You may notice that I did not blog #19, It's a beautiful Christmas message. Go back in your own set of memos it has some choice stories in addition to the memo. Great for your families. Dawn was the typist and interviewed Dad about his Christmas traditions. Oh so humble! I have some of Great Grandpa's sleigh bells to this day and enjoy them at Christmas time too.
love,
Rose
Memo #20 January 1, 2002 BLOGGED MARCH 2014
To: All Pratt Adults and Selected Others
From: Dad, Grandpa and otherwise
Re: The Kingdom of God
The great prophet Daniel, carried away captive into Babylonia while yet a boy in the year 606 B.C., prophesied in Babylon for over 50 years of the key events in the world to happen from then down to the end of the world. (Parenthetically Lehi and his family left Jerusalem six years later in 600 B.C. and were brought to America by the Lord to replace a people who had ripened in iniquity until they destroyed themselves as recorded in the Book of Mormon. Daniel would have been about 6 years older than the also Great Prophet Nephi who was the son of Lehi. They likely knew each other.)
Daniel, speaking of our day prophesied that the King of Heaven (God) shall set up a kingdom on earth, which shall never be destroyed...and it shall break in pieces and consume all earthly kingdoms and governments and shall stand forever. It will be as a little stone cut out of the mountain without hands (human hands) that it will roll forth until it breaks down all earthly kingdoms and then the King of Heaven (Jesus) will come and rule the earth forever and personally the first 1000 years which is know as the Millennium. Which chronologically has now started. (Daniel ch. 2) Look for great and dreadful things to happen soon, oh so very soon, in the life times of many of you and be prepared to be a citizen of that Kingdom that will last forever.
There are 5 requisites to an eternal Kingdom.
1. There must be a King all powerful, just, and merciful.
2. He must have laws that are just and equatable
3. There must be authorized officers to administer the laws.
4. There must be subjects (us) or the above 3 are worthless.
5. There must be a country large enough to sustain all the subjects in comfort, might and glory.
“Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.” Matt. 5:5 (Meek means obedient to the laws of the Kingdom of God. Based on the World’s disobedience, the earth in its renewed and Paradisiacal glory will amply accommodate ALL the meek. Just be concerned that YOU are among them. For only there will one be able, in FAMILY UNITS, to progress forever, have a fullness of joy, and rule and reign, under the Great King, as Kings and Queens, Fathers and Mothers over their own Kingdoms.)
John the Baptist, a cousin of Jesus and 6 months older came out of the wilderness crying to the Jews repent, repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, the King is here, accept him.
Jesus appeared, John baptized him (the first law qualifying for citizenship) and the Father spoke from Heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son, in who I am well pleased.” (Matt. 3:17)
And the Holy Ghost descended upon him and a white dove (bird) descended and landed on the shoulder of Jesus as a sign to John that he had indeed baptized the son of God.
The purpose of the restoration of the Kingdom at that time, for it had been on the earth before and always destroyed by the subjects refusing to be law abiding; the purpose was for the King (Jesus) to receive his body of Flesh, prove his obedience to the Father, be an example to all AND CONQUER DEATH, all of which he did.
But again the Kingdom was destroyed. 1. The King was killed. 2. The laws were broken. 3. The authorized officers were murdered. 4. The subjects reverted to their old false deities and paganism. The world then endured the awfulness of the “Dark Ages”. And they were awful for I have read much about them and of the suffering and misery during nearly 2 millennium.
But now the time prophesied by Daniel has arrived. The Kingdom has been restored. The
King has appeared. His laws have and are being preached. Officers, led by a living Prophet, are administering the laws of the Kingdom and subjects are being recruited by obedience to the laws of that Kingdom in preparation to eternally inherit the earth in its resurrected and eternal Glory. And to be governed forever by that great and glorious Son of God, even Jesus, under the Father, and each of us to inherit with Jesus All that the Father has to give.
“Each succeeding generation, governed by these same principles, will improve till male and female may live and multiply for a hundred years or more upon the earth.” and after the resurrection their union still renew.
“With this view of the subject, what man would be so base, so groveling, so blind to his own interest as TO NEGLECT those duties, self denials, sacrifices that are necessary in order to secure a part in the first resurrection, and a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory in that life which never ends.” P. P. Pratt
In Memo 19 I quoted D&C 46:13-14 which indicates that a person who can’t believe in what I have just written may still receive all the benefits of the Kingdom by following someone who knows, that is to obey the laws as he or she obeys them.
I have obeyed and am obeying those laws if you need help please believe me and obey them as I do. Here they are.
Like Jesus, I was baptized by an authorized officer of the Kingdom and thereby became a subject, done at an age when I was old enough to understand. (8 ½ years old, born March 14, 1912 baptized Sept. 14, 1920)
This is the first covenant of the Kingdom and assures the individual all rights, privileges, hopes and promises equally shared with all other subjects.
As I matured I entered into the other covenants. I received authority to act in the name of God called Melchizedek Priesthood Sept. 4, 1930 under the hands of William R. Sloan who was ordained by Heber S. Allen, he by Apostle George Teasdale, he by President Brigham Young, who was ordained by the 3 witnesses of the Book of Mormon, they by Joseph Smith who was ordained by the resurrected Peter, James and John, they were ordained by Moses, Elijah and Christ on the Mt. of Transfiguration as recorded in the Gospels of Matthew etc.
I give this lengthy (although short) account of my authority to act in God’s name. No other man can make this claim upon all the face of the earth except those who have gone thru the same process.
With this authority to represent God I have officiated in many callings as an officer of God. The ones I am most pleased with is filling 4 missions in recruiting further subjects for the Kingdom, three missions with my wonderful wife as companion for a total of about 6 years all financed by our own selves.
With this authority Grandma and I have filled all the other covenants needed to be eternal Sweethearts and part of Gods eternal family. In that we have been sealed to our respective parents to retain our place there in as a son and a daughter. We have also been sealed to each other to be husband and wife and a Father and Mother forever. This glorious event took place in the Cardston Alberta Temple for it can only be done in a Temple of God. It took place July 25, 1934. Our children were born in this covenant and will be eternally our son and daughters.
These laws and covenants with the 10 commandments are the basic laws of the Kingdom of God. They are not many and are easy and light to bare or as the Savior said: “Take up your cross, and follow me.” (Simply stated “obedience to the laws of the Kingdom” which he, Christ, also obeys as does the Father.) There is no other way that will bring a fullness of Joy. Please don’t miss the boat. Take up your cross and follow me. And together we shall have eternal life. “This is Eternal lives to know the only wise and true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he has sent, I am he. Receive ye, therefore, my law.” D&C 132: 24
I love you,
Dad, Grandpa etc. Richard Marden Pratt
Then Dad added his story of How to tame a grizzly so here goes. He could tell a fun story too.
How to tame a grizzly
by Richard Pratt
Grandpa had a black eye a few weeks ago, boy was it black, not only the eye but the right temple clear up to the hair line. The next day he had a Temple assignment to fill so he whitened it with talcum power and hoped no one would notice but to no avail. Fellow workers gathered around and wanted to know how he got such a shiner.
Said Grandpa, “You wouldn't believe me if I told you.”
Their pleadings and assurances that they would believe increased until he gave in and the following is his account of how it happened.
Yesterday I climbed “Y “ mountain past the “ Y “ and clear up over the top to a beautiful mountain meadow lush with grass and flowers with heavy timbered slopes. This was named Bear flats by the pioneers.
The trail is little used and over grown with grass and brush. Visibility is not far beyond one’s nose. I turned a corner and came face to face with a bear, a huge grizzly. He must have stood 10 feet tall as he towered on his hind legs.
I was so close I could have touched him and he me. I immediately froze as I pondered my alternatives the main one being his dinner. I knew that trying to out run him was impossible for they can outrun a horse. Then I remembered the old pioneer advice. “Out stare them.” so with my little green eyes boring into his big brown eyes I held my ground and not blinking I stared him down.
He dropped to all fours and started to walk away. I immediately thought, “all my life I've wanted a bear skin rug and I’ll never have a better chance than this.” with that I jumped on his back and grabbed a handful of fur with my right hand.
The bear went bezerk as he tried to unseat me. I looked like a rodeo cowboy coming out to the chute on a Brahma bull. In seconds he’s going down the trail at full bucking speed.
I had to work fast. Getting my pocket knife out of my tight jeans pocket was a trial and opening it with my teeth most difficult. But I did and made the first incision right behind his ears. The blood spurted and I gloated. Given another 20 seconds and that old bear would have been running down that trail stark naked. But that sniveling creature didn't play fair. At that moment he ran under a low lying tree limb which whacked me on my right temple so hard that it not only knocked me off the bear but turned me a complete somersault in the air and I landed on my back only half conscious. That’s how I got this black eye. But wait, the story has more.
In my half dazed condition, I realized the bear had stopped, a little trickle of blood dripping from ht end of his nose from my incision.
Slowly he turned and came back. I tried to get up but couldn't. So I just relaxed and resigned myself to being his dinner.
He didn't stop until each of his front feet was planted right beside each of my ears and I was looking right down his throat. Clear to the back side of his belly button. And his tonsils. I didn’t know a bear had tonsils. Did you?
They were large as tomatoes and just as red. I thought this poor bear has a terribly soar throat. No wonder he didn't eat me. But he’s going to now.
He lowered his head ‘till our noses almost touched and his bloody nose dripped on mine. I couldn't bear to look longer, so I closed my eyes. Then I felt his warm, moist tongue land gently on my aching eye and like she would lick her cub she gently massaged my eye and aching head. In moments the pain stopped and I drifted off to sleep.
It must have been an hour or two before I wakened. And when I did there was no sign of that bear.
I thought, “What a dream!” I didn’t know ‘till I got home to a mirror that I had a black eye to prove my story. But even more, there laid my bloody knife with a tuft of bear hair stuck to it. I examined my own body for cuts to see if it was my blood, and definitely I didn’t have any bear hair growing on me.
Well there it is. I knew you wouldn’t believe me but I can’t tell the real story and even if I did you wouldn’t believe it either. But if I get at least 2 written request I will tell it. So it’s up to you! NO REQUESTS - NO TRUE STORY!
Grandpa
To go along with Grandpa’s story go to Grandma’s book Kaleidoscope page 43 for “Huckleberrying in Bear Country” and page 24 for “Trapping” the skunk poem only grandma’s stories are true!
Grandma used to make wonderful yummy steamed puddings. We would eat these in the winter on special occasions like new years or at a family gathering. She would serve this in beautiful cut glass dishes topped with a tangy lemon sauce.
Steamed pudding
1 cup carrots grated
1 cup potatoes grated
1 cup sugar
1 cup raisins
2/3 cup shortening
2 eggs
½ cup flour
½ tsp soda
½ tsp salt
1 tsp each cinnamon & nutmeg
½ tsp cloves
3/4 cup walnuts
mix all together and place in well greased pan or pyrex bowl and steam for 1 hour. She used a large double boiler on her stove. The smaller pan with the pudding in it was not covered but placed in the larger pan on a rack, with water underneath. This had a tight lid. The steam could really surround the pudding. Wow is it ever good. I think I will make some today and share it with my family! This is actually 1/3 the size of her original recipe.
For the sauce you can squeeze 2 lemons and grate their rind, 1 cup water, sweeten with sugar and thicken with cornstarch to the taste and thickness you like. Some people like a caramel sauce on the pudding but Grandma liked the lemon sauce best!
Don’t forget to have a doughnut fry this winter that was traditional too.
What a heritage we have in the great testimonies of family relationships and the lives lived full of goodness and faithfulness. We have the examples to follow and we can be a forever family if we just apply the principles they have taught us. Grandpa is still vibrant and strong and his example is to all of us. We can look to him and encourage each other to be Christ centered.
