David Hampton died this past week. The name may not be familiar to you, but his story might be.

In 1983, David Hampton, then only 19 years old, smooth-talked his way into the favor of New York’s society elite, pretending to be the son of Academy Award-winning actor Sidney Poitier, and a student at Harvard University. In fact, Hampton was not related to Poitier — he was the son of an attorney from Buffalo — and had never attended Harvard. But his dazzling tales about his movie star “father” gained the young man invitations to dinner at the tables of many of the Big Apple’s movers and shakers, including the dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and the president of PBS television station WNET. Several of Hampton’s newfound friends presented him sizable gifts of money and expensive clothing.

When his ruse was finally unveiled, Hampton served 21 months in jail in prison for attempted burglary. He was in and out of trouble with the authorities all the rest of his brief life.

In 1990, playwright John Guare authored a stage play called Six Degrees of Separation, based on David Hampton’s unusual story. The popular play won numerous awards, and actress Stockard Channing earned an Oscar nomination for her performance in the 1993 film version, in which Will Smith starred as a character closely modeled on Hampton.

Why did David Hampton do what he did? Why did he pretend to be someone he was not? A friend of Hampton’s offered this explanation, “David, like many of us, had a real need to be somebody important and special. He did stuff to be ‘somebody’ in his mind — somebody important, somebody fabulous.”

David Hampton wasn’t the first person ever to succumb to the temptation to try to appear to be other than his true self. The Bible is filled with accounts of such people. Isaac’s son Jacob disguised himself as his older twin Esau, to fool their father into giving Jacob the birthright and blessing that was rightfully his brother’s (Genesis 27). Delilah masked her true motivations in getting close to Samson — he thought she loved him, when in reality she was an agent of his enemies (Judges 16:4-21). Peter denied that he was a disciple of Jesus to save his own skin (Matthew 26:69-75). The great first-century rabbi Gamaliel spoke of two men, Theudas and Judas of Galilee, who had incited uprisings and rebellions by “claiming to be somebody” (Acts 5:36-37).

The Scriptures tell us that Satan and his minions often disguise their true nature to delude others: “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). Jesus said, “For false christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect” (Mark 13:22), calling such impostors “ravenous wolves” in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15). The apostle Paul speaks of their “trickery,” “cunning craftiness,” and “deceitful plotting” (Ephesians 4:14). We must always be on guard that we are not taken in by those who claim to teach the authentic gospel of Christ, but do not.

Likewise, we must be careful that we ourselves are not guilty of being impostors — of pretending to be people of God when our true loyalties lie with the world and its treasures (Matthew 6:19-24). It is often easier to identify others’ hypocrisy than our own. Brother Homer Walker used to relate the story of a preacher who was told by a backsliding Christian, “I don’t want to go back to church. They’re all hypocrites there.” To which the preacher responded, “There’s always room for one more.”

“Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good” (Romans 12:9). If we seek the favor of God and men, let’s commit ourselves to truly striving for the higher standard — not pretending to be better than we are.