Mark Tabata’s Weekday Devotionals
Wednesday July 29 2026
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Matthew 5:17-18-Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
We have likely all had the sensation of deja vu in our lives before: that feeling that an area, person, or experience is so familiar that you have lived through it already in some way. Our friends who believe in reincarnation often point to the feeling of déjà vu as proof of this idea. Reincarnation is the belief that after a person dies, his soul is reborn into a new physical body (either at conception or birth).
Is déjà vu proof of reincarnation?
Let’s ask one of the leading researchers in the field of reincarnation studies, a man named Ian Stevenson. He was Carlson Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Division of Parapsychology, Department of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry, at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. During his lifetime, he amassed over 3,000 case studies of children who experienced spontaneous recall of past-life memories. He is recognized as one of the most respected researchers in the field of reincarnation.
What did he say about deja vu?
Some persons have had the experience of believing, on visiting a place for the first time, that they have seen it before. Psychologists call this experience déjà vu (“already seen”). In one survey 76 percent of the respondents reported having had such an experience.13…. Most cases of déjà vu, however, probably require no such interpretation. Several other explanations account for many instances of this experience better than reincarnation does.15 For example, some instances may be due to the kind of noninferential knowledge of the future that we call precognition. Precognition sometimes occurs during dreams. Suppose that a person dreams of a place that he had never seen before, but that he will later visit, although he does not know this at the time. He may then forget the dream, although residues of it may remain just below the threshold of consciousness.…Some déjà vu experiences may have an even simpler explanation. The scene that appears familiar may resemble one previously seen by the person having the experience without his recognizing the similarity. Something like this happens when we approach and even address by name a complete stranger whom we have mistaken for someone we know. In the latter situation the stranger quickly tells us we are wrong, if we do not realize the error ourselves before he does so. A stretch of scenery, however, or an event in progress cannot speak and correct our errors; so when they appear familiar some persons may persist in thinking incorrectly that they have “been there before.” A neurological explanation has also been suggested for some déjà vu experiences. If the two hemispheres of the brain should function slightly out of phase with each other, information reaching consciousness through one hemisphere would be recorded by that hemisphere as new while the other side of the brain, a millisecond later, might register it as old. 9. (Ian Stevenson M.D., Children Who Remember Previous Lives: A Question of Reincarnation, 48-49 (Kindle Edition): Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers)
In an earlier book, Stevenson discusses something known as cryptomnesia that he says accounts for a great deal of alleged past-life memories.
In my studies of reincarnation, I have been particularly impressed with the meticulous and scholarly research of the aforementioned Ian Stevenson. In his study on the topic of reincarnation, he deals primarily with the spontaneous recollections of children who have memories of past-life events. In the Preface to the second reprinting of his book, Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation, he makes this important note for the readers to consider: “I would only here reiterate that I consider these cases suggestive of reincarnation and nothing more. All the cases have deficiencies as have all their reports. Neither any case individually nor all of them collectively offers anything like a proof of reincarnation. My most important single conclusion about them is of the need for further study of similar cases. If anyone takes up this task I shall consider my efforts amply rewarded.” (Stevenson, pp. ix-x.)…Basically, cryptomnesia is where a person reads or somehow learns something, then forgets it, only to have it resurface later (without having the knowledge of where he had originally gained this knowledge). Stevenson explains: “According to this theory, the child would somehow have known a person or other source having the information he later “remembered” about the alleged previous family. The child would somehow come in contact with this person or information and would later forget both the source of his information and the fact that he had ever obtained it, although he would remember the information and later present it dramatically as derived from a previous life. His parents would have known nothing about the person or object furnishing the information at the time or they would later have forgotten their earlier knowledge, thus genuinely expressing surprise at the statements of the child.” (Ibid., p. 333.) Discussing the importance of this possible alternative for these examples of past-life recall, Stevenson points out that in several of the countries where he had conducted his interviews, public records did mention the deceased persons whom the interviewed children were spontaneously recalling in their memories. Stevenson remarks: “In some of the cases, e.g., Wijerante, Marta, William George, Jr., Norman Despers, and Corliss Chotkin, Jr., members of the child’s family already know most or all of the facts stated by the child. Cryptomnesia may suffice in these cases as an explanation for all, or nearly all, of the informational aspects of the cases, although it will not, I think, suffice to explain other features of some of these cases, e.g., the behavioral features or the birthmarks.” (Ibid., p. 334.) This is a very important factor, and may help explain many of the cases of “past-life” memories. Dr. Stevenson points out that cryptomnesia may account for all, or nearly all, of the informational aspects of the cases previously mentioned. (Mark Tabata, Reincarnation: Fact or Fiction? An Analysis of Past-Life Research in Contemporary American Society and an In-Depth Study of Christian Apologetics, 83-85 (Kindle Edition): Charleston, AR: Cobb Publishing)
Déjà vu is not proof of reincarnation.
Indeed, the Word of God reminds us:
Hebrews 9:27-28-And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.
May we use our time here wisely!
Lord, thank You for the gift of life. Give us a heart of wisdom to number our days and make the most of every moment. Amen.
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