False Signs and Wonders (Protestant/Evangelical Devotional and Caucus)

“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand.”

False prophets and teachers present the greatest threat to the church of Jesus Christ. External enemies who brazenly attack God’s people are easy to identify, and their threat is simpler to discern and resist. Internal enemies, however, are not dealt with so easily. Wolves can go about in sheep’s clothing for a long time before they are finally found out. False teachers, because they come in Christ’s name, elicit the trust of their students, and their corrupt doctrine weakens the faith of those who sit under their teaching.

Recognition of the threat of false teachers goes all the way back to the exodus generation, and Moses specifically warned the Israelites against those who would claim to be prophets while leading them to worship other gods. Deuteronomy 13:1–5 notes that the test of a true prophet is not his ability to perform signs and wonders; rather, true prophets are identified by their orthodoxy. In other words, no matter how convincing the signs and wonders of a professed prophet or teacher may be, that person must be rejected if he teaches heresy.

Moses’ principle remains true in every generation. It is true in ours, and it was true in the years leading up to the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. Jesus warned that once the Romans invaded the city, many false teachers would implore them not to flee to the mountains. Instead, these preachers of error would try to deceive Christ’s disciples, calling them to follow after other people who professed to be the Messiah. Many of these false teachers, Jesus said, would “perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect” (Mark 13:14–22).

Note the qualifier “if possible” in Mark 13:22. Jesus’ point was that the false signs would be so convincing that they could fool even God’s elect people; however, in the end the elect would not be convinced because no one can finally lead the elect astray. That is due to the preserving mercy of the Lord, not the strength of the elect. John Calvin comments: “However frail and slippery the condition of the godly may be, yet here is affirm footing on which they may stand; for it is not possible for them to fall away from salvation, to whom the Son of God is a faithful guardian. . . . The permanency of our salvation does not depend on us, but on the secret election of God.”

God preserves forever those He has elected to salvation. How do the elect reveal themselves? By believing in Christ and being on guard against all who oppose Him (Mark 13:23). For the elect are those who rest in Christ alone for salvation (Rom. 8:28–30).

The truth of a teacher’s words is determined not by the feats he can perform but by the orthodoxy of what he teaches. We are never to follow anyone who perverts the truth of God’s Word, no matter how gifted that person is, how large of an organization that person commands, or how amazing that person’s work seems to be.

Exodus 7:1 And the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. 2 You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. 3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, 4 Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. 5 The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.” 6 Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them. 7 Now Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh. 8 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 9 “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Prove yourselves by working a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.’ ” 10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. 11 Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. 12 For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. 13 Still Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

Matthew 24:24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you beforehand. 26 So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.

2 Thessalonians 2:1 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,1 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or ea letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

One of the most vivid Biblical example of false prophets was what Jeremiah had to deal with. Please keep in mind that Israel was faithless from Jeroboam's time but Judah was unfaithful and that was far worst. (Jer 3:11)

Jer 23:11 "Both prophet and priest are ungodly; even in my house I have found their evil, declares the LORD.
Jer 23:12 Therefore their way shall be to them like slippery paths in the darkness, into which they shall be driven and fall, for I will bring disaster upon them in the year of their punishment, declares the LORD.
Jer 23:13 In the prophets of Samaria I saw an unsavory thing: they prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray.
Jer 23:14 But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies; they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his evil; all of them have become like Sodom to me, and its inhabitants like Gomorrah."
Jer 23:15 Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets: "Behold, I will feed them with bitter food and give them poisoned water to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone out into all the land."
Jer 23:16 Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.
Jer 23:17 They say continually to those who despise the word of the LORD, 'It shall be well with you'; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, 'No disaster shall come upon you.'"
Jer 23:18 For who among them has stood in the council of the LORD to see and to hear his word, or who has paid attention to his word and listened?
Jer 23:19 Behold, the storm of the LORD! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
Jer 23:20 The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his heart. In the latter days you will understand it clearly.
Jer 23:21 "I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied.
Jer 23:22 But if they had stood in my council, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their deeds.

One has to wonder what God thinks about us today?

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.