Discerning the Counterfeit

By Eric Mumford

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P.O. Box 3709  Cookeville, TN 38502
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All Scripture quotations are taken from The New American
Standard Bible, The Lockman Foundation, 1960, 1962,
1963, 1968, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. All rights reserved.
Bracketed notations within these verses indicate a more
literal English translation of the original Hebrew or Greek
word and also the author’s commentary.

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Discerning the Counterfeit
by Eric Mumford
Recognizing ‘Worthless’
Reflecting upon the nature and ways of God’s
enemy—“the serpent of old” (Rev 12:9)—a
certain southern quip just seems to fit: “An ounce
of pretension is worth a pound of manure.” The
Scriptures frequently refer to Satan by the name
Belial or Beliar, which simply means worthless.
Belial, whom we will call Worthless, is an imposter
clothed head-to-toe in pretense: “Satan disguises
himself as an angel of light” (2Cor 11:14).
Worthless was formerly a distinguished
archangel of heaven whose name is not mentioned
in the Scriptures; early theologians named him
Lucifer, a Latin translation of light-bearer or
shining one (Isa 14:12). This archangel of God
willfully degenerated into self-love (eros). As a
self-center, Lucifer desired to be first—seeking to
be served and no longer to be God’s servant and
esteeming himself worthy to be the object of all
worship and no longer a worshipper. This noble
being of great worth was entirely consumed by
envy of God; he ceased to be Lucifer and became
Worthless. Through the prophet Ezekiel, the Lord
recounts Lucifer’s fall:
Thus says the Lord God, “You had the
seal of perfection, full of wisdom and
perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the
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garden of God; every precious stone was
your covering: the ruby, the topaz and
the diamond; the beryl, the onyx and
the jasper; the lapis lazuli, the turquoise
and the emerald [Aaron and his sons, the
high priests of Israel, wore this breastplate
of precious stones, Ex 28:17-20]; and the
gold, the workmanship of your settings
[lit. tambourines] and sockets [lit. flutes],
was in you. On the day that you were
created they [instruments of worship]
were prepared. You were the anointed
cherub who covers, and I placed you
there [as a steward of worship, the leader
of My worshippers]. You were on the holy
mountain of God; you walked in the
midst of the stones of fire [heavenly beings,
luminaries of God’s glory].

You were blameless in your ways from the

day you were created until unrighteousness
[self-love] was found in you. By the
abundance of your trade [worship for
worthlessness; “exchanging the truth of God
for a lie” (Ro 1:25)] you were internally
filled with violence [envy, greed, murder],
and you sinned; therefore I have cast you
from the mountain of God. And I have
destroyed you, O covering cherub, from
the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart
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 was lifted up [in self-worship] because of
your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom
by reason of your splendor [self-referential
(eros) rationale]. I cast you to the ground
[earth]; I put you before kings, that they
may see you. By the multitude of your
iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your
trade [counterfeiting] you profaned your
sanctuaries. Therefore I have brought fire
from the midst of you; it has consumed
you, and I have turned you to ashes
[worthlessness] on the earth…” (Ezekiel
28:11-18).

Worship literally means worth-ship: to

magnify, cherish, and celebrate God’s worth.
“God is Agape [sacrificial self-giving Love]” (1John
4:8). Essentially, worth-ship is reciprocating
God’s Agape—perpetually offering ourselves to
Him in sacrificial self-giving as He perpetually
gives Himself to us. Lucifer was actually a
unique creation of God designed with musical
instruments of worth-ship, “tambourines” and
“flutes,” hard-wired into his very being! Further,
God appointed him to a most distinguished
position of honor and authority—an angelic high
priest of heaven—the first to wear the breast-piece
of Aaron and entrusted with authority over all the
worshippers of God’s kingdom. The fact that one-
third of God’s angels followed him into darkness
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is evidence that Worthless was previously a being
of great worth and authority (Rev 12:4).
Lucifer was uniquely equipped and appointed
to lead all creation on an eternal journey into the
fathomless worth of the infinite Trinity of Agape,
but magnifying and esteeming himself, he became
a forerunner into sin (eros), blazing a new trail
of self-discovery and self-worth-ship. Worthless
has spent all the subsequent ages mastering the
arts of deception and seduction, luring all God’s
creatures great and small to follow him on this
alternate, twisted path of eros. Promising self-
gratification to each unsuspecting dupe, Worthless
exploits the sum total of his victims for his own
vainglory, enslaving them through addiction and
fear in his counterfeit kingdom and using them
as pawns in the gratification of his envy of God.
When Jesus “was led up by the Spirit into the
wilderness to be tempted by the devil,” Worthless
even invited God’s Son to participate in this
egotistical madness. Boldly quoting Scripture as a
part of his customized snare, the cunning serpent
offered Jesus a certain worthless promise, “if You
fall down and worship me” (Mt 4:1-9).
From the moment Lucifer (“light-bearer”) sold
himself into this irredeemable darkness, he has
since attempted to usurp God’s position, authority,
and glory in every imaginable way. Worthless is
a created being. He is not the Creator, and he
is not God; therefore, to carry on this charade
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of “equality with God,” this imposter must
perpetually mask his own finite limitations as a
non-deity with deceptive pretense and conceal his
deficiencies and inabilities with fraud, forgeries,
and counterfeiting. With astounding effectiveness,
Worthless peddles worthlessness.

The Copycat
Worthless, who “disguises himself as an angel
of light,” is uniquely qualified to carry on this
envious charade because he actually was an angel
of light before his degeneration into darkness.
The archangel Lucifer was among the most
distinguished, powerful, and honored beings of
God’s creation before he was thrown out of heaven.
The intellectual capacity which God created in
this super-being, as well as the privileged access to
the Trinity granted to Lucifer as an angelic high
priest of heaven, afforded him intimate familiarity
with many deep mysteries of God. As a former
‘heavenly insider,’ this outcast cunningly and
shamelessly exploits his first-hand knowledge of
the kingdom of God by every conceivable means,
counterfeiting the light, power, culture, lingo,
designs, imagery, and even God’s objectives and
methods.
To recognize Worthless and discern his
schemes, we must understand that as a non-
deity he does not possess God’s creative power to
generate original things; he is a copycat driven by
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envy. “One who plans to do evil, men will call a
schemer [lit. deviser of evil]. The devising of folly
is sin [counterfeit creativity]” (Pro 24:8-9). All of
Satan’s inventions and devices are dark ‘knock-
offs’ of God’s creative ingenuity. Worthless, the
pretender, is himself a counterfeit, and out of
his very nature he masterfully counterfeits all the
original ideas and creations of God.
Though Satan does not have generative,
creative power, he does wield tremendous
degenerative, destructive power. He strives “to
make crooked the straight ways of the Lord” (Acts
13:10). Worthless takes God’s resources—His
words, designs, objectives, and especially angelic
and human beings—and makes them crooked;
that is, he twists them in upon himself as a false
center. All of his innovations—deceptions, lures,
counterfeits, and forgeries—are crafted from the
raw resources of God’s kingdom.
The outcome of the degenerative perversion
of God’s original, life-giving things is a counterfeit
kingdom, which is the antithesis of Father’s
genuine kingdom. He has effectively constructed
a kingdom of dark-light that is a perverted replica
of the kingdom of Light, wrought through with
nearly undetectable half-truths—intricately crafted
lures, snares, and pit-falls designed to capture and
hold mankind hostage from their Creator.
An effective fishing lure is painted with
multi-colored, iridescent paint, complete with
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detailed scales and eyes; even motionless it is
indistinguishable from a real fish. Further, the
lure is triple-jointed, the head, body, and tail are
linked, and when skillfully pulled along, the fake
fish appears to glide through the water by its own
propulsion exactly like a live fish. The barbed
hook trailing beneath is rarely discovered until
it has already been swallowed. Worthless’ dark
gift of al-lure-ment makes him an exceedingly
treacherous enemy. As this Plumbline unfolds, we
will see how Worthless, moved by envy of God,
masterfully and comprehensively counterfeits all
the genuine things of God as hook-laden lures,
including miracles, spiritual gifts “without Agape,”
a kingdom of Oneness, and even Son-giving and
resurrection itself.
Consider the difference between jealousy
and envy: jealousy wants what another has, envy
wants what the other has and for the other not to
have it. Envy is a very evil, destructive thing—one
of the major load-bearing pillars of wickedness
and the impetus of murder. Worthless wants to
be the king of God’s kingdom. He does not want
an altogether different kind of kingdom; he is
attempting to replicate God’s kingdom on earth as
it is in heaven, except that he is the focal point and
center. Worthless desires what God in His creative
ingenuity desires, but for himself, particularly the
worth-ship of God’s children. Covetous envy is
why counterfeiting is the very core of Worthless’
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agenda and activities, his stock-and-trade. Isaiah
provided a helpful exposé of Worthless:

How you have fallen from heaven, O star

[lit. shining one] of the morning, O son
of the dawn! [originally a luminous being
created and honored by God]. You have
been cut down to the earth, you who
have weakened the nations! [by deception,
counterfeiting]. But you said in your heart,
“I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my
throne above the stars of God [His angels
and children] and I will sit on the mount
of assembly in the recesses of the north
[usurp God’s place among His people]. I will
ascend above the heights of the clouds; I
will make myself like the Most High.”
Nevertheless you will be thrust down to
Sheol, to the recesses of the pit. Those
who see you will gaze at you, they will
ponder over you, saying, “Is this the man
[Worthless, the false-father] who made the
earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who
made the world a wilderness and overthrew
its cities, who did not allow his prisoners
to go home [to their true Father]?

…Like a rejected branch [counterfeit of

Christ, “the righteous Branch”], clothed
with the slain who are pierced with a
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 sword [those he deceives and murders], who
go down to the stones of the pit like a
trampled corpse. You will not be united
with them in burial, because you have
ruined your country, you have slain your
people. May the offspring of evildoers
[“sons of Belial”] not be mentioned forever.
Prepare for his sons [imposters, liars who
exhale Worthless’ spirit] a place of slaughter
because of the iniquity of their fathers.
They must not arise and take possession of
the earth [usurpers] and fill the face of the
world with cities [counterfeit light, anti-
glory] (Isa 14:12-21).

Belial’s Worthless World

For Lifechangers’ mission projects in Ukraine
and Uganda we must take $100 and $50 U.S.
dollar notes printed by the U.S. Treasury in 2001
or following. Banks and currency exchangers
in these foreign nations do accept older bills
but will only offer a significantly lower rate of
exchange. In the 1990s there was so much skillful
counterfeiting of U.S. currency that even trained
bank tellers find it difficult to detect the difference.
Currency exchangers have lost substantial profits
by discovering, after their day’s transactions, many
counterfeit bills among the cash they took in.
In addition to counterfeit currency; fake
Rolex watches; phony Prada wallets, shoes, and
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handbags; and all variety of bogus technological
merchandise abound. When purchasing clothing,
jewelry, home and auto parts, computer software,
etc., we meet the same phenomena of “tares among
wheat.” In Uganda, we have bought seedlings
from salesmen who swore they would produce
certain fruit-bearing trees, only to plant them
and discover something altogether different—
worthless. Further, the quality of products, which
bear the exact same name-brand, can also vary
greatly; we must ask, “Where was this made?”
Belial’s kingdom, known to us as “the world,”
is chock-full of counterfeits and counterfeiting:
false advertising, fraud, “knock-offs,” plagiarism,
forgeries, and stolen innovations. Apart from these
overt deceptions, it is most rare that any product
or service you hear advertised actually lives up
to its claims. Further, “the world’s goods” are
wrought through with ‘planned obsolescence;’
that is, products intentionally designed and
crafted to wear out or become out-dated in order
to secure greater profits by future sales. In this way,
Worthless & sons cultivate consumer addicts and
exploit them for profit, ceaselessly and shrewdly
attempting to get more than they give.
We were born into a world of takers mentored
in and mastering Belial’s ‘eros hook’—there is
the appearance of adding something to you,
but at the last moment, when the transaction is
complete and it is too late, their self-referential
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agenda is revealed and you have been taken! We
all have been victims of it; therefore, we all have
learned it, and we all practice it. It all began with
Worthless. The counterfeit products and services
we encounter daily on the surface of this natural
world are directly sourced from the spiritual
degeneration of Worthless.
It causes us to wonder, as lifetime residents
of this dark, familiar world that is “passing away”
(1Cor 7:31), are we now so accustomed to all this
counterfeiting and futility that we no longer even
expect anything genuine? Have we ever actually
seen anything truly genuine, and would we even
recognize it if we saw it? Perhaps we do not even
realize just how temporal, fake, and worthless
it all is, even those things that we appraise as
authentic. Jesus observed, “If the light that is in
you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (Mt
6:23). Are we even capable of discerning between
precious and worthless? Considering these things,
perhaps we better understand why Abraham
“was looking for the city which has foundations,
whose architect and builder is God” (Heb 11:10).
Abraham was simply not interested in ‘buying’
what degenerate men had designed and built.
Before making his lifetime purchase he asked,
“Where was this made?”
Worthless, “the deceiver,” is a masterful
propagandist; he shrewdly twists words to seduce
and manipulate. Both through whispers and
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broadcasts, he peddles counterfeit “good news,”
the promise of abundant life in self-gratification.
We hear a report of the promise of things that we
never actually see, and yet we believe and move at
his word! To reinforce these deceptions, Worthless
carefully constructs mirages. In “the world,”
a cursed wasteland of famine and thirst of his
own making, Worthless appears to be an oasis of
water just over the next dune. Expending our last
remaining strength, we struggle over the burning
sands to the appearance of something that is not
really there. Upon reaching that place, thing,
person, or opportunity that we believed held
such promise of gratification, and discovering it is
not where we thought, we see the mirage further
ahead and continue “emigrating” deeper into his
“waterless place” to our death.
Curiously, one of the major Las Vegas casinos
is called The Mirage. What an appropriate name
and illustration of the whole degenerate world into
which we were born. “The house,” packed with
gamblers, always comes out on top. While raking
in cash, “the house” is simultaneously cultivating
a legion of addicts who repeatedly return in false
hope. Of course Belial’s mirage technique is
evident in the secular world, but it is particularly
effective in the religious world.
Countless “Christian” churches around the
world frequently proclaim the same eros-driven
message: “If you tithe to God (our church, of
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course), He will bless your business, finances,
family, health, and future, but if you do not, you
will bring the curse of Malachi on yourselves.”
Invariably, “the house” always comes out on top.
While promoting and providing for itself, the
church is simultaneously cultivating a legion of
religious addicts who are repeatedly exploited
in Jesus’ name! This is a cruel twist on Father’s
intended design of reciprocal generosity in Agape;
this is “the synagogue of Satan” (Rev 2:9; 3:9). We
hear but do not see; we see but it is not really there;
we buy, yet how quickly it becomes obsolete; we
buy again.
However, of the genuine, indestructible
kingdom the psalmist writes, “As we have heard,
so we have seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in
the city of our God; God will establish her forever”
(Ps 48:8). No false advertising here; no ‘planned
obsolescence!’ The composers of Psalm 48, who
provided this ‘verification of authenticity,’ were the
sons of Korah—citizens and worship leaders in the
kingdom of David and Solomon. God established
the kingdom of David and Solomon as a natural,
authentic type of the genuine, spiritual kingdom
of priests to come in the Person of His Son:

Now when the queen of Sheba heard

about the fame of Solomon concerning
the name of the Lord [foundation], she
came to test him with difficult questions
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 [genuine or counterfeit?]….She spoke
with him about all that was in her heart.
Solomon answered all her questions;
nothing was hidden from the king that he
did not explain to her. When the queen
perceived all the wisdom of Solomon,
the house that he had built, the food of
his table, the seating of his servants, the
attendance of his waiters and their attire,
his cupbearers, and his stairway by which
he went up to the house of the Lord [all
natural, yet genuine types of the eternal,
spiritual kingdom], there was no more
spirit in her. Then she said to the king,
“It was a true report which I heard in
my own land about your words and your
wisdom. Nevertheless I did not believe the
reports, until I came and my eyes had seen
it. And behold, the half was not told me.
You exceed in wisdom and prosperity the
report which I heard” (1Kings 10:1-7).

Of the spiritual fulfillment of that natural

kingdom Jesus said, “Behold, something greater
than Solomon is here” (Mt 12:42). “For as many
as are the promises of God, in Jesus Christ [the
genuine, perfected Son] they are yes; therefore
also through Him is our Amen [verification of
authenticity] to the glory of God through us”
(2Cor 1:20). The kingdom of God built upon
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the eternal foundation of the tested, proven Son,
Jesus Christ, has no ‘planned obsolescence.’ “O
Lord, Your testimonies are fully confirmed”
(Ps 93:5). Observing others peddle counterfeit
products and philosophies pre-scheduled
for obsolescence and ultimately destined for
destruction, humble gratitude and unspeakable
joy well up within us to advocate and proclaim
this genuine kingdom of our eternal Father built
upon His Son! Worthless & sons love things
and use people; Father & sons use things to love
people.

But now God has promised, saying, “Yet

once more I will shake not only the earth,
but also the heaven.” This expression,
“Yet once more,” denotes the removing
of those [counterfeit] things which can be
shaken, as of created things, so that those
[genuine] things which cannot be shaken
may remain. Therefore, since we receive a
kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us
show gratitude by which we may offer [in
reciprocal generosity] an acceptable service
with reverence and awe [worth-ship]; for
our God is a consuming fire [the Authentic
Revealer] (Heb 12:26-29).

Laboring to equip God’s people with

discernment to know precious from worthless
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and teaching them to distinguish the radical,
subterranean differences between the genuine and
counterfeit kingdoms, the psalmist David writes,
“How long will you love what is worthless and
aim at deception?” (Ps 4:2). Just how far will you
chase the mirage?
Abraham and his offspring of faith saw through
Worthless’ offers and flatly refused him. David
said, “I will set no worthless thing [counterfeit]
before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall
away; it shall not fasten its grip on me” (Ps 101:3).
Cutting all ties to Worthless’ world, these kingdom
emigrants loved, aimed for, and discovered “Him
who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all
that we ask or think” (Eph 3:20). These discerning
men and women ‘invested’ themselves into the only
One who actually delivers far more than promised,
and they were not disappointed. “Behold, I lay in
Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone, and
he who believes in Him [God’s tested, proven, gen-
uine Son] will not be disappointed” (1Pet 2:6).

“The power of the evil one”

We have accurately identified Worthless
as a pretender, an imposter, a fraud, a copycat,
and a counterfeiter; however, these seemingly
trite personifications could lead one to grossly
underestimate the authority and effective power of
this ancient serpent. Satan is by no means a mere
camouflaged weakling. Three primary archangels
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are introduced in the Scriptures: Gabriel, who
instructed the prophet Daniel (Dan 8-9) and
announced to Mary that she would conceive the
Christ Child; Michael who also came to Daniel’s
aid (Dan 10); and Lucifer. In the book of Jude
there is a fascinating warning about the arrogant
foolishness of “reviling angelic majesties:”

But Michael the archangel, when he

disputed with the devil and argued about
the [deceased] body of Moses, did not dare
pronounce against him a railing judgment,
but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” (Jude
1:9-10).

Knowing His people had a strong inclination

to idolatry and would inevitably erect a worthless
shrine to Moses, the Lord Himself buried the
body of Moses in an unknown location with no
human witnesses (Deut 34:6). Worthless, however,
intended to exploit Moses’ body by returning
it to Israel as a counterfeit object of worth-ship
that would eclipse the worth-ship of God and
snare His people. Though the Scriptures do not
make plain the chain of command among these
archangels, it seems Michael wisely acknowledged
that Lucifer (Worthless) out-ranked him, even
in his degenerate state. A survey of human
history reveals that it is commonly the second in
command, moved by an envious desire to be first,
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who spearheads the coup, mutiny, or assassination.
Though I am speculating based on this sketchy
scriptural evidence, it is possible that after the
three Persons of the Godhead, Lucifer was second
in command in heaven over the remaining angels
and heavenly beings.
God entrusted the whole earth to Adam and
Eve, investing them with His authority over it
as stewards (Gen 1:28; Heb 2:5-8). When the
serpent deceived Adam and Eve, he made them
partakers of his degenerate nature and therefore
his slaves. Though Worthless’ authority over
degenerate mankind and this world was usurped
by this crafty means, it is legally binding and very
real. The fact that Father sent His Son to legally
“ransom” us is evidence of Belial’s real authority.
When Jesus was led into temptation (testing),
“the devil took Him to a very high mountain and
showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and
their [counterfeit] glory; and he said to Him, ‘All
these things [under my control] I will give You, if
You fall down and worship me’” (Mt 4:8-9).
The Apostle Paul refers to Belial as “the god of
this world” (2Cor 4:4). The Apostle John wrote,
“The whole world lies in the power of the evil one”
(1John 5:19). John added, “And the great dragon
was thrown down, the serpent of old…who
deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to
the earth and his angels were thrown down with
him” (Rev 12:9). Martin Luther underscored this
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reality in his awesome hymn, A Mighty Fortress
is Our God, declaring that Satan is “armed with
cruel hate” and “on earth is not his equal.”
Belial is, indeed, a crafty serpent: he strikes
with lightning speed, he carefully calculates the
precise target of his bite, his venom is lethal, and
history testifies that his toxic anti-life courses
through an individual, family, community,
nation, and even the world like wildfire. Consider
how a solitary, opportune visit of the “angel of
light” to Joseph Smith in New York State has
subsequently ensnared millions of Mormons in
a deadly, contagious deception. They dispatch
their precious, young men by twos in counterfeit
evangelism throughout every nation on earth
carrying with them a forged document: “the
Companion to the Bible: Another Testament of
Jesus Christ.”
My Ukrainian daughter (age 24) is earning
her masters degree in International Relations and
Diplomatic Studies in a Ugandan University. One
fascinating course is called International Political
Economics. We are discovering through various
case-studies that developed, western nations
frequently offer humanitarian aid to third-world
nations under the pretense of benevolence when
in fact, they take far more than they give. It is
common knowledge that government officials,
corporations, and contractors in these developing
nations commonly steal and sell donated medicines
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for diseases and embezzle funds granted for the
construction of roads and power plants, etc.
However, the calculated eros payoff of the wealthy
benefactors has not been so obvious—counterfeit
philanthropy.
Posing as generous humanitarians, certain
developed nations shrewdly offer third-world
nations essential resources while simultaneously
“negotiating” the extraction of vast amounts of raw
materials at cut-rate prices, with tariff exemptions,
cheap labor, and geographical access for various
hidden, self-serving purposes, etc. The rich offer
short-term solutions to the poor and reap nearly
all of the long-term benefits. To reinforce their
coercive control, international laws are written
by a cunning few that give calculated advantage
to the rich. International patent laws forbid
developing nations to reproduce certain formulas
for needed medicines with their own available
resources, keeping them dependent on aid and
primed for further exploitation. It should not
surprise us that the same predatory, eros behavior
we observe among degenerate individuals occurs
on an international scale. It is truly Worthless’
world! Through his spiritual influence, Worthless
continues to directly twist and pervert the secular,
contemporary affairs and endeavors of entire
modern-day governments.
From Father’s perspective, knowing how
cunning and cruel His enemy can be and how
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serious the custody battle is over the lives of
His beloved children, He grieves that we are so
ignorant, ill-prepared, immature, foolish, and
wayward in eros, chasing mirages and falling so
easily into snares, confusion, misplaced allegiances,
etc. “For God sees not as man sees, for man looks
at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks
at the heart” (1Sam 16:7). Man looks at, Father
sees through. Our wise Father is distressed that we
are virtually defenseless because our judgments
and subsequent choices are based upon outward
appearance. Human discernment is entirely
useless against such a crafty deceiver and skillful
counterfeiter who targets, aims, and “shoots from
concealment” (Ps 64:4). Father would teach us
to see as He sees—beneath the façade of pretense,
beneath the veneer of the counterfeit, into the
reality of the heart.
Through His prophets, we hear our Father’s
voice repeatedly urging each generation of His
people to beware. It is Father’s heart expressed
through Paul in his first letter to his spiritual
son Timothy. In just six short chapters, He cites
these potential dangers in Worthless’ world of
counterfeits:

Straying… turning aside… suffering

shipwreck in regard to your faith…handed
over to Satan…being deceived, fell into
transgression…becoming conceited and
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 falling into the condemnation incurred
by the devil…falling into reproach and
the snare of the devil…falling away from
the faith paying attention to deceitful
spirits and doctrines of demons…
denying the faith…feeling sensual desires
in disregard of Christ thus incurring
condemnation, having set aside your
previous pledge…turning aside to follow
Satan…keep yourself free from sin…
falling into temptation and a snare and
many foolish and harmful desires which
plunge men into ruin and destruction…
wandered away from the faith and pierced
themselves with many griefs…gone astray
from the faith… (1Timothy 1-6).

In weighty, perpetual concern, Paul was

consumed with Father’s burden to mature His
children “that no advantage be taken of us by
Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes”
(2Cor 2:11). We hear Father through T. Austin
Sparks:

“Lest any one of you should seem to have come

short...” (Heb 4:1). For those who… have
a real burden and sense of responsibility
for the spiritual life of God’s people, one
of the most heart-breaking things is the
way in which so many who gave promise
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of going right on with the Lord are caught
in some side-track and turn to something
other or less than He meant for them.
Not necessarily to sin or to the world,
but to something which, while it brings
them a great deal of gratification for a
time, eventually proves to be a diversion
resulting in arrested spiritual growth,
and they are found in a backwater, a cul-
de-sac, occupied with an alternative to
“the whole counsel of God.” Their ‘new
discovery’, or ‘light’, or ‘guidance’, as
they speak of it, by reason of the let-up of
some tension, solution to some problems,
promise of release into self-realization, and
escape from pressure, when the novelty
and glamour have worn off is found to
have been “deceitful waters,” producing
Jericho’s fruits which fall before they are
ripe....

The peril or snare will be cunningly and

ingeniously adapted to the ‘prey’. What
would capture some would make no
appeal to others. The most spiritual will
be presented with what appears to be most
spiritual. Our particular temperament
will be our peculiar danger. We shall
have to, ever and always, be governed by
principle, and not by feelings, preferences,
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 arguments, or natural appeal. Intellectual
palliatives, emotional ecstasies, activity-
gratifications must be suspected or
challenged. The one question must be
paramount—Where does this lead? Does
it essentially and intrinsically relate to the
one supreme purpose of God? (T. Austin
Sparks, The Danger of Coming Short).

Distinguishing Genuine from Counterfeit

Noah Webster will help us define the
fundamental difference between genuine and
counterfeit:
Genuine: from genus, its genetic root; native,
belonging to the original stock, hence real; natural,
true, pure; not spurious, false or adulterated.
Ingenuous: Open, frank, fair, candid, free from
reserve, disguise, equivocation, or dissimulation;
noble, generous; of honorable extraction,
freeborn.
Counterfeit (verb): to forge, to copy, or to imitate
without authority or right, and with a view to
deceive or defraud, by passing the copy for that
which is original and genuine; as to counterfeit
coin, bank notes, a seal, a bond, a deed, the
handwriting or signature of another, etc. To make
a likeness or resemblance of anything with a view
to defraud; to make or put on a resemblance, as

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to counterfeit the voice of another person; passing
the false for the true; to feign, to dissemble, to
carry on a fiction or deception. (Adjective):
forged, fictitious, false, fabricated without right;
hypocritical. (Noun): a cheat, a deceitful person,
one who pretends to be what he is not, one who
impersonates another, an imposter. In law, one
who obtains money or goods by counterfeit letters
or false tokens.
Counterfeiter: one who copies or imitates; one who
assumes a false appearance (Noah Webster, 1828
American Dictionary of the English Language).

The Bible reveals that the true, living God

is actually three Persons: God the Father, God
the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Trinity
is One God because each of the three Persons is
uncreated, eternal, and shares one and the same
sacrificial, self-giving nature (Agape gene, DNA)
with the other Two; “God is Agape” (1John 4:8).
This Trinity in Oneness is the Creator, the genetic
Root, and origin of all things, including Lucifer.
Come let us worth-ship and bow down, let
us kneel before the Lord our Maker [our
genetic Root]. For He is our God, and we
are the people of His pasture [a kingdom
not of Worthless’ world], and the sheep of
His hand [no longer orphans in the false-
father’s custody] (Ps 95:6-7).
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 This raises the question of the origin of evil. A
very simple, concise answer: evil is essentially self-
love (eros), the impetus of all thoughts and acts
of wickedness. The triune God did not create evil
(eros), but the Three did create the heavens and
the earth in freedom—a freedom of the sacrificial
self-giving Love that They are and have shared
with One Another from eternity. An essential
aspect of agape is that it is not coercive or robotic;
agape must be freely, volitionally, and willingly
reciprocated to be gen-uine. Lucifer willfully
abused the freedom of agape, degenerated into self-
love (eros), practiced self-worth-ship, and ushered
in the reality of sin (eros) and its consequence: the
power of decay and death.
Agape (sacrificial self-giving) and eros (self-
love) are both love. Agape is an uncreated Reality
because it is the very nature of the eternal God, the
genetic Root of all things. Eros is not a creation of
God; neither was eros a “creation” of Lucifer, since
he has never possessed creative, generative power.
Eros is a perversion of agape—love redirected and
twisted onto self, a counterfeit love, a feigning
love: “Let love [agape] be without hypocrisy. Abhor
what is evil; cling to what is good” (Ro 12:9). Eros
is the fundamental lie, the prototype counterfeit
from which Worthless produces all counterfeits of
all varieties.
By deception, Worthless infected a third of
God’s angels (now demons), as well as Adam and
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Eve, making them partakers of his degenerate
nature. Through Adam and Eve’s degenerate
offspring, eros and its “wages” of barrenness,
futility, and death have been passed down to each
and every generation of mankind, multiplying
Satan’s evil in the earth. Demons strive alongside
Worthless to maximize the destructive power of
evil by shrewdly exploiting our eros compulsions,
luring us into customized opportunities to
manifest our selfish nature by acting in self-will.
We will further examine man’s eros
degeneration in a moment, but first we must
understand the difference between real and
genuine. Worthless and all his counterfeit things
and mirages are absolutely real. The power of
eros; false ideologies and religions with their own
inherent magnetism and miraculous signs; fleshly
snares customized to his prey; and his cunning,
loyal agents actually exist both in physical and
spiritual dimensions, but they are not gen-uine;
that is, they do not originate from the true God of
Agape, our Creator, the genetic Root of all things.
The power of deception, the remarkable
effectiveness of counterfeits, and the source of
our confusion all lie in this one fact: God is Love
(Agape), but Worthless is also love (eros). Like the
cunningly-crafted fishing lure, it is exceedingly
difficult for one to discern the difference between
these two until the barbed hook has already been
swallowed.
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The Face and the Façade
There has appeared to mankind in the world
both a Face and a mask. A face is the primary means
by which a person communicates himself, who
he really is. God designed the face as one of the
foremost instruments of self-giving relationship:
“The Lord used to speak to Moses face to face,
just as a man speaks to his friend” (Ex 33:11). The
eyes are a window to the soul, “the mouth speaks
out that which fills the heart” (Mt 12:34), and
the overall countenance registers on the surface
an infinite variety of sentiments and emotions
occurring within. A face reveals; a mask conceals.
A mask is a type of façade, a counterfeit
persona worn by a pretender. A façade is designed
to cleverly conceal an unsightly reality. Another
term for façade is veneer. Wood veneer is used
to make furniture appear to be constructed of
solid, quality lumber when it is actually worthless
particle board that swells and warps when wet! In
the world, Christ is the Face of God, but there
is also a masked pretender—“the spirit of the
antichrist” (1John 4:3). Worthless, the imposter,
masks himself as God.
Worthless, the counterfeit god, was “thrown
down” into the world; the gen-uine Son was “sent”
into the world where Worthless the deceiver had
already established himself as god among men
through many idolatrous façades both secular and
religious. The Son of God was sent to us from God
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the Father (the genetic Root) that we might see into
Father and know Him; therefore, the God-Man
Jesus Christ is gen-uine. Jesus repeatedly said, “If
God were your Father, you would agape Me, for
I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I
have not even come on My own initiative [in self-
will, with a self-serving agenda], but He sent Me”
(John 8:42).
Jesus Christ, “the Son of Father’s Agape” (Col
1:13), is a Face and not a façade because He is
an exact DNA match of God the Father: “And
He [the genuine Son] is the radiance of God’s
glory and the exact representation of His nature
[Agape DNA]” (Heb 1:3). Jesus said, “I and the
Father are one” (John 10:30). Jesus’ human face
“has no stately form or majesty that we should
look upon Him, nor appearance that we should
be attracted to Him” (Is 53:2-3), yet beneath this
ordinary, humble exterior of flesh all the fullness of
uncreated, eternal glory resides within: “He is the
image [Face] of the invisible God” (Col 1:15).
“He who has seen Me has seen the Father”
(John 14:9). Out through Jesus’ human eyes a
humble Father looks upon those degenerate,
ungrateful men to whom He eagerly wills to give
Himself sacrificially.

In the beginning was the Word, and

the Word was with God, and the Word
was God [DNA match]. He was in the
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beginning with God. All things came into
being through Him, and apart from Him
nothing came into being that has come
into being [the genetic Root]. In Him was
life [Agape], and the life was the Light of
men. The Light [countenance of Christ,
the Face of God] shines in the darkness,
and the darkness did not comprehend
it [distracted, captivated by the masked
imposter]….There was the true Light
which, coming into the world, enlightens
every man. He was in the world, and the
world was made through Him, and the
world did not know Him [we only knew
the imposter]. He came to His own, and
those who were His own did not receive
Him. But as many as received Him
[appraised Jesus’ worth and exchanged the
counterfeit for the gen-uine], to them He
gave the right to become children of God
[regenerated into His Agape DNA] (John
1:1-12).

The god of this world [Worthless, the

masked imposter] has blinded the minds
of the unbelieving so that they might not
see the light of the glory of Christ, who is
the image of God….For God, who said,
“Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the
One who has shone in our hearts to give
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 the Light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2Cor
4:4-6).

“Satan disguises himself as an angel of light”

(2Cor 11:14). An angel is a gen-uine messenger sent
from God, an authorized representative of Agape.
In the Old Testament, before His incarnation into
human flesh, the Son of God came among men
numerous times as a theophany (God appearing
as a man) and is Himself called “the angel of the
Lord” (Ex 3:2). The Son is called an “angel,” not
in the sense that He is a created being, but that
He is Father’s sent One. “Satan disguises himself
as an angel of light,” an imposter of the sent One.
Worthless’ intricately crafted façade of love (eros)
can appear identical to the uncreated “genetic
Root”—the Love (Agape) of the Father, Son, and
Spirit. Like a carefully crafted, intricately decorated
fishing lure, Worthless’ façade of light conceals
a deadly eros hook beneath. Bob Mumford has
repeatedly taught us: “Do not merely look at, see
through.”
There is only One gen-uine Christ, but John
tells us that “many antichrists have appeared”
(1John 2:18). God sent Christ to reveal His
worth; Worthless counterfeits God’s own strategy
by sending many antichrists—human agents
manifesting his degenerate spirit—to reveal
and glorify himself as though he were God.
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There is One Face but many masks. However,
as regenerated, gen-uine “members” of Jesus’ one
body, you and I, as Christ-ians, are now sent into
the world as God’s Face! Father now shines the
Light of Agape through His Son formed in us; He
looks through our eyes with compassion upon the
world of orphans whom He loves.
The most effective way to expose a counterfeit
is simply for the gen-uine to show up! By sending
“the Son of His Agape,” God the Father exposed
Worthless: “We were held in bondage to the
elemental [counterfeit] things of the world. But
when the fullness of the time came, God sent
forth His Son” (Gal 4:3-4). The Son, in turn,
exposed Worthless by revealing the nature of His
true Father, the genetic Root:
Or what man is there among you who,
when his son asks for a loaf, will give him
a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will
not give him a snake [hook-laden lure]
will he? If you then, being evil [degenerate
in eros], know how to give good gifts to
your children, how much more will your
Father who is in heaven give what is good
to those who ask him! (Mt 7:9-11)
The gen-uine Son of God “appeared to destroy
the works [façades, counterfeits] of the devil” (1John
3:8). Jesus destroyed Worthless’ façade, exposing
him as an imposter of His Father, testifying:
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 He was a murderer from the beginning,
and does not stand in the truth because
there is no truth [Agape] in him. Whenever
he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own
nature [eros], for he is a liar and the father
of lies [lit. the lie] (John 8:44).
Out from his own nature of envious self-love,
Worthless breathes forth “lies” to perpetuate the
pretense of equality with God, and he “murders”
those who attempt to expose him as an imposter
and counterfeiter. Nothing expels an imposter
more effectively than the gen-uine Original being
unveiled; however, exposing Worthless and the
human antichrists with whom he masks himself
tends to result in murder. Having exposed
Worthless, Jesus was betrayed and delivered up
to crucifixion. Many of Jesus’ gen-uine brothers
and sisters through whom He has exposed
Worthless have been literally martyred, and many
suffered merciless persecution and character
assassinations.
Snakes ‘Taste’ Smells
A snake can actually ‘taste’ smells. In
sticking out its forked tongue, the snake
captures odor molecules and brings them
into its mouth, where they are identified
by the sensitive olfactory organ (Richard
Swenson, M.D., More Than Meets the Eye,
Navpress, p. 37).
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 Jesus said to His disciples, “Behold, I send you
out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd
as serpents and innocent as doves” (Mt 10:16).
For the purpose of understanding, I will venture
to restate this verse in my own words:

Listen to Me, My beloved brothers and

sisters, those who are being led by the Spirit
of My Father. I send you out into a world
of predatory counterfeiters, so be alert
and observant, wise and discerning of the
cunning ways of our ancient enemy and
his agents (antichrists). I will teach you to
‘taste smells,’ that you might distinguish
between Worthless and the genetic Root,
that you may not be deceived and seduced
into the ways and likeness of the false-
father, but act in the peaceable, generous
likeness of our true Father.

The serpent is an emblem of eros—shrewdness,

craftiness, and predatory cunning. The dove is an
emblem of Agape—sacrificial self-giving and its
fruit of peace. Shrewd means intelligent, wise,
observant, alert, and aware. Innocent means
unmixed, pure, harmless, and free from guile.
Jesus added, “For the sons of this age [practiced,
mature counterfeiters] are more shrewd in relation
to their own kind than the sons of light” (Luke
16:8). We can distinctly hear the grief in Jesus’
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observation, conscious of how grossly ill-prepared
and vulnerable His brothers and sisters are—it
ought not to be this way! While on earth, Jesus
demonstrated for us a shrewd discernment
capable of “tasting smells,” and yet He acted in
the unmixed, self-giving, peaceable nature of His
Father. “But Jesus perceived [tasted the smell of]
their malice, and said, ‘Why are you testing Me,
you hypocrites?’” (Mt 22:18).

And Jesus…said to the paralytic, “Son,

your sins are forgiven.” But some of the
scribes [religious imposters] were sitting
there and reasoning in their hearts [eros
calculation], “Why does this man speak
that way? He is blaspheming [dishonoring
our man-made, counterfeit religion]….”
Immediately Jesus, aware [tasting the
smell] that they were reasoning this way
within themselves [beneath the façade], said
to them, “Why are you reasoning about
these things in your hearts?” …He said to
the paralytic, “I say to you, get up, pick up
your pallet and go home” [demonstration
of Agape amongst serpents]….They were
all amazed and were glorifying God [the
genetic Root], saying, “We have never seen
anything [gen-uine] like this” (Mark 2:6-
12).

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 By tasting smells Jesus effectively overcame
the evil in man with good. We must be aware
of eros in order to overcome it with agape; you
must recognize God’s enemy and his toxic taproot
in man. First the Spirit helps you to discern and
expose the residue of Worthless’ nature and ways
within yourself and then in the world outside of
you.
Surprisingly, even Satan in his envious,
destructive crusade is purposefully used by the
Almighty to fulfill His ultimate objective—“the
Son of His Agape” perfected in us. Our Elder
Brother Jesus intentionally sends us out as sheep
into Worthless’ treacherous world of predators
and counterfeits that His sacrificial self-giving
DNA in us may have opportunity to mature.
The environment of this dark, eros world—severe
conditions of testing and proving—are uniquely
conducive to the development of the gen-uine
Light and Life of Christ within us. Worthless’ hard
world is the very anvil of iron upon which the
Son’s nature and character are hammered out to
perfection within us. The deceiver tempts, but at
the same time, in those exact same circumstances,
God tests, proves, reproves, matures, and perfects
His Agape nature within us.

The Genetic History of Mankind

To understand why human beings think, act,
and live as we do, we will chart the progression of
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mankind’s genetic history in our Creator according
to the following terms: the genetic Root, in-gen-
uity, gene, de-gene, re-gene, gen-uine, gene-rous:
Adam and Eve were created (gened) in the
image of God, the genetic Root. God, in His
in-gen-uity, uniquely designed mankind with
the capacity to partake of, and mature in, the
‘DNA’ of their relational Creator—“God is
Agape [sacrificial, self-giving Love]” (1John 4:8).
Though the first human beings, Adam and Eve,
were untested, unproven, and immature in God’s
likeness, they were destined to become self-givers
in the gene-rous likeness of the Trinity, partakers
of God’s gen-uine, relational Life in Agape.
However, the “crafty” serpent made an effective
yet fraudulent sales pitch, offering them a worthless
alternative—counterfeit ‘life’—an invitation to
awaken to self-consciousness. With “eyes opened”
(Gen 3:5) they joined Worthless in the darkness
of self-love (eros): the perpetual compulsion of
self-gratification in self-will that alienates us from
God and one another. Adam, Eve, and all their
offspring were de-gened; we became ‘takers’ with
a naturalized capacity to mature in the serpent’s
self-centered likeness.
‘Buying’ the deceiver’s lie, man ‘sold’ the
gen-uine Life of God in him; we forfeited
and exchanged gen-uine Love (Agape) for the
counterfeit of self-love (eros). We “exchanged
the glory of the incorruptible God for an image
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in the form of corruptible man…and exchanged
the truth of God for a lie [lit. the lie]” (Ro 1:23-
25). The glorious “truth of God” is His uncreated
Agape nature; “the lie” is eros. The “simplicity” of
God-conscious “devotion” (2Cor 11:3) and the
freedom of sacrificial self-giving for others was
displaced in us by the curse of self-love; thereafter,
man was spiritually and relationally “dead” to
God and others, “alive” to self, and enslaved to
compulsive self-gratification.
In an act of mercy originating out of His own
Agape nature, God the Father sent His only Son
among us as a flesh-and-blood Man in Whom the
gen-uine, uncorrupted DNA of the Trinity resides.
“Jesus has been manifested to put away sin [eros]
by the sacrifice of Himself [Agape]” (Heb 9:26).
God the Son, in a consummate act of Agape—
denying self-will, forfeiting self-interest, and
sacrificially giving Himself unto death as a Man
on the Cross in our place—secured the necessary
authority to extend to all mankind Father’s gen-
uine invitation. In profound humility, this tested
and proven God-Man invites every one of us to
spiritually ‘ingest’ His flesh and blood by which the
very Agape DNA of God (the Trinity’s “abundant,
eternal Life”) is assimilated into us, that we might
be regenerated–re-gened.
The unmistakable evidence that the gen-
uine DNA of the God of Agape is in us—that
we are “born from above” through the blood of
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the Son—is self-sacrificial gene-rosity. In a test,
this distinctive of gen-uine sons and daughters
of God is impossible to counterfeit. The in-
gen-uity of our Creator was the source of this
amazing plan. Before the creation of the world,
the Trinity purposed to make mankind gen-uine
partakers of Their own nature, in order to gene-
rously give to us the inheritance of the “abundant
Life” of fellowship They have shared with One
Another from eternity—the capacity to receive
and reciprocate Agape.
After coveting Bathsheba, committing adultery,
and attempting a fraudulent cover-up by the pre-
meditated murder of her husband, King David
composed this psalm to the Lord:

Against You, You only have I sinned [‘I

violated and dishonored Your gen-uine Life
at work in me by Your Spirit’] and done
what is evil in Your sight [‘I gratified self at
the expense of God and others’]….Behold,
I was brought forth in iniquity [‘I am a
de-gene-rate counterfeiter’], and in sin
[Worthless’ nature of envious self-love] my
mother conceived me. Behold, You desire
truth in the innermost being [‘Re-gene-
rate into me Your Agape DNA’]….Do not
cast me away from Your presence and do
not take Your Holy Spirit from me [‘Our
relationship of reciprocal, sacrificial self-
-41-
 giving is gen-uine Life’]. Restore to me
the joy of Your salvation [‘Deliver me out
of self-consciousness and self-will into the
freedom of Agape’] and sustain me with a
willing spirit (Ps 51:4-12).

Cosmic Custody Battle

Children are the foremost treasure and
inheritance of their parents because they are born
of their own DNA. The genetic bond between a
father and mother and their cherished offspring—
who look, talk, and act like them—is very
powerful. This human-to-human genetic bond
reflects the likeness of an even more powerful
genetic bond which exists between the Creator
and human beings. God created mankind “in His
own image” (Gen 1:27); therefore, human beings
are of great worth to God. Among all the things
that God created, human beings are uniquely
designed with the capacity to mature in His
likeness, that is, to freely reciprocate the sacrificial
self-giving Love (Agape) that God is. Therefore,
human beings are partakers of His worth, His own
children, and His foremost treasure. We are the
supreme “inheritance” for which God is eagerly
waiting (Deut 9:29; Ps 28:9; Ro 8:19).
God must wait to fully inherit us because His
sacrificial, self-giving nature in us has been sold
and lost; His likeness in us has been materially
damaged. In our de-gene-rate condition of self-
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love we are alienated and “excluded from the life
of God” (Eph 4:18). We are orphaned in eros.
God is waiting for us to be fully re-gene-rated
that we may be all His again, that we may be His
treasured possession. Until God’s sacrificial, self-
giving nature (Agape) is perfected in us He cannot
fully inherit us since we are unwilling and unable
to fully give ourselves to Him as He gives Himself
to us.

My well-beloved had a vineyard on a

fertile hill. He dug it all around, removed
its stones, and planted it with the choicest
vine. And he built a tower in the middle
of it and also hewed out a wine vat in
it; then He expected it to produce good
grapes, but it produced only worthless
ones….Judge between Me and My
vineyard. What more was there to do for
My vineyard that I have not done in it?
Why, when I expected it to produce good
grapes did it produce worthless ones? (Isa
5:1-4).

Though we continue to withhold our

affections from God and spend them on worthless
counterfeits, God chose to give all of Himself to
us in His Son (Col 2:9-10). “Father predestined
us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to
Himself, according to the kind intention of His
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will [Agape]” (Eph 1:5). When the DNA of God
in Christ is fully formed in us, we will be able
to fully reciprocate Father’s Agape and be His
perfected children and His fulfilled inheritance. “I
am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine” (Song
6:3). Reciprocal Agape is reciprocal inheritance.
Worthless, the former heavenly ‘insider,’ knows
this all-too-well. “But you are a chosen race [gen-
uine family], a royal priesthood [of worth-ship], a
holy nation [kingdom], a people for God’s own
possession [inheritance]” (1Pet 2:9). Consumed
by perpetual envy of God, Worthless desires to
possess what God is waiting to possess and for God
never to possess it. If God did not love us, choose
us, want us, give Himself to us, and wait for us,
Worthless would not give us a second thought or
waste one minute of his time. However, since we
are the treasured inheritance for which God longs,
Worthless spends all that he is and all that he has
to capture, as hostages, human beings destined to
be regenerated into the image of God and perfected
in His likeness as beloved children. Worthless
targets human beings; he “hunts the precious life”
(Pro 6:26).

For God [true Father] so loved the world

[His degenerate, lost, orphaned children]
that He gave His only begotten [gen-
uine] Son, that whoever believes into Him

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 [legally adopted by faith] will not perish
[with the false-father] but have eternal
life [regeneration, naturalized into Father’s
Agape DNA] (John 3:16).

Since the crafty serpent first took Adam and

Eve (and all their subsequent offspring) hostage
by deception in Eden, world history has been a
cosmic custody battle between a true Father (the
genetic Root), and a false-father (Worthless, the
masked imposter). Using deception the false-father
“blinds the minds of the unbelieving” (2Cor 4:4),
preventing orphans from discovering their true
Father who seeks to adopt and regenerate them as
His own naturalized children.
“Let Us make man in our image, according
to Our likeness” (Gen 1:26). Entirely lacking
in creative ingenuity, Worthless even copies the
eternal desire of the triune God to make children
in Their likeness. Exploiting our addiction to self-
gratification with worthless promises, the false-
father fosters our dependence on him and displaces
our true Father within us. With degenerative
power, Worthless seeks to systematically destroy
the image of God in us and twist us further into
his own likeness; with regenerative power, our true
Father “rescued us from the domain of darkness,
and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son of
His Agape” (Col 1:13).

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 For we once were foolish ourselves,
disobedient, deceived, enslaved to
various lusts and pleasures [counterfeits
and mirages], spending our life in malice
and envy, hateful, hating one another
[manifesting the false-father’s degenerate
nature]. But when the kindness of God
our Savior and His Agape for mankind
appeared, He saved us…according to His
mercy, by the washing of regeneration
and renewing [into His DNA] by the Holy
Spirit (Titus 3:3-5).
Unbelievers are not Worthless’ primary target;
he especially seeks to derail and capture those who
have already become God’s children by exploiting
our immaturity and the residue of his own self-
gratifying nature that persists in us.

Beloved, now we are children of God

[legally adopted], and it has not appeared
as yet what we will be [we are half-formed,
not yet naturalized and perfected as His
inheritance]. We know that when He
appears, we will be like Him, because we
will see Him just as He is [perfected in
Agape] (1John 3:2).
In envy, Worthless schemes to usurp or at least
divide our affectionate allegiance to our Father.
The false-father aims to possess God’s children,
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but if he cannot twist and reroute our affections,
cause us to backslide, and put us into his service,
he would rather see us utterly destroyed (defamed,
‘shelved,’ or murdered) than to see us fulfill our
destiny as God’s possession on his turf (the world).
Martin Luther was right—it is a cruel, hateful
business.
In order to capture man…the Deceiver has
counterfeited the whole heavenly system,
from the Godhead through all orders of
spiritual beings and all forms of spiritual
work….There is not a thing which is true
of God and in relation to God which has
not been imitated by the Deceiver. Now
there are two great systems. There is the
divine system and there is the counterfeit,
the satanic system (T. Austin Sparks,
Christ the Power of God, chapter 4).

Worthless, the former heavenly ‘insider,’

not only counterfeits the culture, patterns, and
dynamics of the kingdom, he also skillfully
impersonates all three Persons of the Godhead
(Trinity). “I will make myself like the Most High”
(Is 14:14).
Of our true Father it is written, “Every good
thing given and every perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of lights, with
whom there is no variation or shifting shadow

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[counterfeits or mirages]” (James 1:17). Disguised
in light, the false-father’ impersonates the true
Father. Under the pretense of a caring, paternal
provider and protector, Worthless indulges the
self-gratifying and self-preserving instincts of our
eros nature, fostering our dependence on him and
enslaving us like drug-addicts in a degenerative,
destructive process. In this way Worthless gratifies
his envy of God the Father and possesses us as
his own—“children of the devil” (1John 3:10).
The false-father did not create his “children,”
nor suffer the birth-pangs of giving them life; he
merely kidnaps human beings by deception and
systematically twists them into his own degenerate
likeness.
The Scriptures also describe in detail how the
false-father copies our true Father’s plan to send
His Son as His “Word,” to lead us Home. The
false-father dispatches “antichrists” into the world,
imposters of Jesus Christ, to speak and impart anti-
life and lead us further astray from our true Father.
Further, Worthless cunningly uses his limited yet
effective power to counterfeit the works, methods,
gifts, and signs of the omnipotent “Spirit of truth”
whom Jesus promised would “guide us into all the
truth” (John 16:13). Worthless impersonates the
dynamic presence and voice of the genuine Spirit
in order to guide us deeper into “the lie:” “as sheep
they are appointed for Sheol; Death shall be their
shepherd” (Ps 49:14).
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 However, amidst all the treacherous confusion
of this custody battle, our true, life-giving Father
provides us with strong assurance and firm
confirmation of His genuine Love, calling us
Home to Himself:

For when God made the promise to

Abraham, since He could swear by no one
greater, He swore by Himself [the eternal,
immutable, sacrificial Self-giver]….And
so, having patiently waited, Abraham
obtained the promise [of inheriting
God and becoming His inheritance by
regeneration through the coming Son of
God]. For men swear by one greater than
themselves, and with them an oath given as
confirmation as an end of every dispute.
In the same way, God, desiring even more
to show to the heirs of the promise the
unchangeableness of His purpose [no
fraud], interposed with an oath, so that
by two unchangeable things in which it
is impossible for God to lie [act contrary
to His sacrificial self-giving nature], we
who have taken refuge would have strong
encouragement to take hold of the hope set
before us [Father’s kingdom to which we are
emigrating is not a mirage]. This hope we
have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both
sure and steadfast [not a counterfeit] and
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 one which enters within the veil, where
Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us [in
Christ, through the Spirit we are entering,
inheriting right now]… (Heb 6:13-20).

Father of “the Lie”

Jesus answered them [religious Jews], “…I
speak the [genuine] things which I have
seen with My [true] Father; therefore
you also do the [counterfeit] things which
you heard from your father [false-father
Worthless].” They answered, “Abraham is
our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you
are Abraham’s children do the deeds of
Abraham [by faith: ‘sell’ this counterfeit
world and ‘buy’ (emigrate) into the genuine
kingdom]. But as it is you are seeking to
kill Me, a man who has told you the truth,
which I heard from God; this Abraham
did not do. You are doing the deeds of
your father [Worthless]….

If God were your Father, you would love

Me, for I proceeded forth and have come
from God [gen-uine], for I have not even
come on My own initiative, but He sent
Me. Why do you not understand what
I am saying? It is because you cannot
hear My word. You are of your father

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 the devil, and you want to do the desires
of your father. He was a murderer from
the beginning, and does not stand in the
truth [Agape] because there is no truth in
him [eros counterfeit]. Whenever he speaks
a lie, he speaks from his own [degenerate]
nature, for he is a liar and the father of
lies [literal Greek: father of the lie]. But
because I speak the truth, you do not
believe Me….If I speak the truth why do
you not believe Me? He who is of God
[gen-uinely born from above] hears the
words of God; for this reason you do not
hear them, because you are not of God”
(John 8:38-47).

Jesus, the embodiment of Father’s Truth,

exposed Worthless as “the father of the lie.”
Though the false-father tells countless lies
(plural), all of his hook-laden deceptions, façades,
impersonations, counterfeits, and mirages issue
forth from one solitary lie—his own degenerate
nature of self-love.

The Truth and The Lie

Whether we are aware of it or not, on a
daily basis in Worthless’ world we encounter his
deceptive counterfeits of all varieties. They appear
to us in both natural and spiritual forms, both
in secular and religious settings, and yet they all
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stem from one solitary lie. In order to consistently
recognize the diverse façades of the false-father
and prepare ourselves to discern his repertoire of
schemes, we must “know [taste the smell of] the
spirit of truth and the spirit of error” (1John 4:6).
The Scriptures make evident that “the spirit of
truth” is sacrificial self-giving (Agape), and “the
spirit of error” is “the lie” of self-love (eros).
God’s “Word” is not a written message
comprised of vocabulary such as we find on the
static, printed pages of the Bible; rather, the Word is
the dynamic, living Person of God’s Son of Whom
the Bible testifies (John 1; Heb 1; John 5:39). In
the same way, truth is not a set of accurate, static
principles; rather, truth is the dynamic, living
Persons of the Trinity Themselves—the “God of
truth” (Ps 31:5; Is 65:16). More precisely, truth
is God’s essential nature: “God is Agape” (1John
4:8, 16). Sacrificial self-giving, which God alone
possesses, is the very substance and genetic Root
of truth.
God is Agape and God is truth; therefore,
sacrificial self-giving is truth. Worthless is eros and
Worthless is the lie; therefore, self-love is the one,
fundamental lie. Carefully survey the Scriptures
with me now in order that you may be equipped
with an effective “master-tool” of discernment,
which, on a daily basis, is able to save you from
buying counterfeits, chasing mirages, and falling
into deadly snares. As you meditate on the
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following verses, allow the Spirit to wash you of
“the lie” and renew your mind in “the truth:”
“that you, being rooted and grounded in Agape,
may be able to comprehend the Agape of Christ
which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled
up to [inherit] all the fullness of God [gen-uine
Life]” (Eph 3:17-19).
The Father, Son, and Spirit are truth: “And
the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and
we saw His glory [sacrificial self-giving], glory as
of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth [Father’s Agape DNA]” (John 1:14).
Paul said, “Truth [God’s Agape DNA] is in Jesus”
(Eph 4:21). Jesus taught us, “God is Spirit, and
those who worship Him must worship in spirit
and in truth [reciprocate His sacrificial self-giving]”
(John 4:24). Jesus said, “I am the way [to Father]
and the truth [gen-uine Agape] and the life [Source
of regeneration]; no one comes to the Father but
through Me (John 14:6). John testified, “the
Spirit is the truth [a sacrificial Self-giver]” (1John
5:6). Jesus added, “The Spirit of truth [Agape],
will testify about Me” (John 15:26); “And for this
I have come into the world, to testify to the truth
[God is the genetic Root of Agape]. Everyone who is
of the truth [regenerated in Our DNA] hears My
voice” (John 18:37).
God desires for us to be truth in His likeness.
John spoke of “the truth [Agape DNA] which
abides in us and will be with us forever” (2John
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2). Paul testified, “the truth [sacrificial self-giving
nature] of Christ is in me” (2Cor 11:10). After
David acted in the likeness of “the father of the
lie,” committing adultery with Bathsheba and
murdering her husband, he acknowledged to
God his urgent need of a DNA transplant: “You
desire truth [Your own self-sacrificial nature] in the
innermost being” (Ps 51:6). David prayed, “Teach
me Your [sacrificial self-giving] way, O Lord; I will
walk in Your truth” (Ps 86:11). John taught, “But
he who practices truth [matures in God’s own
sacrificial self-giving nature by practice] comes to
the Light; so that his deeds may be manifested
as having been wrought in God [acting from His
gen-uine DNA]” (John 3:21).
An opportunity to receive the “incorruptible
seed” of God’s DNA comes by hearing “the
message of truth [Agape in Jesus], the gospel of
your salvation [regeneration]” (Eph 1:13). We
receive the seed of God’s nature by a response
of faith: “Put on the new self [regenerated man],
which in the likeness of God has been created
in righteousness and holiness of the truth [God’s
own sacrificial, self-giving nature] (Eph 4:24). Paul
intentionally “put on” the genetic nature of God
offered to Him in Jesus and said, “For we can do
nothing against the truth [the DNA of our Father
at work in us], but only for the truth [doing all
things in His genetic likeness]” (2Cor 13:8). Paul
added:
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 But we have renounced the things
hidden [Worthless’ lie] because of shame,
not walking in craftiness [deceptive
counterfeiting] or adulterating the word
of God [using it as a hook for personal
gain], but by the manifestation of truth
[sacrificial self-giving DNA] commending
ourselves to every man’s conscience in
the sight of God [our genetic Root] (2Cor
4:2).

Lodged in self-love, we intentionally and

perpetually choose the lie: “For they exchanged the
truth of God [Agape nature] for a lie [eros nature]
and worshipped and served the creature [self-worth-
ship] rather than the Creator” (Ro 1:25). James
confronted double-minded believers: “But if you
have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your
heart [Worthless’ eros nature], do not be arrogant
and so lie against the truth [the nature of the God
of Agape]” (James 3:14). Ananias and Sapphira
made this foolish exchange: under the pretense of
sacrificial generosity to the church from their sale
of land, they lied against the DNA of God, which
they had received within by faith in Jesus. Peter
confronted them saying, “Why has Satan filled
your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit….You have
not lied to men but to God” (Acts 5:3-4).
Peter warned, “Many will follow their
sensuality [eros self-gratification], and because of
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them the way of truth [God and His regenerated
children] will be maligned” (2Peter 2:2). John
wrote, “If we say that we have fellowship [reciprocal
Agape] with Him and yet walk in the darkness [self-
love, self-will], we lie and do not practice the truth
[sacrificial self-giving]….If we say that we have no
sin [eros], we are deceiving ourselves and the truth
[God’s Agape DNA] is not in us” (1John 1:6-8).

Maturing in “the Truth”

“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in our
image, according to our likeness” (Gen 1:26).
The Father, Son, and Spirit, who first generated
mankind in Their own DNA, now work together
to regenerate and mature Their lost children. “For
those whom Father foreknew, He predestined to
be conformed to the image of His Son” (Ro 8:29).
Father sent His gen-uine Son in human flesh; the
Agape DNA of God is resident within a Human
Being “made in the likeness of men” (Phil 2:7).
Jesus flesh was torn and His blood was shed so
that those who “believe into Him” might become
“partakers of the divine nature” (2Pet 1:4).
After the Son secured for us the promised
inheritance of God’s nature through His own
tested, proven sacrificial self-giving at the cross,
Father sent the Holy Spirit to cultivate the
genetic “seed” of Their DNA within His believing
children. Through Spirit-directed practice in
God’s sacrificial, self-giving, we mature in Their
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image and likeness “from glory to glory” (2Cor
3:18). As we practice Agape, we “excel still more”
(1Thes 4:10).
The triune God has purposed for us to grow in
Their likeness from babes, to children, to mature
sons and daughters, and eventually becoming
ambassadors of our kingdom Family (2Cor 5:20).
Ambassadors are men and women of practiced
discernment, trained to “taste smells,” sent into
the world to effectually overcome the eros lie with
the power of Truth “rooted and grounded” within
them. God’s trustworthy stewards, evangelists,
pastors, teachers, prophets, and apostles, who bring
glory to that Name by acting in His sacrificial self-
giving likeness, were all ransomed out of self-love
and grew up from babes in Christ.
“For My people have forgotten Me [in self-
love], they burn incense to worthless gods [cherish
counterfeits] and they have stumbled from their
ways, from the ancient paths [leading to Father],
to walk in bypaths [mirages of the false-father], not
on a highway [Person of the Son]….If you return
[exchange the lie for the Truth], then I will restore
[regenerate] you—before Me [your true Father] you
will stand; and if you extract the precious from
the worthless, you will become My spokesman
[mature child, ambassador]. They [children of the
lie] for their part may turn to you, but as for you,
you must not turn to them” (Jer 18:15; 15:19).

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 We mature in Father’s genuine likeness by
progressive growth: incrementally exchanging “the
lie” of self-love into which we were born with “the
Truth” into which we are born again. We make
this exchange by systematically “extracting the
precious from the worthless.” Jesus said, “The
ruler of this world [Worthless] is coming, and he
has nothing in Me” (John 14:30). There was no
‘hook’ of the false-father in Jesus. Father’s gen-uine
Son could not be ‘bought’ with deceptive promises
and counterfeits; He was simply not interested in
anything Worthless was ‘selling.’
The extraction of Worthless’ degenerate nature
out of our hearts, minds, and behavior and the
extraction of his counterfeits (idols) out of our
daily lives is itself worth-ship of our worthy God.
Extraction means: “I do not want anything from the
false-father, I recognize him and his counterfeits,
and I am simply not interested. There is nothing of
Worthless in me and nothing of me in Worthless;
he is not my father. I only seek and ‘buy’ Truth,
which is from my true Father. I am well-content
in Father; I do not need to take because I know
He gives me all I need.” Jesus confronted double-
minded believers in the city of Laodicea:

You say, “I am rich [in Worthless’ world],

and have become wealthy [cherishing
counterfeits as true treasure], and have
need of nothing [self-sufficient],” and you
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 do not know that you are wretched, and
miserable and poor and blind and naked
[orphans which have sustained abuse in the
custody of the false father], I advise you to
buy from Me gold refined by fire [the
Son’s own sacrificial self-giving DNA tested
and proven on the cross] so that you may
become rich [with gen-uine treasure], and
white garments so that you may clothe
yourself [Son’s righteousness], and that
the shame of your nakedness may not be
revealed [exposed as a worthless, predatory
taker]; and eye salve to anoint your eyes
so that you may see [discern and extract
genuine/precious from counterfeit/worthless]
(Rev 3:17-18).

The word extract implies mixture. As immature

believers, we suffer the torment of mixture, a
double-mindedness that makes us precariously
vulnerable to Worthless. There is a mixture of
natures in us: “For the flesh [naturalized in eros,
“the lie”] sets its desire against the Spirit [of Truth],
and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in
opposition to one another, so that you may not do
the things that you please” (Gal 5:17). The Spirit
of Truth prevents us from maturing in self-love,
self-will, self-gratification. There is also a mixture
in our affections: a love for God and at the same
time a love of the world—a magnetism and affinity
-59-
for deadly, hook-laden counterfeits that have their
source in Worthless.
Music is one example of a practical extraction
necessary to maturity in Agape. Lucifer was an
archangel of worth-ship, of music, with musical
instruments created in his very being (Ezek
28:11-18). In his degenerate state, these gifts of
God remain in Worthless but are now used in
cruel envy to capture God’s children. Through
musicians and lyricists deceived and inspired by
“the lie,” Worthless himself is the author and
source of vast amounts of music, which ignorant
believers consider harmless, but through his dark
anointing, his anti-life is ministered directly into
the human spirit. We have seen many people
delivered of demons that first “befriended” them
and eventually possessed them through music and
idolizing musicians of “the lie.” The extraction of
worthless music from among your CDs and from
your iPod is necessary to mature in “the Truth.”
This same principle of extraction holds true
for the subtle yet powerful influence of degenerate
friends, sources of entertainment, methods of
accomplishing things, etc. Father’s gen-uine,
maturing child only wants, exposes himself to,
and ‘buys’ that which is of worth—from his true
Father. The “Spirit of truth” was given to live in us,
sent to help us discern precious from worthless,
and accomplish this essential extraction even
among the practical things of our lives. Godly
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extraction is not motivated by legalism, but rather
the powerful magnetism of exclusive, reciprocal
Agape.

Whatever is true [gen-uine], whatever is

honorable, whatever is right, whatever
is pure [extracted, unmixed], whatever is
lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there
is any excellence and if anything worthy
of praise [worth-ship], dwell on these
things (Phil 4:8).

Maturing in “the lie”

“By this the children of God and the children
of the devil are obvious; anyone who does not
practice righteousness is not from God, nor the
one who does not agape his brother” (1John
3:10). The Scriptures teach us that the processes
by which children of the Truth and children
of “the lie” mature are almost identical. Paul
warned his spiritual son Timothy, “But evil men
and imposters [mentored by the false-father] will
proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being
deceived” (2Tim 3:13). All human beings were
born in the custody of Worthless, the false-father;
as babes, we are partakers of his eros nature, a
heredity passed down from Adam and Eve.

Do you indeed speak righteousness…O

sons of men [de-gene-rate in eros]? No,
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 in your heart you work unrighteousness
[deception, counterfeiting]; on earth you
weigh out the violence of your hands
[predatory takers]. The wicked are estranged
from the womb; these who speak lies go
astray from the womb. They have venom
like the venom of a serpent [false-father
Worthless] (Ps 58:1-4).

The imposter of our true Father uses deceptive

schemes to get these babes to ‘invest’ their faith in
him, to follow him, learn from him, and mature
in his degenerate likeness from anti-glory to anti-
glory. These “children of the devil” practice and
progressively master the counterfeiting skills
of the pretender. Regarding both darkness and
Light, it is truly said that “practice makes perfect.”
Further, in both the cases it is man’s God-given
capacity of faith that transforms him into these
respective likenesses—we believe deeper and
deeper into the image of either the true Father or
the false-father. The God-given power of faith is
what makes deception so deadly: “The woman,
being deceived [believing Worthless], fell [lit. has
come] into transgression [his degenerate nature and
behavior]” (1Tim 2:14).

The Bible repeatedly refers to children

actively practicing “the lie” as “worthless
fellows” and “sons of Belial [Worthless].”
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 “Now the sons of Eli the priest [high priest
of Israel] were worthless men [lit. sons
of Belial], they did not know the Lord”
(1Sam 2:12).

“A false witness will not go unpunished, and

he who tells [lit. breathes] lies will not escape”
(Pro 19:5). In the Scriptures, breath and spirit
(Greek: pneuma) are virtually synonymous. “God
formed man of the dust of the ground, and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and
man became a living being [a spirit in a physical
body]” (Gen2:7). When a gen-uine child of God
“speaks truth in Agape” (Eph 4:15), he is actually
“exhaling” the Spirit of God that he has received
(inhaled) within. Though a liar is likely unaware
of it (being entirely absorbed in himself ), he is
actually inhaling and exhaling “the spirit of error.”
The unseen, subterranean source of a man’s lies
is the degenerate root, nature, and motive of the
original counterfeiter. Being self-deceived, a liar
imagines himself to be the source and author of his
lies when in fact he is unconsciously acting in the
likeness of his false-father. Worthless is secretly
exploiting the liar as an unwitting pawn through
whom he may breathe forth his toxic words
and accomplish his envious scheme of division,
darkness, and destruction. The liar believes that his
lies will effectively secure for him greater freedom
to do as he pleases, but in actuality he is merely
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reinforcing the very chains with which Worthless
has leashed and enslaved him.
Our true Father sends forth His gen-uine,
mature children as ambassadors into the kingdoms
of Worthless’ world, just as He sent His Son. The
false-father copies this strategy, sending out into
his world those he has systematically twisted
into his degenerate likeness: “From the serpent’s
root a viper will come out, and its fruit will be a
flying serpent” (Isa 14:29). The mature children
of the false-father are “treacherous in iniquity”
(Ps 59:5). Iniquity is a specific type of sin (self-
love) that means to bend, twist, or distort—taking
God’s resources and twisting them into a hook-
laden counterfeit used to gratify self by deceiving
others. Through the twisted, eros nature that
these worthless children share in common with
the serpent, they are inadvertently used as pawns
and agents of his ancient, envious scheme and are
treacherous.

A worthless person, a wicked man, is one

who speaks with a perverse mouth, who
winks with his eyes, who signals with his
feet [carrying out hidden agendas], who
points with his fingers [accuser]; who
with perversity [self-love, envy] in his heart
continually devises evil [crafts hook-laden
lures], who spreads strife (Pro 6:12).

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 For there are many rebellious men [de-
gene-rates], empty talkers and deceivers…
upsetting whole families [agents of
division], teaching things they should
not teach for the sake of sordid gain
[counterfeiters, takers]….They profess to
know God [imposters] but by their [eros]
deeds they deny Him, being…worthless
for any good [Agape] deed (Titus 1:10-
16).

As children of “the lie” mature, they eventually

become conscious servants of Worthless. In a reckless
and dark faith, they believe their allegiance to the
false-father will result in their own selfish gain.
Utterly convinced of this eros payoff, they are sent
from him as “false teachers” and “false apostles:”

I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived

Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be
led astray from the simplicity and purity of
devotion to Christ. For if one comes and
preaches another Jesus whom we have not
preached, or you receive a different spirit
which you have not received, or a different
gospel which you have not accepted, you
bear this beautifully….But what I am
doing I will continue to do, so that I may
cut off opportunity from those who desire
an opportunity to be regarded just as we
-65-
 are in the matter about which they are
boasting. For such men are false apostles,
deceitful workers, disguising themselves
as apostles of Christ [antichrists]. No
wonder, for even Satan disguises himself
as an angel of light. Therefore it is not
surprising if his servants also disguise
themselves as servants of righteousness,
whose end will be according to their deeds
(2Cor 11:3-15).

The New Testament seems to indicate that one

of the deepest levels of maturity in the kingdom
of God is an apostle: a tested, proven “sent one”
invested with Christ’s nature, name, truth, power,
and authority. In the likeness of Christ’s own
mandate and mission, a gen-uine apostle is led by
the Spirit to pioneer into realms of deep spiritual
darkness; these can be geographical places but also
social spheres such as government (e.g. Joseph and
Daniel), business, medicine, education, the arts,
etc. Carrying the influence of the kingdom (salt,
Light) into these realms, the apostle sacrificially
forfeits his own life to rescue the captives of
Worthless in that ‘place.’
An apostle willingly embraces the indescribable
suffering involved to engage in this no-holds-
barred custody war, and then patiently establishes
those new, wayward believers (still half in love
with the world) upon the foundation of Jesus
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Christ as a corporate expression of the kingdom
of God against which “the gates of Hades will not
overpower” (Mt 16:18). All of this is accomplished
while “the god of this world” ceaselessly and
viciously attempts to tear that new expression of
Christ’s body, as well as the apostle, to shreds! The
book of Acts and Paul’s epistles depict these acute
apostolic realities in living color.
Worthless’ counterfeit of God’s “sent one”
(apostle) is an antichrist, a human imposter of
Christ, greatly matured in the serpent’s degenerate
likeness, mentored in “the deep things of Satan”
(Rev 2:24), and invested with his power and
authority over the world to perpetuate and exalt
“the lie.” In the hierarchy of Satan’s army, the
five-star generals are antichrists. The apostle
John warned, “Even now many antichrists have
appeared” (1John 2:18).
“Therefore brothers, partakers of a heavenly
calling [ambassadorship], consider Jesus, the
Apostle and High Priest of our confession [of
Truth]” (Heb 3:1). The Son of God, Himself, is
called an Apostle, an Ambassador dispatched from
the kingdom of heaven—sent from Father. “In the
power of the Spirit” (Luke 4:14), Jesus was sent
to lead people “into all the truth” (John 16:13).
Paul testifies, “We are ambassadors for Christ,
as though God were making an appeal through
us, we beg you on behalf of Christ [the gen-uine
Apostle] be reconciled to God [to Father, the genetic
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Root]” (2Cor 5:20). The apostle Paul adds, “For I
will not presume to speak of anything except what
Christ [the Apostle] has accomplished through
me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by
word and deed [gen-uine faith in the Truth], in the
power of signs and wonders, in the power of the
Spirit; so that from Jerusalem and round about as
far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of
Christ” (Ro 15:18-19).
“Ambassadors for Christ” are ordinary,
redeemed individuals whom the Son has
regenerated and matured in His own gen-uine Agape
and made partakers of His own ambassadorial
calling. Through these human agents, empowered
by the same Spirit Who led Christ, the Son now
exerts tremendous influence upon the world
through His gen-uine, deputized bearers of Truth.
With a similar degree of influence, and in the
power of Worthless’ unclean spirit, antichrists
are mature, genetic bearers of “the lie.” Though
the power of the Spirit of God is infinitely greater
than the power of Satan (not even comparable),
God chose to bestow free will upon mankind and
invest us with the power of faith to determine
our own destiny either in darkness or Light. This
human faith-factor causes the war between these
two kingdoms, entirely mismatched in power, to
be a fierce battleground.
An antichrist can be a man or a woman. Jezebel,
“the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians,”is
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an Old Testament example of a woman who
wielded this degree of satanic influence. As a Gentile
ambassador to Israel, sent from the toxic root of a
consummately wicked king and kingdom, Jezebel
cunningly manipulated her husband, the king of
Israel, making him a puppet of her rule. In keeping
with her degenerate heredity, Jezebel effectively
set up Baal worship as the state religion in Israel
and systematically “destroyed the prophets of the
Lord” (1Kings 18:4). Elijah, who is considered the
most powerful prophet of the Old Testament, the
one who met with Jesus and Moses on the mount
of transfiguration, was himself terrified of Jezebel.
Immediately after Elijah called down God’s fire
on Mount Carmel, Jezebel sent a death threat to
him “and Elijah was afraid and arose and ran for
his life” (1Kings 19:3).
Daniel was a genuine, Old Testament apostle
‘sent’ into exile with his wayward people to
become a top-level ambassador of the kingdom
of God in secular politics. Amidst treacherous,
human predators, he was sovereignly appointed as
the chief advisor to four consecutive pagan kings
who literally ruled the entire civilized world. The
lion’s den was the least of his worries! Daniel,
God’s “man of high esteem [worth],” exerted
incalculable kingdom influence not only upon
his own contemporary world, but also upon the
world of all future generations. Daniel wrote:

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 “A king will arise [an antichrist], insolent
and skilled in intrigue. His power will be
mighty, but not by his own power [a pawn/
agent of Worthless the archangel, invested
with his power], and he will destroy to
an extraordinary degree and prosper and
perform his will; he will destroy mighty
men and the holy people [who resist his
agenda and threaten to expose him as an
imposter]. And through his shrewdness
he will cause deceit to succeed by his
influence; and he will magnify himself
in his heart [self-worth-ship; Worthless’
degenerate DNA], and he will destroy
many while they are at ease [snake-like
predator]. He will even oppose the Prince
of princes [the genuine Christ], but he will
be broken without human agency. The
vision of the evenings and the mornings
which has been told is true; but keep the
vision secret, for it pertains to many days
in the future [after Christ’s resurrection and
ascension].” Then I, Daniel, was exhausted
and sick for days. (Dan 8:23-25).

Test Before ‘Buying’

With our God-given capacity of faith, we
human beings buy into “the Truth” or buy into
“the lie.” Buying involves investing the affectionate
trust of our heart and mind and the strength of
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our will, zealously pursuing that which we believe
to be of worth. Jesus taught,

The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure

hidden in the field, which a man found
and hid again; and from joy over it he
goes and sells all that he has and buys that
field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like
a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon
finding one pearl of great value [worth], he
went and sold all that he had and bought
it (Mt 13:44-46).

God Himself bought a field looking for

treasure: “For God so loved the world [the field in
which His lost children were buried in darkness] that
he gave [did not spare] His only begotten Son…”
(John 3:16). Now that Father has bought the field
at unimaginable cost, He is eagerly shoveling,
digging to discover His treasured inheritance—
“the Son of His Agape” formed in the subterranean
places (DNA) of human beings “who are but dust”
(Ps 103:14). The shovel with which Father digs is a
tool called testing: “I, the Lord, search the heart, I
test the mind, even to give to each man according
to his ways [Agape or eros], according to the results
[fruit] of his deeds” (Jer 17:10).
The historical narratives and the teachings of
the Bible unanimously agree that God perpetually
tests, proves, and reproves the subterranean
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motives of human hearts, our inward thoughts, our
behavior, our work, and the fruit of our behavior
and work, hoping to discover the treasure of His
own sacrificial self-giving nature in us (Gen 22:1;
Ex 16:4; Deut 8:2; Ps 11:4-5; Isa 48:10; John
6:6). The Scriptures also repeatedly instruct God’s
children to test before ‘buying,’ to determine
whether a person, spirit, thing, philosophy,
message, situation, method, or opportunity is
gen-uine or counterfeit. Testing must begin with
ourselves:

Test yourselves to see if you are in the

faith [a ‘buyer’ of gen-uine Truth]; examine
yourselves! Or do you not recognize this
about yourselves, that Jesus Christ [God’s
Agape DNA] is in you—unless indeed
you fail the test? But I trust that you will
realize that we ourselves do not fail the
test (2Cor 13:5-6).

Testing is essentially a means of godly

discernment, the “shrewdness” of which Jesus
spoke—tasting smells. In the likeness of our Father,
Elder Brother, and the Spirit of truth, we must
learn to taste the smell of “the truth” of Agape
and “the lie” of eros, in order to distinguish the
precious from Worthless. This DNA-testing must
begin with self because an individual must pass
the test in order to effectively administer the test.
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 And this I pray, that your Agape [God’s
sacrificial, self-giving nature in you] may
abound still more and more in real [gen-
uine] knowledge and all discernment
[genetic ability to taste smells], so that you
may approve the things which are excellent
[lit. distinguish between things which
differ; genuine or counterfeit], in order to
be sincere and blameless until the day of
Christ… (Phil 1:9-10).

In this verse Paul gives us the master-key

to becoming “shrewd as serpents and innocent
as doves.” Maturing in God’s gen-uine, Agape
nature is itself the only means by which we can
discern the gen-uine amidst a myriad of cunning
imposters and masterful counterfeits. The outward
appearance of Worthless’ façades and counterfeits
are nearly flawless, altogether indistinguishable
from the gen-uine; therefore, God placed within
us a Light, the Light of His own DNA that shines
through, beneath, and within everything. The
Light of Agape is capable of piercing any veneer
into the subterranean core of absolutely anyone or
anything in heaven or on earth.
Moses prayed, “You have placed our iniquities
before You, our secret [self-love] in the light of Your
presence” (Ps 90:8). Agape DNA is the Light of
God’s presence within, enabling us to distinguish
between darkness that appears to be light and true
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Light. Jesus said, “If then the light [gene] that is
in you is darkness [of the eros lie], how great is
the darkness!” (Mt 6:23). It is the Light of Agape
DNA within you that shines upon the imposters
and counterfeits you will encounter in Worthless’
world exposing them as fake, “of the lie.”
“For you were formerly darkness, but now
you are Light in the Lord; walk [practice and
mature] as children of Light” (Eph 5:8). The more
you practice sacrificial self-giving in everyday
life, maturing in the Light of God’s own nature,
the more clearly you will see through all things,
beneath façades. The Light within you corresponds
to, and resonates with, the Light outside of you.
The Light will not correspond to, or resonate with
anything “of the lie.” Of degenerate, religious
imposters, Jesus says, “I never knew you [no DNA
match]” (Mt 7:23). T. Austin Sparks describes the
discernment of Agape revealed in Philippians 1:9-
10:

Personal, inward, spiritual intelligence

[distinguishing things which differ; tasting
smells] is a very rare thing. No wonder
that the enemy has such a successful
line in delusions [mirages], counterfeits,
and false representations. Our greatest
safeguard against such will be a deep
knowledge of the Lord [the genetic Root
of Agape] through discipline [maturing in
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 His nature by practice]. To know the Lord
in a real way means steadfastness [rooted
and grounded in Agape] when others are
being carried away [chasing counterfeits
and mirages]….

The absence of this real [gen-uine]

knowledge of the Lord has proved to
be the most tragic factor in the Church’s
history. Every fresh uprising of an
abnormal condition has disclosed the
appalling weakness [naiveté, mixture]
amongst Christian people because of this
lack [of shrewd discernment]. Waves of
error; the swing of the pendulum to some
fresh popular acceptance; a great war with
its horrors and many-sided tests of faith;
all these have swept away multitudes and
left them in spiritual ruin. These things
[Worthless’ counterfeits crafted in cruel envy]
are ever near at hand… (T. Austin Sparks,
On Knowing the Lord).

Running a DNA-Test
The resurrected, ascended Lord Jesus spoke to
His church at Ephesus: “I know your deeds…that
you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the
test those who call themselves apostles, and they
are not, and you found them to be false [of “the
lie”] (Rev 2:2).
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 Saul the Pharisee was an exceedingly zealous
“sent one,” traveling throughout the cities of Israel
to arrest and imprison believers in Jesus Christ.
However, while traveling on a certain road he was
literally knocked off his donkey and blinded by the
Light of the manifest presence of the resurrected
Son of God who confronted him saying, “Saul,
Saul, why are you persecuting Me?…I am Jesus
whom you are persecuting” (Acts 9:4-5). Saul
recognized “the glory [Agape] of God in the face
of Christ” (2Cor 4:6). Further, Saul realized he
had been exploited as an unwitting pawn of the
spirit of the antichrist to destroy the gen-uine
body of Christ. He later testified, “I was formerly
a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent
aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted
ignorantly in unbelief ” (1Tim 1:13).
By this encounter with the gen-uine Son, the
false apostle Saul was dramatically converted and
regenerated into Paul. Though he was not among
Jesus’ original twelve disciples, Paul was constantly
subjected to stringent DNA-testing and proven to
be a gen-uine apostle. Jesus said, “For I will show
Saul how much he must suffer for My name’s
sake” (Acts 9:16).
This divine interruption led the apostle Paul to
make a very profound and widely underestimated
declaration: “truth is in Jesus” (Eph 4:21). Jesus
is the solitary Source of all that is gen-uine in
this world; therefore, He is the solitary standard
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of measure by which one is able to distinguish
gen-uine from counterfeit in Worthless’ world.
Those individuals who were sovereignly granted
firsthand exposure to the Man Jesus, and ‘bought
into’ Him, received a unique gift of discernment
and were moved to impart to other believers the
essential knowledge of how to run a DNA-test.
Of the gen-uine, resurrected Son, Paul said,
“Then Jesus appeared to James, then to all the
apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born,
Jesus appeared to me also” (1Cor 15:8). Paul
added, “God was pleased to reveal His Son [Agape
incarnate] in me, so that I might preach Him
among the Gentiles” (Gal 1:16). Jesus’ disciple,
Peter, was a degenerate, eros-driven, self-focused
disaster who repeatedly failed the DNA-test: “Then
Peter began to curse and swear, ‘I do not know the
Man!’ And immediately a rooster crowed” (Mt
26:74). Yet, before Peter’s denial, Jesus said to
him, “But I have prayed for you, that your faith
may not fail; and you, when once you are turned
again [from self-love, self-preservation], strengthen
your brothers [in the Truth]” (Luke 22:32). The
apostle Peter testified:

We were eyewitnesses of His majesty

[divine DNA]. For when Jesus received
honor and glory from God the Father
[verification of authentic Agape], such
an utterance was made to Him by the
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 Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved
Son with whom I am well-pleased [exact
DNA match].”…So we have the prophetic
word made more sure [gen-uine], to which
you will do well to pay attention as to
a lamp shining in a dark place [Truth in
Worthless’ world], until the day dawns and
the morning star [Son of Father’s Agape]
arises in your hearts [regeneration] (2Peter
1:16-19).

Through Paul, Peter, Matthew, and other

unique individuals whom Jesus apprehended, the
Spirit of truth made very unique contributions
to the ‘mosaic’ of the biblical disclosure of Truth.
However, among all the apostolic authors of
Scripture, John seems to have the most developed
insight into Agape. Considering the obvious
emphasis on Agape and self-love, truth and error,
and light and darkness in his writings, perhaps
John is the foremost ‘expert’ on how to discern
“the Truth” from “the father of the lie.” John’s
lessons are both vital and timeless.
The source of John’s refined, penetrating
discernment is the unique gift of intimate proximity
and exposure to Jesus—Agape incarnate—which
he was afforded as a disciple. In his gospel account,
John does not refer to himself by his own name,
but only as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John
21:20). As John’s degenerate, self-referential nature
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was progressively and effectively extracted by faith
and practice, he naturally defined himself in a
childlike way, simply as the object of Jesus’ love.
As his affections were entirely engulfed by Agape,
John willingly forfeited his own independent,
autonomous identity. His basic self-understanding
was entirely defined by belonging to Jesus, being
one with Him and His Father and Spirit through
Him.
At the last supper, “there was reclining on Jesus’
bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved”
(John 13:23). Though this ordinary fisherman
was largely unaware of it at the time, while eating
dinner he was actually leaning upon the uncreated,
eternal Word, Truth incarnate, the Creator, the
genetic Root. John felt the rhythmic heartbeat
of the gen-uine Son of God on his back pulsing
through him; therefore, his first-hand ‘verification
of authenticity’ of gen-uine DNA, as well as his
ability to spot a fake, is altogether unique:

What was from the beginning [genetic

Root], what we have heard, what we have
seen with our eyes, what we have looked at
and touched with our hands concerning the
Word of Life—and the life was manifested
[in the Person of Jesus Christ] and we have
seen and testify and proclaim to you the
eternal life which was with the Father and
was manifested to us—what we have seen
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 and heard we proclaim to you also, so
that you may have fellowship [reciprocal,
sacrificial self-giving] with us; and indeed
our fellowship is with the Father, and
with His Son Jesus Christ (1John 1:1-3).

From John’s gospel, his three letters, and

Revelation, we can learn many shrewd ways of
‘running the DNA-test:’
Beloved, do not believe [‘buy’ into] every
spirit, but test the spirits [taste their smell]
to see if they are from God [the genetic
Root, of worth], for many false prophets
[agents/spokesmen of Worthless] have gone
out into the world. By this you know the
Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses
that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is
from God; and every spirit that does not
confess Jesus is not from God; this is the
spirit of the antichrist [imposter, usurper],
of which you heard that it is coming, and
now it is already in the world… (1John
4:1-3).
Pretenders, imposters, and counterfeiters,
compelled by “the father of the lie,” simply cannot
acknowledge or confess Jesus Christ as the gen-
uine Son born as a Man into the world because,
by doing so, they would expose themselves as a
fraud, forfeit their turf, and lose their intended
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prey. Their genetic, predatory instinct of self-love,
envy, and self-preservation simply will not permit
them to acknowledge Truth incarnate. Now, to be
clear, they will frequently speak the name of Jesus,
but always in exploitation—in a self-referential,
self-serving context. What they will never say is
that, due to His infinite worth, they have forfeited
themselves into Jesus Christ and been displaced by
Him, e.g. Paul’s confession: “I have been crucified
with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but
Christ lives in me…” (Gal 2:20). This is a very
effective test, yet inadequate on its own. John
continues:
You are from God, little children [gen-
uine, but not yet mature in Agape] and
have overcome them; because greater is
He [gen-uine, perfected Son] that is in you
than he [false-father] who is in the world.
They [offspring/agents of Worthless] are from
the world; therefore they speak as from
the world [exhaling boasts, lies], and the
world listens to them [resonates, believes
and chases the mirage]. We are from God
[gen-uine sent-ones]; he who knows God
listens to us [resonates]; he who is not
from God does not listen to us. By this we
know [test, prove and distinguish between]
the spirit of truth and the spirit of error
(1John 4:4-6).

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 Jesus confronted religious imposters, saying,
“You brood of vipers, how can you being evil [of
the lie], speak what is good [of the Truth]. For the
mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart”
(Mt 12:34). Agents of “the father of the lie” are
practiced pretenders and liars, yet they cannot
entirely prevent the darkness of their heart from
seeping out through their mouth. “But no one
can tame the tongue” (James 3:8). As naturalized,
‘de-gened’ children of Worthless, they naturally
exhale his spirit. Acculturated into his world, by
habit they will “speak as from the world.” This
involves self-referential talk, subtle boasting,
“coarse jesting” (Eph 5:4), and esteem for the
material things, accolades, and accomplishments
of this world. Though these worthless values may
be cleverly concealed under a religious façade
in the speech of a practiced imposter, they are
obvious to a gen-uine kingdom citizen.
The further we emigrate into “the kingdom of
the Son of Father’s Agape,” the more frequently
we return through the Spirit to abide there, and
the more we become acculturated into the Light
of God’s presence, the more this world-talk is
painfully obvious to us. “Do not love the world,
nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the
world, the Agape [DNA] of the Father is not in
him” (1John 2:15). Gen-uine kingdom emigrants
never speak of Worthless’ world in affectionate
terms; rather, they “confess that they are strangers
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and exiles on the earth” (Heb 11:13). Out of
the mouth of Father’s gen-uine child, the Spirit
is exhaling talk of “the things above, not of the
things that are on earth” (Col 3:2) and how, in
compassion, they might bring those heavenly
resources down to the earth among hungry,
spiritual orphans.
The most revealing aspect of the speech test,
however, is what an agent of “the lie” will not say.
Eros degenerates only understand personal gain;
the only losses they will sustain are in calculated
expectation of a precipitous and much larger
payoff. An imposter cannot speak from the heart
anything remotely like Paul’s confession:

But whatever things were gain to me,

those things I have counted as loss for the
sake of Christ. More than that, I count all
things to be loss in view of the surpassing
value [worth] of knowing Christ Jesus my
Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of
all things… (Phil 3:7-8).

John observes that it is not just the words of

one’s mouth that reveal his heart-allegiance to
Worthless’ world or to the kingdom but also his
ability to listen to truth: “He who knows God
listens to us.” The gen-uine DNA of Truth within
a person resonates with truth, responds to truth,
and acts upon truth; an imposter gened in “the
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lie” will employ a variety of avoidance techniques
such as subtly changing the subject. The de-gened
are “those who do not know God and those who
do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus” (2Thess
1:8). John continues in his first letter…
Beloved, let us love [agape] one another,
for Agape is from God; and everyone
who loves is born of God [re-gened in His
nature] and knows God. The one who does
not agape does not know God, for God
is Agape. By this the Agape of God was
manifested in us [DNA], that God has sent
His only begotten [gen-uine] Son into the
world so that we might live through Him.
In this is Agape, not that we loved God,
but that He loved us and sent His Son
to be the propitiation for our sins [God’s
Self-sacrifice victoriously overcame our self-
love]. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also
ought to agape one another….If we agape
one another [practice sacrificial self-giving
under pressure], God abides in us and His
Agape [DNA, likeness] is perfected in us.
By this we know that we abide in Him
and He in us, because He has given us of
His [gen-uine] Spirit (1John 4:7-13).
Uttermost Love: The Acid DNA-Test
The types of DNA-tests mentioned above
are certainly effective: an ability to “confess” the
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Son, the revealing of one’s actual heart-allegiance
out of the mouth, and the ability to “listen” and
respond obediently to truth. However, the only
100% accurate acid-test to distinguish a gen-uine
ambassador of the Father from the degenerate
agent of Worthless is sacrificial self-giving in fiery
circumstances of pressure, suffering, and loss. In
these life-crises, Worthless tempts us to prove we
are a fraud: that we agape with hypocrisy (Ro
12:9) and are therefore illegitimate children—
worthless, self-seeking orphans, imposters, and
counterfeiters in his likeness. In the very same
sovereignly appointed circumstances of pressure,
God tests us to prove the gen-uineness of His Agape
DNA within us and to further refine, mature, and
perfect His own sacrificial, self-giving likeness in
us. Jesus said,
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not
enter by the door into the fold of the sheep,
but climbs up some other way, he is a thief
and a robber [imposter, counterfeiter]. But
he who enters by the door is a [gen-uine]
shepherd of the sheep [ambassador]. To him
the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep [gen-
uine followers] hear his voice, and he calls
his own sheep by name [recognizes Father’s
DNA in them] and leads them out. When
he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of
them, and the sheep follow him because

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they know his voice. A stranger [imposter,
false-shepherd] they simply will not follow,
but will flee from him, because they do
not know the voice of strangers....
I [the only begotten, sacrificial, Self-giving
Son] am the door of the sheep. All who
came before Me are thieves and robbers
[Worthless & sons] but the sheep [gen-uine
followers] did not hear them. The thief
[imposter, false-shepherd] comes only to
steal and kill and destroy; I came that they
may have life [God’s Agape nature and
fellowship], and have it abundantly.
I am the good [gen-uine] shepherd; the
good shepherd lays down his life for the
sheep [sacrificial self-giving]. He who is
a hired hand [working for personal gain,
eros payoff], and not a shepherd, who is
not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf
coming, and leaves the sheep and flees [in
self-preservation], and the wolf snatches
them and scatters them….I am the good
shepherd, and I know My own [recognize
My DNA in them] and My own know
Me [corresponding DNA], even as the
Father knows Me and I know the Father
[one gene]; and I lay down My life for the
sheep….For this reason the Father loves
Me, because I lay down My life that I
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 may take it again. No one has taken it
away from Me, but I lay it down on My
own initiative [volitional self-giving] (John
10:1-18).
The “only begotten Son” is the One Good
Shepherd sent from heaven; however, as believing
children are regenerated and matured in His own
likeness, the Son deputizes them as His under-
shepherds and leads His people through these
gen-uine stewards. Of course, Worthless copies
this leadership strategy with his own counterfeit
system of false-shepherds. How can we tell the
difference? Jesus provided us with two DNA-tests:
voice recognition and how one responds “when
the wolf comes.”
We recognize tested, proven, gen-uine under-
shepherds of the Son because we can clearly hear
His voice speaking through their broken, yielded
voices—the sound resonates in our spiritual ears as
a DNA match. There are many kinds of suffering
that God calls us to willingly embrace, but He
never asks us to follow a counterfeit shepherd or
listen to a false-father. It is foolish, even madness
to ‘buy’ into and follow a shepherd in whose
voice, life, and behavior you cannot ‘taste the
smell’ of the One Good Shepherd and who will
not lay down his life for you in a crisis. Jesus said,
“Leave them alone; they are blind guides of the
blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man,

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both will fall into a pit” (Mt 15:14). Following a
false-father, a “hireling” who “peddles the word of
God” for personal gain (2Cor 2:17), will not lead
you to your true Father.
Woe to the worthless shepherd who
leaves the flock! [chasing self-gratification
or fleeing in self-preservation]. A sword
will be on his arm and on his right eye!
His arm will be totally withered and his
right eye will be blind [unable to defend or
preserve himself] (Zech 11:17).
The coming of “the wolf ” is itself God’s ultimate
acid-test. Satan is the “wolf,” a consummate eros
predator. God could destroy that wolf with a
solitary word in a split-second; there is no power
struggle between the Almighty and Satan. God
has intentionally permitted Worthless to roam free
in the world to facilitate His DNA-test. “Be of
sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the
devil, prowls around like a roaring lion [predator],
seeking someone to devour” (1Peter 5:8). Nothing
rouses human beings from the “slumber” of self-
focus (eros) like the crisis of the coming wolf.
Truly, there is no more effective test to distinguish
good (Agape) shepherds from eros-driven hirelings
than the threat of the wolf.
In this way, even Worthless and sons have been
made to serve God’s ultimate purpose—to mature
Father’s own sacrificial self-giving nature in His
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own gen-uine children. The wolf-crisis facilitates
a unique opportunity for believers to practice the
nature of the Good Shepherd, which they have
received within, and serves as the impetus of
perfecting them in His likeness. Jesus said, “Greater
love has no one than this, that one lay down his
life for his friends” (John 15:13).
We live in Uganda, East Africa where
presidential elections and other political events
can be very volatile. Main highways are flooded
and completely blocked off by political parties
whose militant gatherings often erupt in violence.
Playing a grave ‘king of the mountain’ game at the
expense of the lives of their own people, predatory
candidates and their followers vie for power, even
attempting to indict and incarcerate one another,
etc. They prey upon the latent rage in individuals
who believe they deserve more. These discontent
individuals join together as a mob intent on
securing as president the man who has promised
them the greatest eros payoff and often make their
corporate voice heard by rioting. Many join in
who do not even know what the issues are! I was
caught in such a riot on a blocked highway where
a reckless mob rocked my van, tried to open the
doors, and pounded on the windows. Curiously,
the only way they would let me pass was if I held
up the symbolic hand-gesture of their political
party—the peace sign!

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 As another presidential election is
approaching, we are overhearing some wealthy,
influential Ugandans saying they will leave the
country during the days around the election. As
the wolf comes, they flee in self-preservation.
Perhaps this is how the genocidal maniac, Idi
Amin, was permitted to rampage through Uganda
because those influential persons who claimed to
be true shepherds of their people fled and were
revealed as hirelings. This also happened in Nazi
Germany. Men like Dietrich Bonhoeffer were
revealed as good shepherds, laying their life down
to spare their people from the wolf while others
fled, allowing Hitler to “snatch them and scatter
them.”
Uttermost Love
The God-Man Jesus Christ is the gen-uine Son,
the One, Good Shepherd, sent from Father to lead
His lost children Home to their genetic Root. We
know this with certainty because He was proven
through the ultimate DNA-test: “Having loved
those who were His own in the world, He loved
them to the end [lit. Greek: to the uttermost]”
(John 13:1).
Like the prodigal son (Luke 15:11f ), I was
a selfish, ignorant, and willful fool. As an addict
of self-gratification seeking my next ‘fix,’ I was
perpetually and willfully ‘selling’ the inheritance of
relational Life in Truth that Father had sacrificially
laid up and secured for me to ‘buy’ Worthless’
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counterfeits and chase his mirages. I was a captive
of self-love, an orphan held in the custody of “the
father of the lie,” entirely ignorant of the fact that
I was merely a pawn being exploited to gratify
Worthless’ envious hatred of my true Father.
Self-consciousness and introspection
prevented me from seeing the ‘big picture:’ I was
progressively maturing in the serpent’s degenerate
nature—I was a practicing self-worth-shipper.
Betraying Agape for self-love, I was ‘selling’
God Himself. I was being systematically twisted
into Worthless’ likeness as a liar, a pretender, a
counterfeiter, a predatory taker. As a traitor of
the Truth and having willfully bought “the lie,” I
chased Worthless deep into his waterless wasteland
and became seriously thirsty! “In the world” I
degenerated into a wretched, worthless condition
of “uttermost” desperation. I was at “the end.”
“For while we were still helpless [addicts,
captives], at the right time [our uttermost extremity],
Christ died for the ungodly” (Ro 5:6). The “Son of
Father’s Agape” was sent to find me “in the world”
and love me “to the end, to the uttermost.” I
heard my Shepherd’s voice calling me, awakening
me. I love the Shepherd, follow Him, and want
to exchange my life for His because while I was
“helpless” and the wolf was coming He did not
flee. He stood between me and that cruel predator,
Worthless, to whom I had willfully ‘sold’ myself.
At the cross, the Good Shepherd willingly and
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sacrificially gave Himself into the mouth of the
devourer in my place that I might go absolutely
free:
Judas then, having received the Roman
cohort and officers from the chief priests
and the Pharisees [agents of the envious
predator], came there with lanterns and
torches and weapons. So Jesus, knowing
all the things that were coming upon Him
[betrayal, arrest, humiliation, scourging,
crucifixion], went forth [willingly into
the devourer’s mouth] and said to them,
“Whom do you seek?” They answered
Him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” He said to them,
“I AM He”…and they drew back and fell
to the ground [no ‘yin-yang’ power struggle;
volitional self-giving]. Therefore, He again
asked them, “Whom do you seek?” And
they said, “Jesus the Nazarene.” Jesus
answered, “I told you that I AM He; so if
you seek Me, let these [my disciples, ‘sheep’]
go their way, to fulfill the word which He
spoke, “Of those You have given Me I lost
not one” (John 18:3-9).
T. Austin Sparks wrote:
“He loved them unto the uttermost.” And
I think in that statement, there is the
most wonderful thing that ever came into

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this world. Jesus had had a lot of trouble
with those men [disciples]. They had often
misunderstood Him…disappointed Him
[unable to reciprocate His Agape]. They
were really a very poor lot of men [eros de-
gene-rates]....He knew what a poor lot of
men they were, but He loved them unto
the uttermost. That is the first thing about
this love. It is not offended by our failures.
He does not withdraw His love because we
make mistakes. We may often disappoint
Him, we may often fail Him, we may
often grieve His heart, but He goes on
loving us. He loves us unto the uttermost,
right to the end. He is not offended by
our failures. That is a very different kind
of love from our love. This is God’s love
in Christ....
You know, it is so easy to talk about love,
to pretend to love, to use the language of
love, to sing hymns about love, and it can
all be sentimental; perhaps we all know
people who have told us that they love us,
but very often they are the very people who
have hurt us most [failing the test]. Now,
the love of Jesus was not sentimental, it
was practical. He did not go in with His
disciples and say, “Brothers, I do love you
very much.” He showed that He loved
them by what He did for them. It was not
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 sentimental love, it was practical love…
unto the uttermost....These things which
characterize the love of Christ for His own
ought to characterize us in love for others.
That is why the Holy Spirit has come. So
that as He loved us to the uttermost, so
ought we to love one another (T. Austin
Sparks, “That They May All Be One, Even
As We Are One”).
“Father made Him who knew no sin to
be sin on our behalf, so that we might become
the righteousness of God in Him” (2Cor 5:21).
Jesus, our gen-uine Elder Brother, has won my
affectionate allegiance because He not only saved
us but in Him we are “being saved” (1Cor 1:18). As
we continue to hear and trust the Good Shepherd,
daily following Him in reciprocal self-giving, He
is leading us on a path of progressive re-gene-
ration—patiently untwisting us from Worthless’
likeness and conforming us to His own. Among
all the imposters and counterfeits of this world,
that One is gen-uine; for that One I joyfully “sell
all” and “buy!”
Jesus has been manifested to put away
sin [self-love, self-will, self-preservation, self-
worth-ship] by the sacrifice of Himself
[self-forsaking as an act of worth-ship to
Father, demonstrating His uttermost love]
(Heb 9:26).
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 The Agape of Jesus is an altogether opposite
kind of love from the world’s eros counterfeit into
which we were born. God’s uttermost love is an
extreme self-forsaking love that was tested, proven,
and perfected in His “only begotten Son” and is
now genetically seeded into those who believe
into Him. “In this is Agape, not that we loved
God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to
be the propitiation [atoning payment, redemption]
for our sins [slavery to self-worth-ship, self-will]”
(1John 4:10). If the gen-uine uttermost Love of
the Son is within you, you will ‘taste the smell’ of
the voice, workings, and gifts of His Father and
His Spirit; further, you will be able to distinguish
those born of God from Worthless’ pretenders.
The more the DNA of Christ matures within you,
the more intimately acquainted you will be with
the Persons of the Trinity, and the more difficult
it will be for Worthless and his sent imposters to
deceive you with their hook-laden counterfeits.
Wondrously, Jesus’ own uttermost love is the
very DNA that has been seeded into those who
have ‘sold all’ and ‘bought’ Him by faith: “Peace
be to the brothers and Agape with faith [‘bought’
treasure] from God the Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ [the genetic Root]…incorruptible Agape”
(Eph 6:23-24). Incorruptible Agape is God’s own
nature of uttermost love maturing within us that we
will not and cannot ‘sell’ under any circumstances
of testing/temptation. If we will not ‘sell’ then
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it is no longer possible for Worthless to ‘buy’ us
by deception and he no longer exerts power over
us: we are free, we are “saved!” The DNA-tests
have been taken, God’s nature proven in us, the
custody battle is over, and we are all Father’s, even
as the Son is all Father’s; we are God’s treasured
inheritance for which He no longer has to wait!
Of this fulfilled, reciprocal inheritance, “Jesus has
become the guarantee” (Heb 7:22) and the Holy
Spirit “the down-payment:”

After listening to the message of truth

[Agape], the gospel of your salvation
[regeneration], having also believed
[bought], you were sealed in Him [Jesus
the Guarantee] with the Holy Spirit of
promise, who is given as a pledge [lit.
down-payment] of our inheritance, with a
view to the redemption [from Worthless] of
God’s own possession [His inheritance]
(Eph 1:13-14).

Worthless wears a mask; the triune God

wears a Face—Jesus Christ the “well-pleasing”
Son, tested as a Man over thirty-three years and
ultimately and irrefutably proven to possess the
gen-uine Agape ‘DNA’ of God by acting against
Himself according to the will of the Father at the
Cross. In a religious charade, Worthless and his
demonic and human agents—false-shepherds—
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will put on a masterful performance of benevolent,
selfless compassion right up to the cross. However,
it is genetically impossible for them to counterfeit
“uttermost” sacrificial self-giving; they will always
act in self-preservation in the acid-test. Those
who are mature in Agape recognize that wolves,
“fiery ordeals,” persecutions, and tribulations
us are essential, and even consider these trials as
God’s gift because with remarkable effectiveness
they simultaneously expose counterfeiters and
reveal gen-uine, sacrificial self-givers. “Our God
is a consuming fire” (Deut 4:24; Heb 12:29); in
Agape He tests all things.

Testing Fruit
Compelled by envy, Worthless & sons target
believers; therefore, they specialize in religious
façades. Jesus warned us:

Beware of the false prophets [imposters

exhaling the spirit of Worthless], who come
to you in sheep’s clothing [camouflaged in
counterfeit, religious words and works], but
inwardly are ravenous wolves [eros predators].
You will know them by their fruits. Grapes
[acts of Agape] are not gathered from thorn
bushes [children of Worthless], nor figs from
thistles are they? So every good [gen-uine]
tree bears good [sacrificial self-giving] fruit,
but the bad [de-gene-rate] tree bears bad
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 [toxic, eros] fruit. A good tree cannot produce
bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good
fruit. Every tree that does not bear good
fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

So then, you will know them by their fruits

[DNA-test]. Not everyone who says to Me,
“Lord, Lord,” will enter into the kingdom
of heaven, but he who does the will of My
Father….Many will say to Me on that day,
“Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your
name, and in Your name cast out demons,
and in Your name perform many miracles?”
And then I will declare to them, “I never
knew you [i.e. you are not gen-uine]; depart
from Me, you who practice lawlessness
[counterfeiting]” (Mt 7:15-23).

Testing the “fruit” of a man comes down

to this: does he act in sacrificial self-giving in
practical, daily ways (especially in circumstances
of trial and loss) that make evident he is abiding
in and drawing his vital life-source from the
Self-sacrificial Vine, the Son of Agape? My Dad
taught me a valuable thing: “Do not merely listen
to the words of a man’s mouth, but watch where
his feet go.” See where the “feet” of the Apostle
Paul (God’s ‘sent one’) and his band of gen-uine
sons “went:”

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For you yourselves know, brothers, that
our coming to you was not in vain [not
worthless], but after we had already been
mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we
had the boldness in our God to speak to
you the gospel amid much opposition
[sacrificial self-giving proven in the acid-
test]. For our exhortation does not come
from error or impurity or by way of deceit
[eros propaganda]; but just as we have been
approved by God to be entrusted with
the gospel [gen-uine steward-sons], so we
speak, not as pleasing men, but God who
examines our hearts.

For we never came with flattering speech,

as you know, nor with a pretext for
greed—God is witness—nor did we seek
glory from men, either from you or from
others, even though as apostles of Christ
we might have asserted our authority [using
coercion rather than self-giving affection].
But we proved to be gentle among you,
as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her
own children [gen-uine shepherds]. Having
so fond an affection for you, we were
well-pleased to impart to you not only the
gospel of God but also our own lives [gen-
uine self-givers], because you had become
very dear to us.
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 For you recall, brothers, our labor and
hardship, how working night and day so
as not to be a burden to any of you [not
takers], we proclaimed to you the gospel of
God. You are witnesses, and so is God, how
devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly
we behaved toward you believers [Agape
without hypocrisy evident in daily behavior];
just as you know we were exhorting and
encouraging and imploring each one of
you as a father would his own children, so
that you would walk in a manner worthy
of the God who calls you into His own
kingdom and glory (1Thes 2:1-12).

T. Austin Sparks distinguishes gen-uine

Christian ministry from the counterfeit:
You can test your service by this: the
measure of the emancipation [from
Worthless] of the people who come under
your hands and the measure of the
formation of Christ [DNA] that is going
on. These are things which are [gen-uine]
service. And then you will discover that,
whereas the other [counterfeit] line of
things with all the movement and activity
and feverish and excited work does not
call for very much patience of this kind. It
does not call for much real self-emptying,

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 no, it does not call for a great deal of
meekness: rather I think it ministers to the
opposite. It makes us self-important [self-
worth-ship]. It makes us proud. It makes
us self-sufficient. It makes us self-assertive.
It makes us jealous for our position and
our ministry [territorialism], and resentful
if it is interfered with [Worthless’ counterfeit
Christianity]. Yes, Christian work does that
with many. The true service can be tested
by these things, and the true servant can
be tested by the measure of those virtues
of Christ: utterly selfless, self-empty (T.
Austin Sparks, The Cross and the Way of
Life, chapter 7).

DNA-Test-Results
The sins of some men are quite evident,
going before them to judgment [flagrant
sinners]; for others, their sins follow after
[well concealed]. Likewise also, deeds that
are good are quite evident [of the Light],
and those which are otherwise cannot be
concealed [ultimately exposed in the test]
(1Tim 5:24-25).

We must prepare ourselves; the results of a

DNA-test can be the most painful thing imaginable.
Nothing can hollow you out emotionally and

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spiritually quite like the discovery that one in
whom you invested your affections and deeply
trusted is in fact a “false brother” (2Cor 11:26;
Gal 2:4). David testified:
For it is not an enemy who reproaches me,
then I could bear it; nor is it one who hates
me who has exalted himself against me,
then I could hide myself from him. But it
is you, a man my equal [lit. according to my
valuation (worth); i.e. one whom I loved as
myself], my companion and my familiar
friend; we who had sweet fellowship [lit.
counsel, intimacy] together, walking in the
house of God in the throng. Let death
come deceitfully upon them; let them go
down alive to Sheol, for evil is in their
dwelling, in their midst [secret agents of
Worthless]….He has put forth his hands
against those who were at peace with him;
he has violated his covenant. His speech
was smoother than butter, but his heart
was war; his words were softer than oil, yet
they were drawn swords (Ps 55:12-21).
Trying circumstances make sacrificial self-
giving absolutely necessary. This acid-test
effectively exposes a false brother, and though the
test results are more painful to us than death, it is
a necessary gift because Father’s relational house
of “living stones” must be built upon the gen-uine
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DNA of Jesus Christ within us and not upon a
de-generate, “worthless” foundation. For a broader
understanding of the complex and powerful
dynamics of envious self-love as the impetus of
betrayal, read Alexandre Dumas’ classic novel,
The Count of Monte Cristo. The screenplay of this
story starring James Caviezel is also insightful and
magnificent.
Overcoming Worthless’ Treacherous World
The effectual, deceptive power of Worthless’
world of counterfeits and mirages only makes Jesus’
words that much more profound: “In Me you
may have peace. In the world you have tribulation
[necessary testing: genuine or counterfeit?], but
take courage, I have overcome the world” (John
16:33). The Son’s overcoming does not suggest
a power struggle between God and Worthless;
God has never been threatened by Satan’s power.
Rather, His overcoming speaks of the inherent
power of God’s Agape DNA seeded within us
through the Man Jesus Christ displacing and
conquering the power of Satan’s eros nature in us
who were his captives—lovers of self in his world
of self-love. The Apostle John clarifies: “Greater
is He who is in you than he who is in the world”
(1John 4:4). In other words, the genuine DNA of
the tested, proven Son maturing in us is presently
overcoming Worthless, the counterfeit god, and
our self-gratifying addiction to his world.

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 For whatever is born of God [re-gened
in His DNA] overcomes the world; and
this is the victory that has overcome the
world—our faith [‘selling’ the lie to ‘buy’
Truth]. Who is the one that overcomes the
world, but he who believes that Jesus is the
[gen-uine] Son of God? (1John 5:4-5).

Jesus said to them, “I was watching Satan

fall from heaven like lightning. Behold,
I have given you authority to tread on
serpents and scorpions [degenerate humans:
imposters and counterfeiters filled with the
spirit of the lie], and over all the power of
the enemy, and nothing will injure you.
Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that
the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice
that your names are recorded in heaven
[gen-uine heirs]” (Luke 10:19).

In our Elder Brother’s absence from us in

this world, He promises that His own “Spirit of
truth will guide you [through a maze of treacherous
mirages and counterfeits] into all the truth” (John
16:13). The gen-uine Spirit of the Son alive within
us tastes the smell of Worthless’ lie operating
through every elaborate scheme carried out by
any unclean spirit at work through any human
being, even an unwitting ‘pawn.’ Conscious of
the deceiver’s perpetual threat, David prayed,
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“Appoint lovingkindness [Your Agape DNA] and
truth [“Spirit of truth”] that they may preserve me
[both from my degenerate self and Worthless]” (Ps
61:7).
Further, God has purposed to defeat the
serpent through the power of the tested, proven
DNA of Christ in and through His overcoming
saints: “the mature [in sacrificial, self-giving
‘DNA’], who because of practice have their
senses trained to discern good and evil” (Heb
5:14). Through His own offspring, our Almighty
Father will ultimately bring His ancient enemy to
destruction while simultaneously perfecting us as
His own gen-uine namesake and inheritance.

Jesus answered and said…“Now judgment

is upon this world [Worthless’ world of
imposters and counterfeits]; now the ruler
of this world will be cast out. And I [the
gen-uine Son], if I be lifted up from the
earth [as a standard of gen-uine sacrificial
self-giving], will draw all men to Myself.”
But He was saying this to indicate the
kind of [uttermost] death by which He was
to die (John 12:31-33).

Through this Plumbline, I have attempted to

introduce to you a spiritual tool of discernment
that you might be equipped to recognize and
refuse Worthless’ lie. Now, for the purpose of
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illustration, clarity, and training we will look at a
few of his specific counterfeits.

Counterfeit Wisdom
All things, persons, ideas, and endeavors in
the universe have their root source either in “the
Truth” or in “the lie,” yet we must also beware that
there are gradations of mixture. The foundation
stones of Worthless’ counterfeit kingdom are
ideologies and philosophies such as socialism,
capitalism, existentialism, hedonism, nihilism,
etc.; as well as religions such as Islam, Buddhism,
Hinduism, and a treacherous ‘knock-off’ of true
Christianity that is self-referential and exploitative
of God. All of these powerful, mind-molding
philosophies have one common denominator, one
fundamental presupposition—eros rationale.

Who among you is wise [discerning] and

understanding [standing under Truth]? Let
him show by his good behavior his deeds
[of sacrificial self-giving] in the gentleness
of wisdom [Agape rationale]. But if you
have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition
in your heart [Worthless’ envious desire to be
first], do not be arrogant and so lie against
the truth [Agape]. This wisdom is not that
which comes down from above [the genetic
Root], but is earthy, natural, demonic
[eros rationale]. For where jealousy and
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 selfish ambition [envious self-love] exist,
there is [toxic fruit:] disorder and every
evil thing. But the wisdom from above
is first pure [unmixed, extracted], then
peaceable, gentle, reasonable [lit. willing
to yield], full of mercy and good fruits
[acts of sacrificial self-giving], unwavering,
without hypocrisy. And the seed [Agape
DNA] whose fruit is righteousness is
sown in peace by those who make peace
[peacemakers are sons of God, Mt 5:9]
(James 3:13-18).

Buddhist monks, for instance, appear to be

peaceable, but if someone disturbs their ‘idol,’ or
interferes with their ambition of self-discovery and
self-realization through that idol, even the most
passive human being will act from the de-gene-
rate instinct of self-preservation within them in
violent envy and murder. The DNA-test makes
evident Buddhists are meditating (feeding) on self:
striving to “attain inner peace by centering within
self ”—self-worth-ship. In my humble opinion, the
meditation of many Christians has this same eros
root, exploiting God and the things of God in
idolatrous self-gratification. The more familiar we
become with “Truth”—the Person of Christ who
displaces self within us—the more we taste the smell
of Worthless’ wisdom even through the veneer of
seemingly good ideas being offered to us. “And
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do not be conformed to this world [self-love], but
be transformed [re-gene-rated] by the renewing of
your mind [into Truth]” (Ro 12:2). Paul adds:

For the weapons of our warfare are not

of the flesh [not natural/earthy; rather
DNA from above], but divinely powerful
for the destruction of fortresses [ancient,
fortified bastions of Worthless’ counterfeit
kingdom built in the mind]. We are
destroying speculations [eros rationale/
propaganda] and every lofty thing [crafted
in envious, self-love] raised up against the
knowledge of God, and we are taking
every [self-referential] thought captive to
the obedience of Christ (2Cor 10:5).

Counterfeit wisdom is largely expressed

through idolatry. To gratify his envy, Worthless
established a thriving, worldwide business of
‘selling’ idols to effectively eclipse our genetic
Root, the triune God.

Israel made a calf [counterfeit Lamb of

God] and brought a sacrifice to the idol
[counterfeit generosity—eros ‘payoff’], and
were rejoicing in the works of their hands.
But God turned away and delivered them
up to serve the host of heaven [fallen
angels]; as it is written in the book of the
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 prophets, “It was not to Me that you
offered victims and sacrifices forty years in
the wilderness, was it, O house of Israel?
You also took along the tabernacle of
Moloch [counterfeit sanctuary] and the star
of the god of Rompha [counterfeit of Christ
“the bright Morning Star”], the images [in
Worthless’ likeness: self-image] which you
made to worship….” Our fathers had the
tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness
[genuine, physical model of the spiritual
body of Christ], just as God who spoke to
Moses directing him to make it according
to the pattern [eternal Prototype, the Person
of the coming Son] which he had seen (Acts
7:41-44).

Many believers think of idolatry merely as the

worship of statues, a diversion of ancient times
no longer relevant to us. However, the Spirit
of truth testifies that idolatry is thriving in our
day, masked with contemporary façades that are
shrewdly customized to the unique ‘style’ of eros
rationale in our generation. Idolatry is actually
self-worth-ship conducted indirectly through an
object of affection; this idol is expressly chosen or
crafted according to one’s self-image and used as
an aid and means of self-discovery. An idol is rarely
a literal statue: “I built this business with my own
two hands;” the child through whom a parent
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lives vicariously; the man who ‘eats, breathes,
and sleeps’ football; “my dream home;” checking
the daily status of my investment portfolio; the
Marine Corps, etc. For a broader understanding
of contemporary idols, listen to Bob Mumford’s
message entitled, “False Centers.”

And we know that the [gen-uine] Son

of God has come, and has given us
understanding [discernment] so that we
may know Him who is true [distinguish
true Father from false-father]; and we are
in Him who is true, in His [gen-uine] Son
Jesus Christ. This is the true God and
eternal life [not an imposter, not a mirage].
Little children [gen-uine, but not yet
mature in Agape], guard yourselves from
idols [Worthless’ counterfeits, mediums of
self-worth-ship, self-discovery] (1John 5:20-
21).

You turned to God from the idols

[mediums of “the lie”] to serve the living
and true God, and to wait for His [gen-
uine] Son from heaven, whom He raised
from the dead, that is, Jesus who rescues
us from the wrath to come [a Vortex of
Jealous Agape that will shake out all that is
not gen-uine] (1Thes 1:9-10).

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 Worthless carefully calculates the measure of
truth into which believers are gen-uinely grounded;
on that basis he custom-designs a counterfeit
with just the right ratio/proportion of truth in
it that will actually compel us to ‘buy’ the whole
mixed package. He is a master-craftsman of half-
truth. Worthless employs a highly effective, lethal
technique called syncretism—integrating (con-
fusing) an unclean or obsolete idea, practice, or
thing into the truth as a toxic whole. Syncretism
is like a drop of poison in living water, or as Bob
Mumford teaches, “mother’s breast-milk has
radiation.”
Judaism, the ancient faith of the Hebrews
based on Moses’ Law, was a true, God-designed
system of worth-ship; however, Judaism became
obsolete (worthless, dead) when the Son came in
the flesh to inaugurate a new covenant. O, what
untold division and grief Worthless caused the
early church through propagating a syncretism of
Law and grace! As you meditate on the following
verses, ask the Spirit within you to taste the smell
of Worthless’ new applications of syncretism in the
Christianity of our generation.
The false brothers [Judaizers, agents of
Worthless] secretly brought in, who had
sneaked in to spy out our liberty which
we have in Jesus Christ, in order to bring
us into bondage [to a syncretic, counterfeit

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‘Christianity,’ advocating self-righteousness by
works]. But we did not yield in subjection
to them [‘buy’] even for an hour so that
the truth of the gospel [incorruptible Life
in Agape] might remain with you [your
gen-uine inheritance] (Gal 2:4-5).
Therefore no one is to act as your judge in
regard to food or drink or in respect to a
festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day—
{natural] things which are a mere shadow
of what is to come; but the substance
[gen-uine, eternal, spiritual kingdom]
belongs to Christ. Let no one keep
defrauding you of your prize [‘selling’ eros
rationale] by delighting in self-abasement
[self-focused, ascetic religion: punishing self
rather than giving self] and the worship of
angels, taking his stand on visions he has
seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly
mind, and not holding fast to the head
[Christ]….
If you have died with Christ to the
elementary principles of the world
[“earthy, demonic” wisdom], why, as if
you were living in the world, do you
submit yourself to decrees, such as, “Do
not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”
(which all refer to natural things destined
to perish with use)—in accordance with
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 the commandments and teachings of men?
These are matters which have, to be sure,
the appearance of wisdom in self-made
[counterfeit] religion and self-abasement
and severe treatment of the body, but
are of no value [worthless] against fleshly
indulgence (Col 2:20-23).
To write the same things again is no trouble
to me, and it is a safeguard for you. Beware
of the dogs [‘packs’ of religious predators],
beware of the evil workers [peddlers of
‘self-help’ Christianity, exploiting the things
of God as a means of self-gratification and
self-actualization], beware of the false
circumcision [propagators of external
holiness]; for we are the true circumcision,
who worship in the Spirit of God and glory
in [lose ourselves into] Christ Jesus and put
no confidence in the flesh [self-reference,
self-effort, self-righteousness—counterfeit
spirituality] (Phil 3:1-3).

Bob Mumford taught us that there are three

basic roads in life: legalism (self-focused, self-
righteousness); lawlessness (self-focused, self-
gratification); and the Agape road (Father-focused,
Father pleasing in and through the well-pleasing
Son, Jesus Christ). The first two roads constitute
counterfeit ‘Christianity.’

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 False prophets are abounding in our
day, declaring that the gate to heaven is
wide and the way is easy, preaching self-
righteousness [‘1000 things’ self can do to
be a good Christian], self-evolution [how
God is making me a better, happier me],
materialism [prosperity, getting my blessing/
inheritance from God], ecclesiasticism
[baptizing people into church membership
rather than into the King of the kingdom]
every sort of counterfeit gospel—they are
old foes with new faces….For a tendency
to falseness is somehow inherent in man
[Worthless’ degenerate nature]. Failing to be
good, he tries to seem good; stealing the
livery of the court of Heaven to serve the
devil in it…for falseness and cruelty are
twins. The man who counterfeits sanctity
by wearing the meek garb of a sheepskin is
sure to be within a ravening wolf (George
Dana Boardman, The Kingdom, p239-
240).
Boardman also includes in his book the
following poem by Tennyson which brilliantly
describes Worthless working through a human
being, the false-shepherd:

With all his conscience and one eye askew–

So false, he partly took himself for true;

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 Whose pious talk, when
most his heart was dry,
Made wet the crafty crows foot round his eye;
Who, never naming God except for gain,
So ever took that useful name in vain;
Made Him his catspaw
and the Cross his tool,
And Christ the bait to trap his dupe and fool;
Nor deeds of gift, but gifts of grace he forged,
And snakelike slimed
his victim ere he gorged;
And oft at Bible meetings, o’er the rest,
Arising, did his holy oily best,
Dropping the too-rough
H in hell and Heaven,
To spread the Word by which himself had
thriven
–Tennyson’s Sea Dreams
T. Austin Sparks describes the taste of the smell
of counterfeit Christianity:
“The Most High doesn’t live in temples made
by human hands” (Acts 7:48). Christendom
is largely constituted by this sense—its
architecture, its ritual, its music, its
adornment, its lighting (or lack of it), its
tone, its atmosphere, its vestments and so
forth. All are of the soul....Spiritual death
marks that realm, and while there may be
intense emotions which make for resolves,
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‘high’ thoughts and desires, there is no
genuine change in the [genetic] nature
of those concerned, and repeated doses
of this must be taken to maintain any
measure of soul-self-satisfaction which
makes them feel good [snare of planned
obsolescence]. All religions have this
soulish feature in common, more or less,
and it is here that the fatal blunder has
been made by many religious people who
contend that other religions, which are
undoubtedly devout and sincere, should
not be interfered with, but the good in
them should be recognized and accepted
[syncretism]. It is the confusing of religion
with what the Bible means by being
spiritual. Religion can rise to high levels
and sink to terrible depths. It is the same
[counterfeit] thing which does both. But
that thing never rises above the human
[de-gene-rate] level; it never really reaches
God [Agape].
Religion can be the greatest enemy of
God’s true thought, because it is Satan’s
best deception. Asceticism is no more truly
spiritual than aestheticism. There is no
more a brief with God for rigours, denials,
fastings, puritanic iciness, etc., as such,
than for the opposite. Simplicity may give
God a chance [principle of displacement],
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but it is not necessarily spiritual…. How
near to the truth in perception and
interpretation can the mystical go! What
wonderful things can the imagination see,
even in the Bible! What thrills of awe,
amazement, ecstasy, can be shot through
an audience or congregation by a master
soul! But it may all be a false world with
no Divine and eternal issues. It may all
go to make up this life here, and relieve
it of its drabness, but it ends there. What
an artificial world we live in! When the
music is progressing and the romantic
elements are in evidence—the dress
and tinsel—and human personalities
are parading, see how pride and rivalry
[envious self-love] assert themselves, and
what a power of make believe enters the
atmosphere! Yes, an artificial world....
The tragedy in this melodrama is that it is
‘real life’ to so many [appraised as genuine].
This soul-world is the devil’s imitation. It
is all false, wherever we may find it, whether
associated with religion or not....‘The
Christian Faith’ embraced as a religion,
a philosophy, or as a system of truth, a
moral or ethical doctrine, may carry the
temporary stimulus of a great ideal; but
this will not result in the regeneration of
the life, or the new birth of the spirit [gen-
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 uine DNA]. There are multitudes of such
‘Christians’ in the world today, but their
spiritual effectiveness is nil [worthless] (T.
Austin Sparks, What is Man?, chapter 5).

Counterfeit signs and wonders

Jesus warned, “For false Christs and false
prophets will arise and will show [lit. give] great
signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible,
even the elect” (Mt 24:24). In the cosmic custody
battle, the false-father uses all the available resources
of his finite, yet awesome power. Through his
agents, Worthless “gives great signs and wonders”
in expectation of an eros payoff misleading and
usurping the faith of God’s children. These signs
and wonders are real, yet they are counterfeits
because they effectively reinforce the believability
of “the lie” compelling the unsuspecting to ‘buy.’
God’s chosen people, the Hebrews, were
enslaved 400 years, suffering oppression and
exploitation in the custody of Egypt. However,
God “fought” for these slaves; He demonstrated
that His people were of great worth to Him by
performing miracles through the hands of two
brothers, Moses and Aaron. This custody battle
was waged through genuine and counterfeit signs
and wonders:
And Aaron threw his staff down before
Pharaoh and his servants and it became a

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serpent. Then Pharaoh also called for the
wise men and the sorcerers, and they also,
the magicians [lit. soothsayer priests], did
the same with their secret arts. For each
one threw down his staff and they turned
into serpents. But Aaron’s [genuine] staff
swallowed up their [counterfeit] staffs.
Yet Pharaoh’s heart was hardened….And
Aaron lifted up the staff and struck the
water that was in the Nile…and the blood
was through all the land of Egypt. But
the magicians of Egypt did the same with
their secret arts; and Pharaoh’s heart was
hardened….

So Aaron stretched out his hand over the

waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up
and covered the land….The magicians did
the same with their secret arts, making
frogs come up on the land of Egypt….
Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff
and struck the dust of the earth, and there
were gnats on man and beast. All the dust
of the earth became gnats through all the
land of Egypt. The magicians tried with
their secret arts to bring forth gnats, but
they could not….Then the magicians said
to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.”
But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened… (Ex
7:10-8:19).
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 Magic is an art of deception. There is certainly
a dimension of this dark art that is ‘smoke and
mirrors,’ a natural illusion accomplished by ‘sleight
of hand;’ but there is also a dimension of the
magic arts that is real supernatural power coming
from the fallen archangel Worthless. As we read
accounts of counterfeit signs and wonders in the
New Testament book of Acts, it becomes evident
that the false-father has never stopped waging his
custody battle by this means through all the ages
of mankind. In restless envy, Worthless seeks to
capture the faith of human beings; he dazzles us
with magic so we will buy “the lie.”
The crowds with one accord were giving
attention to [‘buying’] what was said by
Philip [Jesus’ gen-uine disciple], as they heard
and saw the signs that he was performing.
For many who had unclean spirits, they
were coming out of them shouting with
a loud voice; and many who had been
paralyzed and lame were healed. So there
was much rejoicing in that city [freedom
from slavery to Worthless!].
Now there was a man named Simon,
who was formerly practicing magic
[maturing as a counterfeiter] in the city
and astonishing the people of Samaria,
claiming to be someone great [pretender];
and they all, from smallest to greatest,

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 were giving attention to him, saying, “This
man is what is called the Great Power of
God [imposter, usurper].” And they were
giving him attention [‘buying’] because he
had for a long time astonished them with
his magic arts. But when they believed
Philip [gen-uine ambassador] preaching
the good news about the kingdom of God
and the name of Jesus Christ, they were
being baptized [adopted], men and women
alike. Even Simon himself believed [‘sold’
the lie and ‘bought’ into Christ]; and after
being baptized, he continued on with
Philip [to be mentored in the Truth], and
as he observed signs and great miracles
taking place, he was constantly amazed
[esteeming the gen-uine] (Acts 8:6-10).

Years ago, on a train in Europe, my mother

Judith squeezed by a certain woman in the narrow
corridor and their eyes met. Immediately the
woman said, “O, you are a spiritist too!” After
taking a second look at my mom, she added, “But
you are not of the same spirit that I am .” Agents
of Belial the counterfeiter come in varying degrees
of maturity and advocate all types of ideologies
(false-centers)—both religious (cultic, atheistic,
and ‘Christian’) and secular (political, social,
economic, etc.). We know, however, that all things
are inherently spiritual, having their source either
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in the kingdom of darkness or of Light. Some
of these agents are wholly unconscious of being
manipulated by Belial, thinking they are acting
freely according to their own designs; others
consciously serve him, carrying out his schemes
with skill and devotion.

When they [Paul and his companions,

‘sent ones’] had gone through the whole
island…they found a magician, a Jewish
false-prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus
[son of Jesus; “false Christ”], who was with
the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man
of intelligence. This man summoned
Barnabas and Paul and sought to hear
the word of God. But the magician was
opposing them, seeking [in Worthless’
envy] to turn the proconsul away from
the faith [Truth]. But Paul, filled with the
Holy Spirit [genetic Root], fixed his gaze
on him, and said, “You who are full of all
deceit and fraud, you son of the devil
[Worthless the counterfeiter], you enemy
of all righteousness, will you not cease to
make crooked [eros] the straight ways of
the Lord [Agape]? Now, behold, the hand
of the Lord is upon you, and you will
be blind and not see the sun for a time.”
And immediately a mist and a darkness
fell upon him, and he went about seeking
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 those who would lead him by the hand.
Then the proconsul believed [‘bought’]…
being amazed at the teaching of the Lord
(Acts 13:6-12).

The motive of all counterfeit miracles is to

twist and pervert the Agape of God. Through
human agents filled with his eros nature, clothed
with his envious spirit, and equipped with his
power, Worthless contests God’s custody of us.
Paul wrote:

Now we request…with regard to the

coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and
our gathering together to Him, that you
not be…disturbed either by a spirit or a
message or letter as if from us [forgeries],
to the effect that the day of the Lord has
come. Let no one in any way deceive you,
for it will not come unless the apostasy
[falling away from the faith] comes first,
and the man of lawlessness [counterfeiter]
is revealed, the son of destruction, who
opposes [God] and exalts himself [self-
love] above every so called god or object
of worship, so that he takes his seat in
the temple of God [usurper], displaying
himself as being God [imposter]….
Then that lawless one will be revealed
whom the Lord will slay with the breath
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 [Spirit] of His mouth and bring to an end
by the appearance of His coming [when
the gen-uine Son returns Worthless the
counterfeiter is exposed/dethroned]; that is,
the one [antichrist] whose coming is in
accord with the activity of Satan, with
all power and signs and false wonders
[counterfeit miracles], and with all
deception of wickedness for those who
perish, because they did not receive the
love of the truth [Agape] so as to be saved.
For this reason God will send upon them
upon them a deluding influence [lit. an
activity of error], so that they will believe
[‘buy’] what is false, in order that they all
may be judged who did not believe the
truth, but took pleasure in wickedness
[self-worth-ship] (2Thes 2:1-12).

The precise limits of Satan’ power to perform

signs and wonders cannot be completely
ascertained. However, in his Revelation John
witnessed a counterfeit resurrection:
Then I saw the beast coming up out of the
sea [e.g. of degenerate humanity], having
ten horns and seven heads, and on his
horns were seven diadems, and on his
heads were blasphemous names….And
the dragon [ancient serpent Worthless] gave
him his power and his throne and great
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 authority [over the world]. I saw one of
the heads as if it had been slain [antichrist,
imposter of the Lamb of God], and his fatal
wound was healed [counterfeit death and
resurrection]. And the whole earth was
amazed and followed after the beast; they
worshipped the dragon because he gave
his authority to the beast… (Rev 13:1-
13).
Counterfeit son-giving
God the Father gave more than Himself, He
gave His Son. Father’s Son-giving at the Cross is
the ultimate demonstration of the omnipotent,
rock-splitting, man-regenerating power of
Agape—it is unconquerable. However, Satan
twists, counterfeits, and exploits even this source
of power. 2 Kings records an occasion in which
God gave His people victory over their oppressive
enemy Moab, and Israel was effectively defeating
and destroying them; however, a fascinating turn
of events occurred:
When the king of Moab [a mature agent
of Worthless] saw that the battle was too
fierce for him; he took seven hundred men
who drew swords, to break through to the
king of Edom [Moab’s ally]; but they could
not. Then [in self-preservation] he took his
oldest son who was to reign in his place,
and offered him as a burnt offering on the
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 wall. And there came great wrath against
Israel [demonic breakthrough of power],
and Israel departed from him and returned
to their own land (2Kings 3:18-27).

In Uganda, East Africa where we live, witchcraft

thrives on child sacrifices; it is the pillar of strength
upon which this darkness is firmly established
and the fuel of its advancement. Child sacrifice
involves not only the literal murder of children
in demonic ceremonies, but also their abduction
and prolonged exploitation. In the 1980’s a
woman named Lakwena, claiming to be the Holy
Spirit, began abducting children. She mentored
her nephew, Joseph Kony, in these “deep things of
Satan,” and Kony has perpetuated and developed
this practice exponentially for over twenty years
besieging a whole nation with fear and displacing
tens of thousands into refugee camps. Kony is
the leader of bands of rebel soldiers comprised
of abducted children who are subsequently
desensitized and ‘converted’ to terrorize their own
people. Though many attempts have been made
over two decades to capture Kony, the yield of
demonic power from child sacrifice has equipped
him with a shrewd, self-preserving wisdom and
effectively shielded him in concealment just out
of reach.
In the western world, consider Worthless’
calculated schemes to capture the minds and
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affections of our youth through music and media.
This is essentially the same strategy of abduction
resulting in alienation, ‘conversion,’ usury, and
death.

Counterfeit Oneness
The kingdom of God in its entirety is contained
within one, infinite, uncreated Person—the God-
Man Jesus Christ: “the summing up of all things
in Christ, things in the heavens and things on
the earth” (Eph 1:10). By the fusion dynamic of
Agape, the three individual Persons of the Trinity
(Father, Son, and Spirit) dwell in Oneness in the
‘Nucleus’ of Christ (Col 1:9-10, 19), and every
human being who “loses his life [independent
nucleus] for My sake” (Mt 16:25) also dwells in
that same ‘Nucleus’ as members of Christ’s own
body. Therefore, God and regenerated man are
fused into One, eternal, unshakable ‘Nucleus’
(Sanctuary, Home) in the God-Man Jesus Christ.
This is the gen-uine kingdom of God.
Regenerated believers are all one in the many-
membered body of the Son, sharing the same gene.
Worthless’ counterfeit is “the beast”—a corpus
comprised of men who share his degenerate nature
and act in oneness to accomplish his envious
purpose of attaining self-glory:
Your enemies make an uproar, and those
who hate You [filled with Worthless’ envy]

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 have exalted themselves [self-worth-ship].
They make shrewd [snake-like] plans
against Your people, and conspire together
against Your treasured ones [to capture
gen-uine children, God’s inheritance]. They
have said, “Come, let us wipe them out
as a nation….” They have conspired
together with one mind; against You they
make a covenant...saying, “Let us possess
for ourselves the pastures of God” (Ps
83:2-12).
Throughout human history Worthless has
inspired fascist and communist regimes, as well
as other types of predatory empires in an attempt
to counterfeit the fusion power of human beings
in the Nucleus of Oneness in Christ Jesus. The
gen-uine kingdom is “one new man” in Christ
which yields peace (Eph 2:15); the banner of the
Soviet Union was “one man” in humanism (direct
self-worship), which yielded oppression, war, and
destruction. “Can a throne of destruction be allied
[in Oneness] with You, one which devises mischief
by decree? They band themselves together against
the life of the righteous and condemn the innocent
to death” (Ps 94:20-21).
Though the Soviet Union was atheistic and
scorned those who believed in the supernatural,
they were inadvertently worth-shipping Worthless
by self-worth-ship. For a time, the Soviet Union

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achieved a counterfeit oneness called uniformity
by external coercion and fear. The gen-uine
kingdom is diversity in Oneness, which can only
be achieved by sacrificial self-giving, an affectionate
allegiance from within, a volitional and reciprocal
response to the Agape of God. “But perfect Agape
casts out fear” (1John 4:18). In an account from
the book Acts, we see how Worthless preys upon
the self-gratifying, self-preserving instinct of
degenerate men to unite them in himself:

About that time, there occurred no small

disturbance concerning the Way [genuine
route to God through Christ; original
name for Christianity]. For a man named
Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver
shrines of Artemis [an idol], was bringing
no little business to the craftsmen;
these gathered together with craftsmen
of similar trades, and said, “Men you
know that our prosperity depends upon
this business. You see…this Paul has
persuaded and turned away a considerable
number of people, saying that gods made
with hands are no gods at all. Not only
is there danger that this trade of ours
will fall into disrepute, but also that the
temple of the great goddess Artemis be
regarded as worthless and that she whom
all of Asia and the world worship will even
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 be dethroned from her magnificence.”
When they heard this and were filled with
rage [Worthless’ envious spirit of self-love],
they began crying out, saying, “Great is
Artemis of the Ephesians!”
The city was filled with confusion, and
they rushed with one accord [counterfeit
oneness, 666, con-fused into Worthless]
into the theater, dragging along Paul’s
traveling companions….They shouted
for about two hours, “Great is Artemis of
the Ephesians!” After quieting the crowd,
the town clerk said, “Men of Ephesus,
what man is there after all who does not
know that the city of the Ephesians is the
guardian of the temple of the great Artemis
and of the image which fell down from
heaven? [Satan, aka Lucifer]” (Acts 19:23-
35).
Responding to Worthless
The following humorous anecdote of pure
fiction is entitled “Satan in Church:” One beautiful
Sunday morning a small-town congregation
assembled. As all the people were seated, Satan
himself suddenly appeared in the front of the
church in all his dark fury. The people screamed
in terror, leaped over the pews, and rushed for the
exit to flee the presence of consummate evil. As the
sanctuary emptied out, Satan noticed one old man
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sitting quietly on the third row. Perplexed by the
man’s obvious indifference, Satan approached him,
and in a deep, intimidating voice he demanded,
“Don’t you know who I am?” Entirely unfazed,
the man replied, “Yep, sure do.” Stunned and
indignant, Satan bellowed, “Aren’t you afraid of
me?” The man simply answered, “Nope, sure ain’t.
I’ve been married to your sister for 45 years!”
We opened this study by learning how to
recognize Worthless; now we will conclude by
learning a few things regarding how to respond
to him. “Satan in Church” reminds me of a true
story; Satan actually did appear to a British man
of God named Smith Wigglesworth (1859-1947)
in the middle of the night. Wigglesworth, who
was awakened from sleep by his dark presence,
turned, looked at Satan, and said, “Oh, its just
you,” and he turned back over and went to sleep!
For Wigglesworth, a mature worth-shipper of the
true God and a practiced discerner of the genetic
Root, Worthless was simply not worth losing sleep
over! Say that sentence 10 times fast! Though we
must never underestimate Satan’s deceptive power,
or be “ignorant of his schemes,” or revile Satan
in our own name, it is a unique form of worth-
ship to our true and living God—a conviction of
faith in Him and jealous love for Him—simply to
appraise His ancient enemy as worthless.
Our true Father is not concerned about us
encountering Worthless and his agents in the
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world, He purposed this as the necessary impetus
of our testing and perfecting in sacrificial self-
giving. However, Father is greatly concerned
that we will be deceived, misled, and overcome
by Worthless & sons because we have not yet
matured sufficiently in His Agape nature and the
discernment which it yields: “that no advantage
be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant
of his schemes” (2Cor 2:11). The New Testament
warns us countless times about deceiving spirits,
the envious spirit of the antichrist, false brothers,
false teachers, false prophets, and false apostles
and their extensive repertoire of counterfeit ideas
and false-centers reinforced by false signs and
wonders. All these warnings reveal Father’s abiding
concern for us—His “little children”—that we
become adequately prepared to discern and
overcome Worthless, his cunning propaganda, his
counterfeit kingdom, and his “shrewd” agents by
practicing His sacrificial self-giving and maturing
in His own Agape DNA.
Take care, brothers, that there not be in any
one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that
falls away from the living God [degenerate
nature which subtly esteems Worthless]. But
encourage one another day after day, as
long as it is still called “Today,” so that
none of you will be hardened by the
deceitfulness of sin [gradually allow self-

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 love to displace reciprocal Agape]. For we
have become partakers of Christ [the gen-
uine Son], if we hold fast the beginning of
our assurance [of He who is true Treasure]
firm until the end….
For in the case of those who have once
been enlightened [discern precious and
worthless] and have tasted the heavenly
gift [flesh and blood of Christ, “true food,
true drink”] and have been made partakers
of the Holy Spirit [gen-uine DNA], and
have tasted the good word of God and
the powers of the age to come, and then
have fallen away, it is impossible to renew
them again to repentance, since they again
crucify to themselves the Son of God and
put Him to open shame [consider God’s
genuine Son to be worthless]. For the
ground that drinks the rain that often falls
on it and brings forth vegetation useful to
those for sake it has been tilled [reciprocates
Agape], receives a blessing from God; but if
it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless
[manifesting Satan’s degenerate nature] and
close to being cursed, and it ends up being
burned (Heb 3:12-14; 6:4-8).
Since Satan is “armed with cruel hate” and
“on earth is not his equal,” as Martin Luther
testified; and in light of the fact that Worthless
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(the former heavenly insider) knows more about
the kingdom of God than you do; and considering
the ancient serpent has centuries of practice as a
master-counterfeiter, the Spirit urges us above all
things: “keep yourselves in the Agape of God”
(Jude 21).
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most
High [sanctuary of worth-ship] will abide
in the shadow of the Almighty [protection,
gen-uine peace]. I will say to the Lord, “My
refuge and my fortress, my God in whom
I trust!” For it is God who delivers you
from the snare of the trapper [deceiver,
counterfeiter] and from the deadly
pestilence [Worthless’ infectious, contagious
spirit of “the lie”]. He will cover you with
His pinions, and under His wings you
may seek refuge….You will not be afraid
of the terror by night, or of the arrow that
flies by day; of the pestilence that stalks
in darkness, of the destruction that lays
waste at noon [Worthless’ round-the-clock
scheming]. A thousand may fall [away] at
your side and ten thousand at your right
hand, but it shall not approach you [the
gen-uine heir of God in Christ]….You will
tread upon the lion and cobra [degenerate
counterfeiters], the young lion and the
serpent you will trample down [consistently
and effectively overcome]… (Ps 91:1-13).
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