By Eric Stogner (March 2024)
OK this is my second essay inspired by that ridiculous ad with the tag line “He Gets Us” that ran during the Superbowl. I could end up writing a third and a fourth article because there are so many angles worth exploring to provide more understanding about the ways that ad and the spirit behind it is a completely unbiblical and anti-Christian. You may wonder if that ad is worth this much energy and attention. Clearly, yes. Why? Because these misrepresentations of the Lord embody the core issues of our day that are causing deception among the masses, and even among weak believers who may be taken in by lies and deceptions. I also have a few articles that will come out soon with the goal of teaching us about ‘how to tell a really good lie’. That’s right – I think it would do us all a lot of good to really understand the ingredients that make for a really good lie and the techniques that are most common and effective at telling good lies. Is the goal to encourage readers to lie? Of course not, but it helps to understand your enemy, and how he lies, so that you might avoid getting caught up in his lies.
There is an old saying that isn’t biblical but has some truth to it. ‘Fool me once – shame on you, fool me twice – shame on me’. The implication being that the liar is doing evil right off the bat when he lies. But it is natural for the target of the deception to fall for the lie – especially the first time the liar fools them. But the point is that even the innocent or naive victim of the first lie should learn from that experience. We all need to be quick to learn from our mistakes. It is a shame, because getting wise to liars does make one more cynical and it destroys the innocence in people, making them less trusting, but at least they may be less gullible. I hate this reality, but until we are residents of heaven where all evil will be done away with, we must not forever fall for the lies and tricks of our enemies. Scripture may implore us to turn the other cheek whenever possible, but it doesn’t advocate that we should be idiots or doormats. Scripture does say in Matthew 10:16 that we have been sent fourth as sheep among wolves and therefore we are to be ‘as wise as serpents and harmless as doves’. That sounds like a contradiction or a paradox – how can one be both? And yet, that is exactly how Jesus operated during his earthly life and what we are called to live out as well in our lives.
You have to admit, this ability to embody both wisdom and gentleness was one of Jesus’s most powerful traits, allowing him the ability to spot lies and respond boldly and in meekness. He did have an obvious advantage that we don’t always have – Jesus always knew the thoughts, attitudes, and motives of everyone around Him. He was never caught off guard by anyone and He was aware of every threat and plot against Him. Many times, He choose to either evade His enemies or walk straight through a crowd to avoid the attacks of his detractors until his appointed time. But at other times, He chose to move directly against them with their false agendas and evil intentions. He demonstrated the utmost in humility and restraint by not annihilating them on the spot (at one point reminding his own disciples that he didn’t need their weapons because he could call down legions of angels if he needed any additional force). But Jesus never lost an argument. No one could confuse or confound Him, and He verbally obliterated every verbal trick and test He faced – whether by the skeptical Pharisees or by the temptations of Satan himself. His answers always were so brilliant and indisputable, that it left his critics speechless – literally. They had no reply or retort because they were dueling with the most brilliant mind in the universe. They had no idea who they were messing with, and they had grave misunderstandings of the scriptures and of the faith that they claimed to represent.
It’s no different today, except that we are the sheep sent out among the wolves, and there are people claiming to represent the faith that are badly in error. Just as Jesus faced as he walked among the ravaging wolves, the worst wolves both today and biblical times are often from among your own people, as opposed to the non-believing gentiles. This ad campaign is more dangerous to Christianity than most anything that the rest of the non-believing world might try to foist on the world precisely because it claims to come from Christians. So, let’s get into this again from another angle.
Remember first that people claiming to be Christians but who compromise their walk and start to spread falsehoods should not be a surprise because, the Bible indicates that there will be a great apostasy during the end times.
The “great apostasy” is mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 2:3. The KJV calls it the “falling away,” while the NIV and ESV call it “the rebellion.” And that’s what an apostasy is: a rebellion, an abandonment of the truth. The end times will include a wholesale rejection of God’s revelation, a further “falling away” of an already fallen world.
The ‘He Gets Us’ campaign is simply that – another example of apostasy from people claiming to be Christians – and this is why it is dangerous. Weak minded, unwise or un-discipled Christians are apt to be carried away by such false beliefs being spread by those who claim to know and represent the truth but are actually following a man made, fleshly, worldly agenda. Jesus felt the same way about the Pharisees of his day. The human condition hasn’t changed, in spite of all the worldly enlightenment that we think we have progressed along since biblical times. People are just as prone to sin, just as much in need of a savior, and Satan and his minions continue to use the same tactics to seek whom they can devour.
In case you haven’t noticed from previous articles, I like to name-drop. Not to show off all the A-list people I know and not to boast about how well read I am. I drop names simply to point you to others who are speaking what seems to be genuine biblical truth. I don’t want you to simply rely upon or believe me. I want you to check things out for yourself, and check my work, and most importantly check what I may say against scripture and pray about what you read. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand the truth. The others I point toward are people who I believe are guided by the Holy Spirit and are doing great work exposing lies and helping us to see our reality in the same light as God sees it. That is what we need – we need to have God’s eyes and adopt our view to his way of seeing things. We need to try to ‘get Him’ not the other way around. God already understands our state and he doesn’t need to come around and adapt our point of view or ‘get us’.
In my part 1, article, I dropped the name Jamie Bambrick, the pastor from Ireland who within a day or two of the Superbowl recorded a fantastic video in response to the ‘He Gets Us’ ad. You really need to view it and forward it around to others. It is brilliant and does a great job speaking the truth in Love. The opposition always bangs on and on about their self-made interpretation of love – ‘love wins’, blah blah. They really should be saying that their view of love means ‘love sins, not love wins’. Because so often that is what their definition of love really amounts to They want to bludgeon everyone else into silence or acceptance by spouting incoherent statements like ‘love wins’ in a context that is anti-biblical or anti-Christ. God’s love does win, but what they have twisted it to mean, doesn’t win. What Jamie does in his video is untwist the words ‘He Gets Us’, to instead be ‘He Changes Us’ and this better view shows examples of sinners who were repented and were changed by God’s grace. And that change came about by the acceptance of Jesus and the repentance of sin. We must Trust and Obey, there is no other way.
If it seems like I am being a bit harsh toward one particular group in this article – the LQBTQ+ LMNOP “community”, I can understand that. I have grown so war weary of dealing with their never-ending assault on true Christianity that it strains my ability to speak the truth in love. Their tactics seem deliberately triggering and I find myself often needing to take deep breaths and strive to remain calm, and even to repent of knee-jerk reactions I sometimes have to the various provocations. I just pains me to think of all the people being wounded by their twisted ideology some in know personally and care deeply about. I need to remember that we must still be harmless as doves while also being wise as serpents. We must demonstrate a true heart of love toward all the people that are caught up in these sins and any sort of sin. It is another crime that these LGBT sins seem to get a disproportionate amount of focus when there are other sins that also need to be turned away from. And truly, in my heart, I do love all people and long for them to find their peace and identity in Christ as opposed to being victimized by the evil in this world. And especially if that evil is coming through a channel or voice that claims to be the Christian. Even when people bring their pain on themselves, I still wish them well and wish them a repentant and recovered life.
So, why am I focusing on this aspect of the “He Gets Us” ads, because it is the LGBT lifestyles that the video and the website are clearly affirm. And even though there are other woke ideologies and Social Justice Warrior themes that should be debunked, the LGBT lifestyles are the only lifestyles where there is a false pride associated in it. The other lifestyles shown in the video – drug addicts, abortion seekers, don’t have a whole lifestyle marketing movement gehind them to affirm it, take pride in it, prevent those who suffer from it from getting restorative therapy to ever have a good chance of being rescued out of it. The LGBT movement is somewhat unique in that it is the one that assaults a person in their very identity, and as such needs the closest scrutiny. Today, they create a cult-like system of thought-control making it all the more difficult for someone to break free from it. They offer many ways into the LGBT community but few ways out of it. (Side bar: It reminds me of the haunting lyrics of that classic rock song released in 1976 called “Hotel California” by the American band “The Eagles” – there is a line that says: “Welcome to Hotel California … you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.”).
There is a clear message when you follow the prompting of the ad and check out the website. It is obvious who they are against and why. The site characterizes true believers as the haters who had twisted Jesus’s story, and the more woke and affirming ‘believers’ as the ones who hadn’t twisted the stories of Jesus. That needs to be redressed. So, I am going to name-drop some more, and recommend you hear truth on this topic from a very wise person who is the most gentle truth teller I have ever stumbled upon in my YouTube feed. And the biblical truth she shares reverses the inverted ideology that this ad campaign seeks to profess. She points out that is is not loving to leave people in their sin, and in fact is hateful to do so.
Her name is Rosaria Butterfield. Look her up, read her books, or at least listen to the various interviews that are on YouTube where she describes the content and the scriptural foundations that undergirds her books. Unlike some interviews where the author holds back content so as to not spoil the book, or hurt book sales by sharing too much, Rosaria holds nothing back. Clearly, she is not interested in her own fame and fortune and is not overly concerned about book sales, but rather she is about getting important truths out in the public square to help people understand biblical truth that hopefully leads them to repentance. We all have things we must repent about. It’s just that most of us don’t wrap our identities around sins that have global ad campaigns affirming us in them. Most of our sins are things we are ashamed of and want to stop doing and break completely free from with the Lord’s help. That is what the real Jesus offers, but we must accept that offer and not pretend to make Jesus into someone he is not.
What makes Rosaria a powerful voice is that she is an unabashed but repentant lesbian. And not merely a former lesbian of some 20 years in the lifestyle, but she also was a former college professor, woke advocate, and leading voice that had once helped to promote and shape legal policy for the LGBT agenda for many years. The story of how she came to actual faith in Jesus is a wonderful one that she shares freely during her interviews. And the person she is today is now a very mild form of the Apostle Paul she speaks with that much clarity and truth. Isn’t it always the case that a repentant sinner make a very powerful witness! She also has some other unique attributes that really make her a force to be reckoned with – for God and for good. She is a college writing and language professor and a true linguist. She has a love of language and has great skill in both using it, and in deciphering when it is being misused. In other words, she is extremely articulate and highly skilled at spotting lies in written or verbal communication.
This is a powerful set of skills and lived life experience! And this ability to spot a lie and pick up on the deliberate misuse of words is so important for all of us. It is why I also intend to write articles trying to teach us all about the tricks and techniques of effective liars. Because Christians need to wake up, stop being a chump, and learn how to decode the lies of the enemy. Once you understand Satan’s basic approaches, it becomes much easier to spot them and shut them down. Rosaria is a master at this. And if anyone can listen to her gentle approach and NOT hear that she indeed is speaking truth in love, well, that person is tone-deaf to what real love and kindness sounds like and they are not really giving her a fair hearing because they don’t like the content she shares.
Apparently, Rosaria has written a few excellent books, but the most recent titled “Five Lies of our Anti-Christian Age” is so relevant to our day and the issues that the “He Gets Us” ad presents. The title already speaks volumes. In a previous book, she described that era as a post-Christian age, but she has changed her assessment of the present day by calling this an ‘anti-Christian age’. This already agrees with scripture and reaffirms the times we are in. The world has turned darker and is no longer hospitable or even neutral to Christianity, it is hostile and at war with it. In a sense, there has always been a war against the ways of Christ, but in these end days, it is stepping up into the realm of persecution, something rarely experienced in Western democracies. This apostasy and persecution should be no surprise if we have studied the bible. Often it describes that we will face persecution, that our brothers and sisters around the world are suffering similar things, that if the world hates us we must remember that it hated Christ first, etc, etc.
So, what are the 5 lies that Rosaria Butterfield exposes:
- Homosexuality is normal.
- Being a spiritual person is kinder than being a biblical Christian.
- Feminism is good for the world and the church.
- Transgenderism is normal.
- Modesty is an outdated burden that serves male dominance and holds women back.
So, rather than me writing a lot of words and restating her arguments, I want to simply direct you to read her words yourself, and listen to her calmly, rationally, biblically and lovingly explain why she is sounding the alarm and calling out so-called believers on these issues. There are two very important groups that are in Satan’s crosshairs surrounding the propaganda campaign around these 5 lies. First are just the masses who get sucked down into these lifestyles and told that they should be proud of them, while, at the same time are taught that they must not seek a way out, and that they cannot repent or change from these stances and personal choices. They are the primary victims here. But the second group being attacked are the weak-minded Christians, those who claim the name, but haven’t studied and adopted His word and lifestyle.
Remember in some of my previous articles I mentioned the passages about the ‘Lord, Lord’ self-deceived believers who will be called out by God as goats, and not legitimate sheep of Christ’s sheep-pen? These are the people I am talking about who are nominal believers who should be on their personal faith journey to a deeper walk with God (what might be referred to as incremental sanctification), but instead get sidetracked by deception. The life of a believer is to be spent in an unending process of seeking to grow in the full stature and likeness of Christ. A baby believer is so new, they really haven’t grown in their discipleship at all. It is these young believers or those who simply haven’t grown in their faith over time, that are easily deceived and even encouraged to introduce deceptions into Christian teachings. That is precisely what ‘He Gets Us’ does. It talks in a form of Christian-speak, but it lacks any power and truth, because it is only a partial truth at best. And a partial truth is usually a full-lie.
Here are a couple of the good interviews that I found featuring Rosaria Butterfield.
The first is an interview by Sean McDowell
https://youtu.be/EuBlQz6oPRM?si=uinmsGL2NCQl0XWK
The second is an interview by Alisa Childers, where she talks about the threat of ‘Side B Christianity’ and they raise the question “Is there such a thing as a gay Christian?
https://youtu.be/YsiSTC3UlE0?si=XudzMy9ibL22thW6
I must confess that I learn a lot when I have to research topics and check information I share in these articles. I had no idea what a ‘Side B’ Christian was. But, lo and behold, Wikipedia describes that there are Side A, Side B, Side X and Side Y Christians which all refer to various theological positions on homosexuality. Apparently, those who affirm same-sex marriage as valid fall under ‘Side A’. Side A is the most liberal or inclusive. Unlike Side A, the Side B position sees marriage as reserved for one man and one woman, but those on side B tend to advocate that all Christians either maintain celibacy or marry a member of the opposite sex. Some Side B Christians maintain celibate same-sex relationships. The Side B position would believe that ‘queer identity; is seen as ‘a healthy way of communicating one’s experiences and desires’. And Wesley Hill describes in his book ‘Spiritual Friendship’ on the topic of Side B where he wrote, “ ‘spiritual friendship’ was a form of same-sex intimacy that sublimated or transmuted erotic passion rather than sanctioning its genital expression”. Oh good, that clears it all up. Both Side A and B are generally opposed to conversion therapy and affirm LGBT identification, accepting the term ‘gay Christian’. While Side X tends to affirm the desire to attain exclusive heterosexuality and use the term ‘ex-gay”. Side Y is generally opposed to all identity politics and affirms Christian regeneration as the only meaningful transformation. (Ah, at last a place I can belong.)
So, now that I have shared something I learned, I think we can better describe where Rosaria stands and where the ‘He Gets Us’ deceivers stand. It would seem clear that the people behind “He Gets Us” are either Side A or B, or a mix of both types of supporters. By contrast, in these interviews, you will hear Rosaria explain in the most kind and thorough language, very much as Jesus would, why her position as ‘Side Y’ is correct. Side Y belief holds that marriage is reserved for one man and one woman. And that all Christians, regardless of their attractional patterns, should repent of their sin and live by a holy sexuality, leading to chaste lives until marriage and monogamous lives in marriage. Even Wikipedia says that Side Y people generally maintain that the Bible is a divinely inspired and preserved revelation and therefore without error. (Huh – go figure!). For this reason, Side Y Christians often stipulate the precise use of language and object to vocabulary that compromises a biblical anthropology. Wow, as I am reading further and typing this article, I see that Rosaria Butterfield is specifically mentioned in the Wikipedia citation! I told you she was a powerful voice and on target. This is what it goes on to say about her:
Rosaria Butterfield, a former lesbian professor and LGBT rights activist, states, “Adjectives in terms of grammar are modifiers; their job is to tell me what kind of Christian you are. The problem with a term like ‘gay Christian‘ is that it modifies Christian according to a category of the flesh.”[49] Thus, Side Y Christians also generally forego the use of words that reinforce a secular paradigm of ontology, such as “sexual minority”[50] and “straight Christian.”[51]
Those who may fall under Side Y include Rosaria Butterfield,[52] Christopher Yuan,[46] Becket Cook,[53] and Sam Allberry.[54] Butterfield states that sexual orientation “defines selfhood as the sum total of our fallen human desires”[55] and therefore is, “at best… a category of the flesh” that “simply will not survive to the New Jerusalem.”[56] She states that in the resurrection, God’s people will inherit their “souls reunited with [their] bodies walking at liberty and free from all vestiges of sin; and the Word of God that will be flourishing before [them] in a way that [they] can’t even imagine.”[57]
Wow, I really want to read her book in addition to hearing more of the excellent interviews she gives. Listen to her and you judge, or I mean discern, for yourself. If you approach her words with an open mind and heart, you may be surprised at how her they ring true and give you better clarity to help handle the LGBT people and relationships in and around your own life.
So, let’s try to wrap this up, shall we? It’s high time we also stopped thinking that being a Christian means being gullible and accepting of all things. We can be humble and meek but not a doormat or willing to endorse things that the Lord refuses to accept. Like the father of the prodigal son, the Lord always stands ready to welcome back anyone who truly turns and repents and comes back to the Father.
Finally, I must say how much I really appreciate that Rosaria is a linguist, and that she insists on precise language, because language and the twisting of it is the cornerstone of all good lies and careful use of language is the way to maintain truth. Simple language should be used that is not designed to deceive. And the people behind the ‘He Gets Me’ effort should repent from their deliberately deceptive language. One last bit of proof that we are dealing with liars and wolves disguised in sheep’s clothing. There have been a number of good YouTube videos that are presenting similar objections to that ad. One released today by Olive Tree Ministries featured an interview between Ken Mikle and Pastor Josh Scheartz. They also did an excellent job assessing this ad. In their interview, they played a short video aired on TBN where the correspondence asked a very straight forward question of her guest, Jason Vanderground, who is the President of “Haven” the branding firm and co-creator of this ad campaign. She asks the critical question saying, “Jesus calls us to turn from our sin – is that something that “He Gets Us” would ever touch on?”. That was a very straight forward question only requiring a simple yes or no answer…. And what was his reply? You probably guessed it – He spoke lots of words but never said yes or no. So, what can we be certain of? First that he is a deceiver by nature – unwilling to let his yes be yes and his no be no. But also, that the real answer is No. He said in so many words that, ‘He Gets Us’ doesn’t even touch on the need to turn away from sin. I think the word sin connected with these lifestyles is just too big of an offense to this guy Jason and the well-funded special interest groups that are behind this ad. This overall misinformation campaign is apparently a 3 year Billion-Dollar campaign – all to reintroduce people to Jesus – a new and false Jesus.
https://youtu.be/7fBhN8PxtIY?si=eN_D3MPsZUSXzhIZ
Remember, Satan is a master at lying and he has always lied by telling partial truths and deceiving those who are not astute in the use of language. It started with Eve and Adam in the garden and continues to this day. So let us be meek as true remnant believers. And meek is a word of Greek origin that describes someone who is not overcome by arrogance, anger or aggression, but rather has power and courage under control and linked with kindness. That is what we should be and can be as we seek to follow the example of the Lord Jesus, who modeled and said we should be wise as a serpent, but as gentle as a dove.
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