LOST BOOKS

LOST BOOKS
The modern Christian world believes that the Bible is the complete word of God. That is, everything that God has given to man is in the Bible. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that there are many books that have been taken out of the Bible over the centuries that have become lost to modern man.

Many people don't believe that it is possible for even one sacred book to be lost, let alone about 40 or more. Still, even the Bible itself quotes from these missing books as though they were an official source of knowledge. In addition to that, we are missing two letters of Paul which he makes reference to but that we don't have. A logical question is: Could it not be possible that there are even more missing letters? The evidence contained in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Nag Hammadi texts shows that there were quite a few books of the Old Testament that the ancient Jews used which we no longer have today in our Bible.
To many modern Christians, it is hard for them to comprehend how the Jews, who were strong believers in the word of God, could have lost any of their sacred books. However, this isn't difficult to understand. If we look at the history of the Israelite nation as detailed in the Bible we can easily see that the Lord's chosen people had many more generations of unfaithfulness than fidelity to the Lord.
Starting with their first king, Saul, we find that he became puffed up in pride and finally did many things contrary to the ways of God. David is considered by the Jews to be one of their best kings, and for the most part he remained faithful to God's ways (with the exception of the wife of Uria, the Hittite.) Solomon, began his kingship as a faithful follower of God, but toward the end of his life he turned his heart to idols.
After Solomon's death, the nation was divided in two kingdoms, Israel and Judah. Jeroboam ruled over the kingdom of Israel. In 1 King 12:26-29 we read, "And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David: If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah. Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan."
This isn't just a case of having an unrighteous king. This is also a situation where the king led his people to worship false idols, thereby polluting not only himself but all the citizens of his kingdom as well. We can assume that the reading of the law was no forbidden. Then what did king Jeroboam do with all the sacred books? The common practice in those days would have been to destroy them.
Rehoboam ruled over the kingdom of Judah In 1 Kings 14:21-26 we read, "And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess. And Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done. For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree. And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel. And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem: And he took away the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house; he even took away all: and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made."
In the fifth year of Rehoboam, Solomon's the temple was looted by the king of Egypt. What happened to all the sacred records? Perhaps the priests who were in charge of taking care of the books somehow kept them from being destroyed, but that is only a wishful guess. In fact, verse 26 seems to indicate that such may not have been the case.
The next king of Judah was Abijam. According to 1 king 15:3 it tells us, "And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father."
Clearly he was not a righteous king. Fortunately Asa, who was the next king, did strive to follow the ways of the Lord, but by this time idolatry was rampant throughout the kingdom. In fact, in 1 king 15:13 we read, "And also Maachah his mother, even her he removed from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove; and Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt it by the brook Kidron."
As good as this may sound about Asa's efforts to eradicate idolatry throughout the land, we we read in the next verse, "But the high places were not removed: nevertheless Asa's heart was perfect with the LORD all his days." In the meantime, Nadab, who was the king of Israel, was not a righteous king and King Baasa who succeeded him to the throne was just as bad.
As we go through each succeeding king in both kingdoms, we come to see how few of them followed the ways of the Lord. If that's the case, who was caring for the sacred books which contained the words of God? My personal opinion is that the true believers lived in the wilderness rather than in the cities. There they tried to maintain the sacred books as best they could. There are many archeological finds which seem to suggest this idea and they indicate that these wilderness believers taught something very different from what the Christian world teaches today.
There is an amazing story in the Bible which supports this idea. It's found in 2 King 22:1,8,11,13: "Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem And his mother's name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath... And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it.. And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes... Go ye, enquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us."
This clearly shows that the Jews not only could have but did lose one of their sacred books of the law. What makes this story even more amazing is that this lost book was discovered in their own Temple! How negligent must they have been to misplace and not even notice the loss of a sacred book? If that is true of one book, what about other writings of the prophets, especially when we consider that they were usually killed by the people for what they taught?
Originally, the law that was written upon the tables of stone by the finger of God was placed in the ark along with the rod of Aaron. To the Israelites, these items were the most sacred items of all. These were physical evidences of God's presence in creating their nation, but even these have been lost. Is it so incredible to believe that written books could also be lost?
There are those who say that the Old Testament books were meticulously kept by highly trained scribes. This may be true beginning shortly before the birth of Christ. But by that time, almost two thousand years had passed from when Moses received the law on Mount Sinai. What happened before then?
I am a genealogist and as I have gone into churches looking for records, I have found some that are very good (a few times) and many that are very poorly kept. It all depends on the clerks. If the records were made and maintained by good clerks there were accurate and useful, but if they were made and kept by careless clerks, the records are full of insects and sometimes there are broken or missing pages.
Then we also have to account for wars and calamities such as earthquakes, floods, volcanic activity and the like. My personal opinion is that the biggest problem was during the Roman persecutions when they destroyed entire libraries of the Christians. During the Middle Ages the pendulum swung the other way and it was the church's holy inquisition which then destroyed every book which they didn't agree with.
With all of that, I find it incredible that people today can say with such confidence that there are no lost books from the Bible.
This is a list approximate of the missing books
Here are the examples of all of the known books that are missing from the
Bible, books that are mentioned in the Bible or other known canons of
scripture:

Mentioned but Missing From the Old Testament Reference

1. Book of the Covenant Exodus 24:4, 7
2. Book of the Wars Numbers 21:14
3. Book of Jasher Joshua 10:13
2 Samuel 1:18
4. Book of Statutes 1 Samuel 10:25
5. Book of the Acts of Solomon 1 Kings 11:41
6. Book of Nathan 1 Chronicles 29:29
2 Chronicles 9:29
7. Book of Gad (Same as #6)
8. Prophecy of Ahijah 2 chronicles 9:29;
2:15; 13:22
9. Visions of Iddo (Same as #8)
10. Book of Shemaiah 2 chronicles 12:15
11. Book of Jehu 2 Chronicles 20:34
12. Acts of Uzziah, Written by Isaiah 2 Chronicles 26:22
13. Sayings of the Seers 2 Chronicles 33:19
14. Prophecies of Enoch Jude 14
15. Matthews' mention of Nazareth as Matthew 2:23
the abode of Jesus, "He shall be
called a Nazarene." This is not
found in the Old Testament
writings.

Missing New Testament Writings
Mentioned but Missing

16. Missing Epistle of Paul 1 Corinthians 5:9
17. 2nd Missing Epistle of Paul Ephesians 3:3-4
18. 3rd Missing Epistle of Paul Colossians 4:16
19. Missing Epistle of Jude Jude 3

Bible books in the Apocrypha (Old Testament writings)
That Never made it Into the Bible

20. Tobit (See the Apocrypha, Deutercanonical, or
Septuagint for the next 19 references.)
21. Judith
22. Additions to the book of Esther
23. Wisdom of Solomon
24. Ecclesiasticus, or the Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach
25. Baruch
26. The Letter of Jeremiah
27. Prayer of Azariah
28. Song of the Three Jews *(These are missing books of Daniel.)
29. Susana *
30. Bel and the Dragon *
31. 1 Maccabees
32. 2 Maccabees
33. 3 Maccabees
34. 4 Maccabees
35. 1 Esdras
36. 2 Esdras
37. Prayer of Manasseh
38. Psalm 151

New Testament Writings That Have
Been Eliminated But Are Mentioned

39. Mary (The following lost writings are written of in the "Storia
Ecclesastica", 337a.d. by Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea, however he takes them
out of the
NT because he thinks they are heresies. They are also printed in The Lost
Books of The Bible ,Gramercy Books.)
40. Acts of Paul
41. Acts of Andrew
42. Acts of John
43. The Protevangelion
44. Infancy I
45. Infancy II46. Christ and Abgarus
47. Nicodemus
48. The Apostles Creed
49. Laodiceans
50. Paul and Seneca
51. Paul and Thecla
52. Revelation of Peter
53. Epistle of Barnabas
54. The Lost Gospel According to Peter
55. Gospel of Thomas
56. Gospel of Matthias
57. Clement I
58. Clement II
59. Ephesians (II)
60. Magnesians
61. Trallians
62. Romans (II)
63. Philadelphians
64. Smyrnaeans
65. Polycarp
66. Philippians (II)
66. Gospel writer referred to only by the letter Q
(Some of these can be referenced in the writings by Marcion, 150 a.d., and
Muratorian, 170 a.d. All of these New Testament age writings are a matter of
record and are not trumped up Mormon propaganda; they have been discovered
over the past hundred years in old or thought to be lost libraries.)
67. Sheppard of Hermas
68. Hermas I (Visions)
69. Hermas II (Commands)
70. Hermas III (Similitudes)
71. Letters of Herod and Pilate (Ref. to their trial of Christ)

[The Following is a list of the Apocryphal Writings that do not exist;
however, they are mentioned and referred to in other writings as recently as
the fourth century A.D.]

72. The Gospel of Andrew
73. Other Books under Andrew
74. Gospel of Apelles
75. The Gospel According to the Twelve Apostles
76. The Gospel of Barnabes
77. The Writings of Bartholomew the Apostle
78. The Gospel of Bartholomew
79. The Gospel of Basilides
80. The Gospel of Cernithus
81. The Revelation of Cernithus
82. An Epistle of Jesus Christ to Peter and Paul
83. Several other Books under the name of Christ
84. An Epistle of Christ (produced by the Manichees)
85. A Hymn, taught by Christ to his Disciples
86. The Gospel according to the Egyptians
87. The Acts of the Apostles
88. The Gospel of the Ebionites
89. The Gospel of the Encratites
90. The Gospel of Eve
91. The Gospel according to the Hebrews (or Hebrews II)
92. The Book of the Helkesaites
93. The False Gospels of the Hesychius
94. The Book of James
95. The Acts of John
96. Gospel of Jude
97. Gospel according to Judas Iscariot
98. Acts of the Apostle Leucius
99. Acts of the Apostle Lentitus
100. Acts of the Apostle Leontius
101. Acts of the Apostle Leuthon
102. The False Gospels, published by Lucianus
103. Acts of the Apostles (used by the Manichees)
104. The Gospel according to or of Marcion
105. Books under Matthew:
The Gospel of Matthias
The Traditions of Matthias
The Book of Matthias
The Gospel of Merinthus
106. Gospel According to the Nazarenes
107. The Acts of Paul and Thecla
108. The Preachings of Peter and Paul
109. The Revelations of Paul
110. The Gospel of Perfection
111. Additional Acts of Peter
112. The Doctrine of Peter
113. The Gospel of Peter (not to be confused with the Gospel according to
Peter)
114. The Judgement of Peter
115. The Preaching of Peter
116. The Revelations of Peter
117. The Acts of Philip
118. The Gospel of Philip
119. The Gospel of Scythianus
120. The Acts of the Apostles, by Seleucus
121. The Revelation of Stephen
122. The Gospel of Titan
123. The Gospel of Thaddaeus
124. The Acts and Gospel of Thomas
125. The Gospel of Truth
126. Against the Heresies

[Number 66 (above) and numbers 72 - 126 only exist in references, they have
never been found but are or were known to exist. Known because many early
Christians referred to them in their letters (unofficial epistles) and other
more religious writings. Some scholars debate the legitimacy of these
writings, however, some scholars question what we already have too.]

Modern Discoveries of Missing
Biblical Scriptures

127. Book of Moses
128. Book of Abraham (#127 & 128 were found in an Egyptian tomb in the
1830's. There translation is found in the L.D.S. version of the Pearl of
Great Price.)
129. Prophecy of Joseph of Egypt 2 Nephi 3 (B. of M.)
130. Prophecy of Zenock** 1 Nephi 19
131. Prophecy of Neum** (Same as #130)
132. Prophecy of Zenos** (Same as #130)

*[These were Old Testament prophets whose writings were also lost.]

[If the prophet's of God were all commanded to write down His word to His
people---Doesn't anyone ever wonder as to what ever happened to the writings
of Adam, Seth, Enoch, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and others? Every Bible
historian can point out, very clearly and with evidence, that the first five
books of the Bible were written by Moses, as God told him the story of the
earth from the beginning of time to the present. Doesn't one wonder as to
where all of those books, histories, and prophetic writings are prior to
Moses? We must assume that they were intelligent enough to write. And at the
same time as you realize, or at least contemplate the answer to these
questions, one must come to the rationalization that 4000 to 5000 years of
religious history would have to be a lot longer than just 66 books. In fact,
let's look at exactly how many prophets (or religious leaders from Old
Testament times) that are mentioned and yet there is no writing that exists
for them. They are as follows:

The most prominent writings would have come from (or would
have been written during the lifetimes of) Adam, Seth, Enos,
Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamach, Noah,
Japheth, Shem, Ham, Arphaxad, Salah, Eber, Peleg, Reu, Serug,
Nahor, Terah, Melchizedek, Abraham (except for short script found
in the Pearl of Great Price), Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Manasseh,
and Ephraim.

Thus we have an additional 28 books that should be there (that we know
of) but aren't found in the Bible. This brings the total number of missing
books, according to my research and calculations, to 160 (over 71 percent
missing). Even if you were to take out some of the questionable books and
reduce the number of missing books by fifty percent, that would be 80 missing
books. Even that number, compared to the 66 books of the Bible, is a
significant number to be missing. Again, in light of this evidence, how could
anyone say that the Bible is complete? In fact, most people upon realizing
that a book is incomplete would search for and want to know where the rest of
it was. Wouldn't you? (And I haven't even mentioned writings discovered
within the "Dead Sea Scrolls.)]

So there we have it: 132 (known) missing books from what we now call the
Bible. The King James Version of the Bible only contains Sixty-six (66)
books---That means that almost seventy percent of the Bible is missing! Even
if you want to take out the books that come to us through modern revelation
(i.e.: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the number is still
over 65 percent [some accounts state that it is as high as 71 percent of
missing books].