The Whole Counsel of God
by Terry Wane Benton
Paul said he had preached “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27) but never the Quran or the Book of Mormon. Therefore, neither of those is part of God’s counsel, and we need not pretend or believe they are.
Jesus promised that His eye-witnessing apostles would be guided into all truth by the Helper, the Holy Spirit (John 16:13). But the Spirit did not guide them to write or preach the Book of Mormon or the Quran in their lives. Therefore, neither of those is part of the truth. All truth was delivered in the time of Jesus’ apostles. It was not that they were guided into some truth and then later men would deliver some more, but all truth would come through the first apostles, who were actual eye-witnesses and Ambassadors for Jesus.
They preached the gospel for all nations (Matthew 28:19), meaning there would not be “another testament of Jesus Christ” for the American nations and another gospel for the other nations. One gospel contained the whole counsel of God for all nations. Therefore, “if any man or even an angel from heaven preaches any other gospel than what we have preached, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:6-10). The Book of Mormon purports to be “another Testament of Jesus Christ.” Therefore, the Holy Spirit instructs us to “let them be accursed.”
If all nations could be saved by the gospel Paul preached, and Paul did not preach the Quran or the Book of Mormon, and Mormons themselves say their book is another testament, then it is not the same counsel given by the apostles of Jesus, and therefore, we have no choice but to “let them be accursed.” If people were saved by the whole counsel of God from the first century to the seventh century without the Quran, then we do not need the Quran to be saved or to give us any enlightenment about God. The whole counsel about what we need to know about God and His will was already fully revealed. The Scriptures “completely furnished” the man of God in the first century (II Timothy 3:16-17). Therefore, the Quran does not furnish the man of God with anything needed.
If people were saved by the gospel of the New Testament of Jesus Christ from the first century to the 19th century, before the Book of Mormon was produced through Joseph Smith, we could be saved without the Book of Mormon. We will be accursed if we accept the Book of Mormon, another gospel and testament. When God gave the whole counsel in the first century, nothing can be added to it later. Jude said the faith was “once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3-4). John closes the book of Revelation with a warning of curses being added to those who add to this book (Revelation 22:18). Paul said that even if an angel from heaven taught something the apostles did not already teach, let even the angel be accursed.
So, God was serious about giving all truth through His eye-witness apostles, serious about giving the whole counsel through them, serious about us not accepting another piece of counsel later on, and serious about tampering with His completed Scriptures by adding additional things He did not reveal and confirm through those original apostles. Everything is to be checked by the Scriptures available in the first century. Anything later is fraudulent and to be rejected as accursed of God. Check everything, even claims of God talking directly to people today apart from the scriptures. They are deceived; we must not be gullible and accept their deception as truth from God. The whole counsel was delivered in the first century through Jesus’ specially chosen apostles, whom He fully equipped with miraculous signs to confirm their message was from God (Mark 16:20; Hebrews 2:1-4). The Bible alone is God’s full and final revelation, and it gives us the words that will judge us on the last day (John 12:48). No one will be judged by the Quran or the Book of Mormon. So, stay with the whole counsel that will be the source from which our lives will be judged.
The whole counsel of God is in the Bible alone. Take heed to read it diligently and act on the “perfect (compete) law of liberty” (James 1:21f). The truth and nothing but the truth can set you free from the many errors peddled by men today!
