Luke 11:11-13 “If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? (12) Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? (13) If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
The sign of filling the saints with the Holy Spirit so that they can speak with new tongues can only be performed by the power of God. In the above quoted passage of scripture our Lord Jesus teaches us the truth that we can be assured that our heavenly Father gives the Holy Spirit to saints who ask Him.
We will discuss the sign of tongues in more detail later in this series, but there are two points that I wanted to mention here; first, tongues is a language that is given to the spirit of the believer (1 Corinthians 14:14), and second, Satan has no access to the spirit of the born again believer (1 John 5:18).
In other words, the devil has no ability to perform this sign either, which means that false ministers of the gospel are therefore unable to perform this sign in their attempts to deceive the church through the display of the supernatural.
And so we see that the devil has no ability to perform any of the signs which the saints can scripturally expect to be manifested among them at all times; i.e. casting out demons, healing the sick and filling the saints with the Holy Spirit so that they can speak in tongues.
This means that whenever these signs are manifested in the church, the saints can be fully assured that this is the work of the Holy Spirit and not the work of unclean spirits. This also means that it is entirely scriptural for churches to hold healing meetings, which would include deliverance from demonic oppression, i.e. casting out demons. And it is also scriptural for churches to have meetings for the saints to be filled with the Holy Spirit so they can speak with other tongues.
Matthew 7:15-23 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. (16) You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? (17) Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. (18) A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. (19) Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (20) Therefore by their fruits you will know them. (21) "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. (22) Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' (23) And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'”
There is one category of individuals, however, that can attempt to deceive the church with the signs we have been discussing: false prophets. False prophets are ministers of Satan (2 Corinthians 11:15), but we have just shown that the devil has no power to perform these signs. How, then, are false prophets able to perform them?
Our Lord taught us in the above passage of Scripture that these individuals have learned to use His name to perform these signs—casting out demons and performing miracles, including healing. You will recall when John remarked to Jesus that they had seen someone who was not following them casting out demons in the name of Jesus. They forbade him because he wasn't one of them, but Jesus replied, "Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me" (Mark 9:38-39).
The name of Jesus carries tremendous power, for our Father has placed His name above every other name. Even unbelievers can exercise faith in the name of Jesus to perform miracles. Nevertheless, even though false prophets can perform these signs in the name of Jesus, it still remains the work of the Holy Spirit and not demonic spirits.
The question then arises: if both false ministers and genuine ministers can perform the same signs by the work of the Holy Spirit, how can we tell them apart? As our Lord Jesus taught us in the above passage of Scripture, the main way we can distinguish the true from the false is by their fruits. In other words, do their lifestyles display the character of Jesus or the devil? For example, Jesus would never lie to His church, and so His ministers would also never deliberately lie to the church. They may teach error because of their ignorance, but they would never deliberately try to deceive the church. False prophets, however, have no problem deliberately deceiving the church because that is the agenda of their master.
Michael E.B. Maher
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