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).
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