Does God Still Reveal Himself, And Can We Test New Revelation For Truthfulness?

One of the outstanding distinctives of the Restoration movement is the affirmation that God still reveals himself, and that the canon of scripture has not been closed. We believe that the following admonition of God to Israel has current application to his people:

Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper. (II Chronicles 20:20)

We believe that God speaks, his servants throughout the ages have heard, and have recorded his instructions for our benefit. However, we need to test any purported communication from the Lord in order to keep from being deceived. How can this be? Once again, we can look to the Word of God for an answer:

And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.

These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. (Acts 17:10,11)

And inasmuch as ye [Sidney Rigdon] do not write, behold, it shall be given unto him [Joseph Smith] to prophesy; and thou shalt preach my gospel; and call on the holy prophets to prove his words, as they shall be given him. (D & C 35:23 LDS; 34:5d RLDS)

The clear message of these passages is that we are to rely on what has been written in the established word of God, and to test any purported revelation against that word. That is one of the key safeguards that God has given to his people in order to keep us from being deceived by the false doctrines of men.