Why Are Satan and Demons Allowed to Produce Miracles? Part 1

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

We know from the Bible that demons and Satan himself are allowed to perform what we here in the natural world would easily call “miracles.” There are many instances of supernatural ability produced by those in the spirit world. What we might not fully understand is that the spirit world is their domain and it appears to be true from Scripture alone that beings in that world or dimension are simply doing what they do naturally. To them, it’s not anything out of the ordinary.

Certainly, it goes without saying that their power and ability is always kept in check by God. They are limited by what they can do and when they can do it by God’s power over them. They can never rise above that limit that He places on them to keep them in check.

This is very clear from the first chapter of Job alone. The narrative states several things about Satan and his deliberately limited power by God. First, Satan is answerable to God. He must “report” to the God of all Creation from time to time.

Now the day came when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord – and Satan also arrived among them. The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” And Satan answered the Lord, “From roving about on the earth, and from walking back and forth across it.” So the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a pure and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil.”

Then Satan answered the Lord, “Is it for nothing that Job fears God? Have you not made a hedge around him and his household and all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his livestock have increased in the land. But extend your hand and strike everything he has, and he will no doubt curse you to your face!”

So the Lord said to Satan, “All right then, everything he has is in your power. Only do not extend your hand against the man himself!” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. – Job 1:6-12

Notice several things about the above passage.

1. Satan had to appear before God, which reminded him that God and God alone was/is in charge of all things.
2. God introduced the subject of Job to Satan.
3. Satan clearly knew about Job.
4. Satan probably had already desired to “sift” Job and even destroy him but even though he had the power to do so, he had not permission to do so.
5. God allows Satan to attack Job’s situation and circumstances but at first, will not allow Satan to touch a hair on his head.

In every way, God proves repeatedly to Satan and his evil forces of demons that He (God) is in charge. Satan cannot, must not step out of God’s predetermined borders. After Satan leaves God’s throne room, he immediately sets out to destroy Job’s faith. He sends a tornado, armies, and other things that take Job’s children, his herds and livestock. This is meant to demoralize Job, but of course, as we know, it doesn’t work.

Satan then goes back to God and tells him that Job won’t fall unless Satan is allowed to bring direct harm to his person. This, God allows, but with the proviso that he does not take Job’s life (Job 2:6). The rest of Job is a detailed analysis of what Satan does to him, how Job’s friends react to him, and how Job ultimately handles the entire situation. Reading through Job reveals a picture of excruciating situations that were visited upon Job. Certainly, Job had things to learn, and the situation further humbled him. However, not once did Job deny God or His faithfulness. He wanted answers and he eventually got them.

Satan remained a defeated foe, even back then. Many scholars and commentators believe that Job is one of the oldest books in the Bible and occurred during the time of Genesis. We know from this very critically important book that Satan has power over many things in the natural realm. For him, creating a tornado or sending in a neighboring army is difficult. Though Satan put Job through many trials, he came out relatively unscathed, spiritually.

• Painful boils from head to toe (Job 2:7, 13; 30:17)
• Severe itching/irritation (2:7,8)
• Great grief (2:13)
• Loss of appetite (3:24; 6:6-7)
• Agonizing discomfort (3:24)
• Insomnia (7:4)
• Worm and dust infested flesh (7:5)
• Continual oozing of boils (7:5)
• Hallucinations (7:14)
• Decaying skin (13:28)
• Shriveled up (16:8; 17:7; 19:20)
• Severe halitosis (19:17)
• Teeth fell out (19:20)
• Relentless pain (30:17)
• Skin turned black (30:30)
• Raging fever (30:30)
• Dramatic weight loss (33:21)

I cannot imagine suffering through this things, can you? But it does help us understand what Satan is capable of doing to people.

We also know from the book of Exodus that those who are familiar with the “dark arts” are able to create what many would call “miracles” simply because they appear to be supernatural in origin.

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Do a miracle,’ and you say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ it will become a snake.” When Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, they did so, just as the Lord had commanded them – Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants and it became a snake. Then Pharaoh also summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the magicians of Egypt by their secret arts did the same thing. Each man threw down his staff, and the staffs became snakes. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted. (Exodus 7:8-13)

In the above text, we see that Moses – enabled by God’s power – has a staff that turns into a real, live snake when he throws it down in front of Pharaoh. Aaron did the same thing. But Pharaoh is unconvinced and calls his “wise men,” “sorcerers,” and “magicians” who were able to replicate the very same miracle. Clearly, the power to duplicate at least some of what God does is performed by these men who perform this magic using the dark arts. Of course, God would later warn the Israelites that they should completely avoid these things (Deuteronomy 18:9-12a). We know, unfortunately, that this was a commandment that the Israelites failed to obey time and time again.

We see throughout the Old and New Testaments these examples of what Satan is capable of doing. Again, I’d like to emphasize that anything he does, he does only with God’s permission, but clearly, he is a very powerful being and the fact that he exists mainly in the spiritual dimension gives him the power to bring about what we call miracles, but for him, they are simply part of his natural ability. I also think that this is why Christians should not chase after miracles per se, because in doing so, our emotions will often catch us up so that we will become so myopic that we will accept miracles from any source, believing that only God would provide what we deem the “miracles” to His children. This is absolutely incorrect thinking and the fact that God has forbidden any connection with the occult or dark arts is proof that alleged miracles can come not just from God, but from Satan and his demons as well.

Satan exists in the supernatural realm, therefore it is reasonable to conclude that performing what we call miracles are things that he does naturally. However, he is always kept in check by God. They’re not miracles to him anymore than climbing a tree is a miracle to us. Satan takes what he does naturally in his realm, brings it into our realm and it is called supernatural because it is not something that we can do naturally.

We’ll be back next time to delve into this subject more deeply. I want to eventually learn more about what is termed the “miraculous” today and why Satan is so busy doing what he can to create the miraculous. Join me then.

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective