Book Review: The Truth About Lies, by J. Mack Stiles

J. Mack Stiles, The Truth About Lies: Why Jesus Is More Relevant Than You Think. 10Publishing, 2023. 96 pages.

Without wasting any time, Mack Stiles is committed to persuading readers that Jesus is relevant (1). Jesus’s irrelevance is, in fact, the biggest lie.

In this short book, Mack uses narratives from the Gospels to confront, correct, and persuade people about various lies they may hold about the faith or themselves.

The book moves relatively quickly through eight different lies and concludes with an epilogue of essentials for following up with a new believer. Mack’s polaroid portraits from the Gospels progress roughly from Jesus’s early ministry (Mark 5) to his resurrection (John 20), addressing lies like “Being Good Is Enough” or “I’ve Got My Truth, You’ve Got Yours.”

The book needs to be read as a whole. You aren’t going to get eight different gospel presentations that counter-catechize each lie.

But you get the sense that Mack is on the move and taking you somewhere. He wants to expose the lies, but only because he wants you to see the Truth. In the last chapter, Mack brings it all together with the Zacchaeus narrative and a conversion story about a university student in Dubai. He concludes the chapter,

Jesus will never turn anyone away who hears the message of good news and responds. Jesus calls us to turn from an unbelieving lifestyle and the accompanying sin that entangles us and instead to put our complete trust and faith in him alone to rescue us. So, to become a follower of Jesus, we offer our lives to him in faith and commit to following him as Lord throughout our lives. (72)

The Truth About Lies doesn’t lean on nuanced exegetical discussions or in-depth cultural analysis. It’s not laden with technical Latin terms or doing any inner-canonical heaving lifting.

You should see the book like an extended conversation with Mack, a seasoned pastor/evangelist. He loves and trusts in Jesus and wants you to as well. He’s not trying to impress you or flex with “in the Greek.” No, Mack simply wants you to wipe the windshield of your spiritual vision clean, his prayer being that you will see Jesus as he really is—and follow him by faith.

Mack’s use of stories from his own experience and relationships might provide points of connection for different demographics: young/old, local/international, and varied religious backgrounds. An adult of any age could read it. Although one critique could be that it’s probably not the finest example of contextualization (“crack babies” on p. 17) or avoiding Christianese words like “fellowship” (56) without first defining them.

How to Use in Churches

Pastors, this might be a helpful book to have on hand for visitors. It’s an easy book for a member to follow up about. If you had an event and gave away little gift bags, you could easily drop in a copy.

I have a feeling you could get a forty-something to read it before you got a Gen Z kid on campus to, but I could be wrong. I think it would be received well by international and exchange students, given Mack’s perspective as a long-time overseas missionary.

Another use might be for an evangelism class’s supplemental reading. You could let Mack be a passive mentor as participants debrief. His book has so much value in what it models, namely tone and winsomeness.

He mentions “hell” in the context of justice (17), and you don’t get the sense of him being mean-spirited. He’s constantly confronting lies, but not as a curmudgeon who wants you off his yard. He’s frank without being condescending or cold.

At a time when people are afraid of being cancelled or have forgotten how to be charitable, Mack exemplifies “speaking the truth in love.”

Lastly, I love how his evangelistic heart comes through on page 80. Mack encourages the reader—hopefully a new believer—to write him, offering his email address.