Memo #106
June 1, 2009
From: Richard Marden Pratt (Yes, Dad prepared this before his death! With many more to come)
Re: We Believe Article of Faith #6
“We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, that is, Apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers evangelists, etc.”
How could it be otherwise and still be the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, for HE changeth not!
“Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the Saints, and of the household of God;
and are built upon the foundation of the Apostles & Prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone:
In whom all the building fitly framed together growth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God. Thru the Spirit.”
Jesus Christ then being the chief corner stone holds all Priesthood which, He can and does mete out to worthy men in order to fulfill all the work needed to save each soul. “Even Jesus, made an High Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek
Seeing then that we have a great High Priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. Hebrews 4:14
Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.
Called of God an High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. Hebrews 5:8-10
From the scriptures just quoted from Hebrews we find that Jesus Christ is the Chief Cornerstone of the church, His Church and that he is a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek.
“To the man Melchizedek goes the honor of having his name used to identify the Holy Priesthood after the order of the Son of God; thus enabling men to avoid the too frequent repetition of the name of deity.” D&C 107:2-4 Of all God’s ancient High Priests none were greater. Melchizedek was a contemporary of Abraham and to whom Abraham paid tithing. He was also King of Salem with the headquarters there of on the site of the present city of Jerusalem.
If there is no Melchizedek Priesthood on earth, the true Church is not here and the gospel of Christ is not available to men. But where the Melchizedek Priesthood is, there is the kingdom, the Church and the fullness of the gospel.
A man can do nothing for himself unless God direct him in the right way; and the Priesthood is for that purpose. (note: A man must be righteous in order to use the Priesthood! The Priesthood is the power given to man to act in the name of God.)
Through this priesthood men become joint heirs with Christ, receiving and possessing the fullness of the Father’s kingdom. “And all those who are ordained unto this priesthood are made like unto the Son of God, abiding a priest continually.”
As a holder of the Melchizedek Priesthood Christ himself is the prototype in this as in all things pertaining to salvation and exaltation. As Paul explained, priests of the Aaronic order receive their calls “without an oath.” But Jesus received his Priesthood anointment with an oath by Him that said unto Him; the Lord swear and will not repent, “Thou art a Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” Those who, are priests forever, are priests of the Most High after the order of Melchizedek are Gods, even the sons of God.” They have become joint heirs with Christ, having kept the same covenant and been bound by the same oath.
“For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining those two Priesthoods of which I have spoken, and the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies. They become the sons of Moses and of Aaron and the seed of Abraham, and the church and kingdom and the elect of God and also all they who receive this priesthood receive me, saith the Lord; for he that receiveth my servants receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth my Father; and he that receiveth my Father receiveth my Father’s Kingdom; therefore all that my Father hath shall be given unto him. And this is according to the oath and covenant which belongeth to the Priesthood. Therefore, all those who receive the Priesthood, receive this oath and covenant of my Father, which he cannot break, neither can it be moved…and I now give unto you a commandment to beware concerning yourselves to give diligent heed to the words of eternal life. For you shall live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God. (D&C 84:33-44)
The fullness of the blessings of the Priesthood are found only in the temples of God. (D&C 124:28,34,42; 127:28) These are revealed only in the temples. “Washings, anointings, endowments and the keys, are essential to enable one to secure the fullness of those blessings which have been prepared for the church of the Firstborn.
Celestial marriage is an order of the priesthood without which no one can gain the fullness of glory in the eternal worlds. In other words, Eve did not hold the Priesthood, nor does any other woman, but as an Eternal wife, sealed to a Priesthood holder in the temple of God they share equally with their husbands all that the Father has to give. And a man without a wife, sealed to him eternally, cannot receive the eternal blessings but will remain separate and single without exaltation. He is dammed, meaning his progression is permanently halted for he cannot increase by himself. Or stated another way ~ all men who become heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ will have to receive the fullness of the ordinances of his kingdom: and those who will not receive all the ordinances will come short of the fullness of that glory, if they do not lose the whole. (The man is not complete without the woman nor the woman complete without the man in the Lord.)
Unfortunately, “there are many called, but few are chosen.” That is to say, many are called to the Priesthood, but few are chosen for eternal life. (D&C 95: 5-6, 12)
“And why are they not chosen? Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, and aspire to the honors of men, that they do not learn this one lesson that the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness. (D&C 121:34-36) The forgoing are excerpts from “Mormon Doctrine” by Bruce R. McConkie pages 474-482
Priesthood then is the Power of God by which he creates, peoples, governs, and saves the works of his hands. He can be everywhere at the same time thru delegation of this power to trustworthy men. For thru the constant guidance of the Holy Ghost a Priesthood holder knows at all times the will of God and can carry it out in his area. Hence it can be said of God that he is everywhere present at all times.
After the apostles, called by Christ to administer the affairs of his church and kingdom were all killed there was no one left holding the keys to authorize a person to be ordained to any priestly office and in this manner the Lord took the priesthood from the earth. And the earth was left in darkness for more than one thousand years. There is no record left after John’s translation, the last of the apostles, until the beginning of the renaissance (means born again) of any of the Priesthood offices being performed.
John was last heard of in 98 AD. The renaissance began with Guttenberg and the printing press about 1456 AD.
Even the world acknowledges this 1500 year period as “the Dark ages” and another 400 years elapsed after Guttenberg before the world completely emerged from darkness with “an angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation and kindred, and tongue and people. Saying with a loud voice give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: (Now today.) and worship him that made heaven and earth, and the sea and the fountains of water.” Revelations 14:6-7
And the long period of darkness ended in the spring of 1820 when God the Father and the Son appeared to 14 year old Joseph Smith, followed over the next 24 years until his murder, by a continuing stream of Heavenly messengers restoring the Priesthood and all of its ramifications.
In the days of Moses because of wickedness the greater part of the priesthood was taken from the earth and only a lesser part left. It was called Aaronic after Aaron and only he and his righteous sons and heirs could hold it. It also included the Levitical Priesthood, Aaron was of that tribe. This Priesthood is divided into four offices, deacon, teacher, priest and Bishop. All worthy males of the tribe of Levi could hold the office of Deacon and Teacher. None of the rest of the tribes held any Priesthood. This continued until the ministry of the Savior who again offered the Melchizedek priesthood to all baptized worthy males.
To receive this priesthood and all Priesthood the recipient must have hands laid on their head by authorized men and the Priesthood bestowed upon the recipient who will at that time receive the ordination as an Elder in the Melchizedek Priesthood. Which holds all the rights of that Priesthood. As an elder a man can go to the temple and receive all the blessings there of. There are other callings in the Priesthood for certain leadership obligations such as Seventy, High Priest, Apostles, Patriarchs. All of these offices in the Priesthood can be found in the New Testament.
The Aaronic Priesthood is for administration of physical things and the Melchizedek of spiritual things. The various callings of the Priesthood are organized into quorums. Each quorum is presided over by a president and two councilors. A full quorum of each office as follows:
Deacons 12-14 years of age: 12 boys
Teachers 14-16 years of age: 24 boys
Priests 16-18 years of age: 48 boys
Elders 19 & up years of age: 96 men
Seventies (adult men): 70
High Priests: (adult men) all men so ordained with in the stake boundaries.
The church is presided over by the quorum of twelve apostles. The senior member of the quorum is always the Prophet, seer, and revelator and he alone holds all the keys pertaining to all things in the church. He also has two counselors. For more detail, read section 20 of the D&C.
It is most interesting that the only other church on the face of the earth, and it is not called a church, is the Hope Indians.
My wife and I spent two years with them and their neighbors the Navajos. The Navajo reservation is the largest of all reservations. It comprises most of Northern Arizona and extends into Southern Utah and I think North Western New Mexico. About 400 miles across at its widest point. The Hopi reservation is a small area in the center of the Navajos. Currently the Navajos are our largest tribe numbering around 100,000 the Hopis one of the smaller tribes with about 5,000 people.
The Hopis are a peaceful, agricultural people. They have never been at war with the U.S.A. Their legend has it that about 1600 years ago their forefathers fleeing from some dreadful war (Nephite annihilation) would be safe if they fled westward until they came to 10 mesas (table top mountains) where they could survive until the second coming of Christ.
They found these ten tabletop mountains in Northern Arizona. The Spanish conquistadors tried and failed to overcome them. Archaeologists have dated the village of Oraibi as the oldest continuously occupied village in North America. Dating back to about 400 AD.
They have never been successfully proselyted by the Christian churches until recently, as their remnants of Christianity were far superior to all modern Christian churches.
Example: a 12 year old boy receives the priesthood and there on meets with the men in priestly functions.
All children are baptized by immersion when they are considered old enough to understand. I have seen their baptismal pool carved out of solid rock and fed by a small spring of water. They believe in eternal family and marriage and the bride and groom are dressed in white wedding clothes to take the oath of marriage.
The whole tribe participates in food storage and claim to have at least a two years supply for the entire tribe. This they do not show to others. So I took their word of it.
They practice baptism by proxy for dead ancestors. A turkey feather is used as proxy and hangs form the ceiling beams of their homes. I pointed to a feather and asked who does that represent and the answer was given immediately.
Today they are joining the church in large numbers and we expect in the near future to have most of them baptized,
We have branches of the Church in each if the 9 mesas (the 10th has been abandoned) at the foot of each Mesa is a spring of cold, clear, water which makes life possible in the desert.
On our way home on a Sunday, having been to the far end of the reservation, on church assignment, we came to the village of Polocca, and were a little late for Sacrament meeting but decided to attend spontaneously as we would have no other chance that day.
We entered the ancient building used as a chapel, dirt floors, and heard the branch President announcing the speaker for the day. He hadn’t seen me yet but he announced that Brother Pratt would now speak to them. I walked up to the stand and spoke for about thirty minutes after the meeting I asked him how he knew I was there. His answer, “I knew all week.” but said I, “I didn’t even know I’d be here. You must have had a back up speaker just in case.”
He answered, “ No, I knew that you would be here.” This is a sample of their faith. There were 96 Hopis present with us.
All My Love,
Dad, Grandpa, etc. Richard Pratt
Look forward to Next month’s memo on Article of Faith #7
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