You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. (Deuteronomy 13:3)
Have you ever wondered why God would allow someone bent on deception and wickedness to arise and, seemingly, have free rein to wreak havoc in our lives and the lives of others? I certainly have and, though there may be other reasons for these things, this passage tells us why God will, at times, allow these people to touch our lives — we are being put to the test. To be clear, God does not tempt us with evil in order to do evil (James 1:13) but He will allow evil to touch our lives in order to reveal what is in our hearts — there is a difference. According to Moses, these prophets who arise in our midst and compel God’s people to go after other gods and their philosophies should be ignored and shunned. Still, God uses the situation to see who has heard His Voice and who loves Him with their entire being.
There is no doubt that the power of God is still active in our day and that includes signs and wonders. However we should keep in mind that “these signs will follow those who believe…” (Mark 16:17-18), meaning that we shouldn’t be running around chasing after the signs and wonders; signs and wonders should be occurring as we go about doing the Father’s business. Remember, it is an adulterous generation that goes seeking for such. On that note, I’ll go so far as to say that there have been occasions, in the not-so-distant past, when some among God’s people were inclined to be led by signs to their detriment. By that I mean, they got so focused on the signs that they stopped listening to what was being said — and what was being said did not always line up with God’s Word.
Miracles, signs and wonders, in and of themselves, are NOT proof of God’s Will or Voice. Sometimes, prophets of the past have spoken perversion (in Hebrew, literally “something that rots”) which is to say they have spoken something God never said. So then, discerning a true prophet accentuates the need to be guided by hearing the Word of God rather than seeing a wonder. Just because you see a wonder doesn’t mean you should believe their words: “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). So then, if God allows these kind of things to touch our lives, it is in order to know whether we truly love Him with all our heart and with all our soul. In these last days, we must be people who hear Him, fear Him, serve Him and love Him even if there are no miracles by Him. Moreover, in the face of miracles by others who would lead us astray, to cleave unto Him even unto death.
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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