Miracles and wonders from the beast

In addition, the text tells us that the beast out of the earth will perform miracles and wonders that shall deceive many, and that this will help her accomplish her goal of leading people into the service of the anti-Christian kingdom.

And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men…

That is a reference to the devil aping the great Old Testament prophet Elijah, who brought fire down from heaven.

…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. Revelation 13:13–14a, KJV

This is the same thing Jesus prophesied about in Matthew 24:24: 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. This is what the apostle Paul prophesied about in 2 Thessalonians 2:9: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.

I have to tell you, there are many different interpretations of these miracles and signs and wonders that the beast of the false religion will perform in order to deceive the people. Some say that these miracles are literal genuine miracles that will be performed. Others say that they are not real, actual miracles, but are fake miracles – things that look like miracles, but are not. Still another group says that what the text is describing is the wonders of modern technology and modern advances in science. And these explain the fire coming down from heaven as missiles. In the modern age, missiles come and bring fire of destruction from heaven.

That last interpretation cannot be, for the signs and wonders performed in the text are not simply technologies, but they are signs and wonders performed by the false church. The interpretation that the miracles referred to here are false, fake miracles is a possible interpretation. The passage in 2 Thessalonians 2:9 calls the powers and signs lying wonders. That can either mean wonders that are lies (false, fake pseudo-wonders), or it could mean wonders that are in the service of a lie. That is a possible interpretation. The interpretation that these are literal miracles that are done by the power of the dragon is certainly a possible interpretation also. I don't feel comfortable being dogmatic about this matter.

What I can be dogmatic about is the fact that whether tricks (false) or real miracles performed by the power of the dragon, the passage indicates to us that miracles prove nothing anymore today concerning whether or not one is sent by God. The devil is the ape of God. God sent His Son to perform miracles to show that He was genuinely from God. The devil, way later, send his Antichrist with a false church that does miracles – whether real or fake – in an attempt to try to authenticate what he speaks. Don't fall for it!

I can dogmatically say too that the fact that this lamb that speaks like a dragon will deceive many with miracles – whether they are fake or real – is really no surprise to us. It has been happening for centuries, with fake miracles at least. Look at the Pentecostal movement. No matter how many times their miracle workers are exposed as the frauds that they are, people from all over the earth are still duped by them and believe them and follow them. The most recent one was in Lakeland Florida, where poor, pitiable people from all over the planet spent their life savings to come and get healing in Lakeland Florida, and none actually did. Where supposedly twenty people were raised from the dead there – each one debunked as a lie. Where the preacher there had an affair at the very height of the revival, and left his wife and children when it was all over to be with the one whom God told him he was supposed to be with.

But men, sadly, follow these things. For man remains, even in this modern day and age, a mystical being with that Romans 1:1–32 desire for some spirituality in him. Gullible and sadly ignorant people will go anywhere except to sound biblical teaching to receive what they think, what they are convinced, is the touch of God Himself. And while perhaps the more enlightened people will not follow the anti-Christian kingdom because of these signs and wonders, many people the world over will be convinced that this anti-Christian world power has the approval of God because of the signs and lying wonders that are performed.¹

Cory Griess