Graham said: I don't like this explanation - it makes it sound as though these women were like Sherlock Holmes. The idea that there are any significant number of women who study human nature as empiricists is one I can't give much credence to. On the other hand, the idea that some older women - maybe even a noteworthy percentage - have a mind that, as it were, shades gradually into the psychic atmosphere around them, giving them a confused, weak, intermittent oracular power ... is something that makes perfect sense to me. As funny as that may sound to you.
To put it another way. Sometimes it may simply be an experienced woman who has tallied up a number of physical clues and formed a picture of your personality. I think, though, that sometimes the personality impresses itself directly without any need for sensory mediation in the form of physical clues. And I think older women may be peculiarly susceptible to such things.
Yeah, even if it's demonically inspired, oracular moments are still based on spiritual perception, not on psychological observation. Like the woman saying Tele had a "crown of glory," whether he did or not, there's nothing in his body language that could have tipped her off about that. If it were true, she would have seen a certain glow that he had, she would have perceived his soul somehow in the state of grace. But my hunch is that that was an inspiration of the devil. While Tele was in a state of grace, you don't get crowns of glory until you're dead, from what I understand. For instance, you can't get the crown of virginity until you die a virgin... It sounds like it could have been an attempt to puff up his pride, which frankly I can see is happening constantly in his life.
There are many tricks the evil one can pull. Another example, on the subject of oracular pronouncements, is that we can be thinking something that is wrong; but then the devil will send us someone or something to confirm our bad thought, a sign or a wonder. You will hear a line in a rock song that relates exactly to what you're feeling at that moment and urges you to make a radical change in your life, such as leaving your husband and following your dream to go to Uruguay to be with your drug-running boyfriend, which in turn further puts you into the chains of Satan.
We can be so self-obsessed that we get ego gratification when someone notices us and seems to care about what we're thinking. We WANT to believe what they say, because we want to be special. Graham apparently wants to be Ziggy Stardust
Something else I've seen that the devil does, is he convinces people they are martyrs. Then they go out and irritate everyone, and when they end up isolated, they think it's because they're martyrs, instead of seeing that they are acting like twits. I'm not talking about Tele, by the way, I have a Feeneyite in mind. This is a masterful way to stifle spiritual development in people. But with true humility, you can't be fooled this way, because you will never be impressed by whatever sufferings you undergo, you'll always be more impressed by Christ's sufferings and yours will always be minuscule in comparison.
These are just some various ways that the devil can use oracular-sounding gobbeldygook to influence us for the worse.