I was sitting in a class at Bible College when an older student was asking the professor questions. This student was already preaching in a local Church and was having trouble with some false teachings. At the time, some things that were not good Bible interpretation were being promoted on TV and the radio. The student wanted to know where to learn about this topic and how to address it best.

The wise old professor replied with a story. He told the students about when he was in Bible college many years before. They were required to take a class to refute a particular false teaching (something I had never heard of, nor do I remember it now). He told about how he spent a great deal of time learning the concepts this heresy was teaching and how to respond when he became a preacher. Then, he continued, I went into the world and never really met anyone who believed this particular viewpoint. In fact, within a couple of years, everyone stopped talking about it and moved on to some new form of flawed interpretation. 

Then he delivered some lines that I still remember over thirty years later. He stated boldly, “That is when I decided to know only the truth. If I can thoroughly know what the Bible teaches, I will never fall to any false teaching.” 

Numerous forms of bad Bible teaching exist today. First, I find very few people who believe everything being reported online. Second, my job is not to refute every piece of misinformation, although I occasionally must do that. As a pastor and Christian, my job is to know the truth. If I spend more time learning about some false belief than reading my Bible, I am doing myself and the people I teach a disservice. 

Know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. Free from anyone and everyone who would try to mislead you in faith.