The Miracles of Demons

By Carl O. Cooper

            Have you ever wondered what you would have done if you had witnessed Jesus performing one of the many miracles He did? Would you have believed that the words He spoke were approved of God?

            Many times I’ve questioned why most of the people in Jesus’ day refused to believe in Him even though they were witnesses to many of the miracles He did. How could it be that they could see these miracles and still not believe He was approved by God? What do you think you would have done if you had been there with them? For years I vowed that I would have been different. I always questioned how anyone could have witnessed these miracles and not been convinced that Jesus was approved by God. And yet many were not. Why?

            Well, things are not always as simple as they appear. Sometimes study will reveal things that you did not know and have not considered. And that’s the way it was for me. As I gained information through study I realized that there was a reason why many people were confused and unsure about what they saw Jesus do.

            Not only was Jesus teaching a different and new doctrine about religion which He said was something new and approved by God, He actually claimed to be God’s son. Jesus’ new teachings would change the religious doctrines that their ancestors had observed for many hundreds of years. This alone is hard enough for someone to accept, but there was more to confuse the people than this. Jesus was not the only one who could perform miraculous and supernatural wonders.

            Demons could perform supernatural, miraculous wonders too.

            It took me a long time to notice the fact that demons had this power in my study of the Bible. But it was there all along. No one seems to mention it and I think it is because there is a common understanding in the church that has unclear definitions of miracles. And this teaching is mixed with a desire to discredit the denominational groups who have false claims that they can speak in tongues and perform miracles themselves. There seems to be a hesitation among Bible teachers to admit anything about miracles that does not fit the accepted definitions and perimeters that have long been established and set. But the fact is, the Bible clearly has examples of several demons that could do supernatural, miraculous things.

            One such example is found in Acts 16:16-19.

                        This is a story that I’m pretty sure you will remember. This is the story of a slave girl who had the ability to tell fortunes and her masters sold this service to the people for money. We are told in the text that this ability was because she was possessed with a spirit of divination.

Paul and Silas cast this demon out of the girl and she no longer had the ability to tell fortunes. And when her masters saw that their source of income was gone, they were so angry they took Paul and Silas to the authorities.

This Slave girl fortune teller could do Supernatural miraculous things.

Acts 16:16

 Now it happened as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit                divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune telling.

 Acts 16:19

But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.

            There is another example of a demon being able to perform supernatural, miraculous things. It is found in Mark 5:1.

            Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 3 Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, 4 because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart and the shackles broken in pieces.

            A man can only break shackles and chains by miraculous power. This man had miraculous, supernatural strength. He could do this by the power of the demon.

            So it was not so easy to determine if a miracle was produced by God or a demon.

            This is why the Pharisees put a spin on Jesus’ miracles and said they were from Beelzebub the prince of the demons. They said this To Discredit Jesus.

Matt. 12:24  Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”

            Now I don’t know about you but I suspect that if either one of us had lived during Jesus’ day and witnessed the miracles done by Him we would probably have went to the religious authorities of the day to ask their opinion of what we saw. After all, it was not out of the ordinary to see miracles preformed by demons in those days as well. Now the religious experts in those days were considered to be the Pharisees, the Priests, the Sanhedrin and High Priest. If you had asked them their opinion as to whether or not Jesus was from God, they would have told you He was a demon. What do you think you might have done if you heard that explanation?

            I wonder what I would have done.

            One thing we don’t have to wonder about is whether or not demons have the power today to work miracles and do supernatural things. The Bible tells us that this power ended when Jesus died on the cross. Look at this information about that in Zach. 13:1

1. “In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and uncleanness.

2. “It shall be in that day,” says the Lord of hosts, “that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall be no longer be remembered. I will also cause the prophets and the unclean spirits to depart from the land”.  

            This is talking about the day that the fountain of Jesus’ blood would be opened in Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness. This is saying that in that day (the day that Jesus died on the cross) prophets and unclean spirits will depart out of the land.

            And that is exactly what happened. The Bible is clear, we know that demons do not have the power to work miracles today.

            Demons have “faded from the land”.

No one on earth, and that includes demons, has the power to perform miracles today.

This does not limit God when He answers prayer.

See my article

Have All Miracles Ceased?

By Carl O. Cooper

Carl O. Cooper