Out Our Way: Watch him ride

Matthew 7:15-20 "By their fruits you will know them"

Out our way, they used to say, "Before you can know who is a real deal cowboy, you need to see him ride." Watching me on ole Doc with me bouncing around like I'm on a jackhammer, they knew to put me in the back of the herd riding drag. I have the hat, chaps, boots, rope and all the paraphernalia of a cowhand, but not the skill - and it shows. Like that dude at the fair in Great Falls who didn't know chaps go over your jeans and not "instead of," no real cowhand is going to be fooled by appearances, once they have seen me ride.

Now, in this day of one "Medicine Show TV Preacher" after another being exposed as a fake, one wonders why so many people are fooled. They have built up fortunes and perform their "medicine show watered down gospel" to large audiences who pack into their auditoriums for the show. As in other forms of "showbiz," these "stars" make millions with which to buy their huge mansions and private jets so, as one top-rated "TV preacher" put it, "So I can travel in comfort and not be too tired to save your soul when I arrive." How do they manage to pack their theaters with "believers?" Maybe they don't.

The advantage of a smooth sales pitch and preaching a watered down version of the faith is that there is no challenge (except perhaps to the checkbook) involved. Folks sit in theater seats and watch the show thinking they are attending "church." The word "church," by the way, is the English translation of the "ekklesia" (the "called out ones"). This begs the question: "called out for what?" The answer is "called out to serve as disciples," not to simply sit in a building one hour a week.

"By their fruits you will know them" - not by their canceled checks or the "preacher's" Mercedes Benz. The real deal disciple who tries to put the faith into tangible action in the daily world sees through the charade. The "pretend disciple" who talks the talk but never walks the walk does not.

But the audience will stay with the Medicine Show because she or he will never be made uncomfortable or asked for more than to support "the ministry" with tithes and offerings. Like the real deal cowhand who can spot the tenderfoot by how he rides, the real deal Christian knows that "by their fruits alone will they be known."

Be blessed and be a blessing.

Brother John

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The Rev. John Bruington is the retired pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Havre. He now lives in Colorado, but continues to write "Out Our Way." He can be reached for comment or dialogue at [email protected].