When crowds debated whether Jesus was a good man, one common-sense argument stood out: “How can a sinful man perform such signs?” John 9:16.
That makes sense, right? Do bad men heal blind eyes or make the lame walk? Do bad men raise the dead? Nicodemus said the same thing directly to Jesus: “No one could perform the signs You are doing if God were not with Him” John 3:2.
But do you remember what happened when Moses performed signs for Pharaoh? “Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it turned into a serpent. Pharaoh, in turn, summoned his sorcerers and they did the same thing by their magic arts” Exodus 7:10-11. God allowed Pharaoh’s magicians to duplicate many of the miracles of Moses. But were they good men? No.
Similarly, Jesus predicted that bad men would perform miracles. “False messiahs and false prophets will rise up and will perform signs and wonders to lead astray, if possible, even the elect” Mark 13:22.
The truth is, bad people often do good things (what better way to gain your trust?).
Deceivers will perform miracles—often by fraud and illusion, but sometimes by supernatural power. That is, sometimes the signs or wonders they perform may be “verifiable” miracles. After all, the enemy has supernatural power too.
God will allow false prophets, false teachers, liars and con-men to deceive you with miraculous “signs and wonders” if you are not on guard. Jesus states it clearly: false prophets will perform signs to lead astray the elect.
What can be done? Jesus says “Do not believe it! … You must watch!” Mark 13:21 and 23.
But what can we do, in a practical sense, to guard ourselves from such deceptions? If we see someone perform a miracle, do we assume them to be deceivers? Not necessarily. Miracles are reported around the world all the time. Some may be the work of false prophets, but some are almost certainly genuine.
Here is the test for truth:
Do not believe the speaker’s message to be Biblical because you think his sign is genuine. Instead, believe the sign to be genuine if the speaker’s message is Biblical.
Following the life of Christ, the gospel message is complete. The New Testament is a finished work. There are no changes to come, no revisions, no sequels. The New Testament clearly articulates that Jesus is God’s Son and He died for our sins and rose again, conquering sin and death. “Prophets” who preach anything else are preaching heresy, and their alleged “signs and wonders” must be ignored.
“But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!” Galatians 1:8.
Remember: you will see miracles. They prove nothing. Faithfulness to the gospel of Christ is the test for truth.
Read Mark 13.
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P.S. WordPress now includes a feature that uses AI to generate images. I used AI to generate a picture based on these instructions: “Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it turned into a serpent.”
Jesus said the end times would be characterized not only by “wars and rumors of wars,” by earthquakes and famines and the beginning of the birth pangs, but by DECEPTION. “Take heed that no one misleads you” Matthew 24:4. I have never seen such a chorus of misleading voices. Between anti-intellectualism, social media, Artificial Intelligence, Deep Fakes, incompetent Influencers, the predatory wellness movement, biased reporting masquerading as journalism, the ignorance of expertise, plagiarism and other factors decimating scholarship and the peer-review process, the rise of false religions, cults, and new age spirituality, I am more inclined to call ours the end times than ever before.
Household Words: 