On Tuesday an envelope came in the mail at the church building. The return address from the envelope was:
The WORD of the LORD
P.O. Box 1483
Mesa, AZ 85211-1483
The two pages, printed on front and back had the following heading:
The
Word of the Lord
to
His Church in the Wilderness; and to All the Nations of the Gentiles
BEING THE WORDS OF JESUS CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD
At the end of the pages, which are apparently a sample of a longer work, was a paragraph stating that “a copy of this book containing the Word of The Lord given by revelation to this generation” could be obtained by mailing a self addressed 7 X 10 envelope with $1.52 in postage to the aforementioned address.
There was no other identification, and a quick internet search turned up nothing. There is nothing in the material to identify who it is who claims to have received a further revelation from Jesus Christ. There is also no evidence to support the contention that these words are the words of Jesus. Unlike the signs and wonders that were performed in the first century to confirm the words of our Lord (cf. John 20:30-31; Hebrews 2:1-4).
All there is is a claim, in the first “verse” of the text, “And now I say unto you, it is for the sake of the righteous of this dispensation, that I have opened the heavens again, and sent down unto them truth from on high, that they may be clothed with power even as Moses; while wicked dwindle and fall away, to be utterly cut off and banished from the earth.”
There is also a threat, contained in “verse” 3: “Wherefore, the condemnation of your fathers, who rejected the light, the same is fallen upon you if now you reject my Word at this time.”
Can we know whether these words are really the words of Jesus? Yes, of course we can! First, the effort is rather amateurish. The original scriptures were written in the common language of the day. This pseudo “revelation” affects the language of 17th century England to give it authority and an air of authenticity. Such an affectation would only influence the most credulous of men.
Second, the “revelation” is intended to promote a peculiar doctrine. The writer contends that God the Father was a human being, arguing that if the Son was a man, he must have been a product of both a human mother and father. So, God was a human, (at some point at least, the claims are not clear), and by implication Jesus was not born of a virgin. This contradicts what the Bible clearly teaches about the virgin birth of Jesus (cf. Luke 1:30-35), and the nature of God (cf. John 4:24). This obviously shows the claimed revelation to be false.
Further, the New Testament clearly establishes the end of revelation. The apostles were given the Spirit as a guide, with Jesus’ promise that the Spirit would, “guide you into all truth” (cf. John 16:13). The faith has been established “once for all” (cf. Jude 3), and must be defended from any efforts, no matter how transparent, to alter or add to it. I don’t know who this individual is who claims to be speaking with the authority of Jesus, but if he does not repent, he will most certainly perish (cf. Galatians 1:6-9).
