Fooled by a Counterfeiter

Many years ago, I, Michael Chriswell, had a humiliating and costly experience with a professional counterfeiter. I was selling some high-end home audio equipment. The gentleman answered my online ad and showed up at my home with a nice friendly smile and a certified check from a locally known bank in Florida called SunTrust. Upon handing me the check, which was already made payable to me, and was drawn from a bank which I was familiar with and trusted, he pointed to the 800 # number on the top of the check and said, “Please, before we start carrying this stuff out to my car, go ahead and call the bank to verify that the check is good for this amount.”

I felt this was a wise thing to do, so I called the number and typed in the check number and the amount payable, as it requested. The automated reply assured me that the check was indeed good for that amount.

I smiled and said “it’s all good, thank you”, and then commenced helping him to load all of my valuable stereo equipment into his vehicle. I shook his hand, said thank you, and then he happily drove off with my stuff.

I too was very happy to have received my asking price, and to now have all of that money back in my account. That was, until 10 days later, when my bank suddenly took all of that money back out of my account, informing me that I had been a victim of fraud. When my bank had submitted the check to the real Suntrust bank for payment, the check was discovered to be a counterfeit. I had played the fool and had been outwitted by a bold and very clever thief!

According to Jesus Christ, and the eighth chapter of John, and according to the apostle John, in 1 John 3:6-10, people who tell lies are children of the father of lies, Satan. The Bible tells us that Satan is the current prince or ruler of this world and by God’s permissive will and purpose, he leads the whole world astray, and that he is an actual spirit who is invisibly at work in all of those who are disobedient. If, by faith, we believe what the Bible says about him, then that means we can learn about some of the methods and schemes and deceptions of the great thief and the enemy of our souls, by carefully observing some of the criminal minds who are unknowingly under his influence and power to do his will? (John 8, 1 Tim 2:26)

By far, the most clever tactic that thief used on me, was to have me call an “official” looking 800 number, to verify the check. Here I was, naively taking his word for it, calling a phone number and trusting that it was connected to the actual SunTrust bank name who appeared to be the issuer of the check.

I called the number the deceiver led me to call, and I heard exactly what I wanted to hear, and thus I continued to believe, what I wanted to believe. The thief knew that I wanted to hear the check was good, so he manufactured a false “witness” to tell me what he knew I wanted to hear, thereby ensuring I would believe the lie, enabling him to steal from me, face to face, in my own home.

How dangerous is this true story and experience from my own life, when symbolicllay applied to our souls, our eternal destiny, and to the father of all lies, the thief who comes to steal kill and destroy, the greatest of all counterfeiters, Satan.

Nearly 25 years ago that thief deceived me by leading me to call on a false witness and false source of verification. I did so without hesitation because he had printed on the check a bank “name” I trusted.

Today, the enemy has innumerable false “numbers“ that you can “call” which will connect you to his deceivers and false witnesses who will falsely validate your counterfeit “faith”, telling you exactly what you want to hear. Just like my thief used the well-known and trusted “SunTrust” bank name, Satan’s false witnesses all use the name you know and trust, Jesus Christ. But here is the tragedy! Just as Suntrust would not honor my counterfeit check, even though their name was proclaimed as the issuer, neither will Jesus Christ honor a counterfeit faith in Him, even if it was issued and believed on in His name.

Matthew 7:21-23 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. [22] Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' [23] Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

Judgment day is the day where all counterfeit faith is revealed, the day you find out you have been had, and the check you deposited in Jesus name, will not cash. It is a dreadful day, because the consequences cannot be reversed, and they will last for all of eternity. There are no do overs on Judgment Day and foolish mistakes can no longer be chalked up to count for experience or future wisdom, as was the case my counterfeit check experience.

For two thousand years, but perhaps never so effectively as now, Satan has been telling the multiplied millions of believers in Jesus Christ, “Your Christianity is all good…don’t worry. Here, to be certain it’s authentic, just “listen to this YouTube video”, “read this new book”, or “watch this wonderful sermon” to verify that you are truly a Christian and you are truly saved. And so we do, and just like when I dialed that false phone number which I thought was connected to the authentic “bank” I trusted, we hear exactly what we want to hear. “You’re all good beloved Christian, you’ve got the saving faith, just keep going on as you are and one day Jesus will accept and cash your good deposit of faith in Him.“

Satan, with no little hindrance from our corrupt and deceitful heart, leads us to a false source of verification, knowing we will be delighted to hear exactly what we want to hear, just like I was delighted to hear the check was “good”. Thus Satan cleverly convinces us to believe the lie, and we hold on to our counterfeit until we are finally and tragically led into destruction, on the day we are to make our final deposit with Jesus.

The suffering I faced from that counterfeit check eventually went away, and some future wisdom was gleaned from my mistake. However, the dreadful shock and suffering that will come upon all who find themselves at the judgment seat of Jesus Christ with a counterfeit “faith” and counterfeit “Christianity”, will never end for all eternity, and there will never be any useful future wisdom learned from that tragic mistake!

It never occurred to me that the number he was telling me to call to verify my check, might be a fake number, intentionally created to fool me. This is how I was deceived. Imagine if I had simply looked up the number for SunTrust bank myself, and gone directly to the supposed issuer of my check. Someone who actually worked for the bank, who knew how to distinguish between an authentic check and a fake one, could have verified for me on the spot, what I had found out way too late. “Mr. Chriswell, I’m so sorry. The check is a counterfeit and it is worthless.” Oh, how I wish I would have given someone an opportunity, at the authentic source, to have told me that before I tried to deposit that check!

If only, I would have been skeptical enough, and wise enough, to have gone directly to the source, the bank whose name was written on the check. Had I been wise enough to do that, the thief would have been immediately stopped in his tracks, and he would have become the fool, not me!