All Miracles and Healings Come From God

Many people assume that only God can heal the sick and perform miracles. So, if someone can heal or perform miracles, it automatically means that the miracle worker is anointed by God and their ministry is legitimate. But that is simply not true. Miracles in no way authenticate a ministry and miracles prove nothing about the source of the preacher’s power.

Generally miracles and healings are so closely related that Scripture does not generally differentiate between healing and miracles or wonders – healing is simply a subset of miracles so I will simply refer to miracles or signs and by that I include anything that is miraculous, including healings and other charismatic phenomena.

In Exodus 7&8 we find that the magicians of Egypt were able to copy many of Moses’ miracles. We do not know if they actually performed miracles or if they were simply tricks like those that modern “magicians” perform on stage. This is important because many of the modern miracles that are not of God, can also be real miracles by Satanic power or simply clever tricks. Charlatans will use either method to deceive people, as long as they can achieve their aim.

As early as Deut. 13, the Lord warned that false prophets will be able to perform signs and wonders but that the miracles had to be checked against the doctrine of the prophet and if the prophet’s doctrine is false, then the miracles are also not genuine (Deuteronomy 13:1-2). These signs seemed to also include the ability to predict the future.

Jesus cautioned that there will be many who will claim to have cast out demons, preached and performed miracles in His name. But He said that He does not know these men and that they are destined for eternal judgment. Jesus warned that casting out demons, preaching and performing miracles are not proof of authenticity but that one is to check the fruit of the preacher’s life in order to establish the source of his power (Matthew 7:15-23).

Matthew 24:24 says “For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” The word “christs” here do not necessarily refer to the Antichrist but literally means “anointed ones”.  Today many claim to have an anointing and are performing miracles, but they are not true messengers of the Cross but are rather messengers of Satan. It is important to note that they will show “great signs and wonders” and the miracles will be so convincing that all except the truly saved will be fooled by them. (See also Mark 13:22.)

Paul warned that there would be false apostles who looked like the real deal: “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works” (2Corinthians 11:13-15). One of the signs of an apostle was miracles and healings (2Corinthians 12:12) and so we need to be careful even though these men look like real apostles and have all the signs of a real apostle. These days certain preachers claim that they are seeing angels and having conversations with angels and that these angels are empowering them to perform miracles. But, those angels could well be demons or the Devil himself.

One of the characteristics of the Antichrist is lying signs and wonders which includes healings. These miracles will not be incidental to his work, but will be at the core of it and they will not just be neat little tricks, but they will be “with all power” (dunamis). “Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders” 2Thessalonians 2:9. Thus when anyone builds their ministry on signs and wonders be careful because that is exactly what the Antichrist will do.

Not only is this the way the ultimate Antichrist will work, but we need to remember that there are many others who are also antichrists and who put themselves in the place of Christ but their methods are the same and the source of their power is also the same as that of the ultimate Antichrist: “Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.” (1John 2:18).

The False Prophet of the book of Revelation will primarily build his deception and work on miracles. Most of the time when John writes about him, he refers to him as he “who worked signs” (Revelation 19:20). He will “perform great signs”, even calling down fire from heaven. The False Prophet will even be able to make the image of the Antichrist come to life. We do not know if he uses technology, a trick or real power to do this but it will be convincing enough that the nations of the world will believe him and follow him. (Revelation 13:11-15). Revelation 18:23 says: “for by your sorcery all the nations were deceived.”

Far too many believers are naïve enough to believe that only God can perform miracles and that anyone who performs miracles has to be a man of God. This is exactly the lie that the Devil wants you to believe. Over the past 100 years thousands of people have been seduced to follow demons simply because the preacher could reveal some secret or perform some miracle.

Yes, God does still perform miracles (for every counterfeit there has to be the genuine) but the miracle, of itself, does not authenticate the miracle worker. We have clear guidelines as to how these workers are to be evaluated. These are their doctrine and the fruit of their lives. If those two things do not speak of a true man of God, then run for your life. Some demonic miracles are genuine but many are simply tricks, so it would be worthwhile looking for evidence as to how genuine the miracle is. For example, if the person was able to run across the stage out of a wheel chair, you need to establish two things: One, has the person been in the wheel chair for a long time, or did they get into it at the start of the service? And two, if the person was really disabled are they still able to walk a week after the “miracle”.

And no, it is not wrong to question miracles and their source. If more people were just a little discerning, Satan would be robbed of countless fools who follow and worship him, thinking they are worshipping the true God. It is time to wake up and smell the deception......Anton Bosch