Open Canon

Many doctrines or beliefs follow the premise that God no longer speaks today, and that following the final words in the Book of Revelation, there was to be no more scripture added.  These assumptions comes from two misunderstandings.  First, that the words "this book" found in Revelation, chapter twenty-two, refer to the Bible as a whole and not simply the Book of Revelation, and second, a lack of understanding concerning the formation of the Bible.

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When John wrote the Book of Revelation, the Bible as we know it today did not exist.  In fact, the scriptures as a whole were loosely comprised of several books or letters, including Revelation. However, the number of writings that the early Church considered to be scripture varied not only through the years, but by scholars as well.  The same is also true for the Old Testament.  It was not until 200 B.C. that the various scrolls were actually collected into three separate scrolls or into a single scroll.  From there, the number of writings included as scripture from God varied greatly until 400 AD.  Of course, if the verses from Revelation and Deuteronomy, which are presented in the section below, were to be applied to the whole Bible, we would not have much left.

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The following graphs depict the formation of both the Old and New Testament through the centuries.  The Old Testament today is divided into three main divisions, namely the Pentateuch [Gen, Exo, Lev, Num, Deut], the Prophets [Josh, Jud, Ruth, 1 & 2 Sam, 1 & 2 Kings, Isa, Jer, Lam, Eze, Hos, Joel, Amos, Oba, Jon, Mic, Nah, Hab, Zep, Hag, Zech, Mal], and the Hagiographa, which means the writings [Ezra, Neh, Job, Psa, Dan, 1 & 2 Chr, Pro, Est, Ecc, Songs of Solomon].  However, during the years not only were other books accepted, but the Bible itself references 14 books that we do not have in the Old Testament today, and 2 letters that we do not have in the New Testament.  And with the formation of the Vulgate Bible in 400 AD, at least 6 other books that we know of were excluded from the New Testament.

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In conclusion, the Bible we have today is not the only word of God ever written, simply it is a book comprised of various writings that men deemed at one time were worthy to be considered scripture.  For almost 400 years after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Church had an open canon of scripture.  The brethren would add new revelations from God to existing scriptures just as the Israelites did long ago during the time of the writing of the Law and the Prophets.

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Though many still view the canon as closed today, we believe that God revealed other scriptures to the world in 1827 which had been hidden in the earth for almost 1,400 years.  In 1827, the canon of scripture was opened once more when God revealed these Scriptures from the ancient inhabitants of the Americas to a young man who translated them into English by the power of the Holy Ghost.