Volume 28, No. 4                                                      
January 26, 2003

Christian Acts

   He was a zoologist, prison counselor, a sheriff, soldier, sailor, cancer researcher and a Trappist monk —  all before the age of 30!

   But he earned special recognition during the Korean War after enlisting in the Royal Canadian Navy.  Dr. Joseph Cyr served aboard a destroyer off the enemy coast where, under intense battle conditions, he pulled teeth, removed tonsils and amputated limbs.  He once removed a bullet less than an inch from a young sailor’s heart.  As Dr. Cyr finished the dicey operation, onlookers let out a spontaneous cheer.  In all his years in Korea, he never lost a single patient.

   But when photos of the heroic doctor appeared in Canadian newspapers, Dr. Cyr’s mother called police with the startling news that the physician in the photos wasn’t her son!  A quick investigation soon revealed the Navy doctor was Ferdinand Waldo Demara Jr.  Born in Massachusetts, Demara had never studied medicine, or trained for any of the other positions he’d held. Though the impostor was arrested, no charges were filed, partly because he’d saved too many lives.  A naval board of inquiry later released him, with back pay!

   Years later, Demara was arrested in the U.S. and jailed for six months for posing as a teacher.  When asked why he persisted in his impersonations, he replied, “Rascality, pure rascality.”

   In 1960, Hollywood made a movie based on Demara’s life.  The Great Impostor starred Tony Curtis and Karl Malden, but the infamous impersonator himself got a bit part in another movie called The Hypnotic Eye.  He played, ironically, a doctor!

   Most of us tend to believe that, at least some of the time, we’re just like Ferdinand Demara.  We’re not who people think we are.  We see our hidden sin and how it stands in shameful contrast to our identity as followers of Christ, so guilt goads us into thinking we’re phonies.  

   But that depends entirely on who you tell people you are.  If you set yourself up a finished, flawless example of Christ, people have a right to expect perfection.  But if you constantly make it clear you’re a work in progress, an all-too-human follower with a sometimes fickle heart, the most the critics have a right to expect is progress.  “Be an example to all believers in what you teach, the way you live, in your love, faith and purity,” Paul tells Timothy.  “Throw yourself into your tasks so everyone will see your progress.”  (1 Tim. 5:12.14)  Progress, not perfection.  By continually stressing your need for God, you glorify him with your weakness as well as your strength, and remind people our patient, persistent Father is more interested in who we are than what we do. In other words, acting like a Christian is not the same as being a Christian, any more than acting like a doctor makes you a doctor.  

   We’re truly followers of Christ when we invite Jesus into our life by acknowledging our need, accepting his free gift of forgiveness, and entering into a real relationship that involves remission of our sins and submission of our souls. We don’t need soup for those souls.  We need surgery.  Radical surgery.  And the Physician stands ready.

   Doing good counts for absolutely nothing if our heart-connection with God is a sham or an empty shell.  Even if we help many people in the process, it’s only a matter of time before the spiritual deception turns dangerous and others get hurt by our pride and pretense. That’s why, to qualify as a Christian, we need the proper credentials.  We must be made clean in the blood of Jesus through repentance, confession and the graduation ceremony of baptism that marks our new beginning. Then we can rightfully tell people we’re Christians.

   But let’s be sure to tell them we’re practicing Christians, ones who need all the practise we can get!  Let’s be open about our faults and honest about our failures.  Be clear that, despite our sin, we’re forgiven children of God, made perfect by the cleansing sacrifice of Jesus. Let’s trust in our I.D., not our “I can”.  Otherwise, our Christian acts are just part of our Christian acts.

By Rick Gamble, published in Cross Current, the weekly newsletter of the Followers of Christ congregation in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.  Reprint at will in not-for-profit publications.  To subscribe, contact sgamble@bfree.on.ca