The Importance of "New" Scripture

Mainstream Christianity has long objected to Mormonism with its "new Bible". Similarly, the Jews have refused to recognize the Christians with their "new scriptures". No doubt, various sects of Judaism throughout the history of the Bible have rejected writings that have since been included in the Bible. What people don't realize is, every part of the scriptures we now have was "new" at one point. Every part faced great rejection and persecution along its journey into canonized scripture. As I've shown in this and other articles, we've been receiving "new" scripture through the prophets in jumps and starts since the time of Adam.

It has long been the lamentation of Christians that more Jews and Gentiles would be Christians if only they'd familiarize themselves more deeply with both the Old and New Testaments! If only they would look and see for themselves how the two complement each other, how beautifully, intricately, and powerfully they anticipate and then fulfill each other!

New Scripture Vindicates the Old

Similarly, the Latter-Day Saints have born persecution for claiming to have more scripture and to be a movement that fulfills prophecies of the Old and New Testaments. It has long been our lamentation and our testimony to the world that more Gentiles, Christians and Jews would be Latter-Day Saints if only they'd familiarize themselves more deeply with the Old and New Testaments, and then read in earnest the Book of Mormon and Doctrine & Covenants. Having grown up in the LDS Church, I have learned more about Mormonism from recent study in the Old and New Testaments than I ever imagined was possible. I have seen detailed references to the temples and ordinances performed therein as contained and described in both testaments. (see my temple-related links on my Church page) I have enjoyed the blessings of the last dispensation of the fulness of times as prophesied by Paul and recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants. (see my articles on general apostasy and restoration both prophesied and fulfilled) I have seen Israel become a nation, its people return to their homeland as prophesied in the Old Testament and in the Book of Mormon - both written thousands of years before these events transpired. (see Ezekiel 37:21-23) I have studied about the return of Elijah and of temple work on behalf of ancestors in April of 1836 as promised by Malachi and recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants. (see Malachi 4:5-6, D&C 110) I have read about an angel which John the Revelator saw flying in the midst of heaven - an angel who delivered to an unlearned farm boy Isaiah's sealed book containing the fullness of the gospel to preach to every nation, kindred, tongue and people! That book turned out to be the record of the descendants of Jacob and of Joseph who had "run over the wall" - a record that was to aid gentiles adopted into the house of Ephraim in bringing about the restoration of the gospel in the latter days. (see Revelation 14:6, Genesis 49:22, Isaiah 9:8-10, Joseph Smith History). In latter days, the records of Judah and of Joseph have been combined and printed as one book, just as Ezekiel foresaw (see Ezekiel 37:16-20 and D&C 27:5)

For extensive prophecy uttered by the Savior concerning all of these things - promises He made to Jews living in ancient America, see 3 Nephi 21.

Although its coming has been extensively prophesied in the Old and New Testaments, the world scoffs at the Book of Mormon because it claims to be scripture. But the world scoffed at the Book of Genesis when it was first published by a desert hermit who had been exiled from Pharoah's court. It took the Jews forty years of wandering in the wilderness, seeing the power of God firsthand to believe and then observe what their children came to call the "law". Each of the "prophets" - including the Savior - was persecuted and many killed along the way for claiming to be who they were. They reviled the New Testament for claiming that a young Jewish peasant born in Bethlehem and raised in Nazereth could be the Jewish Messiah and the Great I Am. Yet all of these things were first prophesied in one volume of scripture and then fulfilled extensively and intricately and recorded in the next. Likewise, the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants contain prophecies and recorded events that inform the future in the latter days and extensively and intricately fulfill the promises and prophecies of the Old and New Testaments in startling, life-changing detail!

Read what the Lord has to say about His own ability to teach His word among all nations as He sees fit. (see 2 Nephi 29)

In short, in refusing to acknowledge the coming of new scripture, given by God through His prophets, we blind ourselves to the full value of that which we have already been given. Accepting the New Testament, the Book of Mormon or the Doctrine & Covenants does not mean abrogating or displacing the Old and New Testaments - it means discovering their fulfillment, giving them much, much more meaning! What's more, all this fulfillment means the scriptures prove abundantly that there is an all-knowing God who communicates to us through His prophets, and He is not dead, nor doth He sleep! How else can documents proven to be thousands of years old predict events that took place hundreds and even thousands of years after they were foretold?

Latter-Day Scripture Challenge
 

It is the claim of the Latter-Day Saints that, just as the church of Jesus Christ produced scripture at the time of Adam and Noah and Abraham and Moses, Paul and Peter and James and John the Revelator, so it has done again at the time of Nephi, Jacob, Alma, Helaman, Ether, Mormon and Moroni, Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Thomas S. Monson, and an ever-growing list of modern prophets, apostles, and seventy, each hand-picked by the resurrected Lord himself, here and now, in the latter days. 

I challenge my reader to investigate these claims for yourself. Read the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants for yourself, and then ask God if these things are of Him. If you do so earnestly, you will come to learn by the whisperings of His still, small voice  and you will know as I do that Daniel's prophecy concerning a marvelous work and a wonder - a stone cut out of the mountain without hands and Paul's last dispensation of the gospel in the fulness of times in the latter days has at last come to pass! (see Daniel 2, Ephesians 1:10, Doctrine & Covenants 11:1-2)

How to Obtain a Spiritual Witness
How to Pray

It may save you considerable effort to read my articles about these passages of scripture. They are quick-start guides to help you familiarize yourself with these prophecies and their fulfillment. To begin, see my Church page and my Gospel Study page.


Also of Interest

Get a free copy of the Book of Mormon
Read the scriptures online
Come to church with us! 
Meet with LDS missionaries - get your questions answered!