Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill Church

These are the words of the letter delivered to all three executive elders of Mars Hill Church on August 27, 2014, to Pastor Dave Bruskas and Pastor Sutton Turner at the Ballard central support church office, and to Pastor Mark Driscoll at his home.

August 27, 2014

Dear Pastors Mark Driscoll, Dave Bruskas, and Sutton Turner,

The words that follow are the contents of a letter delivered to Pastor Mark Driscoll on February 8, 2013.  In light of the trial currently faced by Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill Church, these words are now sent to each of the executive elders of Mars Hill Church for your consideration, for your prayer, and as a call to repentance.  I pray God our Father grants you ears to hear the word He has spoken and is fulfilling in your midst.  I commit to you the following message as spoken by our Lord Jesus Christ with the exhortation He gave to His earliest followers, “Take heed therefore how you hear: for whosoever has, to him shall be given; and whosoever has not, from him shall be taken even that which he seems to have” (Luke 8:18).

a bondservant of Jesus Christ and yours,

Bryan W. Hulen

February 8, 2013

Dear Pastor Mark Driscoll,

The building of the house of God is a work whose efforts can never be measured fully by what is evident outwardly. There are stones laid and materials used that must be tried by fire to determine their true value. Our Lord Jesus Christ looks upon every heart and proves every work with a fiery eye that gazes piercingly to the intents and motives of men in their building efforts. I earnestly implore you to give heed to the words that follow, for they will be very life if you can receive them, and the obverse if you cannot.

Upon the cornerstone of His Son God the Father is building His temple, and the manner in which this work is being accomplished amongst the saints at Mars Hill Church will be revealed by the One who alone perceives the heart in its most intimate inclinations. These inclinations are made manifest when we consider whether within the walls erected the Holy Spirit has found a habitation whose foundation is authentically apostolic and prophetic in form and function. The question remains, whose hands are accomplishing the work in your midst, those of the Holy Spirit or those of men? For unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain.

If you have any questions regarding what is written herein, you may contact me at bhulen@gmail.com.  Know most assuredly that my deepest desire is God’s glory amongst the saints of Mars Hill Church for the sake of Jesus Christ.

a bondservant of Jesus Christ and yours,

Bryan W. Hulen

To Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill Church:

This is what the Lord Jesus Christ has said, I have seen your ways and I know your goings. You have feet that walk in a path laid by men. Your ways are not Mine, and your plans have not been established by Me. Think not within yourselves that your growth is the building of My house. No, for it is a structure unfamiliar to Me, whose walls are held up with unplumb studs, erected to hold a covering not of My Spirit. You build, but not by Me. You grow and expand, but to what end? You have accomplished much by might and by power, but not by My Spirit, says the Lord. Prosperity is not seen in numbers and structures acquired. The fruit of My kingdom is seen in faithful souls walking humbly with Me, whose ways are foreign to the world, for they are foreigners in the world, strangers and pilgrims, walking in a way lifted up.

What captures their attention? What holds your affections? Why do your eyes wander, lusting wantonly after the world's finest fare? So many fascinations, an abundance of entertainments! Drink up! Yes, be filled with fermented drink, but what will satisfy when you are filled with wine, when you have been baptized in the world and not in the Holy Spirit? You are at home in a world whose friendship is enmity with Me. Be sure, your sins will find you out. That which is done in darkness will be brought out to the light. That which is whispered in the ear will be pronounced widely for many to hear.

Mark, I will not compete for the affections of men. For the men of Mars Hill Church are attracted more to you than they are to Me. You promise them liberty, but they are slaves still, captivated by this present evil world. You have preached with persuasive words of man's wisdom, and not in the power of My Spirit. How shall the chains be broken by words without power, uttered by a careless tongue? You have not taught My people to hear My voice, for you yourself have failed to hear Me as you ought. Neither do you know Me as you ought. I am a Father Who desires to speak to My sons and daughters, but you have not led My children to My footstool to listen to Me, though it is the one needful thing. Come, sit at My feet, says the Lord. Give ear to Me, hear the voice of your King.

Boast not in the number of children born to you. For it is not the multiplication of seed sown, but the quality of fruit borne on the branches of those formed in your womb that matters to Me. You have raised spiritual babes who must suck still at the breasts of their mother. They cannot handle meat, the sustenance necessary to mature. They have not been trained in the way they should go. Dabbling in the devil's playground, they cannot discern between good and evil, neither do they separate between the holy and the profane. For your words fall on deaf ears amongst a multitude of children who play yet in the world. My desire and delight is in those who walk in the truth, bearing the likeness of the Son of God, the Holy One of Israel.

Therefore, a fire will burn, whipping through the halls of My sanctuary in your midst, reducing to ashes the work of men's hands to prove and to prevent the arm of flesh. What will the saints of Mars Hill Church do when I take from them their leader? When the shepherd is withdrawn from their fold where will they walk? To whom shall they turn? They will wander without direction, many will scatter, and the people will be diminished. With a heavy heart I cry, Must I strike the shepherd, that the sheep should be scattered? For your ways are not My ways, declares the Sovereign Lord. I appoint and I dismiss. I call and I correct. Correction has been called for. I have appointed a time of dismissal from service for a season, until the people learn who has spoken, that it is I, the Lord of hosts.

I will not wait for you if you choose to go another way. I have shown you the way wherein you should walk, but you have not refrained your feet from wandering. Mars Hill Church, this is what the Lord has said: you have trusted in man, and not in Me. You have walked in the wisdom of the world, and not in My ways. You have leaned on the arm of flesh, and not on My Spirit. Such have been your ways from the beginning, and unless you repent, such will be your ways in the end, when I bring an end to the favor you have indulged yourselves in.

Sons and daughters do I seek, not converts to a man's personal convictions. You seek pure doctrine amongst men, I seek the pure in heart. For the pure in heart see Me, and those who see Me shall know Me. These are those whose doctrine is kept in purity, for they have been taught by Me.

I would reform a doctrine in your midst that neither teaches Who I am, nor reveals how I would be known. From everlasting to everlasting I am God, and My mercy is toward men who must give account to My holiness; men who have been made in My image with a moral agency by which they believe in Me unto eternal life, or deny Me unto death in damnation. You fear Me after the precepts of men, but not for who I am. This is the damage done by the doctrine to which you hold, and it is revealed in lips that speak My name, whose hearts are distant still.

I am a Father to those born in the Son, whose sins are forsaken in order to follow Me. This is My heritage, builders who build as sons co-laboring with their Father. Whose business are you about as you build? You are as an empty vine, whose fruit falls before it is ripe. The womb of Mars Hill Church miscarries its children, who cannot develop fully; yet who weeps over those who are not borne full term? Do you consider the fruit of your womb? Amongst you there are many devotions, yet little depth. You have erected many altars, but your heart is divided. Therefore, your altars shall be divided and given to others. I, the Lord, will wink no more at your ignorance in devotion. For I will require of you, I command you to repent.

Look at the level in My hand. What do you see? The studs of your walls are unlevel, and the higher you build, the more unstable is your structure. For your foundation is weak, and its shallowness will be revealed in that day of testing and trial. Would you be as the unwise man who began to build, but could not complete the work? Count the cost, says the Lord.

See the shallow roots of your vine, consider the depth of your foundation, for it goes no deeper than the fidelity of your heart before Me. And this has been wanting desperately. The day of dispersions will come and the time of collapse will not fail before Almighty God. Are the sounds of your songs pleasing to Me? Your fruit is bitter to My taste, I will not drink of your offerings, nor receive the sacrifice at your hand as you now stand before Me. For you refuse to stand before Me, because you cannot stand as you are before Me and be received acceptably.