The “He Gets Us” campaign continues to experience criticism for what some Christians are claiming is an inaccurate portrayal of Jesus. Mark Driscoll weighed in on the controversy, initially posting to his X account, “Jesus washed Judas’s feet and still sent him to hell.” He took to Instagram to break down the ad. “This is a watered-down Gospel. Jesus didn’t die for your comfort. Don’t fall for this soft, virtue-signaling nonsense. Going to hell with clean feet is not an upgrade,” he wrote. During his video, he called the ad “soft, woke, garbage, nonsense, virtue signaling to those who don’t like God.” “Jesus Christ got murdered. It’s because some people felt hated by what He was teaching. All of this is just soft, woke garbage nonsense virtue signaling to those who don’t like God, that you should like them because they’re willing to change God for you,” he said. “Jesus did wash feet. He washed the feet of a guy named Judas Iscariot before He sent him to hell. Some of you are going to hell with clean feet. But that’s not an upgrade.” On another X post, Driscoll wrote, “Some of you are going to hell, and Christians need to know that having clean feet on your way there won’t be much of an upgrade. Preach repentance.” He included the hashtag “HeGetsUs” paired with “ButDoWeGetHim.”

The ad has received its share of criticism and praise across the board. Conservative commentator Michael Knowles of The Daily Wire, shared that even though he understands some of the concerns about the ad, he isn’t “totally opposed” to it. “Am I the only conservative Christian who didn’t totally hate the ‘He Gets Us’ ad? Yes, it speaks ‘woke-ese.’ It’s not for us; it’s for secular libs. There’s a risk it leads to heretical complacency. But if it gets some lost lib even to consider Our Lord, I’m not totally opposed,” wrote Knowles. Managing editor at the Babylon Bee, Joel Berry, who had his own strong condemnation against the ad, disagreed with Knowles’s take but did agree that God could use it. “It’s not likely to win secular libs to the real Jesus, but it will definitely give them fuel to continue using Jesus as a secular lib mascot. That said, we can still pray that what man intends for evil, God will use for good,” he wrote.

Driscoll himself had his own past failures dragged up after stepping into the fray. One user responded to his post with, “As a former member of Mars Hill, it astonishes me that anyone still listens you.” Driscoll was famously outed from the Mars Hill megachurch after accusations of bullying and an abusive work environment in 2014. His departure led to Mars Hill shutting down as well, with “The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill” podcast topping the charts in 2021.