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It is well-established that British comedian and movie star Sacha Baron Cohen makes his living by ambushing ordinary folks. Using fiercely flamboyant characters he established years ago while filming a TV series titled Da Ali G Show, Cohen bullies people into saying or doing dumb stuff—stuff they'll surely regret later.
But Plugged In Online found one Birmingham, Ala., man who didn't take the bait. A youth pastor at Point of Grace Ministries church, Jody Trautwein was duped by Cohen, and is featured in the just-released movie Brüno. But the result of their "meeting" isn't what you'd expect. The morning after reviewing the film, I talked with Pastor Trautwein for well over an hour.
Steven Isaac: Jody, what did you think and do when you discovered you had inadvertently become part of the Brüno "cast"?
Jody Trautwein: My pastor, Dusty Hammock, at Point of Grace, is just phenomenal. He gave me incredible wisdom and counsel and support, and he had a brilliant idea: Because my name appears on the screen, why don't we build a jodytrautwein.com website that immediately goes to a Point of Grace page so people can be ministered to. ... [It's a little strange, though. Especially since] 15 years ago when I began in the ministry I uttered one of those zealous prayers, "God, let me be nameless and faceless and touch a generation for You."
Isaac: Since you have not seen the film—and don't intend to—I'll tell you that nothing happened on the screen that lowered my opinion of you. From Sacha Baron Cohen's perspective, of course, the only reason you were in the film was to mock you. That's why he kept "hitting" on you and saying rude, sleazy things to you while you were trying to counsel him. You had to have thought that was little strange, right?
Trautwein: Yes, and in fact a New York Post reporter also asked me about that—if at any point did I think, "Could this guy be for real?" And yet, to be honest, I did. I thought this was really excessive but then I started recalling times I had counseled people in similar situations in the past. They had uttered some of those same statements. I didn't sit for two hours with them so the number of times they said such things wasn't nearly as many as Brüno did, but from that standpoint the content didn't shock me.
[Still], I was the one who, at the two-hour point, said, "OK, this is the time to bring this to a place of decision. If you want to make a change, here's how the change can come." [And since he didn't want to make that change], I left him with a prayer of salvation and practical steps to live it out.
Isaac: At the end of your "segment" in the film, the implication is left hanging that since you couldn't help Brüno, you recommended he see a second counselor. Did that happen?
Trautwein: No, not at all. I kept continually pointing him back to Christ, [telling him] that I could lead him to Christ but that only a true transformation would take place when Christ came into his heart.
Isaac: And that does come across onscreen. It's obvious that you're trying to convince him that the only way he can turn away from his homosexual behavior is through the power of Jesus Christ—that comes across loud and clear.
Trautwein: Praise God, praise God. Thanks for sharing that. That is fantastic news. The New York Post reporter told me similar things—saying that by far I was the most patient with Brüno. He said that in no way, shape or form did I say anything that could bring shame or humiliation, but on the contrary it almost looked by the end of the scene that the joke was on Brüno, that he didn't get the reaction he was looking for.
I will be honest, Steve, during the last 10 minutes of the counseling time I could feel the presence of the Lord come into the room. God knew it was Sacha Baron Cohen even though I didn't, and I sensed very strongly that the words that I was speaking were going straight to the heart of the man, no matter who he was. I looked at him [after he starting hitting on me] and I told him, "What you are attracted to, what you are feeling is not me, but Christ is so attracted to you and wants you to fall in love with Him. He will be your bridegroom and wants you to be His bride, and He will teach you to be a man and all those things.
Isaac: How did the film's producers set you up? How did they make you think this was a legitimate counseling opportunity?
Trautwein: January 30th [2009] I received a phone call from Todd Lewis claiming to be with Amesbury Chase Productions out of the Los Angeles area, and he told me that German One Television had hired them to produce a documentary contrasting strong moral values versus immoral values. He said that with the recent rise in Europe of liberalism and increasing immorality in America, German One really wanted to show strong, pure American traditional moral values. One of the ways they wanted to do this was they had a young man who was desiring to come out of homosexuality and wanted to give his heart to Christ and wanted to be counseled and led to Christ and [learn to] live out the practical steps of transformation.
I asked the producer, Todd Lewis, how he received my name. And he said he had Googled biblical traditional marriage and found my name. ... He saw me as someone who was not afraid to speak out for the truth, specifically concerning issues of morality. And he asked me if I would be interested in having them produce this documentary [which was meant to] alert parents and leaders of young people, and expose the deception and perversion that some in the entertainment industry want to perpetrate against our children, our families and our homes.
I know now that that was not the true intent of their hearts, but it's exactly the purpose that God is turning it around and using it for.
Isaac: That brings to mind a few Bible verses.
Trautwein: I preached a message last Wednesday called "The Sword of Goliath." That which the enemy intended to kill God's anointed with, David used the giftings that were in his hands to knock the enemy down and then took the sword from Goliath and used it to take his head off. Even though that is very graphic I believe that's what God is doing with this. It was intended to make a mockery of God and the things of God in the same way Goliath mocked the Children of Israel and mocked God for 40 days, and God ended up turning it around and using it to defeat the enemy, to defeat the strongman, to defeat Goliath. It reminds me that once they saw Goliath had been taken down there was a surge that went through the Israelite camp and they began to chase the Philistines and it encouraged and empowered the rest of the people of God.
Watching this thing really begin to turn around, I've had the opportunity to do some research on Sacha Baron Cohen himself and I've found out that he has apparently strong orthodox Jewish roots. His fiancée, Isla Fisher, an actor, had to convert to Judaism to meet the approval of his parents. They have a 1-year-old daughter together, and his grandmother lives in Haifa, Israel. Knowing that salvation was for the Jews first and then the Gentiles, I am seeing that Sacha Baron Cohen has a powerful destiny on his life and purpose. Right now he is obviously not living that, but once he surrenders his heart to Christ, I can see God using him powerfully. The name Cohen, by the way, means priest in the Hebrew language and traces all the way back to the Levitical priesthood.
Someone shared with me 1 Timothy 1:12-17 where the apostle Paul was talking about how formerly he had been a persecutor, he had been a blasphemer, he had been an insolent man, but God had mercy on him and showed great patience with him because he did it ignorantly in unbelief. And I thought, "Wow, did Sacha Baron Cohen do this ignorantly and in unbelief?" So I began praying for God to have mercy on him. The apostle Paul went on to say how he surrendered his heart to Christ even though formerly he was chief among sinners. Many people may call Sacha Baron Cohen a chief among sinners—even though we know we all are—but if God had mercy on Paul it would be nothing for God to have mercy on Sacha Baron Cohen.
Isaac: I have to say at this point that this doesn't sound like a normal response for somebody who has just been duped in front of the whole world.
Trautwein: No one likes being deceived, but the bottom line is that God is my defense, so I don't have to defend myself. We are called to be defenders of the truth and defenders of the faith. So if there is a defense that I am going to take up it's going to be for the Word of God and the things of God.
The longer this goes on the more I can see the hand of God begin to work and to really awaken the Christian community and awaken the church and sound the alarm. There are many things, unfortunately, within the body of Christ that we disagree on, but one thing we can agree on is helping to preserve morals and values for our children and for future generations.
Isaac: The apostle Paul also wrote that even if Christ's Gospel is preached for spiteful reasons, God would use it for His glory, and in this sense, if you were put into this film out of spite, God can still use it.
Trautwein: Larry [Charles, the film's director] was actually there; he just used his first name, so I met Larry there. He came out after the scene was done, and I asked him if he was pleased, if he was satisfied, if this was what he was looking for. And he seemed to be very well pleased and even commented on my level of patience. He said he didn't think he could have been that patient with Brüno. And so I am just crazy enough to believe God can touch his heart, too, through this and when he puts his head down on his pillow at night he may hear the words coming back to him that the only way to change is for Christ to come into your heart.
On YouTube alone within a couple of days after it was released, [the trailer for Brüno] already had 2 million hits. And think about the millions of people who are going to pay to see this movie for whatever reason, some may be believers, some will not be. Many will have not darkened the doors of a church for a long time. And someone could see that scene and Christ could reach out and grab hold of their heart. So for that one person, it's absolutely worth it.
Isaac: Jody, I want to encourage you to stand by your commitment to not see the film yourself. I think your promise carries with it a great lesson to your youth group, your church and the rest of the world that you aren't going to carelessly participate in something as dark and ugly as this movie is, even though you're featured in it. It communicates that your faith and your commitment to purity is more important than your personal curiosity.
Trautwein: Thanks, I appreciate you saying that. ... In the initial press release that I sent out about the truth behind my appearance in Brüno, I spell out that what you ponder, if you participate in it long enough, becomes a pattern in your life. And all the patterns in your life form who you are as a person, and who you are as a person determines your purpose or destiny. So your destiny is determined by your thought life today.
I've told [my kids in my youth group] everything that's happened, and I'm getting e-mails from parents that say things like, "My son is ready to take on the devil himself!" They are fired up. They are calling their friends, they are telling them the truth, and they are angry about this. If this situation produces the same kind of righteous indignation Jesus felt when He went into the temple [to throw out the moneychangers], then praise God because His house will be a house of prayer, and this generation is marked for prayer, for intercession, for worship, for fasting and for destiny.
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