Is that True? Discerning Truth in an Age of Deception.

NEWS PROVIDED BY
Castle Quay Books
Aug. 14, 2025

TORONTO, Aug. 14, 2025 /Standard Newswire/ — Have we entered an era where AI programs, like xAI’s Grok 4, combined with Quantum Computing power, have made it impossible to discern truth and reality from their sophisticated creations, clever deceptions and outright forgeries?

Have many prominent members of the traditional media succumbed to political interference in their honest presentation of the news?

Has absolute truth suffered a fatal wound with the forceful advent of subjective truth into every area of life?

What can we really believe in this age of clever deception?

In their new book, Is That True? Discerning Truth in an Age of Deception, authors Larry Willard and Chuck Stephens team up to confront the confusion on these topics and 24 major issues that are prevalent in today’s public space and media news. In Parts I and II, Larry tackles how media news evolved from reporting news to what has now become a type of infotainment, with many obscuring the issues of truth with intentional mixes of partisan political deceptions. He then takes a hard look at the capabilities of AI artificial intelligence when married to quantum computing, noting where it is going and asks if there is a danger that it may lead us into artificial truth, with the inability to discern what is real, and deliver the tool for a powerful form of cultural slavery, without proper built-in safeguards and regulations.

In Part III, Chuck goes back to the future, to the days of clear divisions between right and wrong, warning that the post-modern remix of subjective, objective, and revealed truth is changing the meaning of truth, suggesting that our ethical plumb line is wobbling. He presents key perspectives of 24 major issues clustered into 5 main talking points, macro, law, politics, health, and future issues. All are hot topics being debated in the public space, and use an ingenious format borrowed from the old popular TV celebrity panel program, To Tell the Truth, complete with four illustrious panelists, who probe three challengers—representing right, left, and middle views. The exchanges present readers with a toolbox of tips and skills to help screen out truth from deception. Chuck argues convincingly that objectivity and subjectivity are not enough. There must be a place for revealed truth.

About the Authors

CHUCK STEPHENS was born and raised in Africa as a “missionary kid,” later spending two decades in Canada. He returned to Africa as a career missionary, serving a total of 40 years in Southern Africa as senior manager at the Desmond Tutu Centre for Leadership. He also spent periods in Angola, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. Chuck is an author, writer, activist, and public speaker, with over 15 books published and is an op-ed columnist in the South African media. He holds a master’s degree in communications and a doctor of letters degree in religious studies. 

LARRY N. WILLARD, MDiv, is a writer, author, leading thinker on social, political, and religious issues and the founding publisher of Castle Quay Books. He spent 30 years holding several major senior management positions with top Fortune 100 global corporations and served 9 years in various VP roles for Tyndale University in Toronto, and has resided in Canada, Brazil, and the USA. Castle Quay Books titles have been nominated for over 130 publishing awards by various groups and have won the top award for 70 of those nominations.

Is that True? Discerning Truth in an Age of Deception is available on-line and at most bookstores, or on the Castle Quay Books web site www.castlequaybooks.com.

ISBN 978-1-998815-36-4 soft cover -$19.95
e-book 978-1-998815-37-1 -$9.95

288 pages, size 6" x 9"

For review copies, cover images, interviews with author or more information about this title, please contact Larry N Willard:
Phone: 1-416-573-3249
Email: lwillard@castlequaybooks.com

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SOURCE Castle Quay Books