The most dangerous heretic you will ever meet doesn't live in another church, or somewhere on the internet. He looks back at you from the mirror every morning.

Almost no one falls into heresy by deciding to believe a lie. People go astray the way sincere, intelligent, God-loving believers always have - by taking hold of a real truth and loving it so much that they pull it out of balance. Heresy, in the end, is simply truth that lost its balance: orthodoxy with the brakes cut.

How Not to Become a Heretic is a practical guide for ordinary Christians who want to stay faithful to the gospel. It is not a catalog of old errors to memorize, but a field guide to the mechanisms that lead earnest believers astray - and the habits of heart and mind that keep them steady. On every page it asks the question that matters more than "How is this false?" - "Why was this teaching attractive?" Because the lie that endangers you is never the one that repels you; it is the one that tastes sweet.

Warm, honest, and free of heretic-hunting, this book shows you:

• How heresies are really born - and the marks of dangerous theology
• The hidden danger of spiritual pride
• Seven practical defenses: reading the whole Bible, testing ideas by church history, telling the essential from the secondary, asking the right questions, and more
• Ten warning signs that help you recognize trouble early
• A step-by-step method for investigating any new teaching
• What to do when you discover that you were wrong - without fear or self-condemnation

Whether you are a new believer, a small-group leader, or simply someone who would rather love the truth than merely be right, this is a book to read slowly - and not alone.