January 1, 2010 (written Feb. 18, 2008)
Re: Article of Faith #10
From: Dad, Grandpa etc. Richard M. Pratt
Article of Faith #10 ~ We believe that Christ will reign personally upon the earth.
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Genesis 1:1 and step by step he brought out of chaos the elements and organized the earth and all things pertaining to it including the stars in the Heavens. That he is the ruler thereof cannot be disputed. And that he will be the eternal ruler of this world and all his creations no one can contest. Thousands of pages have been written on the subject chief of which is the scriptures. So my puny little four pages can be only a testament that it ~ His personal reign is true and about to be ushered in. Let me repeat that: HIS PERSONAL REIGN IS TRUE AND ABOUT TO BE USHERED IN.
It has been prophesied since the beginning of time and from the beginning of the prophets.
The tiny Old Testament book of Joel about 900 B.C., all three chapters, here is a small sample: “Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is at hand. Joel 1:15
“Blow ye the trumpet in Zion (here) and sound an alarm:...for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said.” Joel 2: 1 & 32
“For behold, in those days, (Now) and in that time I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem (They will be made free)
I will also gather all nations. And will bring them down into the valley of Jehosaphat (from Jerusalem northward) and will plead with them for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations. (Currently all nations are preparing to do this.)
The Lord also shall roar out of Zion (Here) and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake; but the Lord will be the hope of HIS people, and the strength of the children of Israel. Joel 3:1 & 16
Egypt shall be a desolation, ...for their violence against the children of Judah...but Judah shall dwell forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the Lord dwelleth in Zion: Joel 3: 19-21
hear this word that the Lord hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the Land of Egypt, saying you only have I known of all the families of the earth. Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.
Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. Amos 3:7
Israel, (all twelve tribes) is the only people he has chosen and he is of Judah ~ the 12 tribes of Israel (chosen before they were born when they learn obedience will be the ruling power of the world under Christ.)
Listen to the words of Zechariah: “Behold, the day of the Lord cometh...for I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the Lord...shall go forth, and fight against those nations...and the Lord shall be Kind over all the earth...and it shall come to pass, that everyone that is left of all the nations which come against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts.
Prior to the appearance of the Lord there shall be two churches only the one is the church of the Lamb of God. And the other is ???(Ah! Ha! You thought I was going to name the other church, and I will in a minute!) Whosoever belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church, which is the mother of abominations, and she is the whore of all the earth.
It appears that this church of the devil will have enrolled every person on earth except the true believers and even their number will be diluted by at least half.
It appears that there is only one organization on earth that involves almost all people and it is CORRUPT GOVERNMENT. Corrupt government is the source of all murders, sex abuses, war, liars, cheats and frauds. And must be being guided by Satan and his devilish hosts. And most of the peoples of the world in their corruption are sinking ever deeper into the cesspool of sin that will lead to their destruction.
He that is coming shortly to personally rule upon the earth and clean up the mess men have allowed Satan to lead them into, even Jesus Christ, will accomplish it as follows.
He will allow mankind to teeter on the brink of total annihilation as He continues in His efforts to save all that will be saved. He gave us the greatest government the world has ever known CONSTITUTIONAL government.
But corrupt politicians have abandoned it. Oh! You still hear it mentioned but it is lip-service only.
And the combined armed forces of the world will be two hundred million (it’s current number) and there will be universal war and Jerusalem and the Jews will face total extinction. A third of the worlds population will be dead and in as much as for every person killed in war two are wounded. So if that ration still holds the survivors for the most part will be more or less invalided so the dead will remain unburied.
The two world wars estimated deaths was 50 million, this is just to give you an idea, if the population of the world is at six billion, which is its current population, then the deaths in this final war would be something like four times as many as died in both world wars combined.
At this very moment when it seems the world is going to commit mass suicide it says of the survivors, “the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and gold and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood:...Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornications (all types of sexual abuses) nor of their thefts”. Revelations 9:18-21
The whole world was destroyed by a flood except Noah, his three sons and their wives. But prior to that flood all the law abiding were caught off the earth and were safe. “And Enoch beheld angels descending out of heaven, bearing testimony of the Father and the Son: and the Holy Ghost fell on many, and they were caught up by the powers of heaven into Zion and it came to pass that the God of heaven looked upon the residue of the people and wept.” Moses 7:27-28
What a sad thing for a Father to have to witness the self brought on destruction of his rebellious children.
Besides the universal flood whole nations at sundry times have been destroyed. In fact 21 civilizations have been wiped out.
Example: Rome is the most famous and passed away in 476 A.D. a better example is the Americas at the crucifixion of our Savior.
Tempests, earthquakes, fires, whirlwinds, and physical upheavals on the Americas attest the crucifixion of Christ. The majority of the people were destroyed. Those who remain bemoan their fate. Then a voice speaks from heaven saying: “o all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they, will ye not now return unto me and repent of your sins and be converted that I may heal you. 3 Nephi 9:13 So even the best needed some repenting. And they did but within 150 years they had reverted to filthiness and destruction.
And now in our day. The Jews shall be gathered home, (they are) and there shall be wars and rumors of wars (now) and the whole earth shall be in commotion and the love of man shall wax cold. And the gospel shall come among them and an overflowing scourge as a desolating sickness shall cover the land (here) but my disciples shall stand in holy places and shall not be moved and their shall be earthquakes and many desolations, yet men will harden their hearts against me, and shall take up their swords, one against the other and kill one another. Then shall the arm of the Lord fall upon the nations. And calamity shall cover the mockers and the scorner shall be consumed. Then shall the world know that I am the Lord I am Jesus Christ that was crucified. I am the Son of God. (For the full account read Doctrine and Covenants 45:24-75)
On the news recently was portrayed a mass raid by police on the gangsters of New York City. They were being arrested by the dozens and being carted off to prison. In a sense that is what our King is shortly going to do with the whole earth.
He has for 6000 years done everything to help men to be self governing and they have failed dismally now he is bringing a host of officers to arrest the disobedient, cast them into prison until they learn by their own suffering to become obedient to the only laws whereby man may live.
The greatest war, slaughter, carnage, bloodshed, and desolation of all the ages will be in full swing at the very hour when Christ returns. “...There will be a time of trouble, says Daniel, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time....” (Daniel 12:1)
Then comes the “raid” led by the King of Kings and followed by a myriad of enforcement officers called angels.
“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel and the dead in Christ shall rise first.” (The millions of obedient children of past ages since the flood will be with him.) Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds (the newly resurrected) to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”1 Thessalonians 4:16-18
Then the earth will be cleansed with fire and any remaining of the disobedient (remember that at least 1/3 have slaughtered each other in war) will be consumed as the earth by orders of the King is burned by fire.
Sound terrible? NO! A loving King after 6000 years of doing everything he can to save his subjects even to laying down his own life in terrible suffering now sweeps them into the Spirit World where they are sentenced to spend a minimum of 1000 years in prison where they will suffer even as He suffered on the cross. For they refused to accept his offering to pay for their sins.
Most of them will finally learn to be obedient as, He is obedient, to the only laws that can provide eternal peace and happiness. The few who will not accept this final effort for happiness will receive the awful sentence of “Sons of Perdition” and will be cast out with Satan for they have proven their total unwillingness to obey the law of happiness.
The cleansed and forgiven prisoners will then stand at the judgement bar and be pronounced “clean.” and ready to receive the glory of a Telestial Kingdom. Although the lowest of the kingdoms of glory, yet it will be so great so fantastic in their eternal opportunities that man cannot describe them.
Still they will be eternally bound to live within the confines of Telestial Glory. Some of the limitations of which will be they will never see God the Father nor is Son Jesus Christ. They will be restricted to a telestial sphere not able to travel freely. For their own safety confined to that glory forever. There will be many other restrictions but the worst is no FAMILY. They will remain separate and single forever. But they will have been saved by our Savior to all the happiness they were willing to accept.
I am hoping that you and I are preparing ourselves by obedience for eternal glory, freedom of travel, no restrictions, and eternally with our family and with our Heavenly parents and our brother Jesus Christ.
All my love,
Dad, Grandpa etc. Richard Pratt
"Then peeled the bells more loud and deep, God is not dead nor doth he sleep. The wrong shall fail the right prevail with peace on earth good will toward men.”
Let the bells and feelings of Christmas ring in your hearts all year long. Where does this start? In our homes. Our Bishop (whom Grandpa loves) encourages such doable goals! We all need to feel the love and goodness of Jesus Christ in our lives and obedience to the gospel plan is the way. Set some realistic New Years goals. You may want to include the ward goals in your plans.
Ward goals:
1. Family Home evening weekly
2. Daily Family prayer and personal prayers
3. Daily Scripture study
4. Temple attendance monthly
5. Pray for and seek missionary opportunities.
6. 100% Home and Visiting teaching
7. 100% Sacrament meeting attendance.
In addition Our Bishop asked us to pray for:
a. those struggling with the cycle of sin that they and we may over come and be faithful.
b. those seeking employment that they will find it.
c. pray and seek missionary opportunities. Share the great news of the gospel.
This is the kind of preparedness that will help us be centered in Jesus Christ. As we center our homes and thoughts in Christ, we will be led to be kinder, more loving, more thoughtful. Indeed we will be covered with the “full armor of God” the Gospel of Jesus Christ is JOY! IT is PEACE! IT is PURE! Embrace it and make your homes Christ centered. When we are prepared the storms of life will not have power over us to weigh us down. God bless us all to do his will and become prepared in every way!
Have fun setting your new years goals. Love to you all Rose and Roger Rowbury
