In the Bible, miracles followed the apostles and were evidence of the presence of God (Acts 2:43; 5:12; Matt. 10:1). So, today many expect miracles to happen for the same reason. And in some places, they do. But, miracles don’t prove that God is working. False teachers can perform false miracles. Consider the words of Jesus.

• “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS,'” (Matt. 7:22–23).
• “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect,” (Matt. 24:24).
• “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light,” (2 Cor. 11:13–14).

So, Scripture warns us about false miracle workers. This means that miracles can occur that are not from God.  If they are not from God, then they must be from the devil.

Examples of false miracles

Remember, miracles do not prove that God is working. There are many accounts of false miracles in the Bible which were are the result of demonic activity. Remember, Satan disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14).  He wants to appear to be good. And, since he is a great deceiver (John 8:43; 2 Cor. 11:3), he will use miracles to mislead people.

Pharaoh’s magicians changed a staff into a snake

• “So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and thus they did just as the LORD had commanded; and Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. 11 Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers, and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same with their secret arts.,” (Exodus 7:10–11).

Magical signs performed by false teachers

• “Now there was a man named Simon, who formerly was practicing magic in the city and astonishing the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great; 10 and they all, from smallest to greatest, were giving attention to him, saying, “This man is what is called the Great Power of God.” 11 And they were giving him attention because he had for a long time astonished them with his magic arts,” (Acts 8:9–11).

The antichrist will be able to perform false wonders

• “Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; 9 that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders,” (2 Thess. 2:8–9).

The beast can make fire come down from the sky

• “He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men,” (Rev. 13:13).

The danger of seeking signs and miracles as proof of God’s presence

On the one hand, the danger of seeking signs and miracles is that it can open up people to be deceived.  But, on the other hand, Christians ought to seek Christ and pray for signs and miracles. God’s people should to pray with the expectation that Christ would perform a miracle. But if he does not, that is okay. After all, our hope should not simply be in signs and miracles but in the person of Christ who has saved us from our sins. Sometimes, God does not perform signs miracles for a very good reason – so that we won’t trust in the miraculous instead of Jesus. So, signs and miracles can actually be something harmful we Christians walk when he or she is looking to those signs and miracles more than looking to Jesus.  Remember, miracles don’t prove that God is present.

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,” (2 Timothy 4:3).

Test the spirits and miracles

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world,” (1 John 4:1–3).

Because the enemy of the gospel is very deceptive and because there are false teachers within the Christian church, we must test all the spirits and miraculous works. The way to do this is to compare what they say and do with Scripture.  I have written an article on this, How do we identify true miracle workers?  Please read it.  Look to Jesus, not the miracles.  Miracles don’t prove that God is present. Instead, the proof of God’s presence is found in the teaching of Christ and him crucified, not in the miracles that someone may perform.