Abba,

Satan is the grand pretender,
the ultimate authenticity contender.
He is the extreme wanna-be; 
creation’s greatest hyperbole.

Fashioned to worship and serve,
Your glory was his purpose—without reservåe.
Wickedly, he rejected his high and holy design,
denying his purpose with arrogant resign.

Not content with The Worshipper,
He coveted The Worshipped.

Now, in deception extreme,
he lures us to evil with his wicked dream.
Appealing to our design for worship,
he mimics goodness with seductive craftsmanship.
Your beauty he seeks to emulate. 
Our own—he tempts us to propagate.

He decries with a hiss, “God alone does not possess,”
“the self-declared right of devotion and worship!”

And with this wicked coup,
he sparks rebellion against You—
enthroning himself in Your place,
he thusly fell from heaven’s glorious grace.

Mimicking Your authority and might,
he now demands allegiance—without right;
faking his authority with the unholy allegiance 
of those stars he swept from heaven’s regency.

Boldly, he masquerades in pretense, 
embodying “The Ape of God” in every sense.

Claiming superior knowledge and understanding,
he deceptively promises with charlatan grandstanding.
Never delivering—only taking.
Every promise—always breaking.
Mimicking Your own worth and majesty,
he “apes” undeserved glory with unholy travesty.

That which he now claims
and purports,
he has no righ
to declare his own.
And yet, piously,
he does.

And in the snare of his lie,
we become snagged, by and by.

Imitating eternal pleasure and delight,\
he offers enticement with superficial sight.
Tis true, what he offers does satisfy—
if only briefly—and based upon a devious lie.

And in the end, only pain does it bring;
for no one, and no thing
can be our eternal source of delight
save You—and You alone—Oh, God of day and night.

Yet, he persists with stubborn insistence,
asserting his beauty with persistence.
But lacking any intrinsic beauty of his own,
he can only imitate what he has been shown.

He is but a shadow and reflection 
of Your infinitely pure and holy projection.
Innocence and righteousness does he feign,
claiming our best interest, he does maintain.
And in such claims, he convinces us to error,
leaving only shockwaves of grief, pain, and cosmic terror.

Indeed, the greatest tragedy of his existence 
is rebellion’s revolt riveted at his unyielding persistence.
Entitlement’s fallout brutally crashes with wave upon wave.
And from its self-righteous declarations—only YOU can SAVE.

Yes, despite only being the pretender of pretenders;
misdirected worship, Your adversary apes and engenders.
And with terrifying success, does he lead many
to prideful and selfish rebellion’s untempered plenty.

Abba, give us eyes to see and savor Your authenticity, 
and the grace to reject “The Ape of God’s” duplicity.
Let the real and true capture each and every heart.
And from it, never let us depart.