March 1, 2010 (written Feb 2009)
From: Richard M. Pratt
Re: Article of faith #11
“We claim the privilege of worshiping almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.” Article of faith #11
We might add that we also claim the privilege of not worshiping any God but just living life the way we want too. One big problem to this is if we choose not to worship God then we have placed ourselves in the clutches of Satan. There are only the two powers in all eternity. And to be ensnared by Satan is to become like Cain, the son of Adam and Eve.
Cain, because he persisted in doing as he pleased, became so ensnared in the traps of Satan that he was completely in the clutches of the Devil.
However Cain did gain one privilege by accepting Satan’s offering. Because Cain had a physical body he had more power than Satan and Satan needed that power to further his destructive plans for the earth and its inhabitants.
And the Lord said unto Cain: “Why art thou wroth? Why is thy countenance fallen?”
“If thou doest well, thou shalt be accepted. And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door, and Satan desireth to have thee, and except thou shalt hearken unto my commandments I will deliver thee up, and it shall be done unto thee according to his desire. And thou shalt rule over him; and from this time forth thou shalt be called Perdition; for thou wast also before the world. And it shall be said in time to come ~ that these abominations are had from Cain; for he rejected the greater counsel which was had from God; and this is a cursing which I will put upon thee, except thou repent.” Moses 5:22-25
Not to belabor Cain further, except to point out that because he chose to follow Satan completely, he introduced murder into the earth by killing his brother Able. And then it says that Cain married one of his brothers daughters, and they loved Satan more than God.
Because man is free to choose and Cain chose to follow Satan, it is a sin unto death, for it brings a spiritual banishment ~ the second death ~ by which those who partake of it are denied the presence of God and are consigned to dwell with the devil and his angels throughout eternity.
All who partake of this the greatest of sins, sell themselves as did Cain to Lucifer. They learn to hate the truth with an eternal hatred. And they learn to love wickedness. They reach a condition where they will not and cannot repent. The spirit of murder fills their hearts and they would, fi they had the power, crucify our Lord again, which they virtually do by fighting his work and seeking to destroy it and his prophets.
How fortunate it is that in the mercy of God there will be comparatively few who will partake of this awful misery and eternal darkness. (Doctrines of Salvation Vol. 1 pages 48-49)
Because we seldom use our power to reason we think that Cain and Abel were the first children of Adam and Eve, which is not so. For they soon, after the death of Abel, had another son born to replace Abel as their heir in righteousness. And definitely states that Adam was 130 years old when Seth was born. Cain and Abel then were born when Adam and Eve were somewhere around 100 years old. So they had been having children for about 100 years before Cain and Abel’s births.
Now I’m nearly a 100 years old and we only had six children yet our descendants are
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approaching 200. Then Adam and Eve would have had several times that many before Cain, Abel and Seth came along.
In fact after they were driven out of the Garden of Eden the record says: “And from that time forth, Adam knew his wife, and she bare unto him sons and daughters, and they began to multiply and to replenish the earth. And from that time forth, the sons and daughters of Adam began to divide two and two in the land, and to till the land, and to tend flocks, and they also begat sons and daughters.” (Read Moses Chapter 5)
Although we allow all men to worship or not to worship according to the dictates of their own wills, yet it is also our “bounden” duty to teach all people the truth about God that they therefore may make and intelligent choice if they choose right principles they are guided along the path to eventual exaltation in the presence of God.
Adam and Eve followed this injunction and attempted to teach their children as follows: “And Adam and Eve blessed the name of God, and they made all things known unto their sons and their daughters. And Satan came among them, saying: I am also a son of God; and he commanded them, saying; believe it not; and they believed it not, and they loved Satan more than God. And men began from that time forth to be carnal, sensual and devilish.” Moses 5:12-13
But not all, for as Adam and Eve’s family grew also grew their experiences in teaching the truth to their posterity.
“And thus the gospel began to be preached, from the beginning, being declared by Holy angels sent forth from the presence of God, and by his own voice, and by the gift of the Holy Ghost. (Note the same way that it is always taught. The same way it is being taught today. Those people who don’t hear it in this life, and there are many millions of such who live and die without having heard the “Good News” shall have it taught to them in the world o f spirits while awaiting the resurrection. No one will be judged until they have had the truth taught them. But you and I do not fit in this category. We are hearing it now and our eternal future depends on whether we accept it or not.
Now notice this next unfolding of Adam’s family. “And then began these men to call upon the name of the Lord, and the Lord blessed them;
and a book of remembrance was kept, in which was recorded in the language of Adam, for it was given unto as many as called upon God to write by the spirit of inspiration.
And by them their children were taught to read and write, having a language which was pure and undefiled. (Note: yet we are taught in our schools today that our ancestors were cavemen who didn’t even have a spoken language at first, and that it took millions of years to evolve into modern educated idiots. Maybe idiot is to harsh use a different word if you judge it best.)
“And a genealogy was kept of the children of God. And this was the book of generations of Adam, sayig: in the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him. In the image of his own body, male and female, created he them, and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created and became living souls in the land upon the footstool of God.
And Adam lived one hundred thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his own image and called his name Seth.
And the days of Adam, were eight hundred years after he begat Seth (So Adam lived 930 years after ejected from the Garden of Eden) and he begat many sons and daughters.”Moses 6:9-11
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And this is the genealogy of the sons of Adam, who was the son of God, with whom God, himself conversed.
And they were preachers of righteousness, and spake and prophesied, and called upon all men, everywhere, to repent; and faith was taught unto the children of men. Moses 6:23-24
YES, we accord all men the same privilege to worship who they will or not to worship at all. But even this is a form of worship for such a one is enrolled in the ranks of Satan whether they know it or not. And as Christ laid down his life for each of us it then belongs to us to lay down our life for our brother.
Enoch, the seventh generation from Adam lived his 365 years on the earth, won many converts then he, his followers, and the land they dwelt on was taken away from this earth while Adam was still mortal.
And Enoch says: “and I saw the Lord; and he stood before my face, and he talked with me: Look, and I will show unto thee the world for the space of many generations.” Moses 7:4-5
The Lord was preparing the earth for its baptism, the earth is a living thing and had to have this cleansing ordinance just as individuals do ~NO ONE NEEDED TO DIE in the process. It was Enoch’s mission to save all who would listen.
And so great was the faith of Enoch that he led the people of God, but as a whole whey would not listen. And from that time forth there were wars and bloodshed among them (as there always will be among those who accept the doctrine of hate taught by Satan and reject the doctrine of Love as taught by the Lord.)
And after Enoch had gleaned the world and his people had been removed there from, angels descended 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 (or Enoch’s city) and it came to pass that the God of heaven looked upon the residue of the people, and he wept;
Moses 7:27-28
And why did he weep? Because they had chosen Satan now they had to pay the price, death by drowning.
I’ve drowned three times. It’s not a bad death. Unless it is attended by the realization that this drowning was the aftermath of wrong choices.
And great tribulations shall be among the children of men, but my people will I preserve.
Then came the prophet Noah to make the final gleaning of all who would follow the Lord, the rest following Satan to be removed from the earth.
Have you ever wondered about Noah’s family? Japheth was born when Noah was 450 years old (what happened to all his kids born before then. I suspect some were caught up with Enoch’s people, the unfaithful were drowned. Eight years after Japheth, Shem was born (our ancestors) of the same mother as Japheth and when Noah was 500 years old Ham was born. The only inkling of what happened to the rest of Noah’s family is found in Moses 7:14-15. There we learn that his grand daughters had married the sons of men (sons of men means, wicked men) and they will not hearken unto my voice. So they drowned.
Now we are preparing for the earth to receive the Holy Ghost or cleansing by fire. Will it be real? Of course for the Lord does nothing save he revealeth it to his servants the Prophets.
“And it shall be, with the people, so with the priest...the land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled...the earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof, because they have
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transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance (baptism etc) broken the everlasting covenant (the gospel)Therefore hath the curse (disobedience) devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate, therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left. Isaiah 23:1-6
Our first job then is to worship God with all our heart, might and mind and soul and allow all people the same privilege but trying to teach them the true way that they need not suffer, for not one soul needs to perish in the cleansing of the earth.
God Bless You all forever!
All my love,
Dad, Grandpa, brother, uncle etc. (Richard M. Pratt)
DEAR FAMILY,
Here is a precious letter I re‑discovered, written by my dear parents. It sounds almost
like a patriarchal blessing in it's beautiful prophetic wording. Perhaps these words of
comfort from our faithful ancestors, will give guidance and encouragement to you.
Carolyn
1967
"DEAR CAROLYN
IN ANSWER TO OUR PRAYERS AND WISHES YOU CAME TO US. NOW AFTER ALL THESE YEARS WE FIND OURSELVES PRAYING AND WISHING AGAIN. THESE PRAYERS WILL ALSO BE HEARD AND WE WILL ALL FIND THAT 'AFTER THE TRIAL COMES THE BLESSING.' WE WILL ALL COME FORTH WITH MORE LOVE, COMPASSION AND HOPE AND A FULLER SENSE OF VALUES.
THE DAY YOU WERE BORN, YOU DECIDED TO COME 8 DAYS EARLY, ANXIOUS TO GET THIS LIFE STARTED. YOU HAD KNOWN THAT LIFE WOULDN'T ALWAYS BE EASY, BUT IN SPITE OF THIS, YOU DESIRED IT AND CHOSE TO COME TO EARTH, GET A BODY AND PROVE YOURSELF. EACH OF US HAVE TO BE PROVEN AT SOME TIME TO FIND OUR REAL WORTH.
IT ISN'T ALWAYS THE EXPERIENCES WE HAVE IN LIFE BUT HOW WE MEET THEM AND SUCCEED. SOMETIMES THE ROAD IS LONGER AND HARDER FOR ONE THAN ANOTHER, BUT ALWAYS KEEP IN MIND A 'DIAMOND IS MADE AND BEAUTIFIED WITH PRESSURE AND CUTTING AWAY.'
YOU, TOO, ARE BEING SHAPED AND FITTED AND WILL YET FULFILL MANY GREAT AND IMPORTANT THINGS IN YOUR LIFE HERE UPON THE EARTH. BE PATIENT AND FAITHFUL, LEARNING AND DOING THE WILL OF YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER. LIVE EACH DAY, AS IT COMES ALONG, TO THE BEST OF YOUR ABILITY AND YOU WILL BE PREPARED TO MEET THE CHALLENGES OF LIFE AND SUCCEED IN YOUR LIFE'S MISSION.
OUR LOVE,
MOTHER AND FATHER
