Pastor Mark Finley talks about the Will Smith Slap at the Oscars and three surprising lessons we can learn. There is an interested similarity to what happened at the Oscars with Will Smith and what will happen at the end of time with God’s people. Mark will show surprising evidence from the book of Revelation that reveals how God’s last day message will become hated by those who align themselves with the Mark of the Beast.

<p>Pastor Mark Finley talks about the Will Smith Slap at the Oscars and three surprising lessons we can learn. There is an interested similarity to what happened at the Oscars with Will Smith and what will happen at the end of time with God’s people. Mark will show surprising evidence from the book of Revelation that reveals how God’s last day message will become hated by those who align themselves with the Mark of the Beast.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

HopeLives365

Mark Finley

Three Surprising Lessons We Can Learn from the Will Smith Slap


1 of the most anticipated events in Hollywood are the Oscar Awards sponsored by the Academy of Motion Pictures of Arts and Sciences. The Oscars are held each year to present an award to those who are leading actors, the leading picture, the leading producers, et cetera. Now I have to confess that my wife and I don't attend movies. We don't find much of redemptive value at all in Hollywood. We rarely watch television except for the news occasionally.

This year, though, the news cycle after the Academy Awards was dominated by a situation that took place there, an incident that took place, and 1 could not miss it. It's been all over the news. Comedian Chris Rock, 1 of the co-hosts, made a comment about the wife of Will Smith. Will Smith's wife has a medical condition that caused hair loss. That comment really angered Will Smith.

He'd get up out of his seat, walked up onto the stage, and to the surprise and shock of the audience, slapped Chris Rock over the face. Now you might wonder Why is it that we would even discuss this on our program? Hope lives 365 that has to do with spiritual values and prophecy. Why discuss something that is violent laced with profanity? There are 3 real issues here and 3 things I think we can learn.

And there are some prophetic lessons that may not be quite apparent. So let's look at 3 things we can discover from this event. The first thing we discover is this, whether 1 considers Chris Rock's comments appropriate or not, Will Smith overreacted. He allowed Rock's speech to determine his behavior and his angry feelings overwhelmed him. That should say something to each 1 of us about anger.

The Bible talks about anger, and it has some very clear counsel about letting anger overwhelm us. We find it in Proverbs, the 29th chapter. Proverbs chapter 29, and we're looking at verse 22 and onward. The Bible says, an angry man stirs up strife. Just 6 words, but so true, an angry man stirs up strife.

If you allow your anger and the feelings of anger to control your action or behavior, it is going to fracture relationships. Husbands and wives have their relationship fractured. Friends are separated because of outbursts of anger. The workplace becomes a place of tension because of outbursts of anger. Ecclesiastes chapter 7, verse 8 and 9 also talks about anger.

The end of a thing is better than its beginning. The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. Do not hasten in your spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools. So don't hasten to be angry. Now all of us are going to have at times feelings of anger.

Anger is a feeling. And we can't always control every feeling that comes into our life. But we can control whether we act upon that feeling or not. Billy Graham put it this way once, I think so appropriate. He said, you can't stop the birds from flying over your head, but you can stop them from nesting in your hair In other words, you may not control every feeling but you can control your behaviors This is what the Bible means when it's in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 26, when it talks about anger.

Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath. What does it mean be angry and don't sin? How can I be angry and not sin? If a feeling of anger comes into your life, you have a choice of whether you act on it or not.

You have a choice whether you act out that anger. We may have feelings of anger, and we can confess those feelings of anger to God, But the feeling of anger does not become sin toward another person until we act on it. And it's when you act on those feelings of anger that it breaks relationships, that destroys friendships. So when the Bible says, be angry and sin not, what it's really saying is, don't let feelings of anger control you. Don't let feelings of anger dominate your life.

Don't be strangled by those feelings of anger so you burst out with angry speech toward other people. When we allow our feelings to dominate our lives, we lose control. And that's precisely what happened in the Academy Awards on March 22nd. When Will Smith got up out of his seat and came onto that stage and slapped Chris Rock across the face and released profanity. At that moment, his feelings were out of control.

Now, thankfully, he has asked for forgiveness. He's confessed what he has done. But yet there can still be results. We might ask for, we might confess what we've done wrong, but they're results of our behavior, results of our actions. Now there's a second aspect of this that really has to do with Bible prophecy.

The Bible predicts that a growing amount of anger will lead to violence in the last days of Earth's history. Hollywood is known for its violence. Its violent movies, its violent scenes, its violent actions. Violence is 1 of the characteristics of the last days of Earth's history. If you look at the cities of America, you take cities like New York, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles.

Chicago and Detroit have become some of the murder capitals of the world. There are more murders taking place every single weekend. Then you look at the smash and grab robberies where gangs of people come up, smash windows, and they go to expensive stores and rob precious goods and expensive goods. The Bible talks about, Jesus particularly talks about violence in the last days of earth's history. So what we saw, some saw in the Academy Awards, was a reflection of the violence in society.

It's just a microcosm of what happens when people's feelings get out of control. Matthew, the 24th chapter, Jesus talks about war and rumors of wars. He talks about famines and earthquakes and strife. But then notice what he says in the middle of this sermon on Indy vents where he's talking about kingdom rising against kingdom and famines and pestilences, natural disasters, earthquakes. Notice what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 24.

He talks about lawlessness and lawlessness rising. Verse 12, because lawlessness will abound. The word abound means leap forward in unprecedented numbers. The love of many will wax cold. So hatred is the opposite of love.

And when there is anger in the heart, it leads you to despise other people, and it leads you to lash out at other people. And so Jesus says that in time lawlessness will abound. In 2 Timothy 3, verse 1, Jesus adds these words. He says, through the apostle Paul this time, in the last days, perilous times will come. Men will be lovers of their own selves.

The word perilous means dangerous. In the last days, times of peril will come. What can we expect as we enter into the crisis at the close? We can expect as we enter into the crisis at the close. We can expect as we enter into the crisis at the close of this earth's history, violence, danger in our city streets, lawlessness.

You look at Portland, Oregon, lawlessness rains in the streets at times. You look at the city, as I've mentioned, of Chicago or Los Angeles or Detroit or New York, lawlessness reigns in the streets. New Orleans, lawlessness in the streets. Miami, at times lawlessness in the streets. There are many places in the major cities of America that 1 would be quite frightened to go out alone at night.

This is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Society's moral values are crumbling. The society that we live in has become a perilous or dangerous society. Now the third thing that we find in this event that took place, this shocking, surprising event at the Academy Awards on March 22, just to analyze it, Chris Rock said something. It caused a reaction on the part of Will Smith.

So we could say that in when somebody says something, if in your mind what they say is hate speech, that can lead to feelings of anger and reactions of violence. It's very fascinating. I want to be careful of this comparison because I'm not comparing in any way, any way, what happened in the Academy Awards to this next story. But I want to show you the effect of hate speech. Jesus got up and condemned the Pharisees.

He condemned the Sadducees. He condemned the religious leaders. And what did they want to do? We find what they wanted to do. They termed what Jesus said as hate speech.

And because They termed what Jesus said as hate speech. And because they termed what Jesus said as hate speech, it says in Matthew chapter 26, now it came to pass when Jesus had finished all these things that he said to his disciples. You know, after 2 days, the Passover is going to come and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified. Then the chief priests and scribes, verse 3, Matthew 26, and the elders of the people assembled at the palace of the high priest who was called Caiaphas. And they plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill him.

Now notice, these religious leaders plotted to kill Jesus. Why? Because of what he said. He condemned their sins. He exposed their religious falsehood.

So at times, if people determine that what 1 has said is unacceptable, that never ever ever justifies violence. Merely because somebody says something does not give the other people in society the right to label that as hate speech and to destroy them. Now you can go too far, admittedly. If what we say incites others to do harm, that goes too far. If what we say incites anybody to hurt any other human being, that is much too far.

And there are civil laws that can deal with that. But if an individual opens the word of God, for example, and exposes false religious powers, and those false religious powers react toward violence and claim that's hate speech. See, everything that is claimed to be hate speech may not be hate speech at all. Hate speech that entices violence is wrong. Condemning another with the intent of harming another is wrong.

But it is not wrong to open the word of God and share the principles of God's word. Jesus spoke the truth because he was the truth, and he was the way, the truth, and the life. And everything he said was true because he is the embodiment of truth. And the Pharisees, the religious leaders wanted to kill him. You say, Pastor Mark, what does that have to do with the last days?

The book of Revelation exposes a religio-political conglomerate called Babylon, where false religion is confused. And the Bible predicts that God will raise up an end time people that point out the sins of Babylon, but they will be turned to have hate speech. It's not hate speech at all. They're speaking the truth. You say, where's that found in the Bible?

Let me share with you some of these amazing truths in the book of Revelation. Jesus is calling us to kindly, lovingly present his word. Notice what he says. After these things, I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great authority. And the earth was illuminated with his glory.

The earth is illuminated with the glory of God, the character of Christ, that reveals the truth of God's word. Now notice, he cries mightily with a loud voice saying Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, has become the habitation of demons, a prison of every foul spirit in a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her. And the merchants of the earth have become rich through her luxuries. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, come out of her my people, lest you share in her sins and receive of her plagues.

So here is a clear denunciation of Babylon. Did you notice the Bible says there'll be 3 groups? First there's Babylon, this false religious conglomeration. Then there are the kings of the earth, political leaders. Then there are the merchants of the earth, the financial leaders.

So there is this union of church and state with the moneyed people of the world. The people of God point out the sins and errors of Babylon. They call people from the sins of Babylon. Now notice what it says, come out of her my people that you may not partake of her sins. What is sin?

First John 3, 4 says sin is the transgression of the law. So here you have 1 group of people that are the people of God raised up by God calling people back to keep the commandments of God. They are exposing the sins of Babylon. They're exposing the sins of this false religious union of politics and of the financial people of the world. Revelation 12, verse 17 says the dragon, that's Satan, was angry with the woman, the church, went to make war with the remnant of her seed, that last church, and what do they do?

They keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus. Where are God's true people today? Revelation 14, 12, here are they that keep the commandments of God and of the faith of Jesus. So there's this commandment-keeping people that are raised up in the last days to, with a loud voice, give echo to faithfulness to Christ and His commandments. And there are those that hear the message and they term that hate speech.

So what do they do? Revelation chapter 13 tells us what they do. Revelation 13 says He was granted power to give life to the image of the beast. This is verse 15. That the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads. That Nobody could buy or sell except he who has the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name. So here on the 1 hand, you have the faithful people of God who are committed to Christ, committed to his word, committed to his truth, and committed to sharing it. On the other hand, you have this religious political conglomerate. On this hand, you have this union of church, state, and financial powers.

Eventually, in an attempt at what they believe is to save the world, they pass a decree on those who they declare are giving hate speech. And as they do that, they pass this decree so that nobody can buy or sell. And ultimately, the death decree takes place. How does this drama end? Revelation chapter 17 tells us how this drama ends.

God will have a faithful people. They will not yield their conscientious convictions. They speak up for God and for His truth. In Revelation chapter 17 it says, these will make war with the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of Lord and King of kings, and those that are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful. The King of kings and the Lord of lords returns.

Revelation 19.11 says, describes the return of Christ. And Jesus comes and vanquishes evil and defeats wickedness and destroys evil. Revelation 19, verse 11, that I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse. And he was sat on him, what's called faithful and true. In righteousness, he judges and makes war.

Notice, it says here, he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written, verse 16, and it's King of Kings and Word of Lords. 3 great lessons from a Hollywood scene. Lesson number 1, do not let your feelings control you. Surrender them to the living Christ. Lesson number 2, danger, peril, violence is gonna get more and more in our society.

What we saw in Hollywood in March 22 was a microcosm of that. Lesson number 3, There will be those who rise up against some, not to slap them in the face. They will claim that they're giving hate speech, and they will allow what they say as justification to acts of violence toward them. In the last days of Earth's history, there'll be a time that nobody can buy or sell, there'll be imprisonment for God's people, there'll be difficulties and a time of trouble, but God will have a people that will cling to Jesus, a people that'll be faithful to him, a people that'll keep his commandments. By the grace of God, I want to be 1 of those people that are faithful to Christ until he comes again.

Is that your desire too? Let's bow our heads as we pray. Father in heaven, thank you for Jesus. Thank you for his love. Thank you for his grace.

Help us to be in control of any feelings of anger we have through the Holy Spirit. May Jesus take away that anger from our hearts. Help us to be kind and loving and forgiving to others who say things that may not always please us. Father, help us to see the signs of the times that you're coming soon, that violence is in our land, it stalks our streets. And teach us, Lord, to be faithful to you.

Because 1 day, we know that the forces of hell will be turned against the people of God. Help us to drink from the fountain of salvation now. Feed on the Word of God now, and be prepared for those overwhelming times that are going to come in the future. Thank you that victory is ours through Christ. In Jesus' name, Amen.

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Three Surprising Lessons We Can Learn from the Will Smith Slap

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