04/20/18 FALSE MEMORIES
(I have actually taught and preached this since the 1970s)

As a very small child (and unaware of the implications) I sometimes chimed into a conversation with, "I went with mama and daddy on their honeymoon."

Obviously this statement got everyone's attention. Everyone would laugh, and either mama or daddy would tell me that I had not. I was fully convinced of my statement, and therefore I would recount the evidence. I would tell how we went away in a camper and a little information concerning the area and some of the events that took place.

Then, without explaining everything, they would tell me that I had memories of things I had heard, but I was not with them on the honeymoon.

I am not saying that it couldn't have been true, BUT IT WAS NOT. It was not long before I came to understand this as I got a little older, and eventually the facts were evident because of actual information.

This is not an article about my parents, either good or bad. I am addressing the problem of FALSE MEMORIES. As a child, I remembered something that never happened. I probably heard the story so many times that I began to think I was there. After all, little children have a hard time understanding that they have not always been part of mom and dad's life. I probably recounted things I heard my parents say, and things I may have heard about other situations, and things I just dreamed up. In the mind of a little child, especially a child with a strong imagination, things become more vivid and "true."

This does not take into consideration the misunderstandings that come from a broken home, where one parent bad mouths the other parent or where the child is poisoned against other people because of the false accusations, which were made by angry parents or family members.

There have been occasions when people recounted events from previous centuries, feeding the false notion of reincarnation. There have been legal cases in America where children remembered abuses and devil worship by teachers, pastors and parents, only to be proved wrong, after those adults had lost years in prison, lost their families, their reputations and their livelihoods.

But is not only the people that have been falsely accused who suffer from the false memories. It is the person who has believed their own lies. Personal anger, resentment, self orientation and misinformation has ruined many lives. Sometime, even after decades of self deception, the accuser realized he/she has misrepresented another person and they took steps to rectify the problem. However, sometimes it is too late to say they are sorry, or mend and restore the relationship.

Truth can set the records straight. However, truth is not welcomed into the dark. As a result, those who love darkness will continue to be held prisoner to darkness and deceit.

Deceit not only blocks out light, it eventually forgets what light is like. The deceived lies so often that he/she believes his/her own lies. The DECEIVED becomes the DECEIVER. There is deliverance from the bondage of false memories and deception, but it takes humility, trust and love to be set free.

Consider these two passages.
John 3:19-21
19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

2 Timothy 3:13
13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.