Does the Bible list any "miracles" specifically accomplished by the Devil?

Question

Also, could you consider the Devil moving Jesus to the top of the Temple as such?

Answer 1

1. Satan sent a storm to destroy the home of one of Job’s children while they were all feasting. (Job 1) One of the devil’s titles is the “Lord of the power of the air”.

2. Satan inflicted a skin disease upon Job. (Job 2)

Answer 2

No, there is no direct reference in the Bible to any specific miracles attributed to Satan. The Bible tells us that while Satan’s power is limited, he can and does deceive. John 8:44 says that Satan is a liar and the father of lies. Satan can make himself appear as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). He does this to draw people away from God.

In the New Testament, miracles were performed by Jesus, by the apostles and some disciples. The miracles served to validate the gospel message and the ministry of the apostles (Acts 2:43; 5:12; 2 Corinthians 12:12; Hebrews 2:4).

The Bible warns us that during the tribulation, Satan will empower the Antichrist to perform miracles:

The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders (2 Thessalonians 2:9 ESV)

Also, Jesus warned that the end times will be characterized by the treachery of counterfeit prophets who “will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive” (Matthew 24:24).

The existence of demonic miracles is one reason why the Bible issues this warning and advice:

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).

Any miracle that runs contrary to sound biblical teaching, that is designed to turn people away from faith in God and in Jesus comes from a demonic, or Satanic, source.

Answer 3

Does the Bible list any miracles' specifically accomplished by the Devil?

There are stories of signs and wonder performed by the Devil in the Bible, but not miracles in the true sense of the word, since they can only be done by God himself. Miracles are something done outside the order of the entire created natural world we live in. Satan is unable to do this!

The Catholic Church defines a Miracle as follows:

A sensibly perceptible effect, surpassing at least the powers of visible nature, produced by God to witness to some truth or testify to someone's sanctity.

His "miracles" are nothing more than demonic wonders in order to fool mankind. Interestingly, the pharaoh’s magicians were able to duplicate, on a smaller scale, the first two plagues, making water appear as blood and making even more frogs appear on Egypt than those God had sent (Exodus 7:22 and 8:7). They were also able to make their rods change into snakes (Exodus 7:11-12). Whether these were tricks and illusions or some actual supernatural wonder from an evil spiritual source is another question, they had the intended effect. They hardened the pharaoh’s heart, meaning they cemented his resistance to the demands of the Israelites.

According to St. Thomas Aquinas the Devil and all the other Demons can not perform true miracles. Satan is a deceiver and tries his best to lead man astray by wonders that are false signs and not miracles.

The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie. - 2 Thessalonians 2:9

Satan has the power to manipulate the elements (weather, illusions, and the like), but he can not perform a true miracle.

True miracles cannot be wrought save by the power of God, because God works them for man's benefit, and this in two ways: in one way for the confirmation of truth declared, in another way in proof of a person's holiness, which God desires to propose as an example of virtue. On the first way miracles can be wrought by any one who preaches the true faith and calls upon Christ's name, as even the wicked do sometimes. On this way even the wicked can work miracles. Hence Jerome commenting on Matthew 7:22, "Have not we prophesied in Thy name?" says: "Sometimes prophesying, the working of miracles, and the casting out of demons are accorded not to the merit of those who do these things, but to the invoking of Christ's name, that men may honor God, by invoking Whom such great miracles are wrought."

In the second way miracles are not wrought except by the saints, since it is in proof of their holiness that miracles are wrought during their lifetime or after death, either by themselves or by others. For we read (Acts 19:11-12) that "God wrought by the hand of Paul . . . miracles" and "even there were brought from his body to the sick, handkerchiefs . . . and the diseases departed from them." On this way indeed there is nothing to prevent a sinner from working miracles by invoking a saint; but the miracle is ascribed not to him, but to the one in proof of whose holiness such things are done. - Article 2. Whether the wicked can work miracles?

St. Thomas goes on to state the following:

As is clear from what has been said above (I:110:4), if we take a miracle in the strict sense, the demons cannot work miracles, nor can any creature, but God alone: since in the strict sense a miracle is something done outside the order of the entire created nature, under which order every power of a creature is contained. But sometimes miracle may be taken in a wide sense, for whatever exceeds the human power and experience. And thus demons can work miracles, that is, things which rouse man's astonishment, by reason of their being beyond his power and outside his sphere of knowledge. For even a man by doing what is beyond the power and knowledge of another, leads him to marvel at what he has done, so that in a way he seems to that man to have worked a miracle.

It is to be noted, however, that although these works of demons which appear marvelous to us are not real miracles, they are sometimes nevertheless something real. Thus the magicians of Pharaoh by the demons' power produced real serpents and frogs. And "when fire came down from heaven and at one blow consumed Job's servants and sheep; when the storm struck down his house and with it his children—these were the work of Satan, not phantoms"; as Augustine says (De Civ. Dei xx, 19). - Article 4. Whether demons can lead men astray by means of real miracles?

For example the Devil can not heal someone. The Bible does not give us a single case of physical healing operated through the power of Lucifer, not one!

The Catholic Church requires a miracle for the beatification of a servant of God to be beatified and another miracle for a Blessed to be canonized. Presently, these miracles are almost always miraculous cures of infirmity, because these are the easiest to judge given the Church's evidentiary requirements for miracles; e. g., a patient was sick with an illness for which no cure was known; prayers were directed to the Venerable; the patient was cured; the cure was spontaneous, instantaneous, complete, and enduring; and physicians cannot discover any natural explanation therefor. Since Satan can not operate true miracles, this is an additional safeguard against the operations of evil in the process of canonization by the Church. Among the new regulations, established by Pope Francis, one stipulates a potential miracle can no longer be presented for consideration if it fails to pass before the board of medical experts three times. Miracles are taken seriously by Rome.

Nevertheless the Sacred Scriptures do mention a number of (evil) works or wonders done by Satan, who is also known as the Devil:

• In the Garden of Eden, Satan deceived Eve: Genesis 3:1-5.

• Satan entered the heart of Judas, called Iscariot, one of the twelve: Luke 22: 1-6.

• Satan sent a storm to destroy the home of one of Job’s children while they were all feasting: Job 1: 1-6.

• St. Paul received a throne in the flesh from Satan: 2 Corinthians 12:1-10.

• Then the devil took Jesus to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple: Matthew 4:1-11.

• Satan afflicted Job with a terrible disease: Job 2: 7-13.

• The Devil kills Sarah's seven husbands and was finally driven away by the Archangel Raphael: Tobias: 3: 7-8; Tobias 8: 1-3 (Catholic and Orthodox biblical canon).

Answer 4

To address the part of your question the other answer doesn't cover: the question of whether taking Jesus to the top of the temple counts depends on your interpretation of the passage. If you take this as a literal move, where Jesus was physically present on top of the temple (and presumably unseen by onlookers) then it would count as a miracle, since we can presume Satan and Jesus didn't physically climb up there. However if you take it as Satan presenting Jesus with an option (that Jesus take himself to a high place and throw himself off) then it isn't really a miracle.