Will Smith, I Tried to Warn You...

Will Smith's Faith Claims and Public Image

You can't get where I get if you don't love the Lord.

Because I'm like, man, you are more spiritual than a lot of both. I call you the bishop. I call you Pastor Smith because you have ministered to me and so many other people.

Will Smith recently starred in King Richard as the father of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams.

I wrote me a 78 page plan for their whole career before they was even born.

Movie Guide describes King Richard as having a strong Christian, moral, pro-family worldview with positive messages of Christian faith, virtue and character. In an interview with Devin Franklin, Smith discussed his faith in God.

The number one question they were like, yo, is Will a man of faith? Does he love the Lord? I'm like, yes. OK, so but I want that. I want you to hear from the heart to the mouth. Are you a man of faith?

You can't. Do you love the Lord? You can't get where I get. If you don't love the Lord, you know, you don't get to sit how I sit and move how I move if you don't love the Lord. Exactly. Yeah. You know, you'd be seeing a whole lot of other repercussions.

Got it. Yeah. Good, good. I got that out the way.

Smith says that he loves the Lord and is a man of faith. At the same time, though, Smith is very open about his view of marriage as not being an exclusive union between one man and one woman.

We agreed that she had to make herself happy and I had to make myself happy. And then we were going to present ourselves back to the relationship. We ride together.

We die together. Bad marriage for life.

Marriage, Intimacy, and the Christian View of Sin

We're wrong on marriage because the culture is wrong on marriage. I tell my two things all the time, and if my kids were here, they would let you know what these two things before they come. They right now they'd be like, I know he's going to say, because I say these two things over and over and over again to my wife.

Number one, I tell her I wish I was born married to her. And I do. I do. I regret the days that I didn't have the privilege of being Bridget's husband. And secondly, I tell her, if you leave me, I'm going with you.

Amen. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord.

And in an interview with GQ, Smith talked about his experience with an intimacy coach.

And this woman was a big part of my education and expansion. She is a scholar and a friend. And this is her first book. And I cannot wait. It's called The Wild Woman's Way. I just got it. Michaela Baum, she is the truth.

What she was doing was essentially cleaning out my mind, letting it know it was OK to be me and be who I was. It was OK to think Hallie is fine. It doesn't make me a bad person that I'm married. And I think Hallie is beautiful.

Whereas in my mind, in my Christian upbringing, even my thoughts were sins. That was really the process that Michaela worked me through to let me realize that my thoughts were not sins. And even acting upon an impure thought didn't make me a piece of blank.

It seems clear that the God that Smith says he loves is certainly not the Christian God of the Bible who teaches that adultery is sin and that even our thoughts, thoughts of anger and lust are sins that require forgiveness through Jesus's atoning work.

Also, Smith said, you can't get where I get if you don't love the Lord. You know, you don't get to sit how I sit and move how I move. If you don't love the Lord.

Exactly. Smith suggests that it's because he loves God, that he is as successful as he is today. This, of course, is the prosperity gospel that is taught by false teachers such as Joel Osteen.

What kind of God wants you to be poor and miserable? That's the way I feel as well.

T .D. Jakes. There's no way you can serve me and me not serve you. The more you give to me, the more I give back to you.

And Joyce Meyer. Do you believe that if someone gives money to the ministry, that more will come back to them? Yes. Absolutely. I think that's what they mean by prosperity gospel. Hey, this is Michael.

Yeah, the real Michael. If you like these videos, would you consider subscribing? It helps you to spread this message to more people. I'm giving away a beautiful handcrafted leather Bible every week, and I'm trying to pass Kenneth Copeland in subscribers to show that truth wins over false teaching.

Thank you so much for your eyeballs and support.

Holiness, Christ's Glory, and the Law of Attraction

God's goal is not to make us successful, but rather for us to grow in holiness and to make Christ known to the world, neither of which seem to be important to Smith.

The interview continues. But here's the thing I thought was so amazing. To me, this movie is one of the most faith movies that I've ever seen. Yeah, there's a scripture that says, you know, faith without works is dead.

And faith is the substance of things we hope for and the evidence of things we don't see. That's beautiful. This dude didn't know tennis. Right. His daughters had never played. He created an 85 page play on what was going to happen, and he did not veer until it manifest.

I wrote me a 78 page plan for the whole career before they was even born.

Did you notice what they just said?

And he did not veer until it manifest.

The idea that we only need to stay focused on what we want in order for what we want to be manifested is what the law of attraction teaches, which is a popular New Age philosophy taught by Oprah.

The law of attraction is one law. There are many laws working in the world, but it is very true that the way you think creates reality for yourself. Joel Osteen. I will accomplish my dreams.

I'm coming out of debt. That's not just being positive. You are prophesying victory and the shack. Contrary to what the Bible teaches, the law of attraction gives us the power to manifest reality rather than teaching that God alone has the power to determine what ultimately happens.

They all claim that every so-called Christian has the personal divine power to recreate life's realities into exactly what he or she wants. It's all theirs. And you use the name of Jesus, the genie. You rub the magic lamp and Jesus, the genie, pops out just waiting to be activated by the power of sovereign faith in a person to give that person what he or she wants by the power of attraction.

All this in the name of Jesus Christ is not just a lie. It's a lie that basically preys on those who are desperate.

Revelation, Faith, and Subjective Experience

Next, Smith talks about faith and revelation.

There's revelation. Some people have had revelation. Yes. Right. So when when you have to have faith, faith is before you've had revelation. Right. When you don't you don't have to have faith because you know it.

Smith speaks extremely generally about this concept of revelation and never mentions the Bible, which is God's revelation to us. It seems that Smith is referring to people receiving direct revelation from God, which is a dangerous idea that leads people to focus on their own subjective experiences and to devalue the Bible.

Also, although most people today think of faith as being a blind trust in something we do not know, that's actually not the Christian definition of faith, which is certainty in what the Bible teaches.

Devotion, Reward, and the Purpose of Christian Faith

Next, Smith talks about this family being certain that their devotion would be rewarded.

She said in order to doubt, that means you don't trust God. And she said there was never a moment of doubt. When we set out as a family, we knew we were going to do what was ordained. Man, you know, and I was like, whoa, that's crazy, but it's that that's that concept when it was so full and it was it was a family around this belief and they trusted God and they they believed that their devotion would be rewarded.

And they never wavered. But that's not actually how devotion to God works. Christians should be devoted to God because he saved them from their sins, gave them new life and deserves worship from his creation, not because they expect to be rewarded in this life.

Then Devon says this about Will Smith.

Because I'm like, man, you are more spiritual than a lot of both. I call you the bishop. I call you pastor Smith because you have ministered to me and so many other people.

But as we've already seen, it's clear that the God of Will Smith is not at all the God of the Bible or of Christianity. Smith and Franklin never mentioned Jesus nor the Bible in this interview, and they are focused on worldly successes rather than repentance, holiness and proclaiming Christ to the world.

Whenever Smith and Franklin talk about faith, they suggest that the inevitable result of faith is the fulfillment of their personal dreams. But as Christians, our dream should be God's glory and magnifying Christ, not the material success of us or our children.

Finally, it's clear that Smith and Franklin are not talking about the Christian God because the faith of the Williams family was actually in the God of Jehovah's Witnesses, which is not at all the Christian God of the Bible.

Because of this, movie guide describing King Richard as a Christian movie is deceptive and inaccurate. Our prayer is that Will Smith would recognize that he certainly is a sinner, that even his thoughts make him guilty before a holy God and that Jesus came to save all who repent of their sins and put their faith in him alone for their salvation.