December 1, 2010 (written end of 2008)
From: Dad, Grandpa etc. Richard Marden Pratt
Re: Our Personal life in a distressed world
The next memo or two was sparked by rereading the story of Heleman and his two thousand and sixty stripling warriors. In as much as war will continue to multiply upon the earth until the Savior comes, and he will come in the midst of the largest, most intense, most destructive of wars that this earth has known. The death toll of that terror will be one third of the people then living. The suffering of the survivors will be beyond the tongue of man to describe, and when I think that my family must live in those dreadful times, I want to leave them with the assurance that all will be well thru following the “Eternal commanding Officer” of Heaven. I will attempt to do this by refreshing our minds with some excerpts of past wars and battles.
“And there was war in heaven: Michael (Adam) and his angels (us) fought against the dragon (Satan) and the dragon fought and his angels.
And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world; he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now is come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethern is cast down, ...AND THEY OVERCAME HIM BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB, and they loved not their lives unto the death.” Revelations 12:7-11
Note: this war in heaven was not a killing war for it was a war between spirits, who cannot die. The defending forces were led by Michael also known as the archangel who in mortal life became known as Adam. The opposing leader, Lucifer also known by several other names had also been born a spirit son to our Heavenly Parents not long after the birth of their first born, Jesus, who volunteered to be our Savior from death of the mortal body and from the sins of the world if we comply with a few simple instructions. Satan was also a spirit of high renoun for he was given the title, “Son of the Morning” meaning he was born as a spirit in the beginning of us all. And apparently was given considerable authority but like the scripture says: “We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion. Hence many are called, but few are chosen” (D&C 121:39-40) ~ therefore Lucifer lost everything.
But notice by the succeeding verses how the Savior received all things and since then has offered all things to every man and every woman that follows him. LISTEN! “No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the Priesthood, only by persuasion, by long suffering, by gentleness and meekness and by love unfeigned; by kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and with out guile~
Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy; that he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death.
Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith,
and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distill upon thy soul as the dews from heaven.
The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever. D&C 121:41-56
Note: This is how the Savior governs. This is one of my favorite of all the scriptures; I memorized it years ago probably back on the Cashmere Farm and frequently quote it to myself. And notice the final reward promised is the last lines of verse 46, “And thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever.”
And this shall be your reward in the army of God as you help to defeat the enemy of all righteousness. There are some great conflicts yet to be waged. Briefly, Satan has yet to be bound which will take place soon at the coming of our commanding officer who will then usher in the millennium, a thousand years of peace. But at the end of that peace Satan will be loosed again for a short period. “For Satan shall be bound, and when he is loosed again he shall only reign for a little season. And then cometh the end of the earth. D&C 43:31
At the end of the millennium he shall be loosed for a little season, that he may gather together his armies.
“And Michael, the seventh angel even the archangel, shall gather together his armies, even the hosts of heaven.
And the devil shall gather together his armies; even the hosts of hell, and shall come up to battle against Michael and his armies.
And then cometh the battle of the great God; and the devil and his armies shall be cast away into their own place, (Hell) that they shall not have power over the saints any more at all.
For Michael shall fight their battles, and shall overcome him who seeketh the throne of him who sitteth upon the throne, even the Lamb. This is the glory of God, and the sanctified, (US) and they shall not anymore see death.” D&C 88:114-116
After Adam and Eve had chosen mortal life they were visited of God and taught concerning their new life in a mortal world. It must of been a hectic time as they needed to provide for themselves a home and the necessities of life with out the benefit of a “Wendy’s” or “McDonald’s”. And of course the babies started arriving. No hospitals, no doctors, no nurses, not even a midwife.
“And in that day Adam blessed God and was filled, and began to prophesy concerning all the families of the earth, saying: Blessed be the name of God, for because of my transgression my eyes are opened, and in this life I shall have joy, and again in the flesh I shall see God.”
And Eve, his wife heard all these things and was glad, saying: “were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient.”
And Adam and Eve blessed the name of God, and they made all things known unto their sons and daughters.” Moses 5:10-12
And of course Satan came among their children and taught them not to believe it and from that time forth the children loved Satan more than God and men became carnal, sensual, and devilish. But as many as believed in God, and repented of their sins, should be saved; and as
many as believed not, should be dammed.
By this time the first one hundred years from the Fall must have past and they would have had many hundreds if not thousands of posterity and apparently all were a disappointment to them.
And then they had a new born son and called him Cain, which meant “we have gotten a man from the Lord.” I suppose that they figured by starting young they would have a chance to raise a “missionary worthy son”. But twas not to be. And Eve conceived again and bare his brother Abel and hit the jack pot. Abel was everything a good boy should be.
And Cain introduced murder into the world by killing his own brother. And from that time to the present death by violence has swept millions upon millions off the world individually and collectively as nations destroy each other in the guise of legalized murder. In written history, twenty one know civilizations have passed into extinction. All have followed the same course.
Some twenty or thirty memos back I listed the five causes of this terrible genocide. I think they are worth repeating here. They are: “TRAPD” the world is trapped in the clutches of Satan and are currently rushing toward being the twenty second civilization to destroy itself. The five letters, “TRAPD”, stand for the following:
T = Taxation, no people have lasted more than forty years after their taxation exceeded 40% of the national gross income. R = Religion, the decline and fall of religion always precedes the demise of a people. A = Armaments or war. Trying to police the world is self destructive. The USA currently has over 700 military bases world wide and can’t control the murder of two million people annually at home. Thru abortion and gang related street murders. P = Pleasure = excessive love of it destroys all who seek after it. D = Divorce = the breakdown of the home. More than 70% of delinquent children come from such homes. Divorce is always the result of one or both parties breaking the commandments of God. And I hate to admit it but men are most often the culprits.
But from the beginning the gospel (means Good news) was preached being declared by ANGELS sent forth from the presence of God and by his OWN VOICE and by the gift of the Holy Ghost. And this is how it is always taught and will continue to be until the judgement day.
When Adam and Eve were 130 years old they begat a son and named him Seth. Seth, looked so much like his father that they could only be told apart by the differences in age. And he replaced righteous Abel whom Cain had murdered as the Priesthood heir of Adam.
“And the children of men were numerous upon all the face of the land. And in those days Satan had great dominion among men, and raged in their hearts; and from thenceforth came wars and bloodshed; and a man’s hand was against his own brother in administering death, because of secret works, seeking for power.” Moses 6:15
When Adam was 682 years old (he lived 930 years) a great, great, great, great, grandson was born and named Enoch. At the age of 65 Enoch was called on a mission.
The people didn’t know it and perhaps Enoch didn’t know that the Lord was trying to prepare his rebellious children for the destruction of the flood. (Enoch was the father of Methuselah who died the year of the flood at the age of 969 years the oldest age recorded.)
And Enoch continued his preaching in righteousness...and it came to pass that he built a city that was called...Zion. And in process of time Zion was taken up into heaven.
“And so great was the faith of Enoch that he led the people of God, and their enemies came to battle against them; and he spake the word of the Lord and the earth trembled and the mountains
fled, even according to his command and the rivers of water were turned out of their course... and all nations feared greatly, so powerful was the word of Enoch, ... there came up a land out of the depth of the sea, and so great was the fear of the enemies of the people of God, that they fled and stood afar off...and from that time forth there were wars and bloodshed among them; but the Lord came and dwelt with his people and they dwelt in righteousness.” Moses 7:13-16
“And Enoch saw angels descending out of heaven; and he heard a loud voice saying: “Wo, Wo be unto the inhabitants of the earth.” and he beheld Satan; and he had a great chain in
his hand, and it veiled the whole face of the earth with darkness; and Satan looked up and laughed and his angels rejoiced” Moses 7:25-26
And Enoch saw angels descending out of heaven who came to those who believed and the were caught up to join his city of Zion.
And God looked upon the residue of the people, and he wept, and Enoch asked the Lord why was he so unhappy and the Lord said to Enoch. “Behold these thy brethren and I gave unto them a commandment to love one another and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold they are without affection, and they hate their own blood...and in my hot displeasure will I send in the floods upon them, for my fierce anger is turned against them.
In all the other worlds there had not been so great wickedness as among these thy brethren. Wherefore should not the heavens weep seeing that these shall suffer?
And then he adds, as a heart broken Father, these that perish in the flood, a prison have I prepared for them. And that which I have chosen, even Jesus Christ, shall plead before me. Wherefore, he suffereth for their sins; in as much as they will repent in the day that my chosen shall return unto me, and until that day they shall be in torment. Moses 7:39
REMEMBER not one soul needed to drown in the flood. And not one soul needs to be destroyed in the fire that will cleanse the earth for the second time. God, our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are asking us to choose the plan of happiness!
When Enoch was four hundred thirty years old. He and the obedient in the land of Zion were taken up with their buildings and a good sized chunk of this earth.
Some of the righteous however were left to continue to warn the people, any that accepted the gospel and repented of their sins were caught up to join Zion.
Methuselah the son of Enoch was one that remained and died the year of the flood. His son Lamech was the father of Noah and Noah was born five years after Zion left. Noah was six hundred years old when the flood came. Three of his sons, Japheth and Shem were born of the same mother. Ham was from a different mother. Which mother was with Noah on the Ark we don’t know.
What happened to the rest of his family? They were either caught up with Zion or drowned in the flood. We only have a tidbit of information concerning some of his granddaughters.
And the Lord said unto Noah; the daughters of thy sons have sold themselves; because they have married among the wicked. So they would have drowned also.
And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Genesis 5:5
the earth also was corrupt before God. And the earth was filled with violence...I will destroy them with the earth. Ibid 13
only eight souls were saved by water but how many were saved with Zion we do not know. But again I repeat not one soul needed to perish then or NOW. And those that drowned because of their lack of love and acts of violence in their prison condition are being taught the gospel and thru their suffering will come to repentance and be eternally saved in one of the lower degrees of glory.
All I have written here is true. Believe it and be safe as the earth faces its final cleansing by fire and war. The scriptures are true. The Lord lives and His plan is real!
I Love YOU ALL!
Dad, Grandpa etc.
Richard Marden Pratt
