'He Gets Us' got far more wrong than right

Much has been said in response to the “He Gets Us” Super Bowl commercial, which, as heretical as it was, perhaps did all of us a favor as Christians who are now just beginning the penitential season of Lent.

For it raises the following question: Are we at all serious? I mean, do you even gospel, bro?

Notice the scam: The grace only goes one way, and it always goes to the left.

First a bit of history to set the scene. A decade ago, the city of Houston elected its first openly lesbian mayor. And guess who the pastor was who showed up to bless that nonsense? That would be Joel Osteen.

You mean the same Joel Osteen who just had his church shot up by a possibly gender-confused terrorist? Yep, the apostle of washboard abs and prophet of $100 million loans himself.

Houston’s lesbian mayor took the pastor’s blessing and promptly tried to turn public restrooms and other places in Houston into some of the very first gender-bending islands of Dr. Moreau in the entire country, deep in the heart of Texas.

Osteen offered no opposition, but many other pastors in the city of Houston did, in fact, do their duty. They called for a citywide referendum, and the mayor’s trans madness was shot down by a hefty 22-point margin in a very blue city. And so how did Houston’s mayor respond? She attempted to subpoena the sermon notes of pastors who stood against her in a clear act of retribution and intimidation, hoping to find areas where they had violated their nonprofit status and could be prosecuted.

Now it’s one thing to give a blessing the way Daniel blessed the king of Babylon with his interpretation of dreams. But then when the king asked Daniel to do things that Daniel knew were wrong, did Daniel do them? Or did he condemn them? Apparently, Osteen’s Bible says it is the former.

The man with the largest platform of them all in America, the man with his own SiriusXM channel, the man who could have brought all kinds of sunlight to the curse being cast upon Houston instead gave the witch issuing her nefarious incantations his blessing.

But as it always happens when you try to dance with the spirit of the age, his kindness and generosity would not be reciprocated.

Maybe, just maybe, we were only one Alistair Begg sermon about the importance of attending trans weddings from changing the heart of the possibly gender-confused individual who started firing at Osteen’s church. But now we will never know if the person would have beaten the AR-15 into a plowshare.

If that sounds demonically ridiculous to you, it is. Such is Osteen’s repayment for betraying his true calling and bringing comfort to those who would slander the brethren. He has received his reward in full.

So with this as the backdrop, let us now dissect the “He Gets Us” commercial that aired during what turned out to be the most watched event in television history. Put another way, this is the presentation of Jesus that will be seen by more Americans this year than any other unless the Lord Himself returns.

And you want to know what the dead giveaway is about the feet-washing propaganda you received instead of the real thing? Does anybody in the commercial wash the feet of the redneck in Alabama who drives a truck with a MAGA sticker on the back and spends a lot of time in strip clubs? Where’s David French washing his feet? Or how about the burned-out Boomer grandma who watches Fox News all night and by day takes her kids’ inheritance and pous it into the nickel slots at the casino? Any grace to be had for any of these lost souls or not?

Notice the scam: The grace only goes one way, and it always goes to the left.

But remember, I have come not to bury Caesar but to praise him. Because that commercial is the greatest test of discernment we could possibly have asked for.

“He Gets Us” has proven to be a failure at best and a damnable liar at worst.

I’m often asked, “What church should I join?” Well, now you have your Rosetta stone! Take that commercial and show it to the pastor. If his reaction is anything other than a mixture of confusion and disgust, don’t ever go back. The salt has lost its savor. It’s of no use for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

The true instance of Jesus washing people’s feet in the scriptures has a much different story to tell. Whose feet were they? The deniers? The harlots? Did he wash Pilate's feet? Did he wash Herod's feet? Did he wash Caiaphas’ feet? No. It was the disciples, those in closest fellowship with him, those he specifically called to leadership, those he had poured his grace into and who were now to pass that grace on to others in return.

Grace that comes from what? The hearing of the word. And what is that word? You must repent of your sins. But who repented of his sins in the commercial? Nobody. Who was told she was a sinner in need of repentance in that commercial? Nobody.

“He Gets Us” has proven to be a failure at best and a damnable liar at worst. None of it contains the sacrifice of the cross that years ago thrust me face-down on a concrete floor at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, crying what seemed like years of tears of regret for the things that were done to me and even more for the things I justified doing to others as a result.

Having a group of wealthy “Christians” and their diversity apparatchiks come together to fund an expensive Super Bowl ad that gives our current zeitgeist the exact caricature of Jesus it already has from the likes of Osteen’s church is hellishly poetic. All your comforting of their sin still didn’t pay off. You’re still a bigot and may actually deserve a bullet for it.

At least Esau got some porridge. You got nothing. Because no matter how you justify this bizarro version of “outreach” to yourself, you’re not smarter than those trying to bring the word of God — even the salty parts — to a world in desperate need of it.

You’re not more nuanced than those old-time religionists are. You’re not more winsome than God. You’re just dumb. You lost your anointing and your testimony for absolutely nothing. The world that hates our Lord saw your genuflection and raised Smiling Joel an attempted massacre.

There’s a lesson in there; I’m sure of it. Just as sure as I am those needing to learn it the most won’t before it’s too late.