The Pastor's Page - 11/3/09
The Danger of the Signs and Wonders Movement
Since Jesus time on earth God's intervention in the affairs of men through miracles has been a source of interest. Today some of the most popular ministries emphasize the importance and necessity of miracles. But is the emphasis balanced?
Here's the underlying assumption: The last days will be marked by an outbreak of signs and wonders. Is this assumption based upon Scripture? Let's see.
The phrase signs and wonders appears a combined 32 times in the Bible. Of those 13 refer to God's works in the plagues of Egypt. 10 references speak of the signs and wonders done by Jesus the Apostles, and the church. 2 more references, Isaiah 8:18 and John 4:48, are not directly relevant to our discussion at this point, and 3 more references appear in Daniel. The remaining four references are in fact predictions of signs and wonders in the last days. Here's the catch however; Of the four, three refer to the false miracles of Satan and his followers.
"And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God... I will show wonders in heaven above And signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. " (Acts 2:17,19)
"For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect." (Matthew 24:24 see also Mark 13:22)
"The coming of the lawless one {The Antichrist} is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders," (2 Thessalonians 2:9)
This reality demands the balance of warning, that a miracle is these days might not come from God. And further, since God commands us to investigate spiritual truth claims (1st John 4) there is nothing judgmental about this investigation. Here's an important life lesson: The question is not whether God works miracles. It is whether God is the only one who works miracles. So what criteria can we use to ensure that we are not duped? Here are four "R's" that could help.
R # 1: REJECT arguments that Satan's mimicry is limited to the Tribulation period. The Matthew passage above covers more than the tribulation, and the 1ST John 4 injunction to try the spirits has been in effect since the church began. In addition the passage from 2ND Thessalonians says God gives the people delusion to believe the works of Antichrist because of their refusal to love Him and His truth. (Vs. 10) This rejection of truth is certainly prevalent today.
R # 2: REMEMBER that not everyone who speaks in Christ's Name speaks for Christ. Jesus mentions people in Matthew 7 who obviously thought they were working for Him but who are informed that they in fact were never His ambassadors. In Acts 16 we read a story of a young lady who was demon possessed, following Paul and declaring that he was a spoken of the Most High God. This was true but the source of this truth was in reality a demon who has possessed the girl, and whom Paul subsequently exorcized from her. Nevertheless the demon spoke truth in an attempt to lead people astray.
R # 3: RECOGNIZE that demons are perfectly comfortable in a religious setting. Although the Gospels show them as fearful in Christ's presence the real source of fear was the purpose of Christ's presence, which they thought was to exercise judgment upon them at that time. Even here they spoke of Him in terms of honor and recognition. We should not be surprised to find them in lifeless or extremely exuberant services where there is no substance of balanced truth being presented.
R # 4: REVIEW the miracle workers' theology about miracles. What is their position when insisting that miracles are necessary for faith, on what Jesus said to Thomas about believing without seeing? Will they acknowledge that not everyone will receive a miracle? Do they realize the ineffectiveness of miracles in bringing faith? Remember that 13 of the references to signs and wonders come from the Exodus. Yet the children of Israel who were witnesses to these events were far from examples of faithfulness. Jesus' own ministry was filled with overwhelming miracles but many remained hard and lost in spite of this. And in today's information packed age anyone with access to the internet search engines can probably find this information easily. Again this is not judgmental. It is wise action in light of the enemy's plan to deceive.
God is without question a miracle God. But He is not the only one working in these days.
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