This gift, however, is not to be confused with knowledge gained by reason of a man's spirit becoming familiar with the spirits of other men, for all such knowledge and every statement from it is but the psychic utterance of mediumistic souls. Instead of being the means whereby God's knowledge is imparted to men, the familiar spirit picks up, transmits and inflicts the possessor with the conflicts, bondages and afflictions of fellow humans. Such a person may quite correctly diagnose and pronounce upon the state or feelings of a fellow human, and often does so with the best intentions, but this in no way alters the fact that the source of the power is human and not divine. Consequently, whether ignorantly or deliberately, in operation it makes pronouncements which are either merely based upon its own feelings, or culled from its store of acquired knowledge, or else it makes statements which are deliberately imparted by deceiving spirits as superimpositions upon the human ability. Such statements or prognostications are not Words of Knowledge, although they may be mistakenly made and often accepted as such, and in some instances may prove to be correct. Of old the Lord spoke with fine scorn about such practices, linking the monthly prognostications with stargazers and astrologers. This kind of psychic manifestation was rife among the Children of Israel in their carnal state; it substituted the genuine gift with the result that it practically deceived the whole nation. This disconcertingly dangerous power is most prevalent among persons who, by reason of extrasensory perception, are naturally aware of other people's states. It is rife in the churches today and is the direct result of man having become other than spiritual. God's gift of the Word of Knowledge to any person is not to be confused with any kind of highly developed human soul-power. It is most often spoken by an individual quite apart from his knowledge of having spoken it. It is certainly at its best when spoken from such ignorance — 'I know nothing of myself' is the great understanding from which to commence in this gift.