From: Richard Pratt
To: Those I Love
Re: The Reality of God
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1 This opening verse in the Old Testament is verified by the Gospel of John: “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. ALL things were made BY HIM; and without him was not anything made that was made.”
John 1:1-3
These two scriptures, and there are many more, are enough to verify the natural law which is: “there is no creation without a creator.” The purpose of this memo then is to become acquainted with those Supreme beings the creators of all things. They are identified in the scriptures as God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. The word God is a title extended to all who earn it.
“The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us.” D & C 130:22-23
The scriptures also state :This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.” John 17:3 “Eternal Life” is a term meaning a quality of life, the kind of life Gods enjoy. Every soul will live forever but only those who know God will have Eternal life. They will live like God, they will be like God in fact they may become Gods in their own right. The secret is to know God and Jesus Christ!
But, “This is eternal lives ~ to know the only wise and true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent. I am he. Receive ye, therefore, my LAW.” D & C 132:24
Now comes the shocker from Matthew, “NO MAN knoweth the SON, BUT THE FATHER; Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and HE TO WHOM SO EVER
THE SON WILL REVEAL HIM.” Matthew 11:27
Now comes the puzzle, if knowing God the Father and God the Son can only come by revelation and revelation of God’s law can only be had thru the Holy Ghost and THROUGH PROPHETS and John, of Peter James and John was the last of the prophets chosen by Christ. Then no one since that time (about 98 B.C.) Can ever hope to receive Eternal Life. UNLESS there are again living prophets upon the earth who can teach all who will listen to the LAW OF GOD and this is to know God. Meaning if we know his LAW and obey it and covenant (make an oath) to keep it we will be able to go back into his presence with all our family WHO will do the same and enjoy all the blessings that the Gods enjoy. And there is no other way we can do it.
Thankfully the ancient prophets give us the following wonderful news. I will only use a few and will start with Amos saying, “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7 But he also tells us this startling news, “Behold the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of HEARING THE WORDS OF THE LORD.”
And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the North even to the East, they shall run to and fro to seek THE WORD OF THE LORD, AND SHALL NOT FIND IT. Amos 8:11-12
Now we must decide when this prophecy would be filled. Starting with Adam to Noah their were ten great Patriarchs or Prophets. So God the Father saw to it that all pre - flood dwellers on the earth could hear the Prophets.
Noah lived thru the flood 350 years and Abraham was born about the time of Noah’s death and prophets continued on the earth to Malachi about 400 B. C. With Christs birth, life, and mission prophets were again on the earth.
Note: During the 400 years interval between Malachi and Christ there were prophets on the Americas teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the resurrected Lord appeared to some of them. But by 400 A.D. even these prophets had been martyred and from that day until 1820 A.D. there were no prophets and this would have been the time Amos prophesied of a famine in the land of hearing the word of God.
Indeed Isaiah, speaking of the “Dark ages”he says in Chapter 24:1-6 (I will only record verses 5 and 6 but encourage you to read them all.) 5: “The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because THEY HAVE TRANSGRESSED THE LAWS, CHANGED THE ORDINANCE, BROKEN THE EVERLASTING COVENANT. 6: Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth (the curse of disobedience)and they that dwell therein are desolate. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.”
Here we are plainly told that the world has turned completely away from God and Isaiah says they will be burned and the earth cleansed. This word “burned” dates when his prophecy will be fulfilled and this is at the Second Coming of Christ, which great event is imminent. And Matthew adds to all our hope a great deal more when he writes, “And again this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations: and then shall the end come.” Matthew 24:14 Or the destruction of the wicked which is the end of the world.
Having digressed for a moment, I will now return to the title of this memo. “The Reality of God.” There are a great many records in the Old and New Testaments of actual appearances of either the Father or the Son or Both and I will now refer to a few. Most of these are of the Son but I will not try to identify which is which for as the Savior told Phillip, “if yea have seen me ye have seen the Father.” they look alike, think alike, and act alike even as they are asking all true followers of Christ to do.
And as the Savior said in that great prayer recorded in John 17:20-23 “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, are in me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
And the glory which thou gavest them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and Thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.”
Read the second and third chapters of the Book of Genesis and we find that after God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden that God met with them face to face and gave instructions and offered them a choice for God does not force himself on anyone. The choice was to remain in the garden forever under the following conditions: “all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end; and THEY WOULD HAVE HAD NO CHILDREN; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin.” 2 Nephi 2:22-23
The other choice: was to achieve mortality by eating the forbidden fruit suffering all the pain and joys of a mortal life then going thru a process we call death and a chance to declare themselves as followers of Christ or the Devil. Christ the Savior would make it possible for all his followers to receive forgiveness of their sins by faith, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost and thru obedience come back into the presence of God in a resurrected perfected body, all provided by the Savior, Jesus Christ as directed by the Father. (I will enlarge on this in a later memo but now I must continue to reveal the reality of Gods as they appeared to ancient prophets.)
“And Enoch (7th generation after Adam) walked with God: and he was not; for God took him. Genesis 5:24
Jacob declared, “I have seen God face to face.” Genesis 32:30
God chose Abraham, because of his faith and works, and Abrahams descendants (Israel) to be a blessing to all nations until the end of time. Genesis ch. 12-25
“And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.” Exodus 33:11 and in the same chapter apparently at a later occurrence, Moses had done something displeasing to God. And Moses said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.”
And the Lord answered: thou canst not see my face: for there shall no (unrighteous) man see me and live.
But the Lord relented somewhat saying, “while my glory (face) passeth by, I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: and I will take away mine hand. And thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.” Exodus 33:18-23
in this short paper I can’t begin to cover all the appearances of God to man so I’ll skip ahead to Isaiah.
“In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon, a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.” Isaiah 6:1 and he also records, “also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, whom will I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me Isaiah 6:8
and in 1st Kings 9:1-9 we read a very interesting account of the Lord appearing to Solomon on two different occasions the first visitation being at the dedication of the Temple, the second a little later. And the Lord promised Solomon that by continued obedience Israel would remain forever and their kings would be descendants of Solomon. But Solomon fell and so did Israel to their common destruction. (But Israel will be gathered, all 12 tribes in the last days, as evidence the Jews currently returning to Jerusalem. The other tribes will soon appear. The Tribe of Ephraim is strongly dominant in our Caucasian members.
Now let us turn to the Book of Revelation 1:10-20 John is speaking, “I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day ...I heard a great voice behind me... I turned to see the voice...I saw one like unto the Son...” and then he, John, tries to give a description of God but what an impossible task.
Well there are so many more appearances testifying to God’s reality through his appearances that I am tempted to write a book about them. But for now I will suffice with one more and that is the great happening at the baptism of Christ, Matthews account, for both the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost were manifest.
“And Jesus 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 (Holy Ghost) descending like a dove and lighting upon him. And lo a voice from Heaven saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I
am well pleased.’ Matthew 3:16-17
Because they crucified the Lord and killed the Apostles and destroyed the church. The world suffered terribly over a 1000 years aptly named by historians as the “Dark Ages.” (Approximately 475 -1475 AD) now the world has entered the final stages of its mortal existence but not before living Prophets reveal to the people the secrets of God as promised by ancient Amos.
After the Savior’s resurrection he continued to minster to his desciples over a period of 40 days and on the final day as he gave his last instructions they were traveling from Jerusalem to Bethany.
“While they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel: (angels) which also said, ‘Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”Acts 1:9-11
I bear witness that Jesus has returned again, called prophets and apostles, restored his church and is preparing the world for his appearance to all the world and the world will be cleansed with fire and all who will not hearken will be burned as declared by Isaiah and others.
“O, that I were an angel and could have the wish of my heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!
Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth.” Alma 29:1-2
I love you,
Dad, Grandpa etc Richard M. Pratt
