Lying Signs and Wonders

For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up
and perform great miraculous signs and wonders so as to deceive,
if possible, even God's chosen ones.
If therefore they tell you,
'Behold, he is in the wilderness,' don't go out;
'Behold, he is in the inner chambers,' don't believe it.

People through every age search for God. They search for His Presence. They search for evidence that He is really there, and that He really cares about us. People who search are people who yearn to believe. But people who yearn to believe may be fooled. Advertising works because people want to believe the benefits of the product. Spam continues to exist because people think the promises just might be true. But these are false hopes. You won’t look 10 pounds thinner if you buy their shampoo. You won’t get $10,000 for cashing a foreign check.

In the spiritual, false hopes and promises in the form of lying signs and wonders surround us. The false hopes and promises are not of God, but are of the adversary, sent to lure us away from the True. Look at the characteristics of a shyster: he gives you the promise of a large reward for little or no effort. The false promise is delivered with a “wow you” style: color, noise, a stream of talk with no chance to question, with an immediate pressure for you to make a decision. Remember that lying signs and wonders are shown to us with the purpose of taking us away from the Truth of God’s Word.

True signs and wonders follow the Word. This means that the signs and wonders come second, after the Word. Sometimes very little Word is needed for a miracle, but it will be there. This means that there is a growth process in seeing signs and wonders. The Word is the seed, our belief in a reliable God grows out of that seed. Don’t be deceived by the razzle-dazzle of lying signs and wonders, but lean on the sure hope in God’s Word.