Question:
I know that ESP is wrong but what about people that are not looking for knowledge outside there ability to know but yet they still know things that they could no possibly know?
Answer:
“ESP” stands for “extra sensory perception.” Normally, when people are referring to this, they are talking about people who seem to know what is happening somewhere else; or to someone’s strange ability to seemingly do things like know what you have written on a piece of paper across the room — something that is beyond the five physical senses which God has given to us: touch, taste, smell, see, and hear. In this category would also fall people who make predictions like the woman who predicted the death of President John F. Kennedy. That was not the only prediction that she made in her life. One of the others was that the Mackinaw Bridge in Michigan was going to fall into the water by a certain time (which thing did not happen.)
To the above matters, we would have to say, Biblically, that we are dealing with people who are into “demonism” or “spiritism.” There is no way that we can use our physical senses, and tell what someone is writing across the room (unless it is a random guess). There is no way that a person can “see” or “know” what is happening in a different location, other than by getting the information from the unseen “spirit realm.”
King Saul had been disobedient, and he was not getting any answer from God, so he went to a woman who was in contact with the spirit realm (with demons). I Samuel 28:6-12 says, “And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor. And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, I pray thee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up, whom I shall name unto thee. And the woman said unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land: wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die? And Saul sware to her by the LORD, saying, As the LORD liveth, there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing. Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel. And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice: and the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul.”
King Saul is rebuked for seeking information through the unseen spirit realm, instead of seeking the Lord’s face for what to do. Isaiah 8:19,20 says, “And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”
We are told to seek God’s will in matters by reading His Word and praying to Him — not through other means of perception. This is a matter of very subtle error in the Charismatic Movement today, and more obvious in the New Age Movement. It has been a part of false religions and cults down through the years. The authority of the Bible is what is being eroded. People are seeking information through other means now — even groups that profess to be “Christian.” They are seeking guidance through “dreams,” “visions,” “wonders,” “spirit guides,” etc. When they have some sort of an experience, they then hold it to be more authoritative in guidance than God’s very own Word. We are truly living in the days described in Matthew 12:39,40, “But he answered and said unto them, AN EVIL AND ADULTEROUS GENERATION SEEKETH AFTER A SIGN; AND THERE SHALL NO SIGN BE GIVEN TO IT, BUT THE SIGN OF THE PROPHET JONAS: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
We are living in a day when people will not believe, unless they seem to have some supernatural sign from God. A lot of those people are not saved. The Bible tells us in Matthew 7:21-23 says, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I NEVER KNEW YOU: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
God can and does lead His people; sometimes to escape danger; sometimes to pray for others in danger; sometimes to do things to prepare for future events, etc. I know of a woman who spent some extra time with her son one morning before he went to school. That afternoon, he was in an accident, and died a short time later. God had so led to have them spend some time together, knowing that it would be their last. But that is far different from predicting that a President will be shot, or reading what someone has written on a paper on the other side of the room. I Corinthians 2:9-14 says, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” This is dealing with the Holy Spirit leading and teaching us through God’s Word.
Christians are not to seek information through “extra sensory” means. We are to seek the Lord and His Word when are facing questions and needs for which we do not have answers. Once again, Isaiah 8:19,20 says, “And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”