Epi - The prefix epi from the Greek preposition ἐπί meaning: above, on, over, nearby, upon; outer; besides, in addition to; among;attached to; or toward. (a pretty useful prefix :) )
Phony - The suffix phone or phony having to do with sound, from Greek phōnē: sound, voice, as in telephony.
Put them together and do you get "sound form above ?"
Pastor Ray talks of (I wish I could recall the phrase exactly) an unaccountably wonderful and warm sensation that people associate with the transformation from somebody like me who is visually impaired (when it comes to Christianity) into someone that knows. I might be over-anticipating, but I think I have a sense of what this might be like for me. In my case it could well be tied to the beauty of music.
One of the albums on my iPod is "Highway of Dreams" by Bradley Walker. A good listen, if you are "into" county (and even if you ain't). In the past, listening to the songs has been a humanist experience. Emotions would tug my heart-strings, predictably at the points of human folly and suffering. Today I found something different.
Exhibit one - "He carried her memory" - a good C&W tale about the sadness and eventual demise of a man saddened by the desertion by a loved one. My point of maximum empathy has typically been at the protagonist's eventual suicide. The surprise today was how much empathic pain I felt (for the first time in my life) at the line "and he never darkened another church door". Wonderful and confusing.
Exhibit two - "A little change" - the ballad of a man "trapped" by a materialistic life, and the derelict asking for some change. The redemption comes with the protagonist's realization that he has strayed, and his plea to Jesus for help in changing back. His plea carries more authenticity than it used to. Perhaps I'm learning. Perhaps I'm being given a little change (for those that listen to the song).
To get back to the pun; Wikipedia (the repository of much earthly knowledge anyway) explains Epiphany as the term used to mark the moment when a person realizes their faith.
And hence the mis-spelling. My epiphany may come as an epi-phony. Catalyzed by music inspired from above.
By definition it cannot match that other meaning of "phony" that you were worried about.
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