Finding a church where you can grow in your faith, serve God, and enjoy fellowship with other believers is a very good thing. Look for a church that teaches directly, and only, from the Holy Bible. Those who teach verse by verse (expository), digging into the depths of the scriptures, are the best, in my opinion. A church that covers the fundamentals of the Gospel – the unrighteousness of mankind, the deity of Jesus, his atonement for our sins, his resurrection, and that faith in him alone brings salvation – is where you want to be.

Many churches teach what the Bible says and hold solid, correct doctrine, but in organized religion today, there is also a morass of error, deception, and crazy stuff. Here are signs of places you might want to avoid. The following teachings are red flags that something is wrong.

• Jesus is not God; he is a created being.
• There are more Gods that the one God of the Bible.
• That you can become a God.
• You are good, and God loves you just the way you are.
• God wants you happy, healthy, and wealthy.
• Prayer to or the worship of dead people.
• You must give the church your money.
• Your salvation is dependent on things you must do.
• There are other ways to Heaven other than faith in Jesus.
• There are revelations from God outside of the 66 books of the Holy Bible.

Some churches aim to entertain, offer emotional experiences, or are filled with repetitive, mechanical liturgy. Avoid a church where the clergy drives luxury cars or flies in private aircraft. Avoid human religion and find a church that prioritizes preaching the truth from God’s Word above everything else.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. ^{2nd Timothy 4:3-4}