Magic Versus Miracles

Mark Finley looks into what you should do when confronted with the supernatural. After all you can’t just assume that anything miraculous is good. Nor should you assume it’s bad. But how do you tell?

It’s a world which, until recently, seemed as remote as a medieval monastery. It’s a world of incantations and spells and brews and rituals. It’s the world of magic. And more and more, people are entering that world. Magic has gone mainstream.

The occult world of magic is definitely headed into the mainstream today. Witches have embarked on public-relations campaigns to improve their image.

They’ve created books for children, like The Witch Next Door and The Witch Family, which portray the occult in a positive, family-oriented light.

The occult is making inroads into schools. The biggest phenomenon in children’s publishing today is Harry Potter.

Magic has always had a tremendous pull. And that attraction is growing.

Actually, almost everyone would like to have a little more magic in their life. Almost everyone desires contact with the divine. And so, many people assume that anything supernatural must be good, and that anything supernatural is from God.

Karen Winterburn made just that assumption. As a teenager, she’d studied the Bible, but, later, she began dabbling in the occult. People kept telling her it was part of her “spiritual journey.” It seemed almost romantic. Eventually, Karen became a professional astrologer. She counselled people and taught at conferences. She practised divination, using numerology, I Ching and Tarot cards.

She also developed a specialty as a “trance medium.” Parapsychologists even conducted experiments with Karen while she was in her trances. Under hypnosis, she could discuss subatomic physics and biofeedback problems in detail— subjects she knew very little about. Karen seemed to have tapped into a higher consciousness.

She was deep in the world of magic.

And yet, Karen felt empty. All this was supposed to bring her closer to God-consciousness, but she felt further removed from any meaningful relationship with God. In fact, she felt removed from any genuine spiritual life. She was trying to fill a void, but found herself simply bowing to a succession of gods—Hindu, Greek, Egyptian and Chaldean gods.

“Are you the one?” she kept asking, n And they all answered yes.

But each left her spiritually numb. After years of this, Karen finally began to confront a hard truth.

“It became increasingly clear to me that spiritual growth was not something I’d been enhancing, but preventing,” she said. “For three months, I forced myself to face this issue. Over the SIGNS OF years I’d had many interesting spiritual experiences, but there had been no spiritual growth. I realised I’d been going around in circles and was no closer to the truth now than when I first started searching.” Karen had travelled deeply into the world of magic. She seemed to have acquired remarkable abilities, remarkable powers, yet she wasn’t growing spiritually.

Her experience raises important questions.

what’s the Bible say?

The apostle Paul, in his second letter to the believers at Thessalonica, warned them: “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” (2 Thessalonians 2:9).

So it’s evident that the “lawless one”— antichrist—uses supernatural power, that is, magic in his work of deception. And according to verse 10, people who aren’t grounded in the truth of God will be deceived by them.

And Jesus, in talking about end-time events, said, “False Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles [in order] to deceive” (Matthew 24:24). So if Satan performs miracles, then we should be wary of anything miraculous. But that’s not the whole story, for Christ Himself also performed miracles.

The apostle Peter, speaking to a crowd in Jerusalem, after the resurrection, told them about Jesus who’d changed his life.

He introduced Jesus (Acts 2:22), calling Him “a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him.” Peter said the miracles of Christ weren’t a mere sideshow, but rather evidence that He was the Messiah. John, also, said he recorded Christ’s miracles so “that [we] may believe that Jesus is the Christ” (John 20:31).

Miracles were also part of the apostle’s ministry. Paul said the marks of an apostle were “signs, wonders and miracles” (2 Corinthians 12:12), and the book of Acts includes many that God performed through them.

God uses miracles to confirm the truth.

And yet, Satan also uses miracles. He deceives people through “lying wonders.” So, what should you do when confronted with the supernatural? You can’t just assume that anything miraculous is good. Nor should you assume it’s bad. But how do you tell?

divining truth from error

First, consider the source. Some practices and people—witchcraft, sorcery, conjurors of spells, mediums and spirits—the Bible identifies as always dangerous, and to be avoided (see Deuteronomy 18:10-12).

The occult world of magic is not a healthy place. There are dangers to involvement with the occult, for its source of power is dangerous and deceptive.

But sometimes the source of a particular miracle or wonder isn’t clear; sometimes we can’t see who’s behind a certain phenomenon.

How do you tell a good miracle from a bad one? Scripture says God typically uses miracles to teach us something. He wants His signs to be revelations that will widen our minds and open our hearts to Him.

For example, one day, Jesus was sailing across the Sea of Galilee with His disciples.

They’d just gotten away from a group of Pharisees who were harassing Jesus, wanting Him to show them a supernatural sign. The hills about them were, in fact, full of miraculous signs, miracles of healing that Jesus had recently performed.

But the Pharisees weren’t looking.

As their boat pulled in to shore, Jesus told His disciples: “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (Matthew 16:6). They began to discuss what He meant, concluding, “It’s because we didn’t bring any bread” (verse 7).

Jesus was dismayed by their lack of faith. How could they think He was worried about physical bread? Jesus told them: “Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? . . . How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast [the teaching, verse 12] of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (verses 9-11).

Jesus was warning them about the teachings of the Pharisees, who couldn’t see signs staring them in the face—because they were too busy demanding more proof. And now, they’d done something similar.

God wants to teach us through His miracles also. His signs and wonders were revelations about God; they taught people; they stretched minds and deepened hearts.

The way Jesus healed a paralytic spoke about faith. The way He healed a group of lepers taught forgiveness. And the way He gave sight to a blind man on the Sabbath day challenged the legalism of the Pharisees.

Jesus’ miracles were eloquent and powerful, and taught great lessons. And that’s the difference between God’s miracles and mere magic.

Magic tends to seduce; it’s like an anaesthetic.

That’s what Karen Winterburn discovered after years of the occult. God’s miracles open our eyes and help us grow.

Besides looking at the source, you also need to look at the results, asking, Is this something that helps me grow closer to God, or is it just an escape? During her moment of truth, Karen Winterburn realised that she’d just been escaping. She realised that God had, in fact, become a very distant figure. But during this difficult time, verses of Scripture she’d learned years before came back to her, and she remembered a holy and righteous God.

None of the other gods through her life made that kind of claim.

Karen also became aware of her moral weakness. She was still a sinful individual, falling short. These were unsettling revelations.

But Karen began to focus on one miracle, the miracle of salvation. She remembered the gospel—the good news that God is willing to give us His righteousness.

Jesus Christ, she began to believe, had performed this great sign, this great wonder on the cross and in rising again.

satisfaction in Jesus alone Karen found her way to a relationship with this God of the Bible; she found nurturing relationships with other believers; and, finally, Karen found the spiritual growth she sought so eagerly.

“My restoration to the Father through trusting in Jesus Christ has been the most invigorating, eye-opening and healing event in my life,” she said. “I really know what it is to be ‘bought with a price.’” Karen has experienced inner healing; her eyes opened. When she looked back on her 12 years of occult involvement, it seemed like a spiritual placebo, a sugar pill that didn’t benefit her inner life at all.

God’s miracles are revelations. They set us on a higher path. They show us something about His character. And they help us grow.

Sometimes we may have to make a big decision. We may have to choose between two different supernatural worlds. One may seem more dazzling and seductive, offering a way out of your problems, and control over all the things around you. But only God’s hand can be trusted to mould you, to guide you, to help you grow.

Only His miracles will stretch your mind and deepen your heart. § Adapted, with permission, from Questioning the Supernatural.

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