Prodigies Performed by False Prophets

“False christs and false prophets will appear, who will perform great prodigies and amazing things to the point of deceiving the elect themselves.” These words provide the true meaning of the term prodigy. According  to the theological definition, prodigies and miracles are exceptional phenomena that occur outside the laws of nature. Since the laws of nature are the work of God exclusively, God could obviously derogate from them if so desired. However, simple common sense says that God could not have possibly given unevolved and perverse beings a power equal to the divine power, and even less the right to undo what God has done. Jesus could not have consecrated such a principle. If, according to the meaning that has been attributed to these two words, the Spirit of Evil has the power to perform such prodigies to the point that the elect themselves are deceived, the result would be that, being able to do what God does, prodigies and miracles are not the exclusive privilege of those sent by God. Moreover, they would not prove anything, since nothing would distinguish the miracles performed by saints from the miracles performed by the Devil. It is therefore necessary to look for a more rational meaning for these two words.

To  uneducated common  folk, every phenomenon with an unknown cause comes across as supernatural, extraordinary and miraculous. Once the cause is known, it is realized that the phenomenon, as extraordinary as it may seem, is nothing other than the application of a natural law. In this manner the circle of supernatural events shrinks to the extent that the circle of scientific knowledge broadens. For the advancement of their ambitions, interests and domination, humans in all eras have exploited certain knowledge they possess in order to give themselves the prestige of a supposedly superhuman power or a supposed divine mission. These are the false christs and false prophets. The spreading of enlightenment destroys their credit, and that is why their numbers dwindle to the degree that people become enlightened. The fact that they perform what in the eyes of certain people come across as prodigies is not, therefore, the sign of a divine mission, since it could result from knowledge that anyone may acquire, or from special organic faculties that  the most unworthy persons may possess as well as the most worthy. True prophets are recognized by more serious, exclusively moral characteristics.