Not all signs, wonders, and works are of God.
I sought the Lord very recently on this topic. It seems that everywhere we read and look, there are many professing faith in other "gods" based on seemingly supernatural events that take place. I use the term "gods" to encompass many idols: the idol of self, the idol of medicine, the idol of Buddha, the idol of Wiccan (witchcraft), the idol of the dalai lama, the idol of Islam, the idol of synchronicity, the idol of worldly music, the idol of alcohol, the idol of anything that has taken the place of Jesus Christ.
Nothing can come before Jesus. When I say Jesus, I am talking about the True Jesus Christ - God in the flesh - found in the Bible. I am not talking about the false jesus that many have created in America and in other parts of the world. I am not making a reference to the "buffet jesus" where many would pick what they like about him and discard what they don't like about him. I am referencing the true I AM of the Bible. The One who was, is, and will forever be. The One who is the Lamb and is the Lion! The One who calls followers to die to ourselves and to take up our cross to follow Him --- daily.
The Lord brought me very specifically to these verses. I hope I never grow numb to the way the Lord works and teaches. There have been so many times that the Lord has put His finger on a verse and said, "Here is the Truth. Live by it. Tell others of it."
Deuteronomy 13-
1 If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,
2 And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;
3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
4 Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.
5 And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.
Notice in the above verses that there are certain "prophet[s]" or "dreamer[s] of dreams" who are against the Lord. These same prophets and dreamers of dreams provide signs or wonders, and those signs and wonders actually do "come to pass." Seeing such things may cause a person to follow/believe this "prophet" if one does not know the Lord and know His Word. This verse below offers a special clue to any person who truly wants to serve the Lord and who does not want to be fooled by false prophets, false idols, and false religions.
Verse 2 - saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;In the verses above, if a person knows the God of the Bible and knows the Lord's Word, that person will discern the falsehood behind the signs and wonders that "came to pass." However, if a person is not spending time studying the Lord's Word, is not in close prayer to the Lord, and is not obeying the Holy Spirit, then that individual will likely begin following after a false prophet who successfully demonstrated some type of miraculous power. Satan has power. He has power. Is he more powerful than God? Never. But we are to know that Satan and any dark force working for him has the power to do what many would deem "godlike."
Why would the Lord allow false signs, false wonders, and false prophets? The Lord also provides that answer in verse 3:
3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.In the original Hebrew, the word "proveth" means to TEST. One who does not wholeheartedly love the Lord and serve the Lord will not enter in to His Kingdom. One who follows after false gods that may demonstrate "signs and wonders" will not pass the test. The Lord continually tests those who profess to be IN the faith. Paul, himself, warns believers at the Corinthian church to see if they are IN the faith. If a person chooses to follow after that which is false -- even if there was a great sign or wonder that accompanied the false, then one's love for the Lord has not been established and has not withstood the TEST. Without love and obedience to the One True God, we are lost.
There are instances in the Bible where dark forces demonstrate power, YET there are tell-tale clues separating what is true from what is false each time:
Exodus 7 -Moses and Aaron obeyed the Lord in the above verses, and the supernatural occurred. Shortly thereafter, a counterfeit version of the "supernatural" took place. We know in this portion of the story that Pharaoh is in NO WAY obedient to God, yet the "wise men," "sorcerers," and "magicians" of Pharaoh's land were able to mimic the very action performed by Aaron and Moses. An undiscerning mind may follow Pharaoh and the "wise men" of Egypt. Or applied to today's "wise men, sorcerers, and magicians," many today have chosen to follow false god's with their false signs.
8 And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
9 When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Shew a miracle for you: then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent.
10 And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the Lord had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent.
11 Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.
12 For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods.
We must be very careful when assessing these "false signs" in our society. There are many things in this world that "seem" to function as God; therefore, many falsely assume that "all beliefs" lead to God. The real question must be:
Is this sign, wonder, or work obedient to the BIBLE?
If what we witness or hear is in direct contradiction to the teachings of the Bible, then we must remove ourselves from following, worshiping, and/or believing the lie - no matter what type of "supernatural" support the lie seems to bring with it, we must depart from the lie!
In Acts, Paul encounters what "appears" to be a godly woman based on her profession or witness, but Paul, who has the Holy Spirit and knows the Word of God, understands that the damsel's words are fueled by the wrong spirit -- a spirit of divination.
Acts 16:
16 And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:Notice the tale-tell clues in verse 16 alone. Her soothsaying (fortune-telling) skills are used not to bring glory to God, but instead, are used to bring financial gain to her masters. The Bible teaches against those who speak for financial gain and against those who have a love of money. At the root of financial gain and love of money is greed and a love of self - an ego that must be fed. Beware of such persons.
17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.Although the girl is speaking the truth regarding Paul, she is being led by the wrong spirit.
18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.Two important areas are demonstrated here. Paul, who is led of the Holy Spirit, performed a sign and wonder when he casts the unclean spirit OUT of this girl. The Lord performs great signs and wonders through His true children, even today! However, where there is Truth, there is also a false imitation. What is the difference? Paul works by the power of God. The girl was working by the power of darkness. Paul set the girl free from her bondage to the dark spirit. The girl's masters had her imprisoned by and through the wrong spirit.
Some may assume that discerning between the True and the false is not necessary, but we are taught in 2 Thessalonians how deceptive and how destructive following a counterfeit can be:
2 Thessalonians 2:What will that which is against Christ and His teachings bring with him? Power, signs, and lying wonders.
8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.There are many who would argue, "I love the truth, so I am saved." Do you love THE TRUTH? There is only One Truth. Do you take THE TRUTH and twist it somewhat to better fit the type of life you want to live? Do you put your hands over your eyes when the whole Truth is revealed because you don't like certain parts of it? Do you say there are many ways to The Truth? Is it the Lying Wonders "truth" that you love? These are hard questions we must ask ourselves -daily.
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:To whom is God sending a strong delusion? To those who choose to be deceived by what is UNrighteous. God will knock only so long before He allows the lies of Satan to swallow up those who do not love THE TRUTH. Is that scary? It should be for all of us. My strongest and most repeated prayer to the Lord is this: "Lord, no matter what, do not allow me to believe a LIE. Show me, guide me, and help me to be obedient to you, no matter what opposition I face."
The question may be - How do I know what is righteous vs unrighteous? We can't know the difference between the two without the Holy Spirit's guidance, without repentance, without reading the Bible, without obedience to the Lord, without fasting, without a heart that says, "Lord, fix what is wrong and broken in me."
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.If we would only look around in our society (even in our own neighborhoods) and see how these verses are manifesting right before our eyes. What God deems filthy, man is calling clean. Even in our churches, many are calling sin acceptable under the disguise of tolerance -- under the disguise of GRACE. Satan himself has successfully counterfeited the holy gift of Grace and turned it into a license to sin, just as Jude warns us in the Bible. Again, without knowledge of the Bible, we are likely to fall for anything - any sign, any wonder, any lie.
The last false sign and wonder that I feel led to share comes from Revelation:
Revelation 13:Look at his counterfeit appearance - two horns like a lamb - a disguise of innocence.
11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.Notice the clue here - He is calling those on earth to make an image to the beast. Does this request align with the Word of God - the Bible? If you don't study the Bible and seek God's WHOLE Truth, then you are and will be deceived. If you turn a deaf ear to what the Bible teaches, you too will be deceived by the dragon. The Bible teaches expressly AGAINST such idolatry. But Satan is clever. If you are waiting for an actual dragon to stand in front of you so that you will know not to believe him, you may be waiting for a while. We are told in Genesis 3 that "The serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field." Subtil means cunning (achieving one's goals by deceit).
13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.An important clue is also offered just before the above verses. I decided not to list them until after verses 11-18 because so many are currently falling for the lies of the dragon and the beast - with his signs and wonders.
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
Verses 6 and 7 provide the most important way of discerning the false sign and wonders from the true sign and wonders of God:
6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.Blasphemy against the one and only God of the Bible. Do we not see and hear this everywhere we go these days? Can we turn on the television and not see or hear someone speaking against Jesus? Do we not hear people in our country changing the commandments of God in order to embrace sin? Do we not see people "bowing down" to the image of the beast. Are they not nodding in agreement with the lies and wonders spued from such evil?
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
May we never confuse the mighty power and workings of God Almighty with the false imitations offered by Satan and his minions. One is real and breathes freedom to those who obey. One is false and breathes death to those who obey.
We are told in 1 John to "try the spirits." I shared earlier this week words of wisdom from a sister in Christ. As she stated,
"We must stop seeing people according to the flesh. You must know what spirit a person is of . . . You discern a spirit by the obedience of that spirit to the WORD OF GOD."
Jesus will send confirmation of His Truth to those who diligently seek Him. His Word and confirmation will never contradict the Bible. He is the "Word Made Flesh."
If you don't seek the Lord, pray TO HIM, and read HIS Bible, you are being fooled and will continue to be as this nation and this world reaches these final days when deception will reach levels unlike we have ever seen.
May we never forget the God has not changed. What He did in the Bible He still does today. May we follow Him and His Power. May we not be deceived by Satan's counterfeit imitations.
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I am adding this on Monday night. I wrote the entry above on Saturday and spent most of the morning writing it Saturday. I wrote this Saturday when the Lord confirmed Deuteronomy 13 to me just after I asked Him an honest question pertaining to the topic in this post. I am adding more information 2 days later because the Lord has further confirmed His Truth. When attempting to create this blog entry on Saturday, I experienced several strange technical difficulties. After I posted, Satan, of course, fought me with discouragement - as he tends to do. Many times after I type up a blog or Facebook entry for the Lord, I find myself fighting discouragement most times. I thank God for those times because the more the Lord allows me to be exposed to Satan's deceptive tricks, the easier it is for me to overcome by Faith.
I believe it was yesterday, Sunday, when I was on my couch thinking of the Lord and His ways. I was thinking about the lack of support Truth seems to get these days. I also willfully thought, "Lord, I know what you have shown me, and I will follow you even when faced with opposition." I felt led to look on the computer literally right after I made this vow to the Lord. Immediately, I saw where Pastor Gary Price had shared a video on his Facebook. I seldom open up video clips, but I felt the urging of the Spirit to open this one. I had the opportunity to finish the video tonight, and I am amazed at the timing of the Lord.
1. The minister in the video stands behind a podium that includes the word Intercessors on it. The Lord has spoken and confirmed to me this past year my role as an intercessor. The Lord confirmed this most profoundly in December.
2. The minister in the video speaks of the subject matter that I wrote of in this blog above.
3. He uses Ezekiel 22: 23 through the end of that chapter. This, too, was a major confirmation to me because in August 2013, the Lord profoundly showed me that I am to Stand in the Gap
in a very specific way for Him and a false doctrine. Click on the Stand in the Gap link above if you are not familiar with that testimony.
4. Lastly, the minister uses the very verses in Deuteronomy 13 that the Lord had brought me to when I began writing this blog on Saturday!
When did the Lord flood me with all of these confirmations above? After I acknowledged my desire to walk by faith and follow His leading - even when faced with opposition and/or silence.
May all of us do what He calls us to do and not waiver. Recently, I heard a different preacher speak such important words. He said God cannot lie. So He will not say "Enter in good and faithful servant" if a person has not been "a good and faithful servant." May we obey Him.
I will include the video link below:
Derek Prince - Bend the Church & Bow the World (2/6) - Judgment Must Begin at God's House(+Ch. Subs)
Believers/followers of Christ are called to be the salt of the world
- not the sugar of the world. When professing believers find
themselves inclined to say what will please those who are in error or
who are practicing sin, we are sugar-coating the Word of God. When
waking during the early morning hours Saturday, I heard the following
idea: