by Hugh DeLong<\/p>\n
We are drowning in a sea of false information. The internet can be useful, but it appears to me to overwhelmingly contain bad and misleading information. If you do a quick search for almost anything, the titles that are present for you to read contain countless hyperboles: “This destroys all…”, This changes everything we knew about…,” Whether it be about history, science, or religion – ‘everything’ that was known by anybody upto a few years (moments?) ago is wrong.<\/p>\n
These are especially prevalent on YouTube. Here in Colossians 2:4, Paul warned us about ‘persuasive arguments’ that lead away from revealed truth. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). The chosen apostles were led into all truth (John 16:13). We have been warned many times within the New Testament revelation about false teachers (I Timothy 4:1-5; II Timothy 3:1-5, 13; II Thessalonians 2:3; 9-12; II Peter 2:1; I John 4:1, 6; etc., etc.!)<\/p>\n
As Paul was coming to the end of his life, he instructed Timothy: “You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them<\/em>” (II Timothy 3:14). Many of you will immediately remember that this was the introduction to Paul’s statement: “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work (II Timothy 3:16-17).<\/p>\n For us, we simply can not <\/b>believe everything we read without knowing the source of such information. Men who have no real credentials can (and will and do) write articles and arguments. Do you know from whom you have learned what you believe?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Hugh DeLong We are drowning in a sea of false information. The internet can be useful, but it appears to me to overwhelmingly contain bad and misleading information. If you do a quick search for almost anything, the titles that are present for you to read contain countless hyperboles: “This destroys all…”, This changes…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[884,1292,34,353],"class_list":["post-94400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-arguments","tag-debates","tag-false-teaching","tag-influence"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":63449,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/self-inflicted-wounds\/","url_meta":{"origin":94400,"position":0},"title":"Self-Inflicted Wounds","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 2, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Matthew 7:1-5 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ve mentioned to several people an interesting book by Gregory Koukl called Tactics. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It discuss how Christians can discuss the gospel with others, especially those who might be hostile to the ideas of Christianity. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is about not only presenting points, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56489,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/god-has-spoken-but\/","url_meta":{"origin":94400,"position":1},"title":"“God Has Spoken,” But …","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 1, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dan S. Shipley via Plain Talk, Vol. 20, No. 8, Oct 1983 \"God hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in His Son...\" (Hebrews 1:2). But men have also spoken unto us. With excellency of speech and persuasive words of wisdom, they have troubled us with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88189,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-not-be-deceived\/","url_meta":{"origin":94400,"position":2},"title":"Do Not Be Deceived!","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Roy Davison There are many warnings about deception in the Scriptures. What is deception? One is led to believe something that is not true or not to believe something true. We must avoid deceivers. Paul wrote: \"Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37980,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/false-teachers-and-lying-prophets\/","url_meta":{"origin":94400,"position":3},"title":"False Teachers and Lying Prophets","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 31, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As long as God has had teachers and prophets in the world there have been those who taught falsely. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Jeremiah complained about the false prophets - Jeremiah 5:30-31 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Paul had problems with teachers binding the Old Law - Acts 15:1-2 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Paul warned the Ephesian elders\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19239,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-truth-exist\/","url_meta":{"origin":94400,"position":4},"title":"Does Truth Exist?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Jesus claimed that it does and that it can be known (John 8:30-31). However, others make the claim that truth does not exist and that it is only what each person wants it to be. Some \"intellectuals\" say, \"There is no truth.\" But that itself is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Truth.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":69474,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/living-with-the-consequences-of-bad-decisions\/","url_meta":{"origin":94400,"position":5},"title":"Living with the Consequences of Bad Decisions","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 27, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Zeke Flores How terrible it is to live with the consequences of terrible decisions. Israel was having to do just that. Though God warned them about their idolatry, they didn't listen. Though God told them that their exploitation of the poor and needy was evil, they didn't listen. Though\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94400\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}