Q. What should we do when citations are made to us from the old revelations (Covenants & Commandments) which are not a part of Prophetic Words of the New Covenant? What is our position relative to them?

Firstly, any revelations which are not a part of the Olive Branch have nothing to do with the New Covenant Church of God, irrespective of their source. The Olive Branch is sub-canonical or secondary scriptures to the Bible and the collection we recognise.

There are hundreds of apocryphal and pseudepigraphical scriptures from both Old and New Testament times which some people are very fond of. However, since they are not a part of our Biblical canon, we ascribe no authority to them and do not use them in support of our teachings, even if they may indeed contain truth in them.

The situation is rather like a country's laws. If I go to a British court of law then there is no point my citing a law from Saudi Arabia, no matter how fine that law may be. The New Covenant Church of God is prescribed by its own laws and those are the ones we shall use.

Secondly, we should ask ourselves what it is that so interests those who cite from non-canonical scriptures. In our experience, people go hungering after non-canonical works out of mere curiosity, because they want to be "different", become the centre of attention, or to create controversy. Of course, many genuinely seek truth from extra-canonical works and that is not to be condemned provided they already have a good foundation in, and working knowledge of, the canonical works first. It is an unwise person who goes seeking for truth beyond that which is established if he is not fully acquianted with that which is already known to be true, for he will likely be misled.

This page was created on 9 May 1998 Last updated on 9 May 1998

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