Supernatural Deception

Supernaturally Confirmed

Unforgivable or Damned

By dreams, Visions & Miracles

When Supernatural Signs Contradict Biblical Truth

Supernatural Deception

No one familiar with the Bible should be surprised when supernatural revelation confirmed by undeniable miracles contradicts the holy Word of God or declares a genuine Christian to be spiritually damned, unforgivable or apostate. It could happen to you at any moment. Are you prepared for it?

I love plunging headlong into topics but this time I see the need to provide some perspective and explain why this topic is so important to everyone.

In the webpages listed at Feeling Condemned? There’s Hope! you will find overwhelming biblical and theological proof that God longs to forgive, and that there is no one alive who cannot be cleansed from all sin, provided he or she sincerely seeks it through faith that by his sacrificial death Christ has paid the full penalty for humanity’s sin.

My writings on this matter are so extensive because year after year after year I was driven to extremes to keep piling higher and higher this mountain of proof because of deep compassion for people who seemed to need ridiculous quantities of proof. Literally hundreds of people kept e-mailing me out of what turned out to be an irrational, insatiable yearning for more and more proof. Like them, I was under the illusion that they needed more facts, more Scriptures, more convincing arguments to find the peace and assurance they so desperately craved. Finally, I discovered to my amazement that their lack of peace had nothing to do with a deficiency in theological knowledge or spiritual experience but was the product of an anxiety disorder (often undiagnosed) that keeps gnawing away inside them, making them feel guilty and anxious and uncertain, no matter how much divine reassurance they receive.

Anxiety feels like a guilty conscience and acts like a false alarm screaming that something is dangerously wrong when, in fact, all is well. This insidious affliction keeps its victims feeling oppressively guilty, thus incessantly tempting them to believe their intense feelings, rather than believe God’s promises. Starting with Scrupulosity: Worried about Salvation & Severe Guilt Feelings, I have written many webpages specifically to help these people understand the nature of their affliction and learn how to live with it.

This webpage, however, is for another group of people: those whose faith in the power of Christ to forgive every sin is undermined by powerfully supernatural indications that they are damned. These dear people have been attacked by terrifyingly convincing dreams and visions, and/or signs that are so supernatural that they are sorely tempted to presume the signs are of divine origin.

This webpage is not just for these people, however, but for us all, because any of us at any moment could suffer such an attack and, without the information provided here, we would be highly vulnerable to deception.

Although dreams may sometimes be supernatural, they are more commonly the mind reacting to fears and anxieties. For example, after a scary car accident, one is likely to have many disturbing dreams about being in car accidents. Obviously, these are not warnings from God but a natural response to an upsetting experience. This link between dreams and anxiety makes those suffering from an anxiety disorder especially likely to suffer alarming dreams that can seem to confirm their worst fears. Such dreams can be natural and yet so vivid and terrifying as to seem supernatural. In this webpage, however, we will focus on dreams, visions and signs that are genuinely supernatural.

Only God is good (Mark 10:18). Only he is truth. Only he is love. While he alone is all-powerful, he is not the only source of supernatural power. There are evil supernatural beings who, by their very nature, are opposed to God and play dirty, seeking to seduce and deceive those who serve God. Evil spirits are quite capable of manufacturing signs and wonders. The Word of God leaves us in no doubt about the power of supernaturally deceptive signs:

Mark 13:22 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect – if that were possible.

2 Thessalonians 2:9-10 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. . . .

Acts 8:9-11 Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is the divine power known as the Great Power.” They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic.

Revelation 13:3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast.

Revelation 13:12-14 He exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. And he performed great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men. Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth. . . .

Revelation 19:20  . . . the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. . . .(Emphasis mine.)

No wonder John admonished those he loved:

1 John 4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God . . .

Likewise, we read:

1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. . . . (Emphasis mine.)

Matthew 7:15, 22-23 Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. . . . Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Emphasis mine.)

Matthew 24:11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.

2 Peter 2:1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.

All of these divine warnings line up with even more ancient warnings. Read carefully:

Deuteronomy 13:1-5 If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. That prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he preached rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way the LORD your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.

Here the Almighty emphatically declares that false prophecies confirmed by dreams and supernatural signs could actually come to pass and yet must be totally rejected.

It is a test: will we trust in the integrity of Almighty God, who cannot lie (Numbers 23:19), or will we believe Satan, the father of lies (John 8:44), simply because the evil deceiver has a speck of supernatural power? Will we pursue integrity or power; common truth or spectacular lies? Will we stubbornly believe in the love of God and the forgiving power of the cross or cave in to satanically inspired fear?

We can even travel back further in time to Pharaoh’s court, when divine miracles performed through Moses were matched by the occult powers of the magicians. Yes, the true God eventually allowed his power to be proved stronger, but take very seriously this account:

Exodus 7:10-13; 20-22; 8:6-7  . . . Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake.  . . . Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen . . . Moses  . . . struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood. . . . But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh’s heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron . . . So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land. But the magicians did the same things by their secret arts; they also made frogs come up on the land of Egypt.

When Pharaoh saw the power of the magicians matching that of the true God, his heart hardened against God. Will we be so foolish as to harden our hearts against what the God of the Bible declares to be true, just because of supernatural manifestations?

The power of false prophets and dreams and so on is confirmed throughout Scripture. For example:

Jeremiah 23:25-26 I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name. They say, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’ How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds?

Jeremiah 29:8-9  . . . “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the LORD.

Ezekiel 13:2-3,22-23 Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are now prophesying. Say to those who prophesy out of their own imagination: ‘ . . . Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing! . . . Because you disheartened the righteous with your lies, when I had brought them no grief . . . therefore you will no longer see false visions or practice divination. I will save my people from your hands. And then you will know that I am the LORD.’

Zechariah 10:2 The idols speak deceit, diviners see visions that lie; they tell dreams that are false, they give comfort in vain. Therefore the people wander like sheep oppressed for lack of a shepherd.

Zechariah 13:4 On that day every prophet will be ashamed of his prophetic vision. He will not put on a prophet’s garment of hair in order to deceive.

Over and over the holy Word of God insists that we must cling to the full biblical revelation of God and not let ourselves be duped by supernaturally convincing signs and visions. In the words of the great apostle, “But even if we [apostles of God] or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!” (Galatians 1:8). This does not mean that preaching another gospel is unforgivable – before his conversion, Paul himself taught, and even did all he could to violently enforce, doctrines that were contrary to the gospel – but it means we are to take no notice of anything that contracts biblical revelation, even if it were to come from an angel from heaven or a revered preacher.

And this is no wonder, since “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light,” (2 Corinthians 11:14).

Clearly just because something is supernatural does not mean that we should accept it as truth.

Note all the supernatural elements in the following:

Matthew 3-16-4:11 As soon as Jesus was baptized . . . heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. . . . The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. . . . Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. . . . Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

Do you find it as staggering as I do, that God’s Chosen was somehow physically propelled by the devil both to the top of the temple and later to “a very high mountain”? What I find even more astonishing than the devil physically moving the eternal Son of God is that what Jesus was shown on the mountain was more than physical. From no mountain in the world could anyone see “all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor”. Somehow, the devil not only got Christ to the exact geographical point where he wanted him, but the devil messed with the holy mind of the Son of God and gave him a supernatural vision of all the kingdoms of the world.

If even the Lord of lords could be subjected to satanic, supernatural signs and visions, it is clear that signs and visions must never be automatically accepted as being from God. Like our Leader, we must refuse to be swayed by them but must stubbornly cling to Scripture, just as Jesus, in response to each of the three powerfully persuasive temptations had to slice through the deception by declaring, “It is written . . .” The devil, knowing the exalted position Jesus gave to Scripture, even tried to confuse and deceive Jesus by quoting from the Bible (Matthew 4:6). Jesus’ response was the same as usual: “It is also written . . .” (Matthew 4:7).

Over and over Scripture says such things as:

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

And:

Hebrews 13:5  . . .God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

Like all Scriptures, these remain true no matter how many signs and wonders contradict it. Anything contradicting such Scriptures must be rejected as insidious lies, no matter how many out-of-body experiences you have, or how many million angels in luminescent nighties sing it, or how often your neighbors are woken by a booming voice thundering it to you, or how many psychedelic dreams you have, or how many times your donkey speaks to you, or how many other spectacular miracles confirm the contradiction, or how many prophets from God declare it.

To ask God to confirm that you are forgiven after you have sincerely confessed your sin and sought forgiveness through Jesus is a gross insult to God. It is implying that the Holy One is capable of lying and it is questioning the power of the cross to forgive all sin. Even that blasphemy will be forgiven the instant we seek it but do not imagine that God will concede that his Word is inadequate and that he might lie and so give you a sign that this time he is not lying.

But What If . . .

Elsewhere in this long series of webpages I have proved that we are called to live by faith, not feelings and that we must not look to feelings as a source of spiritual truth. In this webpage I have proved from the Word of God that we must not use dreams, visions, miracles or any other supernatural sign as a source of spiritual truth. The webpages listed at Feeling Condemned? There’s Hope! are filled with Scriptures affirming that no one who puts his faith in Jesus is excluded from salvation and for all who put their faith in him there is nothing that is unforgivable. If feelings or the supernatural do not line up with the Word of God, they must be rejected, no matter how powerfully convincing they seem. What, however, should we do if we meet a Scripture that seems to condemn us and to undermine faith in the forgiving power of the cross? In the next webpage we will face this issue head-on.

Next Webpage: Condemned by the Bible? Afraid of God’s Word