Can Satan perform miracles?

To answer that question in a word, yes. You may be asking what type of miracles has Satan performed? Well for starters, let’s go to the temptation of Jesus.

In Matthew 4:8-9, Again the devil took Him (Jesus) up on an exceedingly high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him all these things I will give to you if you fall down and worship me.

Now to some this may not seem like a miracle at all, but the writer believe that it was.  The devil was somehow able to display to Jesus all the kingdoms of the world at one time. Obviously this did not astound Jesus, but it proves the devil can perform miraculous signs.

In the book of Exodus we see just as Moses and Aaron rods turned into snakes, Pharaoh’s magicians and sorcerers did the same. Obviously the magicians and sorcerers power came from Satan, not from God (Ex 7:10-12).

In the future Jesus told the disciples that false christs and false prophets will be able to perform great lying signs and wonders. The miracles will be so convincing that the elect of God would be almost compelled they are authentic miracles from God (Matt 24:24).

In 2 Thessalonians 2:9 the Lawless One (i.e. the Antichrist) will be the devil’s chief emissary in the earth. He will have the ability to perform great signs and lying wonders. He will successfully deceived those who are the damned. Because they refuse to receive the gospel truth and instead love evil, God will send a strong delusion that they will believe the lie. God will give them what they want which is deception. The thing that the evil crave is the same thing that will eternally destroy them. This is the ultimate effect in believing in Satanic miracles.

In Revelation 13 the beast’s main companion is the false prophet. He is an evil religious leader. The Bible says he has all the power of the first beast, and will cause the inhabitants of the earth to worship the first beast and his image (vs. 11-15) He commands global worship. He even has the ability to call down fire from heaven counterfeiting the miracle of the two witnesses (Rev 11:5).

                    How are we to distinguish between Godly and Satanic miracles?

The first way to do this is to test the spirit behind the miracle to see if they are of God for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every Spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God, every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and is now already in the world (I John 4:1-3).

So, if someone performs a miracle but they deny the incarnation of Jesus; that He was human, then that person has proven they are a false prophet. They would fall into the category I believe of those in Matthew 7 where Jesus told these workers of iniquity or those that practice lawlessness, “depart from me I never knew you!” (vs 23).

No one who is a false prophet can perform a miracle, sign or wonder from God.

A second way to know whether a person is real or fake is their lifestyle. Jesus said a good tree can not bear bad fruit, and bad tree can not bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. By their fruits, you will know them (Matt 7:17-20).

A third way to determine the source of a miracle is whether the one performing the miracle is a genuine worshipper of God. As I mentioned earlier in the article, the false prophet demanded the world to worship the Antichrist who was possessed by Satan himself (Rev 13:12). So in essence, the worship of the beast is the worship of the devil which violates the first commandment, “you shall worship no others gods but me” (Exodus 20:3).

A false prophet and false Christ will always lead by deception. Having the power to perform lying signs and wonders to boot debilitates their followers short sightedness even more and increases his power of deception further.

Concluding, Satan throughout history has deceived people into believing they have seen a crying Jesus statue dying on the cross, or apparitions of Mary talking to them. Joseph Smith who started the Mormon Church claimed to have seen God the Father and Jesus appear to him in the woods telling him that he was to receive the correct revelation of God for all the previous revelations and teachers of the past were corrupt.

What is our barometer when we hear about all this phenomena? The word of God. Scripture commands us to test all things. Hold onto what is good (I Thess 5:21).