Latter Day Revelations

by Johnny Ramsey
Gospel Minutes, Vol. 55, No. 9, March 3, 2006.

Nearly all the denominations that have sprung up since 1800 have as a basis "latter-day revelation." That is, some religious leader (usually self-appointed) claimed to have received direct communication from God in which salvation for this modern age is revealed. The names of some of these so-called "prophets of God" were: Joseph Smith, Charles Taze Russell, Ellen G. White, and Mary Baker Eddy. The cults which they founded are known as "Mormons" (or Latter Day Saints), Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-Day Adventists, and Christian Scientists. Remember now, each of these leaders claimed to have founded his or her system on a revelation from God.

"God is not the author of confusion, but of peace" (I Corinthians 14:33). So we know that all of these conflicting theories, or systems, cannot be right. The Lord wants His followers to "Be of the same mind and the same judgment" (I Corinthians 1:10). Therefore, God did not tell early Christians to worship on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7; I Corinthians 16:1-2) and then instruct Mrs. White to teach the continuation of the Jewish Sabbath, the seventh day of the week. However, we do not have to concern ourselves over which one of these cults is right, because the Bible plainly teaches that the basis on which they all began is false. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works" (II Timothy 3:16-17). In other words, all of God's Will for mankind today is revealed in the Bible -- not in the Book of Mormon, the Harp of God or the writings of Ellen G. White.

When John, the beloved apostle, put down the pen of inspiration on the Isle of Patmos in A.D. 96, all of God's Will had been recorded. From many plain Scriptures, we can see that any addition to or subtraction from the inspired Word would be an abomination in God's sight. Everything God desired for us to know and to follow from the Cross of Christ until the end of the world was penned by the inspired men of God (II Peter 1:20-21) and is recorded in the New Testament. This leaves no vacuum for the so-called latter-day revelations to fill.

Notice these passages of Scripture:

  • "But though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach unto you any gospel other than that which we preached unto you, let him be anathema" (Galatians 1:8).
  • "Seeing that His divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that called us by His own glory and virtue" (II Peter 1:3).
  • "God...hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son" (Hebrews 1:1,2).
  • "Whosoever goeth onward and abideth not in the teaching of Christ, hath not God: he that abideth in the teaching, the same hath both the Father and the Son" (II John 9).

These passages, dear friends, teach us that God's will is complete, within the New Testament. Man dare not tamper with it. Our plea is simple: Return to the Lord's system which is revealed in the Bible, and the church of the Lord which the Lord Jesus through His apostles established in Jerusalem in
A.D.33.

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