I'm one of those people who knows that spending too much time on news channels and websites is not good for a person's mental health. But so far, I've found it very hard to break the habit. Not only can you find lots of lies in today's culture, you find a ton of news stories ABOUT lies. It seems that the politicians are obsessed with describing the alleged lies of the other party. Of course, lying is also epidemic in business, education, the media, in families and even the church.

In fact, today's American culture is rife with "little white lies," half-truths and outright fabrications. My mother-in-law used to say that, if you lied, you "sucked that one out of your thumb" - IOW, there's no truth to what you said.

When one social media company doubted the truthfulness of a politician and banned him, he went out and formed his own platform. The name? TRUTH Social. I'm not passing judgment about whether it was truth as compared to "fake news." I'm just saying, truth is both hard to figure out unless you can trust the source (God's Word), and untruth is EVERYWHERE!

So, I started thinking about this problem. Soon, I realized that there's a story behind the story. It unmasks the Father of Lies (John 8:44), the devil, whose very mode of operation is the lies (little white ones, half-truths or total, unmitigated falsehood) he tells to confuse, lead astray and, yes, destroy people.

Out of nowhere, the title, "Pants on Fire" emerged. I figured everyone's mind would supply the "Liar, liar" if they saw "pants on fire." Before the book even hits the shelves, I've had very positive feedback about the name.

For Pants on Fire: 100 Days to Freedom Through God's Truth, I returned to the format "100 Days to..." from my first book, "BEING LIKE JESUS: 100 Days to More Success, Satisfaction and Living on Purpose." I don't know if the book is a devotional, as such. It certainly can be used that way. Pants on fire is also divided into ten chapters. You could also read one chapter at a time, since each chapter broaches a different theme under the "Lies" umbrella.

I call each daily entry an "essay." I hope that doesn't come across as one of the most hated assignments in middle school, the dreaded "essay." An essay, says, Dictionary.com, is a short literary composition on a particular theme or subject, usually in prose and generally analytic, speculative, or interpretative. 

Each daily reading includes the Devil's Lie and the answering God's Truth. At the end of the book there is a catalog of all 100 lies and the corresponding truths. I've also included a Lies vs. Truth exercise with 50 more of the devil's lies and space for your version of what God would say about them.

Finally, the story behind Pants on Fire must explain that my purpose for this book is not to get rich or famous, it is simply an attempt to extend the influence I had as a Pastor for parts of six decades from western Ohio to western Washington state, and points in between.