The thirst for knowledge and power has seduced the naïve and undiscerning since the dawn of history. More people have their palms and tea leaves read or read the astrological column in the paper than read the Bible. People want to know the future for various reasons, but the shrewd ones know that knowledge is power.
Just imagine the power you would have if you had “precognition” – if you knew events before they happened. You could become a billionaire just by betting at the racetrack or become politically powerful by accurately predicting future events. In order to accurately predict future events, you would need the power and means to arrange them. God can do that because He is omnipotent and omniscient, which is why the predictions of true prophets are always fulfilled.
Satan has a limited capacity to arrange the future by manipulating people who pay attention to his deceiving spirits. Everything he does is a counterfeit of Christianity. Precognition is a counterfeit of prophecy. Clairvoyance, which is the power to see what the normal five senses cannot see, is a counterfeit of divine revelation. Telepathy, which is the ability to communicate from one mind to another by extrasensory means, is a counterfeit of prayer. Psychokinesis, which is the manipulation of physical matter without the use of physical means, is a counterfeit of God’s miracles. Spirit guides, or deceiving spirits, are counterfeits of divine guidance. Why would people want a spirit guide if they could have the Holy Spirit as their guide?
These finite longings for the infinite can only be fulfilled by the knowledge and power that come from an intimate relationship with God. Satan tries to pass off his counterfeits as the real thing. He will gain a foothold in our lives if he can lure us into the deceptive world of psychic knowledge and power. Moses’ words of warning in Deuteronomy 18:9-12 are as viable today as they were for the Israelites under his leadership: “When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord.”
We live in a contemporary Canaan in which it is socially acceptable to consult spiritists, mediums, palm readers, psychic counselors and horoscopes for guidance and esoteric knowledge. Because Satan has the capacity to deceive the whole world, it is possible for him to arrange future events – but never perfectly. Only God can prophesy something and guarantee that it will come true. This is one way that we can know whether a prophet is true or false. “If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously” (Deuteronomy 18:22).
All the false prophets, psychic counselors and spiritual mediums have superhuman knowledge, but they are getting it from a counterfeiter. However, because they seem to know more than what is humanly possible, a gullible public pays attention to them and is deceived.
John 16:13: “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” NIV
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