There are some people who are or were mediums in past lives who merely regurgitate subconscious knowledge, appearing to naive persons as saints. They do not know where such knowledge comes from, because they are asleep.
Then there are cases of fallen Bodhisattvas being given borrowed light, so as to be inspired to rise again. They gain knowledge and experience at a rapid rate, because they are recapitulating initiation.
These former initiates also communicate the knowledge of past experiences, but with consciousness.
But for the majority of us, we are poor, simple fools hypnotized by ego and malignant forces. Being 97% ego, it is easy to be confused.
This is why we rely on meditation to find our answers, not persons from the physical world.
For thirty years I sought God. But when I looked carefully I found that in reality God was the seeker and I the sought. -Bayazid al-Bastami