To those I love
From: Grandpa Pratt
Re: The Second Coming ~ The Cleansing of the Earth: Actually, destruction of filth; and man is the agent of all filth, for he of all the creations, alone, has been blessed with the power to think, to reason, to choose. Therefore we find it the major theme of the Old and New Testaments and the Book of Mormon. It starts in chapter 6 of Genesis and you can’t start any earlier than that.
“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. And it repented Noah that the Lord had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping things, and the fowls of the air.” Genesis 6:5-7 This, of course would have been the flood, but the end cleansing by fire is similar.
The biblical account ends with John prophesying of the destruction of Babylon. (Note Babylon flourished about 600 B.C. and is used by the Lord as a symbol of the wickedness of the world as it was the most wicked city or country of all times.)
“And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, what city is like unto this great city! And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness for in one hour is she made DESOLATE.” Revelations 18: 16-18
Even the tiny Old Testament book of Joel is devoted to the subject and its only three short chapters. Joel was prophesying about 850 B.C. just after Isaiah.
“Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come”. Joel 1:15 While I’m in Joel here are a few more of his prophecies. “Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand; (Note: he was not talking about it being close to his day, but he was seeing our day as if he were here and he could see the eminent coming.) “A day of darkness and of gloominess a day of clouds and of thick darkness as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it even to the years of many generations.”
A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea and nothing shall escape them.” (He is speaking of the one world army that is even now emerging as the nations are ceding more and more control to the U. N. (Note: I will elaborate when we get to John’s revelation nearly 1,000 years later.)
“And I will show wonders in the heavens. (Note: air planes, guided missiles, men on the moon and soon on Mars. as he saw this in vision he would surely have been startled in his primitive world, while we think nothing of them.) And in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.” (Possibly air pollution)
“and it shall come to pass. That whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion (America) and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant (obedient) whom the Lord shall call.”
(Note: I have coined a new phrase for all these calamities, get used to it, and watch it unfold. I call it “Selective destruction” for you will marvel at who is saved in impossible situations.)
Then Joel prophecies of the return of Judah to Jerusalem and Palestine today. And he is living 250 years before they were destroyed and scattered world wide shortly after Lehi left Jerusalem with his family in 600 B.C.
Here is a little more from Joel’s 5and1/2 pages. And this doesn’t begin to milk all the information of the last day recorded therein.
He has the Lord saying: “I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehosaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations and parted my land.” This valley in later times had been called Esdraelon, and Jezrael. I don’t know its current name. It stretches North and West from Jerusalem and is about 20 miles long, on the North Western end is the Mountain called Meggido. Add the prefix “army” to Meddedo and you have the battle of Armageddon which must shortly come to pass and will be terminated by the personal appearance of Jesus Christ.
(More about this later!) Many terrible battles have been fought in this valley over the last 4,000 years and Armageddon will be the finale as all nations gather to destroy the Jews. (Sounds like a U.N. Army.)
Then Joel continues: “Assemble yourselves, and come all ye heathen (notice what he is calling the world) and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down. O Lord. Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.” (Part of the judgement will consist of destruction of the whole WORLDS armed forces.)
Joel ends on this word of hope for the Jews: Multitudes, mulitudes in the valley of decision: (another name for the valley of Jehoshaphat) “For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. (Again he is seeing and speaking of our day.)
“The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall with draw their shining. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, (America) and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel (Which we are a part of. We are of the tribe of Joseph thru his son Ephraim for the most part.) In his closing words again we see selective destruction.
“Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom (His word for world) shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because THEY HAVE SHED INNOCENT BLOOD IN THEIR LAND, But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed, for the Lord dwelleth in Zion (America). Now a few words from Daniel, a contemporary of Nephi, captured and taken to Babylon about the time Nephi’s family left for America and about 250 years after Joel.
“And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time (now) and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” (Note: In the next memo or two the sequence of the resurrection will be tabulated and it is oh so close.)
“And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and more of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.”Daniel 12 (Notice Selective Destruction, the wise by being obedient shall not be destroyed.) Be wise and know that I love you,
Dad, Grandpa, uncle etc
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