God Speaks to His Prophets Today

While doing research for an essay about the nature of God, I wanted to see for myself the kind of God that traditional Christianity believes in. So I visited "the world's largest Bible study website" and found the following statement:

“The Mormons claim God is a perfect exalted man with a literal flesh and bones body. As man is, God once was, and as God is, man can be. This is also at the heart of New Age thinking, but it’s a far cry from the revelation of God in the Bible.”

There you have it: if it’s not in the Bible it cannot be true. For that writer and the rest of traditional Christianity, the Bible is not only the word of God, it is all the word of God there is. If you tell them that God has spoken to man in our day and continues to do so, their response is, “You are sorely mistaken. Revelation ceased with the Bible.” When we reply, “But God Himself has spoken! We have eyewitness accounts!” they will still not believe.This is not the first time people have denied that revelation exists. Many felt that way about the Biblical prophets. and even about Jesus.

Joseph Fielding McConkie gives a perfect illustration of this audacity, citing “an exchange between a friend and a scholar of another faith . . . My friend was challenged with the statement that there is no way in all the world that Latter-day Saints could ever justify the practice of polygamy. ‘Look,’ my friend responded, ‘if the God of heaven personally appeared to you and directed you to practice polygamy, wouldn’t you do it?’ ‘No,’ was the response,’ even if God himself commanded it, I would not do it, because it is not found in the Bible!’” (Here We Stand, 47). [Note: The reference to polygamy was only used as an example. It does not mean that Latter-day Saints condone or practice polygamy today. We do not.]

Traditional Christianity boldly and unashamedly looks the God of all Creation in the eye and says, “While it's true that we teach our followers that you are an All-Powerful God, don't think that you can just barge in here and start revealing your will to prophets in our day. You’re finished speaking. You’ve had your chance. From now on, we’re in charge.”

People don’t reject prophets because of a disbelief in God. What rubs them the wrong way is the idea of God sending living prophets to them! To paraphrase a statement by Truman Madsen: “Living prophets can get involved in your life, changing it, giving specific commandments and counsels, rebuking, approving or disapproving. But prophets long dead stay out of your hair.”

What a blessing it is to know that the heavens are open and that God still reveals His will to prophets in our day. That's not audacity! That's not blasphemy! After all, doesn't God love us just as much as His children were loved in ages past? Then why not prophets in our day? 

The prophet Amos declared, "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret to his servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7). Unfortunately, traditional Christianity has added the following disclaimer: "Sorry--this offer had a limited shelf life and has since expired. God only had power to reveal His will to prophets during Biblical times. That power has run out and no longer applies. You will just have to blindly grope your way through life without the aid of living prophets. But if you have any questions, we're here to help."

An ancient prophet saw our day and declared: “Wo be unto him that shall say: We have received the word of God, and we need no more of the word of God, for we have enough!” (2 Nephi 28:29).