Date written: February 28, 2008
Sent: July 1,2010
To: My Beloved Family & Friends
From: Dad, Grandpa etc. Richard Marden Pratt
Re: The idea of a God without “body, parts, or passions,” is not more absurd or inconsistent than that popular doctrine, that all things were created from nonentity or in other words, that something originated from nothing.
“It is a self evident truth, which will not admit of argument, that nothing remains nothing. Nonentity is the negative of all existence. This negative possesses no property or element upon which the energies of creative power can operate.” ( The Essential Parley P. Pratt page 193)
“Self-righteous learned men ridicule the thought that an exalted man, in whose form all men are created is in very deed the Almighty ruler of the universe. They ridicule the Holy Scriptures. They poke fun at the prophets who proclaim it, and who have testified that they have seen him, conversed with him and have received his commandments. No! All of this is too childish for these great men. It is our duty therefore, to show by evidence, that cannot be gainsaid, that God the Father lives; that Jesus Christ is his only begotten Son, and was born into this world in the express image of his Father.
Now let us present the evidence of God from scripture and from personal manifestations. In the first chapter of Genesis we read that God created man in his own image. Our scientific evolutionists say that this and all else in Genesis regarding the creation was taken from the Assyrian-Babylonian civilization. This is NOT true. The writings in Genesis go back to the beginning long before there were Assyrians and Babylonians and Egyptians. We Latter-day Saints should be extremely thankful for the revelations the Lord has given us. We have learned, contrary to the prevailing notion of the scholars, that Adam had a perfect language, his children were taught, “And a book of remembrance was kept, in which was recorded, in the language of Adam. And by them, their children were taught to read and write, having a language which was pure and undefiled. Enoch kept a record. The Lord revealed to him in the language of Adam the history of this world from its beginning to its end. Moses also had a similar revelation. These records kept in the days of Adam and Enoch, were preserved and were given into the hands of Abraham, and were preserved by him, so that he had a knowledge of the creation as it was kept, without question, in the language of Adam. By Abraham they were preserved, so it is a ridiculous fabrication, that the knowledge given in Genesis is a poorly constructed account of Babylonian mythology. These things were also revealed to Moses.
In the scriptures there are numerous accounts of the Lord revealing himself in person to his servants the prophets. He appeared to Enoch. He appeared to Abraham. He appeared to Jacob. He appeared to Moses face to face. He spoke to Isaiah, and many others.
Matthew records: “That Jesus came from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him...and when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending ... and lighting upon him. And lo a voice from heaven, saying. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
“And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my Father which is in heaven.....and upon this rock (revelation) I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
“And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.”
“Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be seeing I know not a man and the angel answered and said unto her, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”
“Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.”
NOTE: These are but a few of the scriptures which testify of the Godhead and the roles played by the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost in the creation and salvation of man.
From the doctrines of the scientific men, we see that they not only make their attack upon the fall of Adam, but upon the atonement of Jesus Christ. They condemn the Bible and go out of their way to destroy it, and thus destroy all that is sacred to every believer in the atoning blood of our Redeemer. They speak the truth in saying that one of us must give way. Their doctrines may prevail temporally during this benighted age when wickedness covers the earth like a flood, but the day is near at hand when all these man-made doctrines shall come to naught and shall pass away, for the Redeemer of this world has declared it. For the Latter-day Saints and all other good people who devoutly believe in the mission of Jesus Christ, there is but one course to pursue, and that is to remain humbly and prayerfully true to our convictions. THE great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at our doors. (Chapter 5 The Doctrine of God)
We have examined, very briefly the ancient accounts of the Godhead and the gospel. Now we will move to the Latter-days. As Peter says, “For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we have made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but
were eyewitnesses of his majesty. And the voice which came from heaven, we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.
The other apostles testified that he hath in the last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.
There is no doctrine in the Bible more plainly taught than the doctrines of the anthropomorphic nature(means “as man is now God once was and as God is now man my become.”) of both the Father and the Son and their separate personages. It is also written that God created man, male and female, after his won image and in his own likeness, created he them. It is an astounding thing that from the days of Athanasians (325 BC) and the great council at Nice, the true doctrine concerning the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, has been lost to the Christian world, both Catholic and Protestant.
Fourteen year old Joseph Smith said: “At length I came to the conclusion that I must either remain in darkness and confusion, or else I must do as James directs, that is ask of God...it was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of 1820...I had never as yet made the attempt to pray vocally.....I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God.....I was seized upon by some power which entirely over came me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered round me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction - not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in my being
(NOTE: I, Grandpa, had this same kind of experience with Satan. It is real, it is terrible.)
-just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.
It no sooner appeared, than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name, and said, pointing to the other -“This is my Beloved Son. Hear him.”
No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects were right and which I should join.
I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: “They draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power there of.....”
So we have the direct testimony of Joseph Smith that he had seen the Father and the Son, on a beautiful day, when the sun was shining brightly, the brightness of these personages outshone the brightness of the sun.
If he were wrong, how easy it should have been for these learned ministers of religion to challenge his statement and invite him to go to the scriptures and endeavor to show him that he was in error about his vision and that it according to the Bible, could not be true! Some of them tried it, but to their great consternation and discomfiture they invariably found that they were wrong and he was right. When they discovered their plight instead of humbly acknowledging their error and accepting the truth, they became all the more bitter towards him and sought more intensely his destruction. You, who may be in doubt, go to your scriptures and see for yourselves.
Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon beheld the glory of the Son, on the right hand of the Father, and received of his fullness; and saw the holy angels, and them who are sanctified before his throne, worshiping God, and the Lamb, who worship him forever.
“And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: THAT HE LIVES! FOR WE SAW HIM, EVEN ON THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father.
That by him, and thru him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God.”
Is it not strange that the Christian denominations refuse to accept the truth and return to the doctrines of our Redeemer, which again have been declared to them by the voice of the Almighty thru the testimonies of his servants the Prophets. But would rather hug to their bosoms the out-worn creed of the Athanasians?
Is it not just as strange that the scientist will not believe. Why is it that men will not humble themselves and in faith and prayer seek the truth from the divine source of truth? We can know for our selves as we ask our Heavenly Father through his son Jesus Christ in Prayer if these things are true. Please build your relationship with your Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. They love each of us and want our success.
All my love forever,
Dad, Grandpa, brother etc.
Richard Marden Pratt
Being this is July and we celebrate freedom I thought you’d enjoy a story from Parley P Pratt and maybe you would want to make a little flag with your families. My Brother Steve made us one years ago and we enjoy flying it on the 4th of July.
The Year was 1839 Parley P Pratt and some others had been imprisoned on false charges in Missouri for 8 months and 4 days, deprived of the sweetness of liberty. Orson Pratt and some of the other saints not in prison had a vision that a way would be made for the freedom of their loved ones and went to the prison to visit. The plans for escape matured and on the 4th of July 1839 while the town was in full celebration of the American Jubilee this is what happened (page 245 of Parley’s autobiography) little did the people know these great and courageous men were actually declaring their true intentions to the towns people.
The builders of our nation have always shown courage also the founders of our great church. Were it not for men like this we would not live in a free land and we could not enjoy the blessings of the restored gospel. So in my heritage I have an extra little flag to wave these are Parley P Pratt’s words about it.
Parley P Pratt’s Liberty Flag autobiography Parley P Pratt page 245-6
“I here by appoint unto my children and my children’s children, in their generations and nations forever, that the 4th day of July be observed by them as a day of feasting, thanksgiving, and processions, with music and with joy, not only as the birthday of American liberty, but as a day of deliverance to their father. And when the stars and stripes of our national banner are unfurled to the breeze of honor of that day, let a small flag be also unfurled to wave in triumph. Let it consist of the half of a shirt, with an eagle and the word “liberty” rudely formed on the same by stripes of red cloth, and when they look upon it, let them remember who suffered for liberty and truth, and to win and perpetuate the blessings they enjoy.
And should the cause of liberty and equal rights ever require their actions in the battle field, let this rude flag be the standard which shall lead them to victory or to death. And whenever it is unfurled in the cause of right and freedom. I now leave my blessing upon it in the name of Jesus Christ, and say that it shall never be dishonored, but shall always prevail till the rod of oppression shall cease from the earth, and peace and truth shall spread and extend their dominion without end.”
Journal of Discourses Vol. VIII page173 6 Dec. 1846
“Imprisonment and Escape of Parley P Pratt, during the persecution in Missouri, 1838"
It’s up to us to perpetuate the blessings of liberty for which the builders of the nation sacrificed that our children will enjoy the special feelings found only in America.
Thanks Steve for our flag and for your teaching us about liberty! We love you brother!
