Hey y’all! Thanks for joining us here. Today, we wanted to share with you something that may seem simple, but many don’t know how to go about - researching and discerning. When we first came to a saving faith, learning how to research—both in Scripture and through books or the interweb—became a high priority for us.
Now, we want to say up front this post is simply meant to be an overview of the basics of researching to help someone new to researching get started.
(((Side Note: if you would like more information on this, check out our podcast episode on this topic)))
It’s interesting to see how the Lord gifts us in certain areas. We have always been diggers when it comes to information and trying to find the truth. In the past, we would do this on any number of topics from deep dives into tv shows, politics, current events, really anything that caught our attention. So when the Lord saved us, we began using these skills in a different way. But, it’s one thing to research some show or current event, it’s another to research through Scripture, online, or in a book to find the truth. In theory, we knew how to research, but we were novices to Bible study and we also had no idea what teachers, websites, books, etc. were trustworthy. It was certainly something that we had to learn. And it seems many others are trying to learn these skills too. So I’m this post, we wanted to go over a few things: 1) How to begin researching through Scripture 2) How to research Biblical context 3) How to research teachers to see if they are sound 4) How to research music lyrics and artists to see if they are sound 5) and we will include as many of our go-to webpages to help you have one place you can go to begin researching online whenever you need to. 🙂
Part 1 - How to begin researching: Go Through Scripture
First up, how to begin researching. Start by going through Scripture. Now stay with us cause this could get complicated… Here’s how you do it. READ YOUR WHOLE BIBLE IN CONTEXT. Crazy Idea right?!? We know it’s simple, but it really is where every Christian should begin. The Lord teaches us and speaks to us through His Word. We can’t know Him without reading His Word and we are ill-prepared to recognize errors, false teachings, and out-of-context verses if we don’t read the Bible.
Scripture gives us a good example of people who researched what they heard against what Scripture said. Enter the Bereans. When we came across them in Scripture, it helped us so much. They aren’t huge figures, but they certainly had a huge impact on us. When Paul went to Berea and shared the Gospel, the Bereans heard him and checked everything he said against God’s Word. They were commended for their faithfulness to searching the Scriptures. (Acts 17)
The Bereans dove into Scripture and show us that we should check everything against God’s Word. The Bible is the Christian’s standard by which everything should be compared and measured. This was our first lesson: if we were to learn the truth, we had to study the Truth. We needed to read God’s Word, in context, all the way through, and then repeat because there is always something more He can teach us through His Word. It helps us avoid errors and spot false teachings. It shows us our sins and places we need to improve. It shows us how God wants to be worshiped and gives us examples of how to pray. There will always be more to learn from God’s Word.
So, as simple as it sounds, the first step in researching and becoming a Berean is reading God’s Word and going to it first when trying to research or understand something.
Also, it’s a sad truth that only between 9-11% (statistics from lifeway survey) of professing Christians have read the entire Bible. How can we profess to know and obey God when we don’t read the very book He has given us to teach us about Himself and His commandments?
Part 2 - How to research Biblical context
Researching Biblical context really isn’t that difficult, especially if you are already reading your Bible. We get questions often about what a verse means, so it seems there is a real need for a little breakdown on how to do this kind of research.
Let’s break this down - say you come across a verse online posted without comment or context. First things first, go to your Bible. Read the whole chapter where that verse is found. This goes a long way in seeing the context of a verse. If the context still isn’t clear, read the chapter before, the chapter with the verse in question, and the chapter after. Also, having some sound commentaries and/or a study Bible that can help you with cultural, historical, and geographical context is very helpful too. Micah of this information you can find online at places like Grace to You or Ligonier. If you would like a study Bible, we use and recommend the MacArthur Study Bible and the Reformation Study Bible. We also love Matthew Henry’s commentary which you can read and use completely free HERE.
So, the next time you come across a verse that you aren’t sure of the context, try these steps 🙂
Part 3 - Becoming a Berean - Discerning Sound teachings/teachers from false teachings/teachers
We get an untold number of comments, messages, etc. asking about false teachers/teachings and/or who is a sound teacher to follow. We get these questions so often we have created separate pages listing false teachers and another listing sound teachers. But this is something that many people just don’t know how to do. Again, we point to step one as your first line of defense. If you don’t know Scripture it will be very difficult to identify true from false. As Walter Martin said, you don’t have to be an expert on all the counterfeits to spot a counterfeit. If you know the original, it becomes much easier to spot a fake.
But, we are going to assume you are working on parts 1 and 2 at this point. 😉
So how do you go about researching teachers? Well, as obvious as this may sound, one of the first things to do if you are brand new and never researched before is to search the teacher’s name with terms like a false teacher, false prophet, heresy, etc. It seems obvious right? But we had to learn it! We have also found that searching these terms on YouTube is better than googling it because you typically can get either short videos explaining why they are false teachers and probably see video evidence of them teaching these things. When you google these terms you end up with websites that may or may not be sound. So then you would have to research them. We do have several go-to websites we use and trust which we will include later, but we wanted to walk you through how to do this on your own starting out a novice to researching.
Another tip: if you know of a church or person who is absolutely a false teacher, then you can search their name and the name of the person you are looking into. Chances are if they appear a lot together or associate with each other, then you may want to mark and avoid them. Always do more research than this, but it is a decent way to get started to see what circles someone runs in. Are they entrenched in the NAR or Word of Faith for instance… This can be helpful to know and help you research more specific things about them.
Tip for researching women teachers: If they call themselves a pastor, it’s a red flag. If they are actively preaching and teaching to men they are in violation of 1 Timothy 2:12. The role of the pastor is to be held by a man, not a woman. Women may teach other women and children, but NOT men.
Part 4 - How to research music lyrics and artists to see if they are sound
This may seem like an odd thing to research to many people, but the contemporary Christian music scene is teeming with false teachings, Word of Faith, NAR, and false churches. Music and artists are some of the HARDEST things we research. It’s not as cut and dry as a “pastor” standing in front of someone teaching falsehoods. Many listen to music because of how it makes them feel, with little thought about if the lyrics are biblical or if the artist or group is associated with a false church.
Music that is for worshiping God is supposed to be about God and teach biblical truth. Most modern Christian music doesn’t do either of these things. Many of the musical groups that are popular today were formed and fund false churches such as Bethel, Elevation, Hillsong, and Passion just to name a few. Then you have individual artists that come out of these false churches that switch to different groups or go solo which can make it even more difficult to track. And we haven’t even really discussed the issue of researching the lyrics to see if they are biblical. 😩 Music is so hard!
So how should you go about researching music? Well, by this point, if you are doing parts 1-3 you have probably identified several false churches and teachers. Search these groups or artists with the name of a false church or teacher. If they come up together they probably aren’t sound. If you are still unsure, move on to lyrics. Pull up some of their songs and see who wrote them and search their names to see if they are associated with of any the false churches or teachers you’re aware of. Dig into the lyrics. Be Bereans and compare what they are singing about to Scripture. This isn’t always easy, and it’s certainly a skill that has to be learned, but it is necessary. The Bible tells us we are to worship God in spirit and in truth. We aren’t doing that is the songs we sing to God are full of falsehoods and fund false churches every time they are used or played. We do have some resource(s) on this as well that have been a blessing to us and have made this process easier We will include them below.
LAST ADDITIONAL TIP: Eventually, you are going to try to research a teacher or musician who isn’t very well known and it will be difficult and frustrating. When this happens, always pray for help and discernment. For you to find the answers you're looking for about whether or not a person is sound may require you to listen to sermons and check them against scripture or compare lyrics to what the Bible says. This is always a good idea and should be done for people we already follow and learn from (including our own church leaders) as well as those we are researching to ensure those we listen to are following God’s Word.
But we do have one other tip for these situations when you can’t find a lot of information on a person: see if they have Twitter or Instagram profile. You can of course use this tip for well know people as well, but it can be particularly helpful with those who are hard to research. If they do have either of these social media accounts, see who they follow and what they share. This can give you some insight into their beliefs and theology. This isn’t an end-all-be-all test because someone may have come to a saving Faith and just never unfollowed false teachers they use to follow. But if they follow a lot of false teachers and/or share a lot of false teachers’ quotes or bad theology on their page, it is definitely a red flag for you to cautiously watch them. We should be careful to not label someone a false teacher or heretic without plenty of evidence that has been compared to Scripture. But we should also be on guard so we don’t accidentally follow someone who is unsound.
Part 5 - websites for research
Thanks for sticking it out and reading all the way to the end. We hope the post will be helpful to you and we hope these resources will be too. Below you will find the websites, Youtube channels, and Instagrams we go to for research. You will find one section dedicated to music research and the other to general research. But above all, study God’s Word! Pray for discernment and wisdom. The Lord will help you.
General research:
Tip: if it’s a website, search these pages for the person(s) or teaching(s) you are researching; if it’s Youtube, check out their pages and search their name and the name of the person(s) or teaching(s) you are researching.
Michelle Lesley (her search bar is at the very bottom of the page)
Justin Peters Ministries Youtube
Christian Answers for the New Age
Doreen Virtue YouTube and website
Provoked to Proclaim (This is an Instagram page. Check out the highlights at the top of the page for topics relating to what you’re researching)
The Wandering Pilgrims - Teachers to Avoid *This is our page for people/groups to avoid. We also have a page of sound teachers we follow as a help to anyone who can use it. Also, on the teachers to avoid page, some names are clickable links. If you click on it then it will take you to a page specifically about that person where we have posted all of the research we have done on them to be a help to all of our brothers and sisters during research.
Music Research:
allmusic.com - this website is great! You, can type in the name of a song and see who wrote it and who all has covered it as well as other details that are helpful in quickly discerning if it was created and performed by sound people/groups.
Sound in Worship - can’t recommend them enough! They also have a phenomenal Facebook group you can join to ask questions and learn more.
*On our Mark and Avoid page, we also have musician groups and artists listed. If the name is clickable then it will take you to a page about a specific artist/group with all of the research we have currently done on them. We hope this is helpful to y’all.
BOOKS
We highly recommend these 2 books for learning and research false teachings —A Field Guide on False Teaching by Ligonier ministries and Kingdom of the Cults by Walter Martin. If you would like to try Audible, using our link to sign up for a trial will get you up to 2 free audiobooks.
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