July 10, 2009 | 8:06 pm

Youth pastor tells Bruno that Jesus can help

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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“Bruno,” the latest film from Sacha Baron Cohen, the genius behind “Borat,” not that you really need to be told who Cohen is, opened today. Reviews have been excellent, but sadly I won’t be seeing it tonight.

Religion makes a number of appearances in “Bruno.” That much was obvious from the clips of the gay Austrian reporter getting run out of Jerusalem by a gang of Orthodox Jews. There was hummus-Hamas debate. And what about when Bruno meets with Jody Trautwein, youth pastor of an Alabama church, who tells Bruno that Jesus can help free him from homosexuality.

“Are you hitting on me?” Bruno responds.

Of course, Trautwein knows now that he was duped. But he has a Josephian perspective on the matter:

“He proceeded to ask me many vile, repulsive questions,” Trautwein said. “It obviously turned out to be just deception and perversion, but the message in my heart is actually going to be shared with millions. It’s turning out to be a positive thing. If nothing else, people will hear me sharing Jesus.”

Trautwein said he never watched Cohen’s 2006 smash hit, “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,” although he’d heard of it.

Trautwein said he was contacted in January by a movie producer who found through an Internet search that Trautwein had been executive director of the Alabama Coalition Against Same-Sex Marriage in 2005. The producer said he was working on a German documentary.

“Christ has a way of penetrating through deception to the heart to meet the needs of the individual,” Trautwein said. “What the devil intends for harm, God has a way of turning it around and using it for his glory.

“I see this turning around and being used for good. There are people all over the world who may not go to a church. Somewhere in the middle of this movie they’re going to hear about the name of Christ.”

Religion News Service report here.

After the jump is my absolute favorite Bruno clip, but it comes from “Da Ali G Show,” not the feature film. Watch for the dude jumping off the top of that RV: