Lies My Mother Told Me

I had a fantastic mother!  She didn't have a wicked bone in her body, but Mom was a liar. How can that be? Her lies assisted her in her daily living. What's more, Mom's lies, at least some of them, became tools for me to use. Other lies my Mom told were mere scare tactics to keep us in line!

First off, the bogeyman does not "come out after dark"! Mom told that lie! The bogeyman is there all the time! The bogeyman is a fiction used to scare others to do certain things. He's available, day or night, to frighten naive or immature people. To be honest I was afraid of "the bogeyman". He lived under my bed, I decided! As a safety measure as a child I didn't, and still don't, sleep with my hands hanging over the side of the bed! I have an ingrained fear of what I know to be "nothing under the bed"!  I guess Franklin Roosevelt was right: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself!"

I no longer believe that the bogeyman is under my bed! Mom lied! That's one of the "lies my mother told me"! However, for safety's sake I keep my hands up there on top. I have a relic of fear living somewhere in my subconscious because Mom put it there!

Mom told other lies too! To keep me from driving reckless she would say "I had a dream you were killed in a car wreck, so be careful!" Mom wasn't a clairvoyant! That was her scare tactic... and it worked. All night long my thoughts were on dying in a car crash. Her lie kept me safe from another bogeyman: me! That fear that I have is the fear of me. I fear what I might do to myself because of the "lies my mother told me"!

One lie Mom never told me was never "You better be good or Santa Claus won't come!" That may be the most told lie which mothers tell! Mom never said that because we were smart! We learned from the past. We were good last year, but Santa still didn't come. Regardless of how good you are, Santa never comes if there is not an economy for his coming!

Mom told me lies. She meant well and it formed who I am! I appreciate Mom's intention to scare me into certain behaviors and obtain the results she wanted. (She wanted to "scare the hell out of me" so I would turn to Jesus to be blunt!) However, Mom's lies weren't killer lies, but there are "lies others told me" which are killers! Sure, we're all going to die anyway, but these lies cause people to die a second time!

Revelation 20:14 "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death."

This verse gives "the bogeyman's" job assignment. He's self-employed, but as one who employs others to sin, he's fulfilling that job assignment! If you suffer the second death, hell, Satan has achieved his metric... he's got you! However, because you have a bad slave-master, it's him that wins. You lose!

There is a big difference in "lies my mother told me" and the one Satan tells. To meet his objective he lies. It's "lies Satan told me"!

 John 8:44 "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it."

We're no longer children, but we still are scared of bogeymen! However, "I know Satan and he's no bogeyman!" Satan is real. The bogeyman is a made up being intended to scare us into desired behaviors. I know Satan because God tells me about him. He's a beautiful angel whose wiles are those which humans fall into love. He offers pleasure, wealth and prestige. He plays on our pride!

Satan uses his beauty to his advantage. It's part of the scheme to meet his job metric. His goal is to have you! Society paints a picture of a bogeyman. He's the hoofed devil with red skin and horns. He's more like the fiction under our bed, and since we don't see the bogeyman around very much, for many he doesn't exist. The caricature is a false standard to get people to not believe! This bogeyman is no bogeyman at all. He's a devil in disguise, he is under your bed and in your closet, but while people believe in the bogeyman, they don't believe in the devil. Satan gets a pay raise because you have fallen for his creativity!

Mom told me lies about the bogeyman to obtain "good" behavior. Satan does that too! He tells you one thing. Again, it's part of his job assignment to meet his goal! To get you he tricks. Satan tells you that grace is a lie! In order to be "saved" all you have to do is be "good"!

Isaiah 64:6 "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."

While the devil tells us "Johnny... be good" God tells us that being "good" won't work. He scoffs at our feeble attempts to achieve salvation because of our own works! Jesus said "only God is good", yet humans still try to be like God! When will we learn? Yes, the devil tells the same "lies my mother told me" to get me to be "good"! He wants that I should do that because while I'm looking at me and my "goodness" I fail to pay attention to the invisible hand who shields the perimeter of my bed and the door to my closet. It's Jesus who keeps me from harm!

 Ephesians 6:12 "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities..."

The bogeyman under our beds is not flesh and blood! It's fear that we're afraid of! What Satan does is to remove all fear! At least he tries to! If we don't fear him, we are more likely to believe in him!  If we believe that Satan is just a bogeyman, we fail to take him seriously! He's the termite in the Orkin commercials who comes to your home disguised as a pizza man! He offers tasty things, but he's still a dangerous wood-eating vermin, but his "wood" is your "hide"!

So how do we put the bogeyman in his place? We tell Mom "Mom, you were just trying to scare me!" We put away fear and turn to Jesus!

Isaiah 41:10 (ESV) "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

Mom, when I think of that bogeyman, I'm no longer afraid of the lies you told me! There is no bogeyman under my bed because I don't fear what's not real! However, I do have a fear of what the devil can deceive me into doing. I fear dying so that Satan meets his job objective. I fear dying because the devil's objective isn't really good. He wants me to die spiritually and suffer eternally!

There is a "fear extinguisher" nearby! Just as my Dad used to come in and comfort me, my Father in heaven comforts me by his Word! He tells me "fear not, for I am with you" and if God is with me what have I to fear?  He will hold me with his "righteous right hand"! Guess which hand that is? Guess what is in his hand?

Mark 16:19 "So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he (Jesus) was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God."

Jesus is our mediator with God:

1 Timothy 2:5 "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus..."

First, let's look at how this does not work: "Jesus, tell God that I've been good so he will take the fear of death away and reward me with heaven!" That's lame. That's a bogus way the devil bogeyman deceives!

Here's how Jesus helps us by taking our requests to God: "I'm a weak sinner. I deserve punishment. Because you are God, I trust in you. I have wronged you and am sorry. Please, Lord, forgive me!" (said in sincerity). It is God's will that you repent so he will forgive you if you're earnest! Jesus doesn't say "Father, he's been good!" He says "Father, forgive my weak servant. He failed you and is sorry. Please be merciful unto this sinner!"

Sincerity scares the bogeyman away. Rather than "I don't believe in you, bogeyman!", fear is gone when you admit "I believe in you Satan, but I don't fear you because I trust and obey God!"

After God removes the fear, feel free, because you are, to put those arms down in bed. The bogeyman can't get you because he's not real and Satan can't because God is stronger than him! No longer fear "fear itself" and no longer fear Satan for God's right hand man, his Son, is with you! He is the Way to escape fear!