[FourtySeven]

It's simply an assertion that Satan can't [perform miracles]. Why couldn't he? What would stop him from staging a possession and exorcism if it suited his purpose?

This is a question I have struggled with as well when it comes to the question of "miracles". I thought, "Sure Satan could cure someone, or do something we think is good, if ultimately it drew people away from God. After all, the Bible itself says in the end days the anti-Christ would perform signs and wonders so magnificent that they would almost deceive even the elect. So who's to say that a miracle comes from God or Satan?"

Additionally, a careful reading of Mark 3:25 and others demonstrates that at the time JESUS was speaking in parables. This further complicates the issue. It almost seems like we are back where the Pharasees started, unable to discern when miracles come from God and when they come from Satan.

We must not allow ourselves to stay in such a sorry state. If, in fact, we use what we already know about God (and Satan) the tool we need for such discernment becomes evident. This tool is the knowledge that, by his very nature, Satan cannot perform creative miracles. He can only destroy. Confuse. Befuddle. He can't create. This is actually why the Church investigates miraculous claims so meticulously. Precisely because of the possibility they may be a deception from the Evil One.

Many miraculous healings have been investigated and if there is the slightest explaination that's natural, or even that the miracle itself is fake, it's dismissed. This is why there are so few in proportion to how many are reported. Many more are reported than are validated.

This, that Satan can't create, is just a fact that we all must come to know through whatever means. However it's helpful to realize that sometimes, especially these days, Satan is often thought of as like God just less powerful. This is simply false. There are simply things that he can't do, that God can do. One of these is creation.

He can deceive to make us believe something has been "created" but ultimately this is not true. He can not create.

So let's return to the subject matter here: miracles associated with the intercession of Mary (or any saint). These aren't just "wonders" or "signs", no matter how glamorous or dazzling. The miracles in consideration here are miracles of healing which, at their very root, are miracles involving creation, be it either regrown flesh or disease suddenly overcome. They aren't mere wonders. They are things that require a creator to complete. The Creator.

So this is how we know they aren't from Satan. Because they lead people to Christ AND because, Satan simply can't do them.

[boatbums]

He can deceive to make us believe something has been "created" but ultimately this is not true. He can not create.

Would you call casting out demons an "act of creation" Satan could not do?

The reason I ask is Jesus was confronted by the Pharisees who accused Him of casting out demons by the power of Satan. His answer was:

Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”

But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.”

Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. (Matthew 12:22-28)

We do know that Satan's kingdom WILL fall. We also know that he can do nothing that God does not permit in His perfect will and that whatever Satan does it is intended to drive people away from Christ - whether to false gods, idols or substitutes for the true God. Yet even in these acts, God's will is accomplished and all those He calls will come to Him and He will never drive them away.

The Pulpit Commentary on the similar Mark 3 passage (parallel to Matthew 12) has this interesting thing to say about that:

Verses 23-27. - How can Satan cast out Satan? Observe here that our Lord distinctly affirms the personality of Satan, and a real kingdom of evil. But then he goes on to show that if this their allegation were true, namely, that he cast out devils by the prince or the devils, then it would follow that Satan's kingdom would be divided against itself. As a house divided against itself cannot stand, so neither could the kingdom of Satan exist in the world if one evil spirit was opposed to another for the purpose of dispossessing, the one the other, from the minds and bodies of men. Our Lord thus employs another argument to show that he casts out evil spirits, not by Beelzebub, but by the power of God. It is as though he said, "As he who invades the house of a strong man cannot succeed until he first binds the strong man; in like manner I, Christ Jesus, who spoil the kingdom of Satan, whilst I lead sinners who had been under his power to repentance and salvation, must first bind Satan himself, otherwise he would never suffer me to take his captives from him. Therefore he is my enemy, and not in league with me, not my ally in the casting out of evil spirits, as you falsely represent me to be. It behooves you, then, to understand that it is with the Spirit of God that I cast out devils, and that therefore the kingdom of God is come upon you." http://biblehub.com/commentaries/pulpit/mark/3.htm

[Springfield Reformer]

So this is how we know they aren't from Satan. Because they lead people to Christ AND because, Satan simply can't do them.

Keep in mind that the end times deception is not simply Satan working up another one of his typical magic shows.  It is a judgment sent by God Himself:

Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
(2 Thessalonians 2:9-11)

Also remember that Jesus said this deception coming would be so powerful it would deceive even the elect, if that sort of thing were possible (by inference it is not),  

For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
(Matthew 24:24)

So now we have no ordinary roster of signs and wonders. We have a delusion, sent by God, that will allow the great deceiver to fool everyone but the elect.  This means any of the easy tests we might come up with, however reasonable they might seem, could fail.  By definition, it will be impossible to see through this deception by ordinary human means.  God Himself will preserve those who are His elect sheep.  They will avoid deception, not because they are smart, or have used readily available "miracle" tests.  They will avoid deception because they are elect, and as the elect, they have an indestructible love of God's truth.  

So the focal point, the first premise of detection, is not simply that we think it is creative or not. That too can be structured to deceive.  We are finite, fallible sinners.  We are easy to dupe.  But if we have a love for the truth of God, when the deceiver comes, he will find us unwilling to buy the false message of the miracle, because we trust the word of God.  

Think of it as a replay of the Garden of Eden, only in this second version Eve recognizes the temptation as contradicting what God actually said, and she refuses.  But it is a judgment to those who have not loved the truth.  A judgment powered by God Himself.  There is no way to avoid becoming one of the Devil's duped drones, apart from being one of Jesus' sheep, and therefore heeding only Jesus' voice.

Conclusion:  Nothing in the particular quality of the miracle matters, if the message is in conflict with the truth of God as revealed in His word.  Let it be as stupendous as any miracle you've ever heard of.  It will still be false if it draws souls to idolatry. The Egyptian wizards could throw down their staffs and make live snakes.  Surely to the ordinary Egyptian, that must have seemed to be an act of creation.   Yet they could not create gnats.  The deceivers will know the limits of their powers, but there is no assurance anyone else will know.  Do not trust in your own wisdom.  It will be a fatal mistake in the last days:

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
(Proverbs 3:5-6)

Peace,

SR