What is remote viewing?
Remote viewing is the claim that a person can perceive a distant place, object, or event by the mind alone, without using the senses. Scripture never uses that modern term, but it speaks directly to the attempt to obtain hidden knowledge by methods outside of God — and it also records real cases where God Himself disclosed things happening far away.
What Scripture calls the practice
Writers on this subject place attempts to reach hidden knowledge inside one broad biblical category. Commenting on the laws given to Israel before they entered Canaan, one writer describes the ban as sweeping:
William KellyAt the same time there is the sternest guard against all curious prying into the will of God that was not revealed, against tampering, as it follows here, with divination or observation of times, against enchantments or charms, against consulting familiar spirits, wizards, or necromancers.
The ancient names have changed, but another writer argues the practices themselves have simply been rebranded:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinClairvoyance, palmistry, astrology, soothsaying, fortune-telling, spiritualist séances, theosophy, the formulas and treatments of "Christian Science" are a few of the modern names of this ancient demonism. It is awful to see their growth as the end draws near. What is claimed to be "psychical research," studying "occult phenomena," is nothing less than stepping onto the same territory of evil.
Fraud mixed with real power
Commentators do not treat every claim as genuine, nor as merely fake. One writer explains why frauds appear alongside real effects — the powers involved are limited:
A J PollockSeeing that neither Satan nor his agents are all-powerful, all-knowing or everywhere present, I believe trickery is necessary to cover lack of knowledge and other deficiencies... But with full allowance for all this, there are effects produced which are beyond the power of trickery, and which can be attributed only to impersonating demons.
That the residue is not sleight of hand is pressed elsewhere, with an unusual line of evidence:
Morrish Bible DictionaryIs it not clear that divination should not be confused with mere conjuring tricks? However much that may be mixed in with it, the real power of Satan is behind it. Some sorcerers converted in modern times in various parts of the earth have confessed that they were controlled by a power beyond their own; but that it stopped entirely when they believed and confessed Christ.
A boundary God placed
The objection is not that the unseen world is unreal, but that God fenced it off from us. One writer traces what happens when the fence is crossed:
James BoydThey were evidently in contact with beings, between whom and men God in His wisdom and goodness had been pleased to place a barrier. That barrier had been crossed by the enemies of God, and men had forced their way into territory forbidden to them, and had brought themselves into contact with beings utterly unknown to them, and under whose evil cunning and influence they fell.
The cost of crossing it is shown in one of Israel's kings, Saul, who consulted a medium on the eve of his last battle:
W. W. FeredayThe word of God sternly forbids any attempt to hold communication with the spirit sphere... It was the crowning sin of King Saul that he asked counsel of one who had a familiar spirit (1 Chronicles 10:13). For this reason the Lord killed him, "and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse."
When God disclosed things far away
Scripture does record knowledge of distant, private events — given by God, unsought, and for the good of others. When Syria's king planned ambushes, the prophet Elisha kept warning Israel's king:
The Bible TreasuryIt was of little use for the Syrians to plot and plan if the light of God was thrown on their schemes, and their secrets became known to the enemy. God's goodness to His people Israel is shown here in a remarkable way. Unsought, He continues to defeat the plans of the enemy without any special display of power.
Note the difference from technique: the same prophet knew his servant's secret journey and greed, and used that knowledge to expose sin, not to impress anyone — telling Gehazi his heart went with him when the man turned from his chariot (W. W. Fereday).
What God gives instead
Nothing is hidden from God, so a believer already has access to the only mind that truly sees everything:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinAll is known to the Lord. The unseen world as well as the future; all eternity is known to Him. All is naked and open before Him. He knows the hearts of men, yes, even our thoughts from far off, before they ever pass through our finite minds.
And guidance for daily life is promised without any hidden art:
C. H. MackintoshBut let us be well assured of this, that our God can and does give our hearts full certainty both as to what we should do, and what we should not do; as to where we should go, and where we should not go... Cannot an earthly father communicate his mind to his child about the smallest details of his conduct? Who will deny this? And cannot our Father communicate His mind to us about all our ways, day by day?
Summary
- Named — Remote viewing belongs to the family Scripture calls divination; only the labels are modern, the practice is ancient.
- Powered — Trickery covers the gaps, but what remains is credited to real spirit power, not to a human faculty.
- Fenced — God set a barrier between men and the unseen world; forcing through it puts a person under beings far stronger and craftier than himself.
- Costly — Saul consulted a medium and lost both life and kingdom; the search for hidden knowledge ends in loss, not advantage.
- Answered — God already knows every secret and every thought, and gives His children certainty about where to go and what to do — so the hunger behind remote viewing is met, in Him, without trespass.