There’s a story that UPCI Superintendent David Bernard has used to illustrate the importance of measuring up what you believe. A man was cutting twenty pieces of lumber so he took a 7′ piece and measured it up to a second piece and made the cut. From that point, he took the second and used that length to cut the third, and the third to cut the fourth – all the way to the twentieth. By the time he made it to his twentieth piece, the length of the piece of wood was completely wrong. He realized his mistake – he should have gone back to the first piece of wood and measured everything by that.

It’s the same thing with doctrine. Maybe what was taught in the second century was pretty close to what was taught in the first century. And maybe the third century was close to the one before it. But the only way to guarantee the truth of our beliefs is to go back to the first church and compare that with the twenty-first-century church. That’s exactly what “Apostolic” is.

Ryan O’Neil is Pastor of Apostolic St. Louis Church and is a Bible Quizzing fanatic. He is married to Rachael, the love of his life, with two little boys: Oliver and Jude.