Baghdad Bob

How many of you remember the initial days of the current Iraq War? If you were like me, you watched the around the clock coverage of what was taking place. As the media reported the progress of the United States military, they also showed us what the other side was reporting about the war. Case in point was the Iraqi Minister of Information, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf. Obviously, trying to do his job and assure the Iraqi people that they were not losing the war, al-Sahaf became famous for his outright misinformation when it came to accurately reporting the war. He became known, sarcastically, as "Baghdad Bob." To give you some insight into his actions, I found the following online from USA Today, written April 7, 2003:

"The Iraqi information minister stands in front of the cameras, a grim smile on his face, a military beret on his head, and declares forcefully, "There are no American troops in Baghdad!" Meanwhile, black smoke rises in the distance behind him, weapons fire can be heard all around, and American tanks rumble down streets only yards away."

It is both sad and comical that someone would be so dishonest despite the fact that he, and his audience, knew he was lying to them. I guess he'd rather do his job than be honest. This reminded me of when I used to attend my family's church as a child and young adult.

""Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them 'Rabbi.' ... "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness." Matthew 23:5-7, 27-28

Each and every Sunday, I would see all the men dressed to a "T" and the women wearing their Sunday best. The men would come with their doubled-breasted suits, coordinated ties and shiny shoes. The women with their colorful outfits, combined with their matching shoes, purse and, of course, hat. Now, there is nothing wrong with looking your best, but it was all done for show. All of it done to look the part you claimed you were living as well as to outdo those you went to church with each week. It was definitely a fashion show. However, it didn't take long or require a trained eye, to see that these people were trying to put on a front. I guess if they looked good people would think that they were living the Christian life. That life being one of sinless perfection, or at the very least, increasing righteousness. Nothing could be further from the truth. As I soon noticed, these people were as phony as a cardboard cut out. I always noticed, after church, the women sitting in their cliques gossiping and finger pointing at nearly everybody that was in church that day. And the men were sitting back staring at the pretty ladies and engaging in all the normal banter that comes along with it. Now, don't get me wrong, I am generalizing here. It wasn't every single person, but you get my point. The message that I got from them is "fake it until you make it." None of them were living the life they tried to pass off as living. All it did for me was turn me off. Looking back, these people didn't know Christ at all, in my opinion. They did everything in order to be seen by men, and women.

"...though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith." Philippians 3:4-9

I knew, then, if that is what is meant by being a Christian, I didn't want anything to do with it. I can be phony on my own time. A friend of mine, an unbeliever, once lamented how one of his problems with Christians is that we are arrogant. I understood exactly what he meant by that statement. He probably had experiences with the type of individuals I grew up around. And it not only turned him off of Christianity, it turned him off of Jesus Christ. Yes, my friend doesn't have an excuse if he doesn't accept the Lord as his Savior. But, that doesn't diminish the fact that many of us Christians are not the best witnesses for the Lord. Like Paul, we can be overflowing with legalistic righteousness, or, as I like to say, religious pride. Yes, it is pride that is behind our putting on fronts before others. Religion is nothing more than a lifelong attempt at trying to be like God through obedience, real or perceived, to an agreed upon set of rules. And when we believe this to be true about ourselves it comes out as arrogance and self-righteous pride. But, Paul counted his legalistic righteousness as loss compared to knowing Christ. He knew, like we should discover, that we are of no earthly good when we project an image of perfection to those around us. Yes, we are perfect, in Christ, but that is how God sees us through the prism of Christ's finished work for us and resurrected life in us. If those most in need of hearing the Gospel and having an encounter with the living Christ think they have to be perfect in order to do so, they never will come to Him. And when they see us faking like we are something special, they don't want anything to do with it. We must remember that we are more effective in our witness when people see Christ shining through us in the midst of our faults.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Most everybody who comes to Christ does so after going through some of the worst times in their lives. When we go to them, in love, and can relate to their experience, we have established common ground from which to tell them about the Gospel. For instance, I may be able to talk to someone struggling with alcohol dependency. The simple fact that I have overcome that in my life can be a ray of hope to someone still struggling. And when they see where I have come it gives them hope and allows me to share with them how I have come so far. Jesus Christ. It is when people, as my friend says, "see our warts" that we become real to them. It is our trying to deceive others, when they can see right through us, that hurts any opportunity to share the love of Christ with them. I can't tell you how many opportunities I have had to share Christ with people, especially those that know my history, because of the changes they see in me. Not, the false front of religious pride, but the testimony of a changed life in Christ. Just like the whole world saw through "Baghdad Bob" when he lied about the progress of the war, people see us as Christ's version of propagandists when we don't tell the truth about our lives. We don't have to act like something we aren't to be a witness for Christ. It isn't about us anyway!