The enemy of our souls who's name is satan is a deceiver whose main weapon is fear for the purpose of destroying faith in Jesus. He has been trying to convince believers to walk in fear and to bury their God given talents in the ground. He hates God's children especially when they move in God's power and anointing, and he loves to twist scripture to try and get people confused about God's will.
Well, it is too bad for him that God has given us authority to tear down demonic strongholds and tread evil under our feet so here we go!
God has told in scripture that evil does actually have power, even power to work signs and wonders. But don't worry God has also said that the power of evil will never stand against His Truth. It is as easy for believers to destroy the enemy's works as it is for light to expel darkness!
God has given us a grid in which we can use to discern true signs and wonders against fake ones. Check out these scriptures:
(NKJV) Mark 13:22 "For false christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect."
(NKJV) Revelation 13:13 "He [the evil one] performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men."
(NKJV) Deuteronomy 13:1 "If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, (NKJV) Deuteronomy 13:2 "and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, 'Let us go after other gods'--which you have not known--'and let us serve them,'"
(NKJV) Deuteronomy 13:3 "you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul."
After looking at these warnings the key phrase to look at is,
"saying, let us go after other gods..."
In all of these above warnings the counterfeit signs and wonders were being done with the main intent of pointing people away from Jesus to other so "other gods."
If someone has a dream or vision or works a sign and wonder and says "lets go after Jesus", it is from God; if they say "let's go after other gods", it from the devil.
A sign points you to something like a street sign, and a wonder is something that is by definition;
Wonder-Noun: A feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable.
Wonder-Verb: Desire or be curious to know something.
So the nature of a wonder is that it is something unfamiliar, or unexplainable that causes you to want to know more.
When you encounter something supernatural the question should not be can I explain this, but rather where or who is this sign pointing me to? Or who is this act causing me to be drawn to put my faith in?
Jesus addressed this issue with His disciples and brought clarity about the working of miracles:
(NKJV) Mark 9:38 "Now John answered Him, saying, "Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us."
(NKJV) Mark 9:39 "But Jesus said, "Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me."(NKJV) Mark 9:40 "For he who is not against us is on our side."
By this statement we can see that it is impossible for someone to work a miracle in Jesus name and for it to be done under the power of a "deceiving spirit".
Notice Jesus's response was NOT: well you're right guys, I see these men are working miracles in my Name, but we should be skeptical because these could be deceptive spirits and you can never really be sure unless you know the people really well. Hahahha!
Even though they didn't know these guys or their character Jesus didn't tell them to stop. Good things were being done through the the Name of Jesus, and Jesus saw this as the qualifying factor to whether a miracle is from God or not. He also added that if someone is not against us they are for us! Basically, He was saying that unless someone is working miracles in the name of someone else they are on God's team, and to receive them with gladness.
The reality of things is also that not everyone wants to be on God's team, and not everyone takes pleasure in His truths. These people will easily be deceived if there was a powerful miracle done in the name of someone other than Jesus. It would justify their own desire to not follow Jesus. Paul also writes about this:
(NKJV) 2 Thessalonians 2:9 "The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders," (NKJV) 2 Thessalonians 2:10 "and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved."
So when someone works miracles, and tells people to follow someone or something other than Jesus, people who aren't saved and not interested in Jesus could easily be deceived.
This is the context of every passage dealing with counterfeit signs and wonders.
Jesus' qualifier for a miracle to be from God was actually, "if they are not against us they are for us."
It doesn't exactly sound like Jesus was nervous about people performing miracles in His name as probable "deceiving spirits".
I believe it is impossible for one of Jesus' true disciples to be deceived by someone working counterfeit miracles, because their love for His truth is the anchor of their soul, not the lust for the supernatural.
(NKJV) John 10:5 "Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers."
If someone goes off to become a disciple of some "foreign god" because of some miracle, it shows they were not His sheep in the first place.
In reference to the "deceiving spirits" lets take a closer look at that scripture in Timothy,
(NKJV) 1 Timothy 4:1 "Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,"
The context of this scripture is that the deceiving spirits would enter the church and entice people away from FAITH in Christ. So remember Jesus said that is it impossible for someone to work a miracle in His name, and then speak evil of Him. So in context Paul was not even referring to the miraculous in the passage, but rather reminding people of how deceiving spirits would try to trick people into unbelief, especially justification by their own works apart from faith in Christ's finished works on the cross.
Yet I think it's funny that this scripture (which is against unbelief ) is the one the enemy uses to twist and try to get people to fall into unbelief, and to reject signs and wonders in fear of getting deceived.
Most of this propoganda actually comes from people who believe the demonic doctrine that says that the gifts of the Holy Spirit died with the original Apostles.
If you are still wondering about the False Christs thing, Jesus wasn't talking about people working miracles in His Name, He was talking about people saying that they were actually Him. So yes if someone says that they are actually Jesus himself, of course don't believe them.
So in conclusion, God is not a God of confusion, and He didn't call us to a life of fear, but He had said concerning us,
(NKJV) John 10:29 "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand."
Jesus has called us to a life of radical love and faith, a love and faith that destroys the works of the devil and lets the oppressed go free.
So the next time you hear of something that you can't explain being done in Jesus name, you don't have to be afraid or skeptical, just see it as a billboard with an arrow pointing to the words "Jesus loves you!"
-Tyler Worley
Awesome blog Tyler. Really anointed and timely.
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