November 1, 2010
To: My Beloved family & friends
From: Dad, grandpa etc. Richard Marden Pratt
Re: Immortality and Eternal Life
It is for us to be righteous, that we may be wise and understand; for none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand, and they that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars for ever and ever.
Such thoughts as God coming down, angels descending from heaven and returning again, holy men having visions is all too much for their scientific minds to understand. How can a God who is ethereal and who fills the immensity of space, or a God who is merely a thought dwelling in the human mind, come down from heaven and return again? Of course their God could do no such thing; but the God of Israel could and did! It is written: “and the Lord came down in a pillar of the cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth. And he said, Hear now my words: if there be a prophet among you. I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth and not in dark speeches.”
This is an age of faith and the power of God should be greatly increased, but to the contrary it is diminished and men boast in their own strength; yet we see every day the greatest of miracles the airplane, the voice out of the air the picture on TV. There are thousands of miracles performed everyday, wonders that would astound our grandfathers, (I’m one of them). These miracles are as great as turning water into wine raising the dead or anything else.
The Lord informed Moses that his work and his glory are to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.
It is God’s great pleasure in fact it is his very life that man may prove himself obedient to the divine laws which govern his Celestial Kingdom and by doing so obtain a fulness of joy.
This mortal life is a probationary state allotted to man to prove him to see if thru the experiences obtained here he will abide in the laws and commandments which pertain to exaltation.
The exaltation to the celestial kingdom is so great that the Father is fully justified in making it dependent upon strict obedience to all of his commandments. The Celestial Kingdom is a kingdom of perfection. All who enter there must be thoroughly tried and proved and become perfect to inherit it. Every law governing it must be obeyed. There can be no opposition to divine law, nor could any one receiving this reward have any desire to change or disagree with anything prevailing there, for these laws are perfect. As well may a man in the mortal world object to the law of gravity or any of the other fixed laws of nature, as to object to the laws of the Celestial Kingdom. They have been tried, proved and are eternal. This being the fact there can be nothing but peace and joy in that kingdom.
Exalted beings, because they have proved themselves by obedience to every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God, will become perfect and be like him, and as heirs will become Gods themselves.
The Lord most emphatically has declared that it is impossible for man to become like God without the Priesthood and obedience to his commandments. Man has the power to know all things, to become perfect and be bathed in light, knowledge and wisdom, if he will only humble himself and walk in the light and truth. The man who refuses and lives bound within his own wisdom can never attain to these great blessings of exaltation and progression.
There are a great many wise men and women too in our midst who are too wise to be taught; therefore, they must die in their ignorance, and in the resurrection they will find their mistake. Many seal up the door to heaven by saying, “ so far God may reveal and I will believe, but I will accept no more.”
There is throughout the Christian world the prevailing thought that heaven where the righteous will go is some place far off on some glorious sphere which is the home of our Eternal Father. He revealed to Abraham that his home is near to Kolob, the great governing star of our universe. The heaven to which the righteous will go who dwell upon this earth, will be right here upon this earth, for the Lord said, “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. The meek are those who have kept his commandments and have never been permitted to inherit much of the earth during the six thousand years that it has been ruled by man since the fall of Adam.
When this celestialized earth comes, then only those of the Celestial Kingdom will inherit it. Those who have lived a Terrestrial law will be assigned to a Terrestrial kingdom on some other globe. Those who have lived a Telestial law will have to go to a telestial sphere suited to their condition. Where these worlds are the Lord has not revealed to us, however they are spheres now being prepared for them. Justice demands that every man and woman shall receive a reward according to his works. Those who do not attain to eternal life, which is to become sons and daughters of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, will receive the gift of immortality. Immortality means that they will live forever.
In the Celestial Kingdom, those who receive the exaltation will remain husbands and wives. The family organization will not be broken and will endure forever and they will have eternal increase.
The question is frequently asked: if men and women live singly in the terrestrial and telestial kingdoms, then what will prevent them from living promiscuously? The Lord has given us the answer to that question. They will be quickened by different kinds of bodies. Bodies that are not capable of performing the functions of marriage. They will have lost this privilege forever. The privilege of having a family of having children will be lost to them forever because they have proven to God and to themselves that they are not capable of parenthood. They will have proven their inability or unwillingness to be responsible parents.
So the Lord in his great mercy does for all men just the best that he can or just the best that they will allow Him to do for them.
The Terrestrial Kingdom will be inhabited by those who have lived good moral lives, who have been honest, honorable and just, but who would not receive the Gospel and its covenants. The Telestial kingdom will be the place for the wicked, those “who are liars, and sorcerers, and adulterers, and whoremongers, and whosoever loves and make a lie. These are they who suffer the wrath of God on the earth, these are they who suffer the vengeance of eternal fire. These are they who are cast down to hell and suffer the wrath of the Almighty God, until the fullness of times, when Christ shall have subdued all enemies under his feet, and shall have perfected his work; when he shall deliver up the kingdom, and present it unto the Father, spotless, saying: I have over come and have trodden the wire-press alone even the wine press of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God.”
So the Lord in his great mercy does for all men and women the best that he can. Even the wicked after they pay the price, and they will have to pay a dreadful price, will be placed in a kingdom where they can be made as happy as circumstances will permit. Through their intense suffering while they wait for the resurrection at the end of the earths temporal existence, they will finally have learned to be obedient to law, for this will be a requirement in each of the kingdoms, but where God and Christ are they cannot come worlds without end.
In the Terrestrial and Telestial kingdoms, there will be no marriage, hence no continuation of the lives, for they remain in these kingdoms separately and singly through all eternity. This the Lord calls “the deaths” because there is no increase, there are no children.
Can a person after eons of time progress to a higher kingdom? The answer is NO! For the simple reason, at the resurrection the body one receives as their eternal body will be adapted to live in the glory for which it is prepared.
At this time our mortal body lives in the element called air. When it is resurrected it will be adapted to live in the element to which it has been prepared. Example the element of the Celestial glory is likened to fire. And if we are not resurrected a Celestial body, worlds without end will we ever receive a new resurrection and a body that can live in that element.
We do not know what the elements of the two lower kingdoms will be like, but each will be different. Those of the Telestial kingdom for all eternity must live in their element. Those of the Terrestrial many live in their element and the Telestail element, those in the Celestial element can live anywhere, go anywhere and do all things. This world in its resurrected Celestialized state will be their home.
The two lower kingdoms will each live on their globe separate from the Celestail. The Celestial will be this earth after its death, resurrection and celestialization. The globes for the lower kingdoms are being prepared for them. I wouldn’t be surprised that some of our sister planets aren’t being prepared for those eternal kingdoms.
An easy way to understand these two lower kingdoms is to think of them as a children’s playpen. The mother can place the toddler in the pen and go about her house hold chores knowing that the baby is safe.
So if you don’t want to live in a playpen eternally, prove yourself dependable, reliable and faithful. And all eternity is yours and it couldn’t be any other way.
I have run a lot of crews in my life. In harvesting fruit, packing and shipping it there would be up to two hundred. The first two weeks of the season would always be hectic as you hired and fired until you had f reliable crew. Its not much different than what our Heavenly Father is doing as He preparers His eternal crew. His standards are easy, fair, just but exacting. Accept joyfully, serve faithfully, and become as He and our Mother in Heaven are. Who can ask better than that?
So the Lord does for all men and women, just the best that they will let him do. Survey your own life for your eternal life will be much like it, now is the time to make changes, not after you have received a resurrected body that can never be traded in for a better one.
I hope you have enjoyed these memos on the book titled, “Man - His Origin and Destiny” by President Joseph Fielding Smith. I have pretty well quoted him all the way. They are mostly his words and insight. I testify they are true and will lead the believer to that eternal shore of bliss and happiness.
Wow, what a plan of happiness our Heavenly parents have for us and they want us
to be successful even giving us a Savior even our elder brother, Jesus Christ. Do your best to live the plan. And be ready to receive all that the Father has to give. I love you all so very much. Let’s work to be there together.
My love always,
Dad, Grandpa etc. Richard Marden Pratt
remember you can share these memos with any you care to at:
http://www.prattmemos.blogspot.com
Be ready Utah is a plan to be safe put out by the Utah Department of Health.
THIS is what is says:
You cannot plan when a disaster occurs or who you’ll be with. You can only plan to be prepared.
Disaster can strike Utah communities at any time and without warning, catching you unprepared. Often, the least prepared are those upon whom we must rely to assist others. If you’re not prepared when a disaster occurs, your mind will be focused on the welfare of your family or the condition of your home, not on the critical job that you may be expected to perform at work. Now is the time to prepare for community emergencies, not when you’re faced with difficult decision. This is a simple guide and it is a minium and easy to follow.
YOU CAN DO THIS!
A simple guide to the nine essential items to help you shelter-in-place in the event of an emergency.
1. WATER bottled water one gallon per person per day for drinking and sanitation.
2. FOOD nonperishable food. A supply to last 3-5 days per person. ROTATE often.
3. CLOTHES collect a change of clothes and footwear per person. Consider packing blankets
4. MEDICATIONS you take daily along with a FIRST AIDE KIT.
5. FLASHLIGHT keep a bright flashlight in case there is not electric power.
6. CAN OPENER
7. RADIO a battery-powered radio for listening to news and weather. & BATTRIES!
8. HYGIENE ITEMS Just the basics like soap, toilet paper and toothbrush and feminine needs.
What YOU can do:
Make a family emergency plan. Choose an out-of-state contact. Pick two meeting places, close-by and one that’s out of the neighborhood. Consider special needs for family members and pets.
Know the emergency plans for your children’s schools. Record important telephone numbers.
Assemble an emergency kit. Become CERT - Trained. Community information line is 2-1-1.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies! Yummy, Good!
1 large can pumpkin
1 lemon cake mix
1 carrot cake mix
1 bag chocolate chips
Mix the pumpkin and 2 cake mixes together and then stir in the chocolate chips
Bake at 375* for 12 minutes ( SERIOUSLY 4 INGREDIENTS! Easy to do and great to eat!)
