Service Disruptions
A few weeks ago the Internet went out. I work from home, so I need the Internet. Listen, in the time that we live in, we all need the Internet. Before this most recent outage, my Internet service provider, let’s call them Zternity… Zternity had given advanced noticed that the Internet service would be out for certain period of time while they performed maintenance. Ok, that was fine. I was glad to receive advanced notice of the outage and was able to plan accordingly. Well, in addition to the scheduled outage for maintenance, the Internet had been going out sporadically.
One such outage occurred during the fiscal month end process at my job, which needless to say, was not a good time to lose Internet connection. These sporadic outages had become routine. I’d be working on something and lose access to the network all the sudden, unplug the router, plug it back in… we’ve all been there. Then after nothing worked, I’d Google the Zternity customer service number, call it up, hear the X, I mean Zternity jingle tune, and then immediately get the automated voice with all the options. I really should have saved the Zternity number in my phone as often as I needed to call them.
“Representative…. representative…representative.”
I’d eventually get someone on the phone and proceed to give him all the info he needed to confirm the account into. We’ve all done this hundreds of times. The customer service rep would talk me through the troubleshooting steps, and after restarting the router didn’t work, he would say the dreaded words, “We’ll likely need to send out a technician.”
“Really? Can you at least give me some indication of when the service will be restored?”
“No. But we can send someone in three days anytime from 6am to 10pm.”
But then something would happen, and the Internet would come back on. Or in some cases there were scheduled outages, but Zternity just didn’t send any notifications. Thankfully, the Internet was never out for more than half a day per outage episode. But this unreliability was really working on my nerves. Every time, I’d have to text my boss, “My internet is out again. I’ll be back online as soon as I can.”
The Counterfeit
So a few weeks back when once again, I was working on something important and the Internet went out, I was already on edge while Googling the customer service number. Like I mentioned, I really should have saved it to my phone. But this time was different. I wasn’t really paying close attention. We all know you usually have to skip the first one or two search results because they’re usually ads. I clicked on the first number that had Zternity’s name next to it. This was my first mistake.
As the number was dialing, my irritation began to bubble up. “Here we are yet again, Zternity.” So I was a surprised when instead of the customary Zternity tone, I heard the voice of an actual person.
“Hello. Zternity Customer Service. How may I assist you?” said the female voice on the other end.
“Um. Is this Zternity Customer Service?” I asked, realizing that I had avoided the customary representative repeat step.
This was my second clue.
But due to my excitement in reaching someone so quickly, I proceeded to explain the outage situation. And the representative was apologetic and asked all the usual account verification questions. Then we proceeded to go through the trouble shooting steps.
“I’ve already unplugged the router and plugged it back in,” I added, hoping we could move past that.
“Well, let’s try that one more time to make sure,” she replied.
After that didn’t work, she began to ask me about my Zternity TV service. This was a first. In my previous conversations, the topic was limited to the Internet router.
“Yes, the TV is out too,” I answered.
She instructed, “Let’s unplug the cable box, wait for ten seconds, and plug it back in.”
“Ok.” I was a little annoyed that I had to get on my hands and knees in order to reach the back of the cable box, but I actually appreciated how thorough this representative appeared to be.
After all that, there was still no change. The router light was still the wrong color and there was still no Internet.
“I’m showing that there’s no disruption in the connection and there are no outages in your area. But you are not receiving service. We’ve exhausted all our options, so we will need to send out a technician to take a look.”
Here we go again.
“Really? Well, can you please send someone today because I work from home, and I need the Internet. This has been a pattern recently and it really needs to be resolved.” I managed to remain respectful, but I know my frustration was apparent in my tone.
The representative proceeded to check the schedule but wasn’t able to find an open time that day. She assured me that they’d send someone as soon as possible. In order to complete the scheduling process, first she needed to get some information.
Ok, that’s fine. What do you need?” I responded.
First, she gave me her phone number in case I needed to reach out to her directly. That was another first. Then I believe she asked for my address and phone number, which I thought was strange because it seemed to me that she should have that information on file already. But this next exchange ultimately set off the alarm bells.
“Ok, thank you for that information. I’m checking here on your account. Oh yes, it looks like you have a past due amount on your bill. Before we can schedule the technician, we’ll need to take care of that. How would like pay?” she said with certainty.
“Um, what? You’re telling me that I haven’t paid the bill, and you won’t send someone out until I’ve paid it?”
“Yes, you must pay the bill as well as the technician charge which is $99. You have not heard of this? What credit card number may we use?”
And that’s when I knew for sure this whole encounter was a scam, a charade, a counterfeit. It was a very elaborate counterfeit. Someone had to set up a fake number, place Google ads to make sure their number showed up in the search results, write a fake customer service script with all the familiar service rep lingo, take me through all the common troubleshooting steps, pretend to check the service schedule, all with the purpose of deceiving me into giving over my credit card number before they could send out a technician.
I spent a good thirty minutes on the phone with this representative. And had I given her my credit card information, who knows the damage that she and whatever criminal enterprise she works for could have done. Thankfully, I responded to my inner alarm bells.
“No, I’m not giving you my credit card number. This is a scam. Zternity has never asked for anything like this, and I know the bill is paid in full,” I said triumphantly.
“So what are you going to do? You still don’t have internet?” she asked.
“I’m going to hang up on you and call the real Zternity.” Click.
I did get the real Zternity number and called them. I got the customary tone before repeating “representative, representative”. The real Zternity representative did pick up and informed me that there was an outage in my area, but that the Internet should be back up in the next hour.
“Thanks.”
Immediately, I called the first number back. Again, someone answered right away, this time it was a male. I asked, “Is this Zternity customer service?”
“Yes,” he said. “How may I help you?”
“You can’t help me because this is not Zternity. I called this number before and someone said there were no outages in my area. But I just got off the phone with the real Zternity and they said there is an outage in my area. You all tried to scam me. I’ll be contacting the FTC about this.”
Click.
Oh, and I did find the page on the FTC’s website to report fraud, but I haven’t filled out the form just yet. No doubt others in need of immediate Zternity Internet assistance have called the same fake number and gone through the same fake routine.
Modus Operandi
Immediately after this experience and thankfully, not too long before the Internet did come back on, I knew what I’d just lived through had spiritual applications.
Satan is the ultimate counterfeiter.
When we think of Satan, perhaps the first image that comes to mind is an evil red winged creature with horns, a tail, and a pitchfork. This is the image that mythology has painted of him. Picture the tormenting creature in Dante’s Inferno or the scariest creature you can imagine lurking in the darkness. Popular culture has made a caricature of Satan. I remember watching cartoons as a child. Sometimes when the cartoon character was faced with a choice to do something good or something bad, an image of an angel in white would show up on one shoulder and an image of the devil on the other, one representing the good side and the other representing the bad choice, the evil side. Those images use to really scare me. From an early age, I had a fear of spiritual entities, including Satan himself. Perhaps I’ll write about that in more detail in the future. But in those cartoon depictions, one side is clearly light and the other side is clearly darkness.
And I believe Satan is pleased to be depicted as the arbiter of all evil. Scripture tells us that he has several names:
- Devil – false accuser, slanderer
- Satan – adversary, one who withstands
- The Great Dragon
I think many Christians rightly know that Satan is the ultimate enemy of souls. And in his dragon-like form, he does great harm to countless lives. The Bible tells us he was the originator of lies and was a murderer from the beginning. And Satan in his prince of darkness garb is just that, darkness. Discerning believers know that we must resist the devil, and he will flee from us. (James 4:7)
He’s also personified as a serpent, subtle, cunning, and deceptive.
“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made…” - Genesis 3:1
Old Rock n Roll songs and recent film and TV shows have even painted a sympathetic picture of him. There’s an obvious agenda in media to make the anti-hero/villain the hero in the story. I’m thinking of TV shows like Leverage, movies like Ocean’s Eleven, and superhero movies like Suicide Squad and Black Adam. The audience is made to root for the bad guys whom are portrayed as doing the wrong thing for the right reason or the right thing for the wrong reason. The audience is coaxed to into empathizing with the villain/anti-hero’s perspective and motives.
I say it’s an obvious agenda because even the entertainment savvy culture has recognized these anti-hero trends. (Simply Google “Anti-Hero in American TV” and also head over to Little Light Studio’s YouTube channel if you’re interested in learning more about the themes in media today). I believe this type of story telling plays right into Satan’s hands. It is certainly his aim is to make good evil and evil good. This is a strategy that I believe most discerning Christians have picked up on. The scripture clearly warns us about this reversal in Isaiah 5:20.
“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” – Isaiah 5:20
Beyond the TV screen, we can see in our culture this reversal of good for evil and evil for good. Many Christians see it as their duty to combat this culture in the public square. But that’s a topic for another day. From a Christian’s perspective, the lines between right and wrong have clearly been blurred. And we know who is ultimately responsible. Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, gave this counsel:
“Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:” - Ephesians 2:2
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” - Ephesians 6:12
The prince of the power of the air is masterful at using the things of this world to entice and ensnare. And professed Christians who claim to love the Father, but continue to harbor affection for the world and its enticements are truly deceived.
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” – I John 2:15
And this battle against the love of the world is a daily reality. But as we continue to journey along the path of sanctification, as we learn more of the breadth and length and depth and height of the Father’s love, I’m so grateful that the things of the world begin to grow dimmer and dimmer.
So we know that Satan relishes in evil, and loves to make evil seem good and good seem evil.
Is there more to his mode of operation?
Counterfeit Customer Service
The Bible says he’s not only the accuser and the adversary; he also masquerades as an angel of light. (2 Corinthians 11:14)
Here is where the counterfeit customer service comes into the picture. This is the aspect of the enemy’s tactics that my whole fraudulent Zternity call helped to make clearer.
Satan wants to be the counterfeit customer service rep for God’s people.
What do I mean?
It’s one thing to know that the world is wicked. It’s expected. As we’ve seen, Satan is the prince of the power of the air and has many precious souls in his grip. But how does the enemy of souls deceive God’s people? He uses light. He uses a counterfeit light. You see, he has a scheme for everyone. And for God’s chosen remnant, he has prepared a special strategy. He knows he can’t come at the true believer with some of the dark enticements of the world. So he has devised a different battle plan. He will present a counterfeit light. Let’s not forget that before he was a disgraced and fallen angel, he was an exalted angel named Lucifer. That name means light bearer. One of his jobs was to carry the light of the Godhead. We have no idea how much time he spent in the presence of that light in pre-War Heaven. But one thing is sure: he’s very familiar with the true Light.
I’m thinking back now to how familiar the faux customer service representative was with all the Zternity troubleshooting steps. She, or whoever organized that whole scamming enterprise, was very well versed in how Zternity’s systems work. I’m thinking someone in the scam circle may have worked for Zternity previously. She knew exactly what technical questions to ask, what the different signals on the router meant, how to use the right tone to show empathy for the service issues, and how to assure me that everything would be resolved. And it was working until the switch flipped, and the scheme became so apparent that I could no longer ignore some of my internal red flags. She reeled me in by being a very good copy of the real thing. She was the counterfeit customer service to a “T”.
There were clear clues that I missed because I wasn’t being careful. I was rushed and anxious to get my Internet service back on. I was somewhat familiar with the real Zternity steps, but I allowed myself to get distracted, and it nearly cost me. As believers, we can’t afford not to test every spirit. (I John 4:1) But in order to do the test, we have to become so familiar with the true light, that when Satan presents a counterfeit in whatever form, we know how to rightly divide the word of truth. (II Timothy 2:15)
But how is it that Lucifer, this angel of light, deceived a sizeable amount of perfect, heavenly beings into turning against the One whose presence emits pure and unadulterated love? How did he successfully pollute their minds against the Most High? How did he deceive them into thinking they were doing themselves and all the host of heaven a service by rebelling against God’s government in heaven? Did he come right out and say, “I’m evil. Follow me.” I doubt it.
He’s much more cunning than that. I believe the clues to discern his methods of war against God’s elect are seen throughout the Bible, in Genesis 3 of course, in Matthew 4, and in Bible prophecy. As I’m typing now, I know it will take at least another study to really explore this topic, so stay tuned for that. But until then, I will leave you with these final thoughts:
Jesus warned His followers that the time would come when those that persecute them would think that were actually serving God. That takes next level deception on the part of the persecutors. How is it possible that those who think they are serving God are actually doing the opposite? This was the apostle Paul’s state before conversion, and it took a direct intervention from the LORD Jesus Christ to remove the scales of deception from his eyes. Before Damascus, he was walking in a counterfeit zeal, a counterfeit light, a counterfeit righteousness.
Is it possible that God’s professed people, under the influence of the false light bearer, will take on a cause in God’s name, but in doing so, will enact the same counterfeit? Before I started studying the books of Daniel and Revelation, I would not have thought so. But now, I can say this with certainty:
If we have any hope of enduring what is soon to come upon the earth, we must understand that Satan’s ultimate goal is to counterfeit. Who? The One he once served. He wants to get so close to the original that if it were possible, even the very elect would be deceived.
So it’s not just that he hates God, it’s that he wants to be like Him.
I believe that’s why the Apostle Paul refers to this system as the mystery of iniquity. It’s a mystery because the counterfeiter himself has devised a way to disguise sin as righteousness.
Satan’s most masterful deception is not just covering minds with darkness, but it’s counterfeiting the light, the righteousness of Christ.
But God has an answer, a true customer service representative, whose job it is to lead and guide His children into all Truth.
To be continued…
Oh, and thankfully, there were no Internet interruptions during the writing of this blog post.