CARLTON BALLOWE is a husband, father, grandfather, contractor, consultant, entrepreneur, minister, itinerant preacher, and author. He is a former pastor and former CEO of a multi-million dollar construction concern. He is a resident of Faber, Virginia and a graduate of the Liberty Bible Institute in Lynchburg, Virginia.

WHY I WROTE THIS BOOK
We cannot know the mind of God; at least not in this life. Perhaps in the next we will come to know why He set up this experiment we call Earth. There are a few things we can know. We know the battle between truth and error pre-dates the Garden of Eden. Satan lost round one when he was expelled from heaven. Adam and Eve handed him round two when they fell for his lies. Billions more through the eons have fell for the subtle deceit of the Devil. The Bible is clear that ours is a “God of truth” and Satan is the “father” of lies. This battle between truth and error is at the root of all strife. The ultimate conflict, Armageddon, will simply be the culmination of the battle that has known no end. There are no bystanders in this war. You will be on one side or the other. Choosing the side of truth requires an affirmative action; the default position is error. Those who choose truth will be liberated: “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” John 8:32. Those who live in error because “they received not the love of the truth” will drown in their “delusions” and be “damned” 2nd Thes 2:9-12. There is no middle ground.

Since we serve a “God of truth”, our relationship with God is mirrored in our relationship with truth. We cannot love and remain close to God while having a dispassionate relationship with truth. Putting it another way, we cannot love God without hating His counterpart, lies and the father of them, Satan.

When we allowed a President of the United States to wag his finger in our faces and tell us a bald faced lie without driving him from office, we demonstrated unequivocally that we are collectively divorced from a “love of the truth”. We excused the behavior on the basis that everyone lies about sex. Now we have a president telling us the “lie of the year” in order to sell a policy objective. A U.S. Senator takes to the floor of the Senate (to avoid a libel suit) to lie about a candidate of a different party. It is indisputable that, collectively, we no longer love truth or hate lies.

The first lie, and the subdued reaction to it, rattled me to my core. I was in absolute disbelief. Up to that point, I had been convinced that our country and our church could be counted on to stand on the side of truth. I felt that as long as they stood in the breech, I could remain on the sideline, in the reserves if you will, in the war between truth and error. When our country opened the door to deceit by accepting lies, I assumed the church would stand alone between us and the forces of evil and deception. Much to my chagrin, the church did little, or nothing, more than any other citizen to stand against deception. There were no large scale rallies demanding that deception not be tolerated. A church that chooses to desert in a war against deception, invites one to examine its relationship with truth. Unfortunately, my examination led me to believe the church’s relationship with truth may not be significantly better than the one enjoyed by the general population. A review of Biblical history reveals this has often been the case. For me, the possibility that the church may unwittingly be on the side of deception at this moment in history, was a revelation. So I began to measure statements of church doctrine in terms of fidelity to truth. The result led me to the conclusion that the church has been “turned unto fables”.

With the country’s citizenry and the church being AWOL in the battle for truth, God is calling up His reserves; a remnant that retains a “love of the truth”. While this pattern was repeated over and over in the Old Testament with prophets calling their country and church back to fidelity to truth, I believe the current “falling away” may be the finale that culminates in Armageddon. If I can place the church’s current turning unto fables into the context of Biblical eschatology, perhaps some eyes will be opened to the truth that they may be saved from the ultimate deception. And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. John 8:32