Ten years ago, most of us had to struggle with issues of doctrine. The Church of God was being tested more than at any other time in our recollection. There were issues of belief, of loyalty, of trust.

Now, 10 years later, is doctrine all that important to you?

Jesus taught a very significant lesson to His disciples in Matthew 16:5-12 about the importance of the true doctrines or teachings of the Bible. He had told the disciples to "beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees," but they did not understand at first. Finally they understood He was warning them of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

Today, all around us are those claiming to be Christians, espousing other doctrines or teachings. Like the self-righteous doctrines of the Pharisees, these can look and feel good, but they are not the doctrines of Jesus Christ we fought so hard to hold on to just a few years ago.

Gary Petty gave a sermon last December that was circulated to all congregations as a video. Under the heading "Myth Number Four, Doctrine Doesn't Count," he discussed why people today don't like to have specific doctrinal beliefs.

He went on to say (with a note of sarcasm), "Well that would mean some things are wrong and that makes me judgmental and I can't be judgmental... The whole idea of humanity is to be made... into the children of God. Once you remove that concept—that doctrine—we make God like us. We make God in our image."

In the days following the first New Testament Pentecost we read of the new Church, "And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine" (Act 2:42, emphasis added). If we are to remain faithful to God, we must also continue steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine.