In recent days on social media, a Christian man with a prophetic gifting put out a suggestion regarding the Bible, “We don’t have the whole picture.” He made it clear he’s not coming against the Bible; but by way of an archeological finding, he said he believes there are, “more books coming.” He said he’s been told from a couple of sources there are, “711 books of the Bible that are missing.” Supposedly they’ve been found; so if added to the present 66 books, the Bible would comprise 777 books. In both Jewish and Christian traditions, the number 7 signifies “totality of perfection,” and “completeness.” One lady’s response to this information: “Oh, I see the Holy Ghost all over this.”
There is no evidence this man is a glory-seeking charlatan. He spoke of his love for Jesus, he spoke of the efficacy and power of the blood of Jesus, giving all glory to Jesus, taking none of it to himself. So how should we as current non-compromising Bible Christians respond to such a suggestion? Given that I’m not in a position to speak personally to the man, my first response is to seek guidance from God the Holy Spirit and ask myself some questions. Since the Holy Spirit gave us 66 books of the Bible, is it possible He meant for it to have an additional 711 books? Yes, it’s possible. But it leads to another question; why would the Holy Spirit do that? In other words, why the need for 777 books?
Within the present 66 books of the Bible we read the declaration, All Scripture is given by inspiration of God…… 2 Timothy 3:16. We learn that the Bible is a book of oneness: For no prophecy ever came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit 2 Peter 1:21. The Bible claims special power: For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart Hebrews 4:12. The Bible commands believers to study the Scriptures: Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the…… 2 Timothy 2:15.
In the 66 books of the Bible we discover the existence of God: In the beginning God…… Genesis 1:1. For he who comes to God must believe that He is Hebrews 11:6. We discover the personality of God: The living and true God 1 Thessalonians 1:9; God loves John 3:16; God hates Proverbs 6:16; God cares 1 Peter 5:7; God grieves Genesis 6:6. In the 39 books of the Old Testament, God revealed Himself to Adam and his wife Eve and at least one of their first 2 children. He revealed Himself to Enoch, Noah, the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and He revealed Himself to and through the prophets. In the 27 New Testament books, God reveals Himself through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ Hebrews 1:1-3.
Continuing with the New Testament, the deity of Jesus is revealed: In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God John 1:1. The humanity of Jesus is revealed: Concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh Romans 1:3. The virgin birth of Jesus is revealed: The virgin’s name was Mary…… And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS Luke 1:26-38. The death of Jesus is revealed: He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death…… Philippians 2:8. The resurrection of Jesus is revealed: He is not here; for He has risen…… Matthew 28:1-20. The ascension and second coming of Jesus is revealed: Acts 1:9-11.
The New Testament reveals the deity of God the Holy Spirit: Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?…… You have not lied to men but to God Acts 5:3-4. The emblems of the Holy Spirit: fire Luke 3:16; Acts 2:3; wind John 3:8; water John 7:37-39; seal Ephesians 4:30. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is unforgivable: blasphemy……. whoever speaks against Matthew 12:31-32. Work of the Holy Spirit: When He, the Spirit has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me…… John 16:13-14. Fruit of the Holy Spirit revealed: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness…… Galatians 5:22-23.
The 66 books of the Bible reveal God’s abhorrence towards sin. The soul who sins shall die Ezekiel 18:4, 20. The wages of sin is death Romans 6:23. All who behave unrighteously, are an abomination to the LORD your God Deuteronomy 25:16. What is sin? Sin is lawlessness 1 John 3:4. How did sin enter the world? Therefore, just as through one man (Adam) sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned Romans 5:12. The results of sin: spiritual death, natural death, eternal death. God’s remedy for sin: For He (God) made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (Jesus) 2 Corinthians 5:21.
The 66 books of the Bible reveal to us our need for repentance. What is repentance? It is a 3-fold internal change; a change of one’s mind, a change of one’s heart and a change of one’s will. He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy Proverbs 28:13. God desires truth in the inward parts Psalm 51:6. God commands all people everywhere to repent Acts 17:30. All must repent before becoming recipients of God’s gracious, free gift of salvation. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast Ephesians 2:8-9. No other book but the Bible reveals such a glorious truth or makes such a glorious offer!
The 66 books of the Bible reveal to us the importance of prayer, why we should pray, how to pray, when to pray; we learn the hindrances to prayer. We learn that prayer is communicating with God in Jesus’ name; prayer is asking and receiving from God. This same Bible reveals to us the importance of faith towards God. The just shall live by faith Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11. What is faith? Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen Hebrews 11:1. To Bible Christians, faith is the principle of life; our entire life is lived by faith. We are saved by faith and kept by faith. Faith defies human reason and ignores human opinion. Without faith it is impossible to please Him (God) Hebrews 11:6.
Repentant, faith-appropriating, Christ-honoring Bible believers live their lives according to supernatural means, not natural means. Therefore, if anyone is Christ, he is a new creation; old things have have passed away; behold, all things become new 2 Corinthians 5:17. Quote: “No matter what they have been before, whether moral or immoral; whether infidels or speculative believers; whether amiable, or debased, sensual and polluted, yet if they become Christians they all experience such a change as to make it proper to say they are a new creation.” – Albert Barnes. This is partly what Jesus meant when He said, I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly John 10:10.
Well then, what’s been stated here in this post about the 66 books of the Bible is minuscule by comparison to what other people have written about it, said about it, knew about it and know about it. It is doubtful any of them would disagree that there is enough information revealed on the mind, the character and the will of God in those 66 books to keep even the busiest and gifted people active for a dozen lifetimes. Therefore, back to the question. Why the need for 777 books? Why would God need to add another 711 books to the Bible? What would be the point? Certainly God will have a lot more to reveal to His people in the eternal life; but for now…… Is the Holy Ghost “all over this”? We need to be prayerful.
Most Christians believe God got it right the first time; had He intended for additional books to be in the Bible they would have been there from the start. As has been said by many others, what began in the book of Genesis finds its conclusion in the book of Revelation. Therefore, I am strongly suggesting the present 66 books are more than sufficient for the Holy Spirit of God to teach us everything we need to know about how to live godly, holy, righteous and victorious lives, pleasing unto Him. What about these 711 books then? If they don’t contradict or pervert the current 66, no harm will be done. If they do, watch out you are not among the seduced. “Is not My word like a fire?” says the LORD, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? Jeremiah 23:29. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth John 17:17.
After solidifying his position to gain complete control of the western portion of the empire in 312 AD, the Emperor Constantine instituted the Edict of Milan, a “Magna Carta of religious liberty,” which eventually changed the Empire’s religion and put Christianity on an equal footing with paganism. Almost overnight the position of the Christian Church was reversed from persecuted to legal and accepted. Constantine began to rely on the church for support, and it, on him, for protection. The Church and the Empire formed an alliance, which remains to this day. Very rapidly, the laws and policies of the Empire and the doctrine of the Church became one, with Constantine as the interpreter of both law, and policy. This was accomplished by eliminating hundreds of books thought to be against “Church” doctrine and watering down what then remained by blending Christian beliefs and practice with long established Roman sanctioned pagan worship.
Constantine believed that the Church and the State should be as close as possible. He tolerated pagan practices, keeping pagan gods on coins, keeping the seasonal festival practices, replacing pagan doctrine for Christian belief, and retaining his pagan high priest title “Pontifex Maximus” in order to maintain popularity with his former subjects. In 330 AD he began an assault on paganism but used a clever method of persuasion to force people to follow the laws by combining pagan worship with Christianity. He made December 25th, the birthday of the pagan Unconquered Sun god, the official holiday now celebrated as the birthday of Jesus. He also replaced the weekly day of rest, by making rest on Saturday unlawful, and forcing the new religion to honor the first, not the seventh day, as a day of rest. As a way of defining his concept of the new universal religion, he simply classified everything “Jewish” to be an abomination. Considering almost every aspect of the Bible is “Jewish” by association, every doctrinal biblical principle was changed or eliminated. After 337 AD Constantine increased his purging of the more obvious aspects of paganism. Through a series of Universal Councils, he and his successors completely altered doctrine without regard to biblical edict, set up a church hierarchy of his own design, and established a set of beliefs and practices, which are the basis for all mainstream Bible-based churches. The separation of the Protestants and the Roman Church caused a physical split (1529 AD), but the beliefs and practices established by Constantine remained almost identical. Very little has changed since the 4th century Councils changed the face of Christianity. An effective practice instituted was the purging of any book in the formerly accepted biblical works, over 80% of the total, that church leaders felt did not fit within their new concept of Christianity. The doctrines and practices remaining in the surviving books were effectively eradicated by simply changing them and by replacing clear scripture with Church-sanctioned doctrine. The bible is an edited man-made collection, derived from other works, like: Books of Adam and Eve, General Epistle of Barnabas, First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians, Epistles of Jesus Christ and Abgarus, King of Edessa, Book of Jasher, Gospel of the Birth of Mary, Letter of Herod to Pilate the Governor, Letter of Pilate to Herod, Death of Pilate, Who Condemned Jesus, Epistle of Pontius Pilate, Report of Pilate the Governor To Augustus Caesar, Trial and Condemnation Of Pilate, Report of Pontius Pilate to Tiberius, First Gospel of The Infancy Of Jesus Christ, Gospel of Nicodemus, History of Bel and the Dragon, Prayer of Azarias, Prophecy of Baruch , Shepherd of Hermas, Thomas’ Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus Christ, Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, Book of Tobit, Psalms of Solomon, Odes of Solomon, First and Second Maccabees, Third and Fourth Maccabees, Book of Judith, Additions to Esther, Epistle of Jeremiah, Wisdom of Solomon, Wisdom of Jesus’ Son, Sirach , Book of Enoch (Ethiopian Enoch), Prayer of Manasseh, Epistles of Ignatius, Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians, Letter of the Smyrnaeans or the Martyrdom of Polycarp, Protevangelion, First and Second Books of Esdras.
Thank you for your comment, Touissant.
The Constantine history is ugly indeed.
Your quote: “The bible is an edited man-made collection, derived from other works, like……..”
People I’ve personally encountered saying that, have all held an extremely low view of our present Bible of 66 Books resulting in equally low views of God, the Lord Jesus, His glorious gift of salvation and spiritual freedom/liberty. I pray you’re not one of them.
My re-quote: “I am strongly suggesting the present 66 books are more than sufficient for the Holy Spirit of God to teach us everything we need to know about how to live godly, holy, righteous and victorious lives, pleasing unto Him.”
God bless you.
john 3:16..God loves humans..send his only son Jesus Christ to die for a fallin race..whosoever believe in Jesus has eternal life..for those who dont..perish..its all we need as humans to enter heaven..
That’s true, jed confesor, but if we by-pass the first 15 verses of John 3, we don’t have a biblical understanding of “believe”. We must be born again. Multitudes of people who quote John 3:16 are not born again. A 180 degree turn-around is what Jesus requires. That means a change of mind, a change of heart and a change of will. “Believe” means to entrust, to commit our life fully to the Lord and live for Him according to His word. If we fail to do that we create a God of our imagination, and that’s idolatry. To know the Lord, we must know and do what He says. That’s why He gave us the Bible and the Holy Spirit.
God bless you.
The Catholics have 77 books and the Protestants have 66 Books. There are 39 x Old Testament, 27 x New Testament Books and The Catholics include 11 x Aprocrypha Books. The criteria for an Old Testament Book is did Jesus teach from it or refer to it. The criteria for a New Testament Book is was it written by someone who was an eye witness to Jesus and his teaching. The third criteria is it inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit within the believer will testify to the truth of scripture. Unfortunately there are many books such as The Book of Jubilees, 1 Enoch, 2 Enoch and all the Apocrypha Books that have dubious authorship or do not appear to be inspired. These books may be a good read but the Church Fathers decided not to include these books in the canon as scripture because they failed to meet the standard.
Hi Brett
Thank you for commenting.
As I understand it, Catholic Bibles currently consist of 73 Books (7 being apocryphal). I don’t know if another 4 have been removed. In any case, regardless of the number, from the little attention I have given to them, the thread of Jesus is not woven through them as it is through the Protestant 39 Old Testament Books; I sense no Holy Spirit anointing on them.
For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 1 Corinthians 2:2.
The above Scripture is my single criterion. Any book that fails to meet it I have no interest in pursuing.
The best to you.
Thank you for this conversation. Discernment through Holy Spirit has been my guide all my life through the teachings of grand and great grand parents. I’ve tried to read other books claimed to be inspired, with prayers for discernment, yet they are cold words on a page and do not touch my Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:2 is sufficiently definitive for my 79 years of search, study and experience. Blessings to you and your dear ones.
Hello Martha
Thank you for reading, commenting and for your testimony.
they are cold words on a page and do not touch my Spirit.
That’s my experience from the few I’ve looked at too. So very different from the living and powerful words of Holy Spirit-inspired Scripture.
I’m with you on 1 Corinthians 2:2. Books that fail to draw us closer to the Lord are of no value.
Thank you again, Martha
God’s very best to you.