Lux Lucet

Harvey Weinstein, AP

Their foot shall slide in due time. Deuteronomy 32:35

It’s been quite a tumultuous week plus for famed Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. Here’s a man who went from king of the movie world to fired by the board of directors of his own company in the space of just a few days. To add insult to injury, just a few days later he became only the second person to be kicked out of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the organization’s 90 year history. The official statement of the board read,

We do so not simply to separate ourselves from someone who does not merit the respect of his colleague but also to send a message that the era of willful ignorance and shameful complicity in sexually predatory behavior and workplace harassment in our industry is over.

I confess to being fairly ignorant of Hollywood generally. As is the case with most people, I watch movies from time to time, but I can’t say I’m a huge fan. Concerning the name Harvey Weinstein, it’s a name that until the past few days was barely known to me. I can’t say that I ever gave it more than a moment’s thought. And yet, here I am writing a blog post on the subject.

So what prompted me to do this? Well, as reports of Weinstein’s behavior dribbled out in the media, and the consequences of it started to come home to roost, it called tom mind, of all people, the great Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards and his famous sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.

Edwards’ sermon is apropos Weinstein’s situation in a number of ways. First, is the context of Deuteronomy 32:35. the verse on which Edwards based his sermon. This verse speaks of God’s judgment upon his enemies, how he will take vengeance upon them and do so suddenly. As Edwards observed, this passage, “implies that they were always exposed to sudden unexpected destruction.. As he that walks in slippery places is every moment liable to fall, he cannot foresee one moment whether he shall stand or fall the next, and when he does fall, he falls at once without warning. Which is also expresed in ‘Surely thou didst set them in slippery places, thou castedst them down into destruction: How are they brought into desolation as in a moment? (Psalm 73:18-19)’ ”

And so it was with Weinstein. The predator, after years – decades one supposes – is now very suddenly the prey.

Now lest anyone suppose I’m getting out in front of the story and convicting Weinstein of wrongdoing where none has been proven, it must be noted that the famous producer has himself admitted the truth of at least some of the allegations. According to the New York Times, Weinstein made a statement this past Thursday in which he said, “I appreciate the way I’ve behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologize for it. Though I’m trying to do better, I know I have a long way to go.”

Along these same lines, Weinstein’s lawyer Lisa Bloom said, “he denies many of the accusations as patently false,” implying that some of them as true.

Second, Edwards goes to some length to stress the fact that sinners damned to hell never really believed they’d end up there, but always thought that by some contrivance or another they’d escape judgment. Edwards imagines those in hell saying,

No, I never intended to come here: I had laid out matters otherwise in my mind; I thought I should contrive well for myself: I thought my scheme good. I intended to take effectual care; but it came upon me unexpected: I did not look for it at that time, and in that manner; it came as a thief: Death outwitted me: God’s wrath was too quick for me. O my cursed foolishness! I was flattering myself, and pleasing myself with vain dreams of what I would do hereafter; and when I was saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction came upon me.

In like fashion, Harvey Weinstein seemed to think that his position of money and power would insulate him from ever having to face the consequences of his actions. He was known to employ and army of journalists who worked for his production company. and thus had significant control over the coverage he received in the media.

Weinstein also was politically connected. He himself was a big donor to the Democratic party, and also acted as an agent for them, using his extensive Hollywood connections to funnel money into the party’s coffers. As The Hill reports, “Weinstein’s association with the Democratic Party runs deep. He has long been one of the most prominent figures on the donor circuit that runs thought Hollywood.”

But none of these things, not his money, not his power, not his control of the media nor his political connections ultimately prevented his fall from grace.

A third application of Edwards to Weinstein has could be summed up in that old saying, “There but for the grace of God go I.”

Edwards brought before his hearers the torments of those in hell, not to titillate them with the sufferings of the lost, but to goad the lost in his congregation to consider that the only reason they had not yet joined other unbelievers in the eternal lake of fire was the forbearance of God, which could be removed at any time. Said Edwards of natural men, “In short, they have no refuge, nothing to take hold of; all that preserves them every moment is the mere arbitrary will, and uncovenanted, unobliged forbearance of an incensed God.”

It’s an easy thing for me to look at a fellow such as Weinstein and take satisfaction that he got what he deserved without ever considering my own sin, how I’ve offended God countless times, and the compassion he had on me not to let me fall to the depth of depravity that Weinstein did. The apostle Paul freely confessed that in him nothing good dwelt. In like fashion, nothing good dwells in me. If I am forgiven and sanctified in Christ, it’s only because God was gracious to me. Not because I deserved it.

As such, though as a Christian I am obligated to judge Weinstein’s behavior as evil – contrary to the widespread misunderstanding of Jesus words in the Sermon on the Mount, Christians not only can, but must judge others; the problem Jesus addressed was judging by the wrong standard, not judging simpliciter – I am in no position to boast in myself while holding him in contempt, knowing that I myself am a sinner saved by grace alone.

There is of course one big difference between those who suffered judgment in Edward’s sermon Harvey Weinstein: Weinstein’s eternal fate is not yet sealed.

Edwards wrote movingly of the torments and regrets of the lost. So much so that we remember his sermon today, 276 years after it was first preached. But Weinstein still has the opportunity of repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ.

Very obviously, the exposure of Weinstein’s sins and possible crimes has had a serious effect on him. As CBS reports, “The Los Angeles Police Department responded to what it called a ‘family dispute’ yesterday in Hollywood. Entertainment news website TMZ says Harvey Weinstein’s 22-year-old daughter told police her father was ‘suicidal and depressed.” “I gotta get help, guys,” Weinstein told reporters. “You know what, we all make mistakes. Second chance, I hope.”

God is all about second chances. But Weinstein’s second chance will avail him not at all if he tries to make things right on his own steam. If he tries the world’s method of therapy and does not turn to Christ, regardless of what shape his professional career takes from here on out, he will face condemnation for his sins.

And this was the very point Edwards wanted to drive home to his listeners all the way back in 1741. Don’t ignore, don’t despise the grace of God in Jesus Christ. While you have the opportunity, seek his face and he will heal you. That was Edwards’ message. And that’s the message Weinstein needs desperately to hear too.

Harvey Weinstein, meet Jonathan Edwards.

More to the point, meet Jesus Christ. Your life depends on it.