About Knowing the Future or Knowing the Unseen

The Question
In theological teaching, neither the future nor the unseen is known except by God alone. So what do we say about people who foretell things that will happen in the future and their words come true?! Also, can Satan inform about matters that will happen in the future? And also, what about the star that informed the Magi of the location of the manger where the Child Jesus was born (I mean, it guided them to it)?

The Answer

1. The unseen or the future is known only by God alone. But human beings may know something by way of diligence, not certainty—through intelligence, discernment, or science.
   Meteorologists may foretell a rainy day or a hot day, and this indeed happens through their observation—by their instruments—of winds laden with water vapor, or winds coming from a hot dry region.
   A treating physician may say to a patient in a critical condition that he has only two or three days at most left to live and then will die. And this indeed happens through his follow-up of the course of the disease and the inability to stop its expected results. This is knowledge, not a prophecy of the future or knowledge of the unseen.
   Likewise, a teacher may say some time before an exam that a certain student will fail, due to his knowledge of the very weak level of this student. And the student indeed fails. This is an expectation of a tangible condition that must end with this result, and it is not a prophecy or knowledge of the future.

2. Prophecy or knowledge of the future pertains to matters outside the scope of discernment, inference, intelligence, and scientific results, and it is by revelation from God to one of God’s prophets or to some of His close chosen ones.
   But if a political expert says that a certain state, if it enters a war against another specific state, will be defeated, this is not a prophecy but political insight.
   Likewise, what men of science expect regarding the occurrence of volcanoes, earthquakes, or floods in certain areas, and this indeed happens, is not a form of knowing the unseen, because it is not unseen to them but a known scientific fact, based on studies that lead to the same result.
   By the same logic, what some agricultural experts say about the time of fruiting or ripening of certain trees or plants, and this happens in its time, is not a prophecy but knowledge.

3. As for those who claim knowledge of the unseen, such as sand diviners, cup readers, palm readers, or those who know the future through horoscopes and stars and the like, all this is a claim and not prophecy.
   Many of these speak in generalities—that is, matters that can happen to any person, without specification. If something of this happens, it is by coincidence. Such as when a cup reader says to you: there are two people ahead of you, one tall and the other short; beware of one of them, for he wants to harm you…!
   Likewise, regarding horoscopes, they present to millions of people from twelve signs; that is, tens or hundreds of millions fall under one fortune.
   In Egypt, for example, there are more than sixty million people. So do approximately every five million have one fortune on the same day?! Despite differences in circumstances, mentalities, and ages…!
   Regarding the stars, the proverb has spoken the truth: astrologers lie even if they tell the truth.
   As for the star that led the Magi, it was not a real star, nor were the Magi astrologers.
   Saint John Chrysostom explained this matter clearly in his commentary on the Gospel of Matthew. He said: “The star of the Magi was a power sent by God to guide them, and it was not a natural star,” because an ordinary star moves from west to east, whereas the star of the Magi came from east to west, from the land of Persia to the Holy Land. Also, the star of the Magi would stop at times and move at other times according to a certain economy. It stopped when they entered Jerusalem to obtain information from Herod or the scribes and Pharisees, and it moved when they departed from Jerusalem.
   The star also stopped where the Child was, because if it had remained in its height like other stars, they would not have known the location of the manger, for the planets and stars we see above us wherever we are without pointing to a specific place.
   Therefore, God, blessed be His name, when He saw the goodness of heart of the Magi and their good intention—and they were scholars of astronomy—attracted them by a power from Him in the form of a star great in its splendor, strange in its movement, and drew them to Him until they saw the Lord Jesus. For this reason, in their return He did not wish to guide them by a star, but in a dream, because their spiritual level had risen after they had received the blessing of seeing the Savior.

4. As for Satan and his knowledge as a spirit, we have observations in this regard:
   a. As a spirit, he has more transparency than human beings and greater knowledge not hindered by the fog of the body as happens with man. Thus he can infer from a person’s features, tone of voice, and the look in his eyes what may be within him of thought or intention—this is inference only.
   b. He also knows what he himself introduces into the human mind of thoughts, some of which are wars or temptations. And if Saint Paul the Apostle said about Satan: “For we are not ignorant of his devices” (2 Cor 2:11), then all the more he also may not be ignorant of our thoughts—not as a searcher of hearts and minds! God forbid. But it is inference only.
   Another point we say regarding the question of Satan’s knowledge of the future:
   c. There are things Satan may say about the future, which for him are not in the category of the future but of the past.
   He may say to you: you will receive a letter in the mail after two days, for example, containing such and such, and this indeed comes true. But in reality, he had seen this letter at the time it was written, calculated the time of its mailing, and said it would arrive after two days with its contents. This was in the category of the past for him.
   He may say to you: so-and-so is ill with such and such and has been admitted to such and such a hospital, and this is true. But it is not unseen; rather, it is a reality he saw. The difference between you and him in this knowledge is that he is a light spirit (originally an angel, able to move in the blink of an eye—according to his nature—from place to place), and he informs about coming matters that, for him, are past matters.
   What Satan perceives in this manner may be inspired to some human beings (often his helpers and those he wishes to draw to himself), so do not think their words are prophecy.
   In this manner and others, he will assist the Antichrist who will come at the end of the age, and will support him “with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish” (2 Thess 2:9–10). Satan knows of the future only what he can infer, or what he sees in the near past as coming, and he informs of it saying that it will come.
   d. Nevertheless, what Satan says may not come true, and his “knowledge” may be uncertain.
   The letter he said would arrive may not arrive and may be lost in the mail; the traveler he said would come may be hindered by reasons after beginning his arrangements. Either Satan is embarrassed, or he foretells the reasons for the delay! And the sinner he said would go to hell may repent on the last day of his life, like the thief on the right. As for the knowledge of the prophets, it is by revelation, not by inference or guesswork, and it is certain knowledge that is fulfilled as they say.

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