CHOOSE STUDY RESOURCES CAREFULLY
When choosing which published resource to read when doing Bible study, it is critical to remember what God said about lying scribes. The caution here is to always remember that religious teachers, even those who have titles and degrees and who have published books, including Bibles, always have religious biases that strongly influence what they write or preach.

It is also good to remember that anyone who has authored or published something about religion has probably received income for their publication is almost surely engaged in commercial religion. And if they are engaged in commercial religion, that fact alone is enough to make their teachings suspect.

Few, if any, publishers or authors give their products away. Thus, it is hard to imagine a publisher or author who will not advertise and promote their product. When they attach their name to a religious product, they promote themselves as religious experts and, in effect, make claims about their special relationship with God. The hope and expectation is that customers who find them to be qualified spokespersons for God will purchase the product. This is how business is done in the Old/First Covenant religious environment. False prophets sell and religionists buy.

Because this commercial pattern has been in place for thousands of years, no one doubts the practice of mixing religion and business. While this pattern is common among Old/First Covenant religionists, New Covenant disciples will not participate in it for several reasons:

Students must be careful to distinguish between False Prophets who promote themselves, and their religious products, and True Prophets who do not actively promote themselves as spokespersons for God. They understand that what they represent about themselves is not valid and they have no desire to receive glory, or money, from others for their work or their relationship with God. Therefore, as much as possible, only choose to study what true prophets have written. However, since there is not much available that is written by a true prophet, readers will need to be very careful while studying the written works of false prophets

Because we live in a very religious world, is nearly impossible to find a published resource, whether a book, magazine, online article, or Bible, that is free from bias. This may seem like a gross, blanket condemnation, but it is true because of what God said about lying scribes. This leaves students (i.e. disciples) with the challenge to use discernment that enables them to know the difference between clean and unclean teaching and holy and profane teaching. It also leaves them with the challenge of learning how to interpret the Bible symbolically instead of literally.