Maybe the most recognizable celebrity in the world today isn't as recognizable as everyone first imagined. A Sacramento man was convicted of using Tiger Wood's identity to defraud credit card companies of $17,000. According to prosecutors, Anthony Taylor used Tiger's real name, Eldrick T. Woods, to apply for credit cards which he used to buy televisions, stereos, luxury car rentals and other services.

Taylor's defense attorney, James Greiner, told the jury that it is ridiculous to believe that anyone would confuse his client for one of the world's most famous golfer. Yet people did not confuse Anthony with Tiger. They believed him to be Eldrick T. Woods. By not making the connection between the name and the identity, they were fooled. In the same way, many people come and claim to speak for the one true God. Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, and many other groups try to fit under the label of Christian in order to gain an audience. Yet when their message is compared to the message of the Bible, they are found to be as Christian as Anthony Taylor is Tiger.

Rob Granito seemed to be successful comic artist with various credits and a great portfolio. However, many of his drawings and paintings were highly suspect. Much of his work seemed oddly familiar. Granito has been on the comic convention for years selling his work and claiming to be busy drawing various comics and cartoons. It has now been uncovered that his work is a fraud and nothing more than large-scale printouts of other artists given quick paint over and sold at an incredible markup. Rob Granito has since been shunned from the comics industry and banned from selling his wares at any convention.

Jesus told us to beware of counterfeits. Just like Granito, they come to prey on those who are not paying attention to the details.

--Conventionfansblog.com- http://conventionfansblog.com/2011/03/29/rob-granito-called-a-fraud-banned-from-conventions/ Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Miguel Martinez

In the early 1990s, photographs of an unidentified flying object taken in the Belgian sky puzzled even NASA scientists. Though authorities poured over the picture of a triangular-shaped vehicle with four lights, they could not disprove it. The picture was the sharpest available to experts in a two-year period during which thousands of people claimed to see strange sights in the sky. The mystery over the mysterious pictures continued until a man came forward on a Belgian television network and confessed it was a hoax.

The man, identified only as Patrick, said he and some friends made the vehicle and took pictures of it because of the stir in the country. He said they “made it, painted it, hung it up and then photographed it,” in a matter of hours. He revealed that they made the strange ship out of foam with lights attached to it. Patrick said he felt it was time to come clean and reveal the hoax, adding,” It’s too easy to fool people, even with a cheap model.”

--Belgium UFO that puzzled NASA was polystyrene fake, http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hiDdeCJQip5bT8D3v-RXeRFK9IJg?docId=CNG.67d603a832d1aa3c07e2360dc76ce279.961; July 27, 2011, Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell

It is too easy to be fooled by cheap imitations. We must train our minds to recognize the real thing.

Luke 21:8 (CEV) Jesus replied: Don't be fooled by those who will come and claim to be me. They will say, "I am Christ!" and "Now is the time!" But don't follow them.

Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf prefers to make his own phone calls and maintain a personal touch with state officials. His representative said the governor had to send an email to government agencies after several people hung up on him when he called. Receptionists who did not believe that the call was really coming from the governor questioned him and sometimes hung up on Wolf. After receptionists treated the governor rudely for the Community and Economic Development Secretary and a state lawmaker, his office sent an official notification. Wolf’s office told switchboard operators not to hang up on anyone “claiming to be Tom Wolf” because the call was likely genuine.—Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell

Stop hanging up on governor, Pennsylvania employees are told,https://www.yahoo.com/news/stop-hanging-governor-government-workers-told-180256910.html, Accessed June 24, 2016.

1 John 4:1 (HCSB)“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

In the movie The Avengers, Loki of Asgard, the villain, attempts to make the world bow before him in fear. Thousands of alien forces were coming from a portal to assist in the domination. The battle leads him to a confrontation with the Incredible Hulk, the mean, green fighting machine. Loki says, "ENOUGH! You are, all of you, beneath me. I am a god, you dull creature, and I will not be bullied by..."

Mid-sentence, Hulk grabs Loki and swings him back and forth against the ground, forming a crater with his body. As Hulk walks away, he says, "Puny god." —Jim L. Wilson and Jeremiah Cannon

Psalm 135:15–18 (HCSB) “The idols of the nations are of silver and gold, made by human hands. ¹⁶ They have mouths but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. ¹⁷ They have ears but cannot hear; indeed, there is no breath in their mouths. ¹⁸ Those who make them are just like them, as are all who trust in them.”

When the FBI trains its agents that are involved in counterfeit currency fraud, they train them to be totally familiar with real banknotes, rather than the forgeries they might encounter. Their philosophy is that if their agents are absolutely trained and knowledgeable about real currency, then they will be more able to detect a forgery or counterfeit banknote, when they come across them. Their best agents are almost perfect at detecting the counterfeits.

But there is counterfeit currency that is very close to the original banknotes, and there are those that are so clearly fake, that it is a surprise that anyone would try to pass them off as real, or that they would be received when tendered. However, this didn’t stop a New Jersey man from trying pass off a fake $100 bill clearly marked with the words “For Motion Picture Use Only” at a local gas station, in South Brunswick. “Detectives tracked down the 20 year-old Montgomery man who admitted he was surprised the clerk took the money.”

The Bible informs us that there is coming a time when Christians will increasingly encounter counterfeits, as our arch enemy continues his assault on the Church and on the nations of the world. Question is, are we, like the best FBI Counterfeit Detection Agents, so familiar with what is real and true, the Word of God, that we are able to detect these counterfeits when we come across them? Or will we be deceived like the rest of mankind?—Jim L. Wilson and Derick Wilson

2 Thessalonians 2:9–12 (CSB) “The coming of the lawless one is based on Satan’s working, with all kinds of false miracles, signs, and wonders, and with every wicked deception among those who are perishing. They perish because they did not accept the love of the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a strong delusion so that they will believe the lie, so that all will be condemned—those who did not believe the truth but delighted in unrighteousness.”

In his book, Bezonomics: How Amazon Is Changing Our Lives and What the World's Best Companies Are Learning from It, Brian Dumaine writes, “Counterfeiting has gotten so bad that for the first time in its 2018 financial filings, Amazon mentioned that it had become a significant issue on its site.”

Would you pay $250.00 for an Andy Warhol sketch even if you knew there was only 1 in a 1000 chance it was real?

The MSCHF collective is selling one real sketch along with 999 “elaborate forgeries” for $250.00 to make a statement about “famous works of art only being accessible to the wealthy.” However, in doing so, they will bring in $250,000.00 in revenue instead of $20,000.00, which is the estimated value of the sketch.

https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/10/26/MSCHF-Andy-Warhol-forgeries-for-sale/4091635276254/

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.