Mormon Apostle Bruce R. McConkie wrote,
"Our Lord’s true Church is established and founded upon
revelation. Its identity as the true Church continues as
long as revelation is received to direct its affairs….
No one but the President of the Church, who holds and
exercises the fullness of the keys, can announce
revelation to the Church" (Mormon Doctrine,
p. 648). He also said, "Any message, whether written or
spoken, that comes from God to man by the power of the
Holy Ghost is scripture. If it is written and
accepted by the Church, it becomes part of the
scriptures or standard works" (p. 682).
Early Mormon leaders often criticized
other churches for not having current revelation and new
scripture. LDS Apostle Orson Pratt said, "That the
Romanists (Catholics) have continued in their
apostasy until the present day is demonstrated from
the fact that they have not added one single book to
their canon (scripture) since they first formed it" (Divine
Authenticity of the Book of Mormon, No. 3, p. 38,
Dec. 1, 1850). On page 16, the editor of the weekly LDS
"Church News" wrote on September 3, 1966,
The LDS "standard works" are their
four books of scripture: The Bible (as far as it
is translated correctly), Book of Mormon,
Doctrine & Covenants and Pearl of Great Price.
The Bible, Book of Mormon and "the Book of
Abraham" in the Pearl of Great Price are
"translations" of earlier records so they are not
"current revelation".
Joseph Smith claimed he received two
small books by revelation in the Pearl of
Great Price entitled "Moses" and "Joseph
Smith—Matthew". They are also part of his "inspired
translation" of the Bible and are just revisions of
biblical accounts so they aren’t current revelation
either.
The Doctrine & Covenants contains all
other "revelation" from God in LDS scripture.
In it are 138 Sections or revelations. All Sections
through Section 133 as well as Section 137 are by Joseph
Smith who died in 1844. Section 134 is a statement about
governments and laws that the LDS Church adopted on
August 17, 1835. Section 135 was written by John Taylor
about Smith’s death. Taylor was with Smith when he was
killed and later became the third LDS President. In
Section 136 Brigham Young told the LDS in January 1847
how to organize and live when they began their move to
Utah. Section 137 says it was revealed to Joseph Smith
on January 21, 1836, but it was not accepted as
scripture until 1976, over 140 years
later! Is that "current" revelation? Section 138 says it
was revealed to Joseph F. Smith, the sixth LDS prophet
on October 3, 1918, but it didn’t become a part of LDS
scripture until 1976 which was 58 years
later! And that is the most recent revelation
added to LDS scripture!
There are two "Official Declarations" at
the end of the Doctrine & Covenants that are
statements by LDS Presidents but are not revelations
themselves. President Wilford Woodruff gave Official
Declaration-1 in 1890 which told the LDS to obey the law
of the land and stop practicing polygamy even though
they were commanded to practice it by a revelation
recorded on July 12, 1843. That "revelation" is still in
Doctrine & Covenants Section 132 and is the
reason "Mormon fundamentalists" practice polygamy today.
Official Declaration-2, made by LDS President Spencer
Kimball in 1978, allowed the LDS Church to ordain black
men to the LDS priesthood, which they had not done until
then. This Official Declaration just says that
Kimball had a revelation about this matter, but the
revelation itself was never published.
Notice that the last revelation added
to LDS scripture was given in 1918, which was 88
years ago! And the next most recent "revelation" in LDS
scripture was Brigham Young’s instructions for the LDS
move to Utah on January 14, 1847, nearly 160 years
ago! Is that "constant, current revelation"?
Although Mormonism claims to have had 14
Prophets since Joseph Smith, only three have one section
each in the Doctrine & Covenants, and two others
have one Official Declaration each. Joseph Smith, who
died in 1844, wrote everything else, so do the LDS have
continuous revelation added to their "standard works"?
How much has the LDS "body of scripture"
grown since Joseph Smith’s time? While Mormonism says
that the Prophets words can be scripture without being
written, the LDS leaders quoted in this article
certainly indicated that some of those words will be
added to their volume of scripture so that it "grows."
But, what "revelation" can be added to "scripture" that
will improve on the message of what Jesus Christ did for
mankind on the cross? Hebrews 7:25 declares that God is
able to save them to the uttermost who come to God by
Him (Christ). And Colossians 2:10 declares we are
"complete in Him."
We will continue our discussion of
Prophets in Mormonism next time. Those who want to read
more on this subject can do so in Mormonism, Shadow
or Reality, by Jerald and Sandra Tanner, published
by Utah Lighthouse Ministry, P. O. Box 1884, Salt Lake
City, UT 84110.