The notion of progressive or continuing revelation is not held by the Catholic Church or by Eastern Orthodoxy, who instead favor the idea of tradition and development of doctrine.
Although rooted in the immediate experience of the Society of Friends, Quakers believe much of the testimonies may be verified in the Bible, especially as described in the Gospels regarding the life and teachings of Jesus.
[citation needed] Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, used the example of the Lord's revelations to Moses in Deuteronomy to explain the importance and necessity of continuous revelation to guide "those who seek diligently to know [God's] precepts": God said, "Thou shalt not kill" [Deuteronomy 5:17][5] at another time He said, "Thou shalt utterly destroy."
Whatever God requires is right, no matter what it is, although we may not see the reason thereof till long after the events transpire [...] As God has designed our happiness—and the happiness of all His creatures, He never has—He never will—institute an ordinance or give a commandment to His people that is not calculated in its nature to promote that happiness which He has designed, and which will not end in the greatest amount of good and glory to those who become the recipients of his law and ordinances... for all things shall be made known unto them in [His] own due time, and in the end they shall have joy.The LDS Church believes in continuing revelation, not continuous revelation, and differentiates between the two.
[10] After Jesus ordained his apostles, he warned them of the extreme opposition they would encounter for these reasons, telling them, "ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake".
[12] Sometimes the opposition against God's prophets escalated to the point of violence and martyrdom, which Jesus and the apostles frequently referenced while preaching to their detractors (Matthew 23:31–37, Luke 11:47–51, Acts 7:52, Romans 11:3, 1 Thessalonians 2:15).
In the absence of revelation, these theologians often resorted to speculation,[15] which coupled with their own interpretations and extrapolations of scripture, inevitably resulted in disagreement and division on many doctrinal points.
[16] Ecumenical councils were held in order to settle these differences, yet without prophets called and authorized to reveal God's will on the topics being debated, the attendees could only vote on the theories presented in order to decide which ones would become official doctrine[17]—a practice that served to ostracize as heretics those who did not go along with these decisions, and in some cases led to major schisms in the church.
When doctrine is not established and maintained through continued revelation, Church members see the inevitable result as "philosophies of man, mingled with scripture".
[18] LDS Church members again point to the Bible to show that after every period of apostasy, God always eventually called another prophet when the time was right.
It is in that same spirit that church members claim that once conditions were ready, God again resumed his pattern of revealing his will through prophets by calling Joseph Smith, through whom he restored the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, clearing up the error that had been introduced during the Great Apostasy.
[24] In various designated offshoots of Taoism like the De Schools in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong, and the Dao Schools in Hong Kong, Taiwan and China, weekly or sometimes monthly gatherings are held at temples to receive and understand communications from above by way of two mediums holding rattan sifts writing on sand, who are 'dictated' with news ranging in contents from current affairs, religion, to arts and morality; the writings are called Sift Text or '乩文'.