant the idea that Jesus was tolerant of sin and didn't require repentance in order to fellowship with him, reeks of the heresy of universalism.

And right, someone's going to say, yeah, but Jesus included everyone. He, he ate with tax collectors and sinners. He was a friend of sinners. He, he welcomed them all at his table.

Yeah.

And read the story. He called them to repentance. Okay, which this is the word that always gets left out. Repentance. The article continues this entire campaign, which the dissenter has written about multiple times while claiming to make Jesus more relatable is really a perversion of the gospel of grace.

By promoting a palatable version of Jesus, they reduce him to a mere inclusive figure rather than the sovereign savior who calls for repentance and faith. And that's true. This is, this is the ploy, right?

To preach an inclusive Jesus who is okay. You know, and it leads to many paths to God because Jesus wouldn't turn anyone away. So certainly if you can convince someone that Jesus would never turn someone away, then God would never turn them away.

He's going to welcome everyone into heaven. Now, will Jesus turn people away if they turn to him in repentance and faith? No, he won't turn them away. But again, repentance always gets left out. So the article says the slogan, Jesus included everyone is a gross misrepresentation of the biblical Jesus.

These scriptures are clear that while Jesus calls all to come to him in repentance and faith, salvation is exclusive. It's not inclusive. It's exclusive to only those who do those who believe in him and demonstrate repentance and faith.

And they quote John 14, verse six, Acts chapter four, verse 12. And I preached about this, this same subject, uh, this past Sunday. Now, again, people will say, yeah, but God so loved the world, you know, he's the savior of all men.

And they point to those verses that sound very, you know, they're the universalists favorite verses. I mean, John three 16, maybe your favorite verse, and it's a good verse, but people often misunderstand the term world world cannot possibly mean every human being who has ever.

Lived.

And even if God so loved the world, that doesn't mean that everyone is saved or that everyone is included in the kingdom of God. So I would say that this ad by saying Jesus included everyone, they sort of leave room for maybe plausible deniability, but we, we know the message we've, we've seen this before.

If you saw their Superbowl ad and the images that were shown, I mean, this is a clear kind of left wing universalist, progressive affirming of LGBT, all that stuff wrapped in, you know, it's like the local universalist church.

They have a black life in my town or next door, you know, the town over, they have a.

Unit.

They have a universalist church with a rainbow flag, black lives matter flag. It's progressive. Everyone goes to heaven. I don't even think they really believe that heaven is a real place, but yeah, it's inclusive and all faiths are welcome.

And they would say that, you know, Islam and Buddhism and it's all equal, equally valid. And I'm not so sure that everyone who supports, um, he gets us would go that far. I mean, there's different people at different steps along the way of their universalism, but it's, it's clear they are looking to make Jesus inclusive and we know where that road.

Leads.

But if, again, if you leave out repentance and you leave out the exclusive nature of the gospel, that only those who repent and believe are saved, then it is a false gospel. So there's many statements by Jesus that exclude unbelievers, especially the religious leaders of Israel who are hostile to the faith.

Just read the new Testament. Anyone who's ever read the gospels, they know how Jesus treated the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the, the religious leaders of Israel.

They were out.

Now, would Jesus have accepted them if they repented?

Yes.

But that, again, that's, that's the key. And I would say this, just as many of the religious leaders of Israel were hostile to the faith, you know, in Bible times, many, in fact, most American religious leaders, they're still hostile or antagonistic towards the true faith, towards biblical Christianity, but they are in favor of churches that are more universal, right?

So what they're doing is they're trying to set forth their seeker sensitive version of Jesus that they tell people about in their universalist churches or in some of the evangelical churches that are going in this direction.

It's typically the, the rock and roll mega churches that, you know, put this forth like Max Lucado, Joel Osteen, those like, haven't we seen this? Like Max Lucado, remember he preached at the Universalist National Cathedral and he said, LGBT people are beloved children of God.

And that phrase, child of God in the New Testament refers to someone who's saved. And this is just the mainstream evangelicalism. Many of these people are universalist. They, they might not tell it or say that to their congregation because they know that could get them in hot water.

Remember Joel Osteen seemingly denied the gospel on Larry King and he got all sorts of blowback and then he sort of walked back his statements. But I think this is what these people really believe. And certainly the more progressive you are, the more open you are about your universalism.

But again, Jesus, the New Testament, the Bible in general, I mean, it's, it's exclusive. The prophet Elijah was very exclusive, right? The prophets of Baal were not, no, we're not including them. Matter of fact, he got rid of them, right?

It's not a very inclusive message, Elijah, you know, but you know, read the Bible. He gets us ad campaign in the Bible. They just don't fit. Uh, for, here's an example in the New Testament, Jesus in Matthew 22, the parable of the wedding feast, Jesus talked about people who are going to be cast out where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The apostle Paul in first Corinthian six talked about how unrepentant sinners shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Hey, not very inclusive guys, you know, didn't you get the memo? Apparently he gets us the people funding this and running this ad campaign.

They know better than the apostle Paul. So the New Testament teaches, um, you're very clear the exclusivity of Christ. If you didn't see my sermon, it was posted a few days. Let's see what, what day is it?

The June 18th, um, it was posted a few days ago. Go check that out. But whether it's communion, right? First Corinthians 11, the apostle Paul makes it very clear. Um, we are to examine ourselves because this is a big thing with churches in my area.

They're saying every, this is the new push. Everybody is welcome. Jesus would never turn any, everyone's welcome at the Lord's table. No, only Christians are allowed at the Lord's table. Only Christians are allowed to take communion and even true Christians can't take it if they're out of fellowship.

So again, very exclusive. So the article continues with a few more examples. They say, Jesus himself said, and I quote, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, we'll enter the kingdom of heaven, Matthew seven 21.

They write this campaigns, broad stroke inclusivity undermines the very essence of the gospel, which is again, repentance, faith, and obedience to Christ. A lot of churches not preaching obedience because churches and pastors who preach obedience, they get slapped with that label of legalist or Pharisee or something as if the Pharisees were really interested in obeying God's commandments.

They were interested in obeying their traditions, but not so much the commandments. They found ways to get around the commandments, just like the, he gets us at is trying to find ways to get around certain things that Jesus and the apostles taught again, repentance being the main thing.

So ultimately they say that he gets us campaign aims to rebrand Jesus into a sanitized, non offensive religious hero that even pagans can accept. This is not the Jesus of the Bible who boldly proclaim that I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the father except through me. John 14, verse six, by stripping away the call to repentance and the exclusivity of Christ in salvation, they offer a diluted gospel that lacks the power to save.

This is not the power of the cross, but a feeble attempt to make Jesus more marketable and less confrontational. You see, this is the Jesus that people want. Even this type of evangelism these days where people say, you know, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life and you know, God's love is unconditional.

And what people hear when you say that they hear, well, if that's true, I'm, I'm all set. Of course, God will accept me. Or if people hear Jesus includes everyone, well, then he'll include me.

I'm all set.

That's what people hear. So no repentance. They want a version of Jesus that is non-threatening, a Jesus that doesn't care about what you do, doesn't care about how you live. I talked about this recently in my video on the chosen, my most recent video, and it's pretty similar.

But if you look at the Bible, the sermons in the Bible, the evangelism in the Bible, because what is this? He gets us is supposed to be an evangelistic campaign. But if you look at the evangelism or the, the sermons calling people to do something in the, in the Bible, new Testament, what Peter on the day of Pentecost, repent, Stephen, repent, uh, Jesus and the sermon on the Mount.

He warned people about the judgment to come, but you don't get that from. He gets us and you don't even get it from most pulpits these days.

Why?

Because most people in this age that we're living in this generation, in their heart of hearts, they're either universalists or their closet universalists. So I don't think they think there is a judgment.

So there's no need to repent because in the end, God is so loving. He's just going to accept everybody anyway. So in conclusion, just pay attention. Pay attention to what people say and what they don't say.

And if somebody is preaching a, a gospel that's a devoid of repentance, it's not the true gospel. Thanks for listening. And until next time, may the Lord be with you and have a great day.