Richard Pratt's Memos

Memo #136

2012-01-01T11:31:00.000-07:00

Memo #136
January 1, 2012 (written 4/1/08) Share at: http://www.prattmemos.blogspot.com
To: My Beloved Family
From: Dad ~ Grandpa Pratt
Re: Prophetic warnings

My desire is to stimulate thru these memos a positive, exciting outlook toward the future, hoping to overcome the negative, anxious feelings that so many have. These feelings of uneasiness and even despair are prevalent all over the world, but it should not be among members of the church, FOR GLORIOUS IS THE FUTURE. The Lord is in control and he will bring the end of the world to a fantastic and happy conclusion for those who are trying to know the future which is all prophesied and following instructions called keeping the commandments. True, difficult days are ahead. But the Lord is going to bring them to a triumphant conclusion and even the wicked will rejoice when they finally open their eyes and listen with their ears. For even the Telestial Kingdom which will be their ultimate destination is greater than a human eye has ever seen. So the saints of God should have an eager desire to prepare for his coming and a joyous anticipation of that great event.
Everything of a major nature that will affect our mortal and eternal lives has been spelled out in detail by the Prophets of God. Only dates have been withheld. And how wise that is for it is the nature of man to put off preparing for some great event until its about to happen and if we knew the dates we would delay until it would be everlastingly to late. Prophecy is the hand of God extended in love to a groping, floundering world.
Emotions of fear, anxiety, dread, gloom, and discomfort are prevalent even among the most faithful. And this need not be so if we have even a tiny glow of faith in our God. And it comes mostly from a lack of knowledge. So I will endeavor to help abate that lack in the next few memos. This is a glorious time to live and we have nothing to fear if we understand how hard our God is working “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” Moses 1:39
Therefore, I will try to endeavor to expose us all to some of the predictions pertaining to the immediate future and to the second coming of our Lord and Savior; and the roll we may and should play therein. And as I have already discussed somewhat the future of the most persecuted people ever known ~ The Jews and their brilliant future so I will attempt to show how the future of all Israel and Gentiles who repent will be equally as glorious.
While it is clear that warning the inhabitants of the earth is one major purpose of prophecy, the conclusion that the Lord seeks to strike terror into the hearts of his children is unfounded. When a parent describes to his child the pain and suffering that may result from playing with electrical outlets, he may have to use rather ominous predictions and graphically plain terms. But it is plain that this parent is motivated out of love for the child, not out of some desire to see him cowering in fear. So it is with God. At times what he predicts is necessarily terrible to contemplate, but this is so because the choices his children make bring upon themselves terrible consequences.
More clearly evident is the comfort that comes to the soul from knowing that God has foreseen the end and has assured us that no matter how dark the intervening days, eventually his work shall emerge triumphant. The prophetic promises of the new Jerusalem, of the millennium reign, of the absence of war, disease, pain, sorrow, and of course, greatest of all, the promise of eternal life ~ all of these promises light the lamps of our hopes and brighten the gloom that is deepening all around. The prophets point out to us clearly that, even in crisis and disaster, the hand of the Lord may be moving to bring about his greater purposes for the children of men. Let us not forget that one of the great and significant purposes of the Lord in sharing his vision of the future with us is to give us comfort. From: the coming of the Lord by Lund 10-12
There are many places I could begin but the one that comes to mind is. “Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, .....where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding....when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” Job 38:1-7 (reminder “sons of God” means His children)
Yes, where was Job? When Jesus began the creation of the earth. He was of course one of the sons of God who shouted for joy. Where were you? Where was I? Are not we also the sons and daughters of God? Would not we have been there? Would not we have shouted for joy? Of course, because all the spirits that were to come to this earth had been born as spirits, grown to maturity, taught the need of the next step toward immortality and eternal life, and how we rejoiced that the building site had been secured, the permits issued, and the building (earth) commenced.
“Thus I, Abraham, (contemporary of Job) talked with the Lord, face to face, as one man talketh with another; and he told me of the works which his hands had made;...Now the Lord had shown unto me Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones. And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, (YOU WERE THERE!) And he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born.” Abraham 3:22-23
you, my dear reader, are a descendant of Abraham and you were there for you were chosen before you were born as is clearly taught in so many of the scriptures.
And now comes the greatest event of all, at this great gathering the Father asked, whom shall I send?
“And there stood one among us that was like unto God and he said unto them who were with him (us among them!) WE will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell; and we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them.
And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate (here on earth) shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever.” Abraham 3:22-26
We kept that first estate. We are now in the second estate or liken it to school here, the first estate as the primary grades prepared us for the higher classes of this mortal estate likened to high school, and eternity the third estate will be the university where we can learn all things. But there are many, many dropouts all along the way from Cain who flunked miserably, to those who graduate “magna cum Laude” and become Gods in their own right.
“And thus the Gospel began to be preached, from the beginning, being declared by holy angels sent forth from the presence of God, and by his own voice, and by the gift of the Holy Ghost.
“And thus all things were confirmed upon Adam, by an holy ordinance and the Gospel preached, and a decree sent forth, that it should be in the world until the end there of; and thus it was amen.” Moses 5:58-59
“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 their daughters....but they believed it not.” Moses 5:10-12
One of the things that they taught was that the earth has to have the same ordinances as man ~ that it must be baptized by water, and it was. And that it must receive the Holy Ghost which will be a cleansing by fire ~ yet in the future. That both of these ordinances would temporarily remove all mankind from off the face of the earth. They would be removed by the power of God if they are in obedience to him. Or they would be removed by the water or the fire and great and dreadful it would be (for the disobedient).
But not one soul needed to drown in the baptism (flood) nor one soul burned in the fire (at the second coming of Christ). But the majority of the worlds population were drowned and the current majority will be burned if they don’t mend their ways. But in each case the real horrors of the world were the things the wicked do to each other prior to these great cleansing efforts. Allowing the Spirit of the devil to possess them the world then as it is now was filled with violence and war and every horrible thing that a devil inspired society can inflict on each other and this is the part that fills even the obedient with apprehension. But if we will exercise our faith and act in obedience to the prophetic warnings we will be safe. Yes, we may suffer inconveniences as our society crumbles and is destroyed. Think of the havoc when transportation, manufacturing and communications are destroyed. But we have been instructed ever since I can remember how to prepare that we may not suffer as the dammed souls will surely suffer. And we definitely will not suffer eternal damnation.
When Adam was 682 yeas old, he still had 250 years to live, a seventh great grandson was born. He became the great prophet to warn of the immanent coming of a world wide flood. He founded a city named Zion (means pure in heart) and gathered all who would believe there to. And what did he teach? Why the same thing we teach today. Faith in the living God, repentance, baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. And to prepare for the coming cleansing of the earth by water. Today the only difference is the cleansing of the earth by fire.
Five years before Noah was born which was 605 years prior to the flood Enoch and his people were removed from the earth by translation to a paradisaical glory where they remain to this day and will be returned to earth after the fire.
Noah and others continued to instruct and warn the people after Zion had fled and “angels also descending from Heaven, bearing witness of the father and the Son; and the Holy Ghost fell on many, AND THEY WERE CAUGHT UP by the powers of heaven into Zion and the last righteous man other than the eight who survived in the ark died the year of the flood, the oldest man recorded to live in mortality, Methuselah, 969 years old.
So the billions still left on the earth suffered death by drowning but worse was their agony as they were about to be submerged, in those last few minutes as they climbed on the roof tops or clung to any floating thing and thinking, “I was warned! I could have escaped this.”
And Enoch recorded the words of God: “Wherefore, I can stretch forth mine hands and hold all the creations which I have made; and mine eye can pierce them also, and among all the workmanship of mine hands there has not been so great wickedness as among thy brethren....wherefore should not the heavens weep, seeing these shall suffer.” Moses 7:37
and so it is today and God weeps and warns and warns and weeps but the world is as wicked today as then and must suffer for it. Please be prepared. It’s simple really! Just learn and live the gospel of Jesus Christ. For those who choose to live the commandments there is a glorious future! Do not despair but be excited to live by the guidance of living prophets and the wonderful scriptures. Our Heavenly parents and Jesus Christ want us to succeed and we can if we align ourselves with them. They are after all the winning team. Like I said in the beginning of the memo, GLORIOUS IS THE FUTURE! The Lord is in control and he will bring the end of the world to a fantastic and happy conclusion for those who are trying.......

My love always,
Dad, Grandpa etc.
Richard Marden Pratt
a couple of quotes from Memo #100 January 2009
I hope you enjoyed the Christmas letter. Without our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ there is no Christmas and neither is there anything else as so beautifully expressed by that great prophet Lehi; “And if ye shall say there is no law, ye shall also say there is no sin. If ye shall say there is no sin, ye shall also say there is no righteousness and if there be no righteousness there be no happiness. And if there be no righteousness nor happiness there be no punishment nor misery. And if these things are not there is no God. Neither the earth; for there could have been no creation of things, neither to act nor to be acted upon; wherefore, all things must have vanished away.” 2 Nephi 2:13........
For fear that you won’t turn to your Book of Mormon to read it, I am going to quote verse 14. “And now, my sons, I speak unto you these things for your profit and learning; for there is a God. And HE hath created all things, both the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are, But the Lord will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away the tears from off all faces who have waited for Him. What a glorious time to live. Jesus is the Christ the son of the Living God. I know this to be true! Believe and enjoy the peace it brings to you. You all are so important to me and I love you dearly.
A side note. I have spent a few days in the hospital and came home just before Christmas. My home was all cleaned and cozy. I told the girls I thought I was in the wrong house. I have had many cards and letters and visits even flowers and candies etc. In all of this I have felt very loved. I’m still baking bread and reading and enjoying the love of family. I am much weaker now but sitting still in my chair I feel great. It is a day at a time that we conquer life and I choose to enjoy it and be happy in it. Life is what we make it. And with the teachings of Jesus Christ life is good.

I send my love to all of you and my hope that your new year will be filled with wonderful blessings.
All my love,
Dad, Grandpa Pratt etc.

Memo #135

2011-12-01T19:38:00.000-07:00

December 1, 2011 (written March 31, 2008)

To: My Beloved Family

From: Dad, Grandpa etc. Richard Marden Pratt

Re: The Triumph of the Jews

The immediate future of the Jews includesthe destruction of all their enemies and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.Keep your eyes on Jerusalem for the final scenes and the coming of the Lordwill be played out there. I will try to outline in this memo what wecan expect in the lifetime of many of you.

The most dramatic and significantthing about events which are transpiring in the Middle East today is the factthat they were anticipated by practically every prophet in the Old Testament.In an age of cynicism mankind is confronted with the miracle of historicalevents unfolding in an orderly pattern just exactly the way they were predictedby inspired men of God living nearly 3,000 years ago.

However God rarely if ever revealsdates when things will occur. His prophets are only allowed to describe thesigns of the times or the general period when they will occur. It is acharacteristic of false prophets to constantly emphasize dates. Secondly, whenprophecy is given, it may be subtle, even metaphorical, but when it comes topass the fulfillment is literal. The destruction of the temple was literal. Thedestruction and scattering of the Jews happened as prophesied, the Six Day Warand all future efforts by the wicked is literal and will end with the tinynation of Jews being triumphant. As we shall see things which are happening inthe Middle East are literal. When a handful of Jews could triumph over an armyone hundred times larger than theirs who were also backed, armed, trained andfinanced by one of the worlds superpowers, Russia, who can doubt what theoutcome will be in future wars as the whole world comes against the Jews todestroy them.

Or as recorded in “FantasticVictory” by W. Cleon Skousen ~ page 260 ~ “On one of my visits to the MiddleEast I was told that the Israelis were pushing for a permanent peace treaty andmaking all kinds of overtures to the Arabs which, if they accepted, would havefrozen the existing boundaries of Israel. At the time, the Jewish leaderssimply declared that what they wanted was peace, not territory.

But whether the leaders of Israelwanted more territory or not, the fact remained that the scripture said theywere going to get more in order to perform certain services and obligationswhich are essential to the welfare of mankind. Of course it should beappreciated that many Jews are not scriptorians. So the Jewish leaders wereoffering commitments which would have made it extremely difficult for them todo all the things the canon of scripture says they literally must do.

Nevertheless, it was amazing how itall worked out. Instead of accepting the Jews offering of peace, Egypt provokeda war, intimidated Jordan and Syria into joining her, and even though Israelpleaded with Jordan and Syria to keep out of the conflict, they insisted oncoming in. As a result, Israel had to fight all three of them and ended up withvast quantities of new territory, most of which she is now compelled to hold inorder to protect herself from similar attacks in the future. Whether Jewishleaders wanted it or not circumstances catapulted them into territories whichthey were not even seeking. And the end is not yet.

The Prophet Ezekiel described whatthe boundaries of Israel ultimately must be. It includes most of Jordan andmost of Syria.

Brother Skousen finishes on ahumorous note: “Some day the Islamic people must realize that the diabolicalstratagem of the Soviet is to fight Israel down to the last Arab.”

The next thing in prophetic historythat we must look forward to is the rebuilding of the temple for the third andlast time. The first temple was built by Solomon about 1000 B.C. the secondtemple was built after Solomon’s was destroyed about 587 B.C.; shortly afterLehi was led away and his family was preserved, was built by Zerubbabel, adescendant of King David. It was dedicated 516 B.C. and was destroyed in 70A.D. The Jews now are planning the building of the third temple, the one Jesuswill return to.

They know exactly what the templewill be like for the prophet Ezekial gives such an accurate account of it, itssize, number of rooms etc. that modern architects have the plans all drawn up.They are already to build it. Just one big problem, the Holy house of the Arabsis sitting on the exact spot where the temple is to be built. And the Jewsactually guard this Arab shrine (Dome of the Rock) for fear some fanatic woulddestroy it and precipitate a holy war of destruction from the three hundredmillion plus Muslims.

When the Jewish leading rabbi wasasked what they were going to do about getting rid of the Mosque, he replied,“We’ll let God take care of that.”

So here is a direct challenge fromthe Arabs in defiance of Biblical prophecy. No one has the slightest idea ofhow it is going to happen but unfortunately that magnificent building must go.And it is truly a beautiful structure, mother and I have been in it.

The fact that the whole thing looksso utterly impossible to us now is something we should remember after itfinally comes to pass. If it follows the pattern of other prophecies it will beworked out and in such gradual phases that its final accomplishment will seemnothing more than a natural evolution of events. So just to dramatize thefulfillment of this prediction when it does finally come to pass: “That as of1967 the practical possibility of the Jews building a temple in Jerusalemappears to be a fantastic and impossible dream. A major lesson of life, ofcourse, is that all things are possible with God. That’s why it should beexciting to see just how He is going to work this one out.” Skousen page 268

All of the architectural details ofthe temple are given in the last ten chapters of Ezekiel. There is no doubt butwhat this generation will live to see a beautiful temple of Israel arise on theTemple Plaza in Old Jerusalem.

Brother Skousen further records:“as this book (Fantastic Victory) was about to go to press the followingremarkable development came to our attention. According to an article in

“The Christian and Christianity Today” (Aug. 4, 1967) “fivehundred railcar loads of stone from Bedfor, Indiana, considered to be among thefinest building stone in the world, is being freighted pre-cut to exactspecifications, and one consignment has already been dispatched to Israel.

This report, received fromauthoritative sources in Sellsburg, Indiana, said cornerstones for the thirdJewish Temple are already in Israel. Materials for this Temple have beensecretly in preparation for several years, and it is believed American Jews aremainly responsible for financially undergirding the whole project.” Skousonpage 282)

I might add that other reliablesources for the past several years report that the Jews, have all the materialsarranged for and the money to pay for them including even the golden dishes andthe priestly apparel. I find it extremely exciting (maybe I’m part Jew ~ butno, I’m just a member of Israel and as a fellow Israeli am cheering them on andknow it will happen as prophesied and soon.)

Some time soon we shall see andhear of the battle of Armageddon in which all the nations of the world aregoing to join the Arabs in an effort to finally, once and for all, destroyevery Jew from off the face of the earth. Too bad they are not readingtheir Bible. Surely would save them a lot of suffering. Many of the prophetssaw it in vision and left some extremely interesting and remarkable detailsconcerning that tragic, soon coming event.

John in Revelations says that therewill be two mighty prophets raised up by the Lord who thru a series of mightymiracles will forestall the combined armed forces of all the world fromdestroying the Lord’s people. John even gives the size of all the combinedmilitary sources of the world saying that it will be two hundred millionstrong. (And that is the current size of the worlds military might.)

Thru mighty miracles this immensemilitary power will be withheld from totally destroying the Jews by these twoprophets, who incidently will come from the church for where else will theyreceive the Priesthood to perform these miracles.

John even gives an account of someof the miracles performed: “and if any man will hurt them fire will proceed outof their mouths (be able to call down fire from heaven) devouring theirenemies, and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

These have power to shut heaven,that it rain not in the days of their prophecy; and have power over the watersto turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with plagues, as often as theywill.” Revelations 11:5-6

and the prophet Zechariah 500 yearsearlier says: “And it shall come to pass in that day, that I (the Lord) willseek to destroy ALL the nations that come against Jerusalem.” 12:9

“For I will gather all nationsagainst Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifledand the women ravished. And half the city shall go forth into captivity.”Zechariah 14:2

The Lord will allow the twoprophets to be killed and the triumphant wicked hosts will rejoice and refuseto allow the bodies to be buried and they will have three and a half days tocelebrate. The two prophets will then suddenly be resurrected!

“And this shall be the plaguewherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought againstJerusalem; their flesh shall consume off their bones while they stand upontheir feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongueshall consume away in their mouth. And it shall come to pass in that day, thata great tumult from the Lord shall be among them; and they shall lay holdeveryone on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand shall raise up against thehand of his neighbor.” (the wicked will destroy each other)

Zechariah 14:12-13

To add to the tumult, the sameterrible earthquake which split the Mount of Olives in two will have rocked andcracked the crust of the earth across whole continents. The great cities of theearth will crumble into rubble and mens hearts will fail them for fear, onlyone sixth of the great army of evil will survive.

Zechariah sums it up in this manner~ after Jesus has descended, met the surviving Jews in the Valley created bythe splitting of the Mount of Olives, the Jews fall at His feet and finallyaccept him as their Savior. And they (the Jews) shall look upon me whom theyhave pierced, and they shall mourn for Him and finally accept him as theirLord, King and Savior and when they have purged themselves of their sorrow theywill rise up to perform the great work that God has in store for them.

Yea, the dead in Christ shall be resurrected and wewhich are alive and remain shall be caught up to meet him and thus shall weever be with the Lord.

Hooray! These are exciting times to live in! The Savior willcome and the things that have been foretold will come to pass.

My love always,

Dad, Grandpa etc. Richard MardenPratt

Steamed pudding (Grandma Adaline Pratt’s recipe)

(this is 2/3 the original ingredients but makes a largepudding!)

2 cups carrots grated

2 cups spuds grated

2 cups sugar

2 cups raisins

1 1/3 cups shortening melted

4 eggs

1 cup flour

1 tsp soda

1 scant tsp salt

2 tsp each: nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves

1 ½ cups chopped walnuts

stir all together. Pour in well greased pyrex or doubleboiler with a lid on. Steam for 1 hour. Will test done like a cake.

Use lemon sauce or caramel sauce as a topping.

Mother always had pretty cut glass dishes to serve this in!What a treat at Christmas time!

You can do this ahead in quart jars and fill wide mouth jarshalf full follow your pressure canner for potatoes and it saves well.

Christmas thoughts:

“The highest of all ideals are theteachings and particularly the life of Jesus of Nazareth, and that man is mosttruly great who is most Christlike.” David O McKay

“Here is something more than ababe in a manger; here is the creator of all that is good and beautiful. I havelooked at majestic mountains rising high against the blue sky and thought ofJesus, the creator of heaven and earth. I have stood on the sand of an islandin the Pacific and watched the dawn rise like thunder-- a ball of goldsurrounded by clouds of pink and white and purple and thought of Jesus, theword by whom all things were made and without whom was not anything made thatwas made. I have seen a beautiful child, bright-eyed, innocent, and loving andtrusting! And marveled at the majesty and miracle of creation. What then shallwe do with Jesus who is called Christ?” President Gordon B Hinckley

“ Just as a light set upon a hillserves as a beacon to weary travelers, so Jesus Christ stands as ashining example to all the world, showing us a better way to peace andhappiness. His light illuminates the path of life, leading us along thestraight and narrow way. Those who press on, with their gaze fixed uponthe light of Christ, have their own lights kindled within. He is real, and ye,HE LIVES!” Greg Olsen

“Each of us is an Inn Keeperwho decides if there is room for Jesus!” Neal A Maxwell”

Family Pictures

2011-11-01T14:35:00.000-06:00

(Scroll to the end of the pictures to find the November memo)

1950 Dryden

1950 Pratt Family
Back Row: Richard, Adaline, Kay, Carolyn
Front Row: Stephen, Rose, Dawn

1953 - Moses Lake, WA

Pratt Family 1955
Back Row: Stephen
Middle Row: Kay, Carolyn, Dawn
Front Row: Rose, Adaline, Richard, Sheryl

Memo #134

2011-11-01T00:30:00.000-06:00

November 1, 2011

To: My Beloved Family

From: Dad, Grandpa etc. Richard M. Pratt

Re: Fantastic Victory ~ extracted from that book by W. Cleon Skousen

(This is good reading! Go for it!)

One of the greatest signs of the imminent coming of our Lord Jesus Christ is the gathering of the Jews to Jerusalem. They are his people. He is a Jew and tho they have been rebellious and crucified him, He has never disowned them and when they finally repent and except Him as Savior they will regain their leadership in the millennium.

Here are two great prophecies of many from the ancient prophets concerning NOW and the future of the Jews: “Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom (means the whole world) shall be a desolate wilderness, for their violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land. But Judah shall dwell forever, and Jerusalem form generation to generation. For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the Lord dwelleth in Zion.”

Joel 3: 19-21

“And the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the Holy Land and shall choose Jerusalem again.” Zechariah 2: 12 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem... all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it...and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again...In that day (now) shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem,...and it shall come to pass in that day, (now) that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. Zechariah 12:2-9 (Better not mess around with Jerusalem and the Jews)

Note: Joel was prophesying about 850 B.C. and Zechariah four hundred years later. And both over twenty five hundred years ago. In the last ninety years those prophecies have been and are being fulfilled.

Today ~ all the nations of the world are against Jerusalem and the Jews. If they would read these two prophecies and the many others in the Bible and Book of Mormon of a like nature they would stay away from the Jews. Following is a brief history of the return of the Jews in the past ninety years.

“And verily I say unto you, I give you a sign, that ye know the time when these things shall be about to take place ~ that I shall gather in, from their long dispersion, my people, O house of Israel, and will establish again among them my Zion.” 3 Nephi 21:1

On October 24, 1841, one of the twelve apostles of God, Orson Hyde, returned to Jerusalem and specifically dedicated that land for the return of the Jews. His prayer was most prophetic and has been fulfilled. (Wish I had space to print it here) But it is exciting to know that prophecies that have stood unfilled for hundreds even thousands of years are being fulfilled. Even in our life time!

After the Roman destruction of 70 A.D. it was illegal for a Jew to be found in Palestine. This was enforced until 1917 when the British army freed the Holy Land from the infidel Turks who had ruled if for centuries. This was the opening for the Jews to return. But the British tried to prevent it for world diplomatic reasons. They couldn’t. At that time the land of Palestine had suffered the same fate as the Israelites. And was so barren that it barely supported at an existence

level only about two hundred thousand Turkish nomads.

The land of Palestine is so small that a man can walk across its width in two days, about 65 miles, and its length in a walk of about 160 miles. Its bounded on the West by the Mediterranean Sea, on the North by Lebanon, North East by Syria, South East by Jordan and Egypt on the South. All of these neighbors are Islamic and anti-Judaism. Together they number about one hundred million and have some of the finest soldiers in the world. And their intention since the Jews started returning 90 years ago is to totally destroy them. Three wars have been fought between Jeudah and their combined host from 1948 when the Jews, then less than one million, won their independence and became a nation. The last of the three wars was in 1967 when with a population of about two million, the Jews defeated this great host in one week. Or Just six days. Also their enemy was supplied with ample arms and war materials by Russia who also sent Russian military experts to advise how best to get rid of the Jews once and for all. And all the rest of the world was cheering them on.

The Jews didn’t have a chance to survive. The leaders pondered their dilemma and decided their only hope was a sudden and surprise attack. Every able bodied man eighteen and older and single women of the same age were conscripted to fight.

Monday June 5, 1967 ~ the first day. Their just target was the massed Egyptian army on their South border with seven hundred of the latest heavy bombers and hundreds of tanks.

The surprise attack started at mid-night. The goal to wipe out 700 bombers while still on the ground. They succeeded. At daylight they concentrated on the tanks with such ferocity that the Egyptian crews abandoned their tanks and fled on foot thru the desert an estimated thirty five thousand perished. The Jews painted their six pointed white star on the captured tanks and used them against the enemy by the end of the third day the Jews were at the outskirts of Cairo and Egypt was suing for peace.

But already Jordan had invaded Palestine from the South East. Jerusalem was a part of Jordan at that time. While peace was being worked out with Egypt. The Jews with little chance to rest, sleep or eat, charged back home to repel the Jordanians. The shrapnel and bomb fragments fell in a heavy hail upon the border sanctuaries such as the garden tomb. Dr. Matter, its caretaker was forced to take his wife and daughter and seek refuge inside the sacred tomb itself. I’ve been in that tomb and it would be a pretty safe place. Problem was he came out too soon. Mistaken by Jewish soldiers as an enemy they shot and killed him.

Fifteen thousand Jordanian soldiers were killed that day. The Israeli command had decided that the battle of Jerusalem should follow the same tactics as those used by the Roman general, Titus, when he conquered Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

By afternoon of Tuesday the second day of the war, everything had changed by this time Israel had fought and overwhelmingly won the initial phase of her miracle war. Egypt and Jordan were flat on their backs and Syria soon would be. The Soviet Union was faced with traumatic calamity of losing from two to three billion dollars in Arabian military investments. In 48 hours Israel had gone from one of the weakest nations in the Mediterranean Middle East to one of the strongest. And Israel was not through. This was enough for Russia. She sent out the cry of the wounded bear, “Cease fire!” “Cease fire!”

Severe handicaps were voluntarily assumed by the Israeli commanders as they plotted their attack to capture Jerusalem the third day of the war. They decided to do it without air or tank support. This was so that none of the holy places would be damaged. This cost them heavily in their number of dead and wounded. But even the troops who would pay the cost agreed that this was the only way to do it. For centuries the Jews had been saying, “NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALEM!”

Organized resistance by the Jordanians collapsed swiftly in the old city, but snipers remained a few days longer. Besides snipers, there was the peril of simple emotion itself. “My men were walking about the old city as in a dream, a platoon leader says, “tears rolled down their faces. They did not even bother to take cover. They had realized the two thousand year old prophecy of recovering Jerusalem. They touched the wall called the wailing wall and sobbed. Unshaven, red-eyed from lack of sleep soldiers, their combat uniforms stained with sweat and blood, donned their skull caps, opened small leather-bound prayer books and rocked back and forth as they chanted, “Thank the Lord, for the Lord has been kind.” Beyond the wall heavy firing could still be heard. One-eyed General Dayan announced that Jerusalem would never be relinquished by the Jews again.” (However in the battle, soon to be fought, called Armageddon it will take the personal arrival of the Savior to save the Jews) (Mother and I visited this area in 1972 five years later.)

Thursday June 8, 1967, the fourth day of the war. Russians were discovered as being commanders and military advisors to the Arabs. With Egypt and Jordan subdued only Syria remained in the fray. But perched on the Golan Heights just above the Sea of Galilee they could virtually shell all the center section of Israel. They had to go! June 9, the fifth day of the war, Jewish leaders had hoped they could persuade the Syrians to stay out of the war. The Syrians had answered with bombs and artillery. Israel regrouped their forces from Egypt and Jordan. General Moshe Dayan, the Israeli minister of defense immediately ordered the subjugation and occupation of the Syrian highlands and a penetration into Syria of at least twelve miles. Military authorities who visited the region after the war were amazed that the Israelis ever made it. No amount of bombing and shelling could have dislodged the Arabs. It was a furious frontal assault by Israeli infantry willing to engage in hand-to-hand combat which made the difference. Israeli troops made it to the trenches and cornered the Syrians inside and the fighting was furious.

Saturday, June 10, the Sixth and last day of the war the Israelis had gained the top but the retreating Syrians resisted savagely. But by mid afternoon it was plain that the spirit of resistance was breaking up. Syrian soldiers abandoned their posts. Some fled toward Damascus (capital of Syria) others tore off their uniforms in order to hide among the populace. Many surrendered or were captured. Intelligence reports indicated that Damascus lay naked and defenseless just thirty miles away! As far as Israel was concerned the war was over. It was also over for Syria. At 6:09 P.M. the Syrians accepted the terms of surrender.

World history would never be the same. A tiny beleaguered territory with a population of less than three million had stood up to the mighty Soviet Union and her Arab allies, totaling 110 million. Little David had taken on Goliath and won again. In six days Israel had doubled her population, and quadrupled her territory going form 8,000 square miles to 34,000. And their famous city, Jerusalem, was back in their hands.

Israeli Prime minister said to the Arab leaders: “We fought only because you left us no choice. We deeply regret the money wasted which could have gone to the development of your countries. Since 1952 ten billion dollars has been spent on arms. Had these vast sums been applied to economic and social needs millions of human beings who are steeped in poverty could ~ 4 ~

by today have enjoyed an appropriate standard of living.”

the Arabs had suffered 35,000 dead and three times that many wounded. To avoid contagion and epidemics Israeli bulldozers covered heaps of sand over the scattered bodies of Egypt’s host who had fallen. Egyptian prisoners were released by the thousands to return home.

The Israelis had suffered 679 dead and 2563 wounded.

The final battle of the Jews is Armageddon, against all the world. It’s all prophesied and will conclude by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the rescuing of the Jews, their acceptance of the Christ. The resurrection of the just and cleansing of the world by fire. It is an exciting time to live and to watch it unfolding. The scriptures are true. You can read more about the 6 day war. There were a number of miracles I have not mentioned. With all of my heart I hope those reading this will align themselves with Jesus Christ and his gospel. IT IS TRUE! He will come again!

My love always,

Dad, Grandpa Pratt etc.

A side note to all the readers of my father’s memos. I have counted and there are only 8 more to come out after this one. He told me when he handed me the note books that I was to just put out one each month and there would be enough to last a bit past three years. And that will be the case. We can post earlier memos on this site if you have an interest. Comment if you would like that. Love, Rose I think Dad & Mom would have enjoyed the following .

Doctrine & Covenants 78:19

And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold. ......vs. 22 and he that is a faithful and wise steward shall inherit all things.

“The Pilgrims must have been very grateful for their new land of freedom. During this Thanksgiving we too lift grateful hearts and voices to that great Father who led those early pilgrims, who led our founding fathers and who leads those who will follow him today. Let us thank Him for his rich blessings and especially for this great land of freedom and prosperity. What a blessed privilege he has given us to live in a land choice above all other lands.

How shall we show our thanks to our Heavenly Father for this choice land? By being good citizens of our country. By upholding the constitution, by seeking good and honest men to govern, by living virtuous lives and spreading the gospel, there by helping defend our land from the evils of Satan. For only through righteousness will we remain free and strong. As we think of the gratitude we have for our homeland at this Thanksgiving time, let us rededicate ourselves to preserving it in righteousness for our posterity.

Written by: Kay Pratt Smith

Twas the Night before Christmas out on the ranch -anonymous

'Twas the night before Christmas & out on the ranch

The pond was froze over & so was the branch.

The snow was piled up belly-deep to a mule.

The kids were all home on vacation from school,

And happier young folks you never did see-

Just all sprawled around a-watchin' TV.

Then suddenly, some time around 8 o'clock,

There came a surprise that gave them a shock!

The power went off, the TV went dead!

When Grandpa came in from out in the shed

With an armload of wood, the house was all dark.

"Just what I expected," they heard him remark.

"Them power line wires must be down from the snow.

Seems sorter like times on the ranch long ago."

“I'll hunt up some candles," said Mom. "With their light,

And the fireplace, I reckon we'll make out all right."

The teen-agers all seemed enveloped in gloom.

Then Grandpa came back from a trip to his room,

Uncased his old fiddle & started to play

That old Christmas song about bells on a sleigh.

Mom started to sing, & 1st thing they knew

Both Pop & the kids were all singing it, too.

They sang Christmas carols, they sang "Holy Night,"

Their eyes all a-shine in the ruddy firelight.

They played some charades Mom recalled from her youth,

And Pop read a passage from God's Book of Truth.

They stayed up till midnight-and, would you believe,

The youngsters agreed 'twas a fine Christmas Eve.

Grandpa rose early, some time before dawn;

And when the kids wakened, the power was on..

"The power company sure got the line repaired quick,"

Said Grandpa - & no one suspected his trick.

Last night, for the sake of some old-fashioned fun,

He had pulled the main switch - the old Son-of-a-Gun!

Memo #133

2011-10-01T22:57:00.002-06:00

October 1, 2011 (date written: March 28, 2008)

To: My beloved family & friends

From: Grandpa Pratt (Richard Marden Pratt)

share at: http://www.prattmemos.blogspot.com

Re: The Gathering of Israel

Everything our Father does has a purpose. The scattering of Israel was two-fold. First, through their suffering they would be taught, to obey as it is freedom from suffering, and to disobey brings nothing but misery. And secondly, it scattered the blood of Israel through out the Gentile world. Some times called the “believing blood”. As the ten tribes crossed Russia and Europe, they would have moved slowly as they grazed their animals and frequently a few people would stop by the wayside, because of sickness, death, or a beautiful countryside and other reasons. Also, Ephramites, who are a curious group would have taken side trips and never returned so all of the area they passed through would have salted the later Gentile settlers with “believing blood.”

Judah on the other hand was destroyed and the few survivors were scattered thru out all the great Roman empire from Africa to the arctic circle and into Asia. The Romans hoped to utterly destroy the Jews by, as the scripture says, putting one to a family two to a city. Smaller groups were led away, because they were righteous, for their preservation and protection such as Lehi and his family to America. And the resurrected Lord instructed the Nephites that the Jews did not know of them. And he continued:.. “I have other sheep, which are not of this land (America) neither of the land of Jerusalem, neither in any parts of that land round about whither I have been to minister. For they of whom I speak are they who have not as yet heard my voice: neither have I at any time manifest myself unto them. But I have received a commandment of the Father that I shall go unto them, and that they shall hear my voice, and shall be numbered among my sheep, that there may be one fold and one shepherd; therefore I go to show myself unto them. 3rd Nephi 15:1-3

So besides the lost Ten Tribes, which must soon be brought forth from their hiding place, there are others, who like Lehi, were led away and are yet to be revealed along with the lost ten tribes.

However the gathering is going to be in a certain order and because of the sifting of Israel’s blood thru all nations many gentiles will receive the gospel and be saved. The first to be gathered will of course, be the children of the birthright. The right to lead which is the right to serve their brothers and sisters. Again to refresh our memories, this right belongs to Joseph who was sold into Egypt as a slave. And his twin sons, Manasseh and Ephraim received this birthright, or rather Ephraim did, but Manasseh is not far behind him.

So Ephraim will be gathered first along with Manasseh (The Lamanites) and then Judah. So we will begin with a short history of Ephraim.

Fifty years ago, give or take a few, the members of the church were mostly of the tribe of Ephraim, who are of the remnant of Jacob. We know it to be a fact that the Lord called upon the descendants of Ephraim to commence his work in the earth in these last days. We know further that he has said that he set Ephraim, according to the promises of his birthright, at the head. Ephraim receives the richer blessings, these blessings being those of presidency or direction. The keys are with Ephraim. It is Ephraim who is to be endowed with power to bless and give to the other tribes, including the Lamanites, their blessings. All the other tribes of Jacob, including the Lamanites, are to be crowned with glory in Zion by the hands of Ephraim. Doctrines of Salvation pages 250-251

The remnants of Joseph, found among the descendants of Lehi, will have part in this great work but it is Ephraim who will stand at the head and direct the work.

As this last dispensation dawned with the first vision in 1820 to the boy prophet, Joseph Smith, little or nothing was known about the gathering tribes etc. how then did we get this information. Of course revelation. If Epharaim was to be the leader then how was Ephraim to be identified, the answer of course is thru Patriarchs.

The first Patriarch to the church was the father of the prophet Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith senior was called to be the Patriarch to the church in 1833, December 18^th. Among other blessings that a patriarch may pronounce upon the head of the person receiving it is his lineage. Not surprisingly then, the first blessings designated that the person being blessed was a descendant of Joseph thru his son Ephraim and hence an Ephramite.

My blessing says, “Thou art a pure Ephramite.” What does yours say? As the church grew in its earliest days and members came in as total strangers to each other. Then searching out their ancestors they found that they were in many cases the descendants of a fifteenth century minister, John Lathrop who taught and preached far beyond his time. The Smiths, Taylors, Kimballs and Pratts were some of them. In late years as members are gained in the far flung areas of the world other tribes have been identified and I understand that all of the twelve tribes have representatives in the church now.

I have served on six high councils of twelve men plus the stake presidency and clerks. And on each one I have asked how many are descended from this “believing blood” it averages about seventy-five percent. We don’t need to ask about the general authorities. A high percentage, if not all of them also claim the distinction of being the descendants of Ephraim. Remember this is the right of presidency and it will always be dominated by Ephramites. And the right to direct is the right to serve as the Savior directs and will always serve his family forever.

How does one become a member of Israel? The same way they always have and that’s by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance of sins, baptism by immersion by one holding Priesthood authority and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. As this new member continues in faith and obedience they receive all the other ordinances and covenants that will unite them back into the eternal family of our everlasting Father, and many will be the gentiles that the scattering will have brought into the fold.

Next, the gathering of the Lamanites. Our great grandfather. Parley P. Pratt records in his journal March 16, 1851, “I left Salt Lake City for the Pacific, on a mission to its islands and coasts. Being commissioned and set apart for that work by the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” July 26, 1851, now in San Francisco having traveled from Salt Lake by wagon he records: “I hold the presidency of all the islands and coasts of the Pacific, under the direction of the First Presidency of the church ~ to open the door to every nation and tongue, as fast as the way is prepared and the Lord directs for the preaching of the gospel of salvation.”

And thus the gospel in this dispensation was launched for Central, South America and the islands of the Pacific. He states: “I am studying Spanish with all diligence, and will I trust master it in the course of a few months. I fear not earth, nor hell, nor men, nor devils, nor death. I desire to do good continually, and to bring about the restoration of His people. I glory in my calling. I

would not exchange it for any other position or calling on this earth.” (Page 387)

September 15, 1851 ~ “Here we are on the deep, bound for Chili. We have all been seasick...we study Spanish every day. It is a beautiful language. I hope to master it during the passage and a few months residence among the Chileans. We pay sixty dollars for passage in the cabin included food. We have a miser for a captain, who thinks more of a sixpence than he does of our lives or even his own. He keeps us on hard moldy bread, full of bugs and worms, and on salt beef and pork ~ the pork being rotten. He has flour, potatoes and good pork but will not allow it to be used.”

“After a most agreeable and tedious passage of sixty four days we at length arrived in port in tolerable health. (“we” consisted of he, his wife and companion) We landed at noon and took lodgings at a French Hotel, where we have a great variety of good eating and front parlor to ourselves ~ price four dollars a day for three of us.”

“The proprietor speaks French, the clerk, French with a little English, the landlady German, the waiter Spanish, and ourselves English, with a little Spanish. So you see we have a little Babel of our own independently of Nimrod or the great Tower.” (Valpariso, Chili November 9, 1851)

And so the gathering of Israel was launched among the descendants of Lehi.

They worked hard with little success and after a few months had exhausted their means and had to sail for home after a very miserable voyage of seventy four days they landed in San Francisco. But the seed had been planted the harvest must surely follow. And my youngest brother David on his first mission which was to the same area Parley had labored in, because he was a descendant was sent, with his companion, to open up missionary work in Valpariso. And later he and his wife served as mission president in Colombia in northern South America. In spite of this feeble and painful beginning there are now tens of thousands of members through out the entire area, upwards of four hundred stakes and many temples at this writing! More when you read this! Nice to know our family had the start of it.

Now to Judah. The Jews have probably been dispersed more widely, suffered more deeply and have had more miraculous preservations than all the other tribes because they crucified their and our Savior. But they also have great promises of a return and it is now taking place, and the world is not even aware of what is happening.

Oh! The blood, the tears, the suffering that the Jews have endured the past two thousand years and they still stubbornly refuse to accept Jesus as their Savior. The efforts to utterly destroy them from off the face of the earth beginning with the Romans two-thousand years ago has never ended and still goes on. In our times it was Hitler and his henchmen. They murdered six million reducing the total world population to twelve million. There apparently isn’t a people today that doesn’t have a Jewish population. The United States the largest number and Russia the next. There are Asian Jews, Black Jews, White Jews etc. Where ever they are the Orthodox among them still maintain their identity and are looking forward to returning to their home land. This they are now accomplishing in spite of the worlds opposition. It’s an exciting story, that which they have accomplished in the last ninety years ~ for ninety years ago their were virtually no Jews in Palestine and hadn’t been since the Roman’s efforts to annihilate them two thousand years ago. Now over half, about six million live in their homeland. A speck of land so tiny, about sixty miles wide by one hundred sixty miles long. That it could be fitted into the state of Utah eight times and leave a large area for public lands.

We no longer need to say that the Jews are going to gather. “I think now we may say they have gathered.” Conference report 1960(when there were only two million now it’s three times that!)

Continued next month under the title “Fantastic Victory!”

My love always

Dad, Grandpa Pratt

(Richard Marden Pratt)

Here is a must for your kitchens:

Dad’s Pioneer spoon bread and is it ever delicious! He often had a loaf of bread for visitors to take home or share a slice with him.

Pioneer Spoon Bread by Richard M Pratt

2 cups warm water 1 T. Yeast

1 tsp salt about 2 ½ cups flour (enough flour to make a “spongy” dough)

2 T. Sugar (or honey etc)

stir water and salt together. Add sugar then yeast then flour. Stir hard. Use a bowl that is big enough to allow this to rise tell double in bulk. Cover let rise 45 minutes.

Stir down and pour into well greased pans ( I use 2 loaf pans. More crust that way!)

Cover and let rise 45 minutes. Bake at 350* for 45 minutes. You can use various types of flour, add raisins, nuts or sunflower seeds. Really GREAT especially when shared with someone you love. Or with a hot cup of cocoa or a cold glass of milk.

Our daughter, Kathy Rowbury Diether, took my bread recipe and “tweaked” it! Well she made perfection!

BREAD by Kathy: YES YOU PUT THE YEAST IN THE

12 cups flour (white or wheat) FLOUR TOO! IT WORKS!!!!! WOW!

½ cup sugar

1 T salt Email me if you have questions!

2 T saf-instant yeast randrflower@gmail.com

½ cup oil or liquid lecithin

5 cups hot tap water

Mix ALL dry ingredients. Add oil and water. Mix in mixer for 5 minutes or by hand for 10 minutes. After kneeding, cover and let rest for 10 plus minutes. This is a sticky dough. (I oil my hands to work with it). Use oil or Pam spray on the counter instead of flour to work the dough. Shape loaves and place them in bread pans, cover and let them rise 25 minutes. Bake at 350* for 30-35 minutes. This recipe makes 4 loaves. Can also be used for pizza crust, rolls, scones, braids and cinnamon rolls.

______________________________________________________________

The other day I had 6 cups of white 6 cups of wheat flour and had formed 3 loaves and then decided to make a treat with the last of the dough. It turned out so good I have to share it. I was inspired by Mom’s “plumb duff”recipe, But I had fresh peaches and so here it goes:

Peach Supreme better than any Danish you’ve had! By Rose Marie Pratt Rowbury

grease a 9x13 inch pan. Roll 1 loaf worth of dough into the pan. Spread ½ cup softened cream cheese. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon like making cinnamon rolls. Peel and slice fresh peaches over the top. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Cover and let rise 25 minutes. Bake at 350 for 21-25 minutes. This is divine and so easy!

Memo #132

2011-09-01T09:38:00.001-06:00

Date Written March 24-25, 2008

To: My Beloved Family & Friends

From: Dad, Grandpa Pratt etc.

Re: Israel Scattered

Once upon a time we lived in our Celestial homes as the spirit children of our resurrected and glorified parents. Where is it? The only clue we have is it is next to the great planet Kolob, the first creation of our Eternal Father. We know that Kolob governs and controls all of his countless other creations and is so immense that it revolves once in one thousand years. Hence one day on Kolob is as long as one thousand years on our puny earth.

To illustrate, the size of one of the large stars in our galaxy named Betelgeuse

(Be’T’L-Jooz) which is two hundred eighty five millions of miles in diameter, compared to our earth it is about three and a half million times larger or to illustrate, our sun has 98 percent of all the matter contained in our solar system of nine planets moons and meteors. Yet if we placed our huge sun in the center of Betelgeuse, our three closest planets to the sun in their orbits around the sun, which are Mercury, Venus, and earth, earth would still be within the periphery of that immense body. BIG HUH?

Anyway in our Celestial home we grew to adulthood. Jesus was the first born and besides being the creator of all that the Father and Mother has which are too numerous for man to count, He is also our Savior and the creator of this beautiful earth that we were sent to, to acquire our body of flesh and bones and to prove ourselves. Then by the resurrection and judgement live eternally here in a Celestialized condition or have to be removed and forever live on a planet far inferior and as a single individual forever.

Even in that pre-mortal condition each of us was determining our character. The First Born, Jesus chose to always obey our Father, while Lucifer, born not long after the Savior, chose to be in total rebellion to the point that he and one third of our brothers and sisters were cast out losing forever the right to have a flesh and bone body for their spirit to dwell in. All the rest of us, went all the way, from being nearly like our eldest brother to just short of being like Lucifer.

Our Father, then divided the others into two groups, the valiant in that pre earth life were counted and known as “Israel.” all the rest would be known as “Gentiles”. “Israel” it also means “Prince or Princess” of God. “Gentile” means all the other people.

In that early life Israel was called and fore-ordained to rescue the gentiles as far as they would allow themselves to be rescued.

“And again, my brethern, I would cite your minds forward to the time when the Lord God gave these commandments unto his children; (before this earth) and I would that ye should remember that the Lord God ordained priests, after his holy order, which was after the order of His Son, to teach these things unto the people.

And those priests were ordained after the order of His Son, in a manner that thereby the people might know in what manner to look forward to his Son for redemption. And this is the manner after which they were ordained ~ being called and prepared from the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God, on account of their exceeding faith and good works; in the first place being left to choose good or evil; therefore they having chosen good, (Before the world was) and exercising exceedingly great faith are called with a holy calling which was prepared with, and according to a preparatory redemption for such.....thus this holy calling being prepared from the foundation of the world for such as would not harden their hearts, being in and thru the atonement of the Only Begotten Son, who was prepared. And thus being called by this holy calling, and ordained unto the high priesthood of the holy order of God to teach His commandments unto the children of men, that they also might enter into His rest. This high priesthood being after the order of His Son, Which order was from the foundation of the World; or in other words, being with out beginning of days or end of years, being prepared from eternity to all eternity according to His foreknowledge of all things”. Alma 13:2-7

From this scripture we learn at least five great truths. 1. Because of our great faith before this world was, 2. We were called and prepared to be the teachers to the rest of our siblings.

3. And it was because we did not harden our hearts as they did. 4. We were ordained to the priesthood (authority to act in the name of Deity) while yet spirits. 5. To teach the great gospel message of faith repentance and the gift of the Holy Ghost and the eternal life that comes to the obedient.

In that stage we were organized as spirits to come to earth and try to save all our Father’s children who had not followed Satan.

The first mention of the name “Israel” is Genesis 32:28 given to Jacob and came to apply to all his descendants with the promise that thru them all the nations of the earth would be blessed. His twelve sons became the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel. And the oldest son Rueben was to receive the birthright or authority to rule. He lost it thru sin and it then passed to Joseph who was sold into Egypt by his brothers and from Joseph the right to rule passed to his son Ephraim. Now remember this was all pre-planed before the foundation of the world by a loving Father who is trying to save all his children. And we must not forget that it started three generations earlier with Abraham who received the title, “Father of the Faithful.”

Joseph miraculously rose to the second highest in command of the leading nation in the world, Egypt, remember the flood happened only three hundred years earlier, and although Israel is not mentioned prior to this time the Lord still did the best for all his children that they would accept. The pre-flood children were blessed with the great prophet Enoch, seventh from Adam who rescued all who would listen and they were translated from the flood-doomed fate of this world to another sphere, from which they will return at the second coming or there about. Hopefully you are getting the picture, from my feeble writings, that our loving Father is doing the very best possible to save all his children, except the Satanic hosts.

Now a quick history of Israel down to the present time. The story of Joseph and his traitorous brothers, Joseph’s rise to fame and power, their reconciliation and Jacob and the other eleven brothers is given in detail in the closing chapters of Genesis (chapters 46-50.)

Israel - Jacobs total family to be rescued from the famine by the move including sisters and wives and children was only seventy souls added to Joseph plus his wife and two sons. Israel numbered seventy-four souls, the date was about 1800 B.C.

After enjoying peace and prosperity for a number of years there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph, and the new king was so frightened at the number of Israelites, for they had multiplied exceedingly fast that he enslaved them.

After 430 years they were led out of bondage by Moses to the land promised to Abraham for his children forever, that is his children descended from Isaac and Jacob.

Shortly after leaving Egypt Moses took a census and discovered that Israel could muster 603,550 men twenty years old and up who could be mustered into military service and this did not include males from the tribe of Levi. Add the women and children and it is easy to see that Israel had increased from 74 souls to well in excess of two million at the exodus four hundred and thirty years later.

What a colossal task Moses faced to bring this vast number of ex slaves into some semblance of order that they might become the Saviors of the rest of the world. And in fact the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ was to be a literal descendant from the tribe of Judah. At Moses’s translation it would still be over fourteen hundred years until the Savior’s birth. In fact chronology lists the translation of Moses in the year 1451 B.C.

Remember, these ex-slaves are our ancestors, chosen before the world was to be the Saviors of the world. Had they been obedient they would have become a great nation occupying the land given to Abraham and his descendants which would have been larger than the continental United States of America and would have included all the near and mid east countries of today.

They would have policed the rest of the world and most of the wars, famines and disasters that have plagued the earth would never of happened.

There were times of great righteousness but as a whole wickedness ruled. They reached the peak of their power under King David 1063 B.C. Held it precariously under his son King Solomon, but at Solomon’s death, the nation of Israel had a terrible civil war that divided the twelve tribes into two nations. Thousands were killed. What was the cause? The same thing that could cause a terrible conflict in our own nation today if it is not soon corrected, excessive taxation.

So-called wise King Solomon with his grandiose schemes which included palaces for one thousand wives and great public works and hand outs (sound familiar?) Solomon who in his early years had served the Lord and built the most costly temple ever built, the walls were papered with gold sheeting and most of the utensils more than twenty five hundred in number were pure gold. But the Lord accepted it and even appeared to Solomon twice.

At his death, ten tribes under the leadership of an Ephraimite named Jeroboam petitioned Solomon’s son, the new King Rehoboam, to reduce taxes or else.

Reoboam foolishly chose to raise taxes instead and a bloody civil war followed which resulted in the 12 tribes dividing in to two nations. The Southern Kingdom comprised of two tribes, Judah and Benjamin with Jerusalem (the Holy City) as their capital. And the ten Northern tribes led by Ephraimites with Samaria as their capital city. This happened about 975 B.C.

For the next two hundred fifty years the Northern Kingdom also called Israel had nothing but wicked kings. Which finally led to their demise in 721 B.C. Also several bitter wars with Judah. Finally the Assyrians came down against Israel. Israel appealed to Judah for help. Judah just laughed and cheered the Assyrians on. Result, the Assyrians after destroying Israel, killing a large percentage, carried the survivors back to Assyria as slaves. We have little record of them except for that found in the histories kept at the time by Flavius Josephus and the Apocrypha. These tell us that the ten tribes after a few years - 70 - as I recall, escaped Northward where never before man had been, (since the flood) that would be between the Black and Caspian seas then turned Westward crossing Southern Russia, hence crossing Europe going North in the Scandinavian countries and we know nothing more about them except as revealed by prophecy. They are soon to return and it will coincide with the coming of the Savior. (I Will treat it in some detail in a coming memo) Incidently the modern country named Denmark literally means “the land of Dan) Dan was one of the ten tribes. So apparently they went that-a-way. The total number of kings over Israel numbered 19 all were wicked.

Judah fared a little better. They had four good kings out of twenty-one and lasted until 587 B.C. another 134 years after Israel’s demise. They were then destroyed by Babylonia and the remnants carried into captivity. But the Great Father of us all still doing the best he could do or all that they would allow him to do was rescuing all that would listen such as father Lehi who led his family to safety in America and others that we do not yet have a record of but will have as they are revealed soon.

After serving in captivity for a number of years to Babylon a remnant of Judah was allowed to return to Jerusalem to prepare for the birth of the Savior.

After crucifying the Lord of us all, the Jews were destroyed and scattered 70 A.D. until the blood of the 12 tribes was literally scattered thru all nations. Now we come to the exciting part ~ The gathering of Israel. Don’t go away, it’s exciting because you are part of it. Look for this in next months memo!

I LOVE YOU,

Dad, grandpa Pratt etc.

Richard Marden Pratt

Memo #131 (64 to go)

2011-08-01T09:48:00.001-06:00

Date written March 24, 2008 Date mailed August 1, 2011
To: My beloved Family and Friends
From: Dad, Grandpa etc.
Re: Work for the dead continued
Share this at: http://www.prattmemos.blogspot.com

One of the most flagrantly broken commandments by the most members of the church, is keeping the Sabbath day holy. There in Sacrament meeting we renew our covenant (promise) to keep it. Notice in the blessing on the bread the words that I underline: “O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it, that they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, The Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son and always remember him and keep his commandments which he has given them; that they may always have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.”
By faithful obedience we bind ourselves to God, and He to us, that we may be worthy to be bound to our family for all time and eternity and Jesus says that “All those who receive this covenant of my Father, which he cannot break, neither can it be moved.” D&C 84:40
What does the foregoing have to do with, “Work for the Dead?” EVERYTHING! A simple little act as partaking of the sacrament emblems each Sunday can make all the difference. What sparked the prophet Joseph Smith to investigate and find out about this great work?
He had an older brother whom as a small boy he idolized as small brothers so often do. Alvin died suddenly in the very prime of life in his mid twenties before the church was restored.
A vision was given to Joseph Smith, the prophet, in the temple at Kirtland, Ohio January 21, 1836. The occasion was the administration of the ordinances of the endowment as far as they had been revealed. The prophet sees his brother Alvin in the celestial kingdom. The doctrine of salvation for the dead was revealed. Section 137 reads as follows:
“The heavens were opened upon us, and I beheld the celestial kingdom of God, and the glory thereof, whether in the body or out I cannot tell.
I saw the transcendent beauty of the gate through which the heirs of that kingdom will enter, which was like unto circling flames of fire;
Also the blazing throne of God, whereon was seated the Father and the Son.
I saw the beautiful streets of that kingdom, which had the appearance of being paved with gold.
I saw Father Adam and Abraham; and my father and my mother (Not yet dead); my brother Alvin, that has long since slept;
And marveled how it was that he had obtained an inheritance in that kingdom, seeing that he had departed this life before the Lord had set his hand to gather Israel the second time, and had not been baptized for the remission of sins.
Thus came the voice of the Lord unto me, saying: All who have died without a knowledge of this gospel, who would have received it if they had been permitted to tarry, shall be heirs of the celestial kingdom of God;
Also all that shall die henceforth without a knowledge of it, who would have received it with all their hearts, shall be heirs of that kingdom;

For I, the Lord, will judge all men according to their works, according to the desire of their hearts. (Notice, desires of the heart must also be accompanied by the proper works!)
And I also beheld that all children who die before they arrive at the years of accountability are saved in the celestial kingdom of heaven.” Doctrine and Covenants section 137
Little children cannot repent; wherefore, it is awful wickedness to deny the pure mercies of God unto them. For they are all alive in him because of his mercy. And he that saith that little children need baptism denieth the mercies of Christ, and setteth at naught the atonement of him and the power of his redemption. (vs19-20)
“Wo unto such, for they are danger of death, hell, and an endless torment, I speak it boldly; God hath commanded me. Listen unto them and give heed, or they stand against you at the judgement seat of Christ.”(vs 21)
“For behold that all little children are alive in Christ, and also all they that are without the law. For the power of redemption cometh on all them that have no law; wherefore, he that is not condemned, or he that is under no condemnation, cannot repent; and unto such baptism availeth nothing. The mercies of Christ and the power of his Holy Spirit, and putting trust in dead works... this thing ought not to be; for repentance is unto them that are under condemnation because they have broken the law.” Moroni Ch. 8 (it’s only 30 vs. long. You might want to read it all)
and Jesus was crucified between two thieves. And one of them, which were hanged railed on him. Saying, “if thou be Christ, save thyself and us.” But the other answering rebuked him, saying, “dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation. And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds but this man hath done nothing amiss.”
And Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. Luke 23:39-43
To those who don’t know the answers to other things they believe that the thief went straight to heaven with Jesus. But that isn’t what it says. Everyone goes to Paradise when they die the righteous to happiness where they rest from all the cares and frustrations of mortality the rest are also in paradise but they must be taught by the righteous that they may repent. So the worthy are only resting from the pains and cares of this world, but are very busy meeting with and teaching those like the thief that they might repent and be ready for baptism and the other ordinances if they will accept them.
Now the last section of the Doctrine and Covenants gives great insight on the conditions in Paradise for both the righteous and those who are in prison of their own making here on earth.
This section was a revelation given to the Prophet Joseph F. Smith October 3, 1918. He was the son of Hyrum Smith and a nephew of Joseph. It concerns the Savior’s visit to the spirits of the dead while his body was in the tomb. Where was the thief? Keep reading!
President Smith wrote: “I opened the Bible and read the third and fourth chapters of the first epistle of Peter and as I read I was greatly impressed, more than I had ever been before, with the following passages; “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.” “For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” 1 Peter 4:3, 18-20 and 4:6
So Jesus did not return to his Father during the few hours, (parts of three days) that his body lay in the tomb. But he was in the world of spirits teaching the hope of the gospel to those imprisoned in fetters of their own making just as the wicked today may be walking the streets but are in a prison of their own making and where was the thief? Read on!
“And I saw the hosts of the dead, both small and great. And there were gathered in one place an innumerable company of the spirits of the just, who had been faithful in the testimony of Jesus while they lived in mortality; and who had offered sacrifice in the similitude of the great sacrifice of the Son of God and had suffered tribulation in their Redeemer’s name. All these had departed the mortal life, firm in the hope of a glorious resurrection, thru the grace of God the Father and His only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. I beheld that they were filled with joy and gladness, and were rejoicing together because the day of their deliverance (resurrection) was at hand. (They would have been resurrected immediately following the Savior’s three days later.)
They were assembled awaiting the advent of the Son of God into the spirit world, to declare their redemption from the bands of death...While this vast multitude waited and conversed, rejoicing in the hour of their deliverance from the chains of death, the Son of God appeared, declaring liberty to the captives who had been faithful. And there he preached to them the everlasting gospel, the doctrine of the resurrection, and the redemption of mankind from the fall and from individual sins on conditions of repentance.
But unto the wicked he did not go, and among the ungodly and the unrepentant who had defiled themselves while in the flesh, his voice was not raised. Neither did the rebellious who rejected the testimonies and the warnings of the ancient prophets behold his presence nor look upon his face.
Where these were, darkness reigned, but among the righteous there was peace.
And the saints rejoiced in their redemption, and bowed the knee and acknowledged the Son of God as their Redeemer and Deliverer from death and the chains of hell. Their countenances shone, and the radiance from the presence of the Lord rested upon them, and they sang praises unto his holy name.... I wondered at the words of Peter ~ wherein he said that the Son of God preached unto the spirits in prison, who some time were disobedient, when once the long suffering of god waited in the days of Noah ~ and how it was possible for him to preach to those spirits and perform the necessary labor among them in so short a time (parts of 3 days)
and as I wondered, my eyes were opened, and my understanding quickened, and I perceived that the Lord went not in person among the wicked and the disobedient who had rejected the truth (on earth) to teach them: But behold, from among the righteous, he organized his forces and appointed missionaries clothed with power and authority, and commissioned them to go forth and carry the light of the gospel to them that were in darkness, even to all the spirits of men: and thus was the gospel preached to the dead. (and the thief would have been there)
And the chosen messengers went forth ( I hope soon to be one of them) to declare the acceptable day of the Lord and proclaim liberty to the captives who were bound, even unto all who would repent of their sins and receive the gospel.
Thus was the gospel preached to those who had died in their sins, without a knowledge of the truth, or in transgression, having rejected the prophets.
These were taught faith in God, repentance from sin, vicarious baptism for the remission of sins, the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands. And all the principles of the gospel that were necessary for them to qualify themselves...for the judgement.” D&C 13

Oh the greatness of our God, His love, mercy, and grace. All of his children will be saved that choose to be saved in some degree of glory according to their works weather living or dead! Live for it and let us aim for the Celestial kingdom as a family!
My love always,
Dad, Grandpa Pratt etc.
Richard Marden Pratt
Dad often enjoyed the hymn book he has mentioned some of his favorites before. He loved the messages in them.
One of the great women of the early church was Eliza R. Snow enjoy her great hymn,
How Great The Wisdom and the Love
How Great the wisdom and the love that filled the courts on high and sent the Savior from above to suffer, bleed, and die!
His precious blood he freely spilt; His life he freely gave, a sinless sacrifice for guilt, a dying world to save.
By strict obedience Jesus won the prize with glory rife: “Thy will, O God, not mine be done,” adorned his mortal life.
He marked the path and led the way, and every point defines to light and life and endless day where God’s full presence shines.
In mem’ry of the broken flesh we eat the broken bread, and witness with the cup, afresh, our faith in Christ our Head.
How great, how glorious, how complete, redemption’s grand design, where justice, love,. And mercy meet in harmony divine! (Hymn 195 text by Eliza R. Snow 1804-1887)
(One of her’s that Dad also loved is: O My Father #292)

Here are a few quotes from: Eliza R. Snow: First Lady of the Pioneers by Jaynann Morgan Payne
September Ensign 1973 (for the full article go to LDS.org)

“Change is the key word to this dispensation. The righteous, like gold, must be seven times purified.”

In 1866, when the Relief Society was reorganized, Eliza was set apart as president over the entire sisterhood of the Church.

“Prove all things and hold fast that which is good” was Eliza’s motto.

The year 1835 was a critical year in Eliza’s life, for with the publication of her beautiful poems, she had become famous and sought after. Her autograph album contains the priceless signatures of Queen Victoria of England, Charles Dickens, Lord Alfred Tennyson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Susan B. Anthony, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Victor Hugo, Abraham Lincoln, John Greenleaf Whittier, and Oliver Wendell Holmes, to name but a few.

Though “fragile,” Eliza was an amazing organizer. She served as general Relief Society president for 21 years, from 1866 to 1887.

Memo #130

2011-07-01T05:00:00.000-06:00

July 1, 2011

To: My beloved family

From: Dad, Grandpa Pratt etc.

Re: Salvation of the Dead

One of the greatest proofs that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true church of Christ and the only true church, is His plan, in His church, to save every soul no matter, when or where they lived. Inasmuch as certain ordinances have been designated by him as essential to salvation such as baptism. Then it is obvious that his perfect plan would be so designed as to reach all the dead, before the final judgement, who have died without ever hearing the gospel and when converted receive the saving ordinances. And this part of his great gospel plan is called, “Salvation for the Dead” every soul will hear it wherever they are, and when they accept it, mortals, who are faithful members of His Church, may go to a sacred place built for that purpose, called a Temple of God. There they vicariously are baptized, confirmed, males receive the Melchzedek Priesthood, Washed and anointed and receiving the highest ordinance of all “Eternal Marriage.”

Every soul that has died and will die ‘til all consigned to this planet have done so will be in the Paradisaical glory - a transition place until the resurrection and judgement is completed.

Those who have the Priesthood authority (The authority to act in the place or name of God) will be called to missions there to teach and preach the saving ordinances and those who receive them will then have these ordinances performed here on earth that they will be able to receive all the blessings including eternal marriage by proxy. Proxy is someone living doing something for the dead that they can’t do for themselves. That they may enjoy all the blessings that the faithful have here on earth. No one will be forgotten. Remember the Lord said to the repentant thief on the cross: “Today thou shalt be with me in paradise.” meaning that the thief would there be taught the great plan of Salvation which if he accepts it will be validated by one on earth that he too may be cleansed of his sins and receive all the blessings. What a fantastic doctrine. And I repeat, ALL other churches both Christian and non Christian haven’t any plan that approaches it. In fact they have NO plan. How could anyone of them then make any valid claim to being the true church of God.

“Work for the dead is taught solely by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, for it is one of the vital signs of the true church of Jesus Christ, and all men may be perfectly assured for it is a divine truth; where this doctrine is not taught and practiced, there the true Church is not to be found.” Doctrines of Salvations Vol. II page 138

If belief alone were sufficient, as taught by most if not all so called Christian churches, then even the devils, who fear and tremble would be saved. They recognized the Savior and declared on several occasions that he was the Son of God. And the devils in the days of the sons of Sceva declared that they knew Jesus and Paul, yet they were far from the road to salvation.

Ibid 139

The story is told in “Rise of the Dutch Republic” by Motley. When Christianity was taken to the tribes of Europe, Radbod a Trisian Chief, was apparently converted and ready for baptism. Just before the ceremony was to be performed a singular thought crossed his mind, and he asked, “Where are my dead forefathers at present?” Wolfran, the Catholic bishop replied, “In hell, with all other unbelievers.” Mighty well,” said the heathen chieftain, “Then I will rather feast with my ancestors in the halls of Woden, than with your little starveling band of Christians in heaven. The Trisian converts were being made Lucifer-like, without agency, at the point of a sword, yet Radbod maintained his personal integrity to the end. “Entreaties and threats”, Motley says, “were unavailing and he went to his death rather than enter into a rite that would separate him from his ancestors.” Ibid 137

I had a somewhat similar incident in Kiribati Islands. I was trying to teach, with a language barrier, work for the dead and how their dead ancestors could receive all the ordinances “vicariously.” these were new converts and had not yet heard of such a thing. When they finally understood, pandemonium broke out as they all excitedly chattered to each other. When peace was restored one old man named Iakoba (Yakoba or Jacob) came up and demanded that I show him how baptism could be done for his dead father. Before he would sit down I had to run him thru a dry baptism. Standing by him in the customary stance for baptism for the living. I repeated that I was now baptizing him, calling him by name for and calling his dead Father by name, and then simulating the immersion in water. He seemed to understand and went back to his seat (on the floor, no furniture.) And was weeping with joy. I could only hope that he understood that it was just play acting and I think he did. What a fantastic and beautiful doctrine.

The world scoffs at the idea of vicariously doing something for someone else that they can’t do for themselves and the whole message of the gospel is “vicarious.” Beginning with our Savior hanging on the cross to save all from death and redeem all that believe. What a fantastic example of “vicarious”. For we couldn’t do it for ourselves. He did it for us!

In the world itself we practice this principle thru our elected officials and in the business world, following proper procedures we can receive what is called, “Power of Attorney”, with that authority we can perform all business transactions for the company or individual we are empowered to represent. We are doing it vicariously!

In fact our own salvation can only come by securing ourselves to our departed ancestors by vicariously searching them out, performing all the ordinances for them AND HAVING OURSELVES SEALED TO THEM.

The last two verses of Malachi and it’s the last in the old testament recorded about 400 B.C. says: “behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

And he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. And the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”

“What would the curse be? Why no one could inherit it in the resurrection neither we nor our ancestors for the family only can do so, and the family has to extend in an unbroken line back to our first parents in the Garden of Eden. The earth will be cleansed and celestialized and become the Eternal “Heaven” of the family of Adam down to the last person to be born and die upon it WHO HAVE proven themselves. So work for our dead is as vital to us as it is to the dead. For they without us cannot be made perfect and neither can we without them.

Now perhaps you can understand why for the past fifteen or so years I have spent countless hours as an ordinance worker in the Temple. And Carolyn has spent endless hours collecting the names of our dead ancestors and many of you have spent many many hours seeing that all our ancestors are receiving the saving ordinances that we perform. The work for them fills our responsibilities. Whether they accept it or not is their choice.

Who was Elijah? He was the last prophet to hold the sealing power for the living and the dead and lived about 900 B.C. The Bible says he was caught up into heaven in a fiery chariot.

Moses, was also translated, so they could return to earth in their mortal bodies and restore their keys or authority. Moses holds the keys to the gathering of Israel. Elijah holds the keys to the sealing of the living and the dead and the Lord, who holds all the keys has specified that these keys must be passed from mortal to mortal. Hence, when the keys are taken from the earth because of wickedness the last one to hold them must remain in the flesh until a new dispensation.

April 3, 1836 Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery (two witnesses) bowed in humble prayer in the newly dedicated Temple at Kirtland, Ohio, the first Temple in this dispensation. At the conclusion of the prayer, “ the veil was taken from our minds, and the eyes of our understanding were opened.

We saw the Lord standing upon the breastwork of the pulpit, before us and under his feet was a paved work of pure gold, in color like amber. His eyes were as a flame of fire; the hair of his head was white like the pure snow; his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun; and his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters, even the voice of Jehovah saying. “I am the first and the last; I am he who liveth, I am he who was slain; I am your advocate with the Father. Behold your sins are forgiven you; you are clean before me; therefore, lift up your heads and rejoice...for behold I have accepted this house, and my name shall be here; and I will manifest myself to my people in mercy in this house.

Yea, I will appear unto my servants, and speak unto them with mine own voice, if my people will keep my commandments, and do not pollute this holy house.

Yea the hearts of thousands and tens of thousands shall greatly rejoice in consequence of the blessings which shall be poured out, and the endowment with which my servants have been endowed in this house.

And the fame of this house shall spread to foreign lands; and this is the beginning of the blessing which shall be poured out upon the heads of my people. Even so Amen.

After this vision closed Moses appeared before us, and committed unto us the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the North.

After this Elias appeared and committed the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham, saying that in us and our seed all generations after us should be blessed.

After this vision had closed, another great and glorious vision burst upon us; for Elijah the prophet, who was taken to heaven without tasting death stood before us, and said; “Behold the time has fully come, which was spoken by the mouth of Malachi - testifying that he (Elijah) should be sent, before the great and dreadful day of the Lord come - to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse.- Therefore, the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands; and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors.” Doctrine & Covenants 110

The keys held by Elijah and restored to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery are the keys of the sealing power of the Priesthood which makes all the ordinances pertaining to the eternity of the family possible. And the righteous family meaning those who keep all the commandments are the only ones who can expect eternal life and to dwell on this celestialized earth with the Savior forever. And this applies to the DEAD as well as the living. Oh my dear family and anyone else who may read this, be sure your house is in order, be sure that you are sealed to your husband / wife and your children, be sure that

you are living by every word that has come from our Savior. (Remember too that if a spouse didn’t keep their covenants, Heavenly Father will still honor your personal covenants as you keep them and all will work out.) Oh what weeping what sorrow what despair will come upon those who at the judgement bar of God are dammed - meaning everything stops for them. They can go no further now and eternally and the best they can hope for is to be resurrected alone and single and spend eternity as servants to those who obeyed.

The gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored. The gift of the atonement has been given us by our Savior. We can repent of the things that we have done wrong and we can by making and keeping sacred covenants be with our families and with Jesus Christ eternally. Live for it! Embrace the plan of happiness and have joy in this life and in the life to come.

All My Love,

Dad, Grandpa Pratt (Richard Marden Pratt)

The following is from memo #115 a comment that was submitted. I thought you’d enjoy it!

I was so excited to find this website last evening. Richard Pratt, your father and grandfather, was along with one other person, the man most responsible for my coming into the Church, and his stirring testimony the thing I remembered most any time I was struggling in my early years in the Church.

After teaching seminary all those years he was assigned to teach Institute of Religion for his last year of his CES career (as I remember it), at age 65(?).

As a non‑member I was invited to attend his Book of Mormon class by my roommate, Dale Thompson, of Tremonton, Utah. At the end of the class I was walking out of the classroom when Brother Pratt stepped in front of me blocking my way. Toe to toe he looked me square in the eyes, indeed, looking right through me. He then bore the most powerful testimony I ever heard, which was simply this. With a thrilling fervor he said, "Steve, This Church is True!"

I walked down the hall and remember saying to myself, "I don't know if this Church is true; but I know, that man is not lying."

As I alluded to already, any time I was doubting or struggling whatever the cause, I saw him, his eyes looking right through me, bearing that testimony ... and all was well again.

Such is the power of a man who qualifies for the Spirit and bears his testimony with all his heart. I can honestly say, few are there that would have the courage to bear such a bold and powerful testimony to a total stranger. He did; and I will forever be grateful for it!

God bless you and your family. I was moved to indescribable tears of joy to find this website, and tears of sorrow to realize I missed a chance in this life to say thank you again.

I've book marked this blog and intend to read through his many notes. How stirring they are! What an additional blessing to find out that we are on the same page with our political convictions, which was something important to me shortly after my conversion. It made me feel like I was in some small way thanking him through my work as a political writer and editor.

Thanks again to the Pratt family! God Bless You all!

Steve Farrell

You may want to go back and read some of the memos again. Enjoy.

Memo #129

2011-06-01T05:00:00.000-06:00

To: My Beloved Family & Friends

From: Dad, Grandpa etc.

Re: Marriage

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Declaration of Independence

Sadly, it appears that 99.5 percent of mankind seem to believe that this means that our life gives us liberty to pursue happiness according to our own carnal desires, which always has and always will lead to bondage in this life and eternal suffering here after.

Our life belongs to the God who made us and He made us that we might have joy, but we can only have joy eternally by living as He lives. He is not asking the impossible for his burden is easy and his yoke is light.

Living contrary to His way of life is to follow Satan and his burden is horribly heavy and his yoke is eternally crushing.

And the very nucleus of all happiness, even the very foundation of all joy is centered in the family, a man and a woman joined together for time and all eternity who with their children and children’s children will secure to themselves the power to become as He/She is and there is no other way. Anything short of this will bring eternal regrets to those who have not accepted this offer of eternal glory.

Divorce is not an option except in the case of abuse in all of its hydra-headed horrors. Any man and any woman who will live the laws of God by marriage and obedience to the covenants there of can have a happy marriage here and eternal felicity here after. Actually three actions followed by both husband and wife, will secure this eternal joy 1. Gentleness, 2. meekness, and 3. love unfeigned.

When my sweetheart died nearly eight years ago on July 13, 2000, I started writing these memos in an effort to prepare our extensive family now numbering over 200 to be prepared to meet her when they pass thru the curtain we call death and enter into that beautiful land named by God as Paradise. Here we wait for the resurrection when our physical bodies come forth out of the ground to rejoin our spirit bodies and thus become immortal souls as our Savior resurrected at Jerusalem three days after his crucifixion. And who was the first person he went to at that awesome moment, a woman named Mary Magdalene. And why her? It should seem obvious to all. Wouldn’t you want to meet your eternal companion first, above all others, when you are resurrected?

Blaspheme cries the world. They who defame marriage by their adulterous living would deny God the very heart of all happiness, an eternal, forever, sweetheart and companion.

There is a collection of 26 books called The Journal of Discourses a record of sermons of the early prophets and apostles. In volume II starting on page about 78 is recorded a sermon by Apostle Orson Hyde on the marriage of Jesus. When he finished, Brigham Young concluded the Semi-annual conference by saying ,“Amen and amen to the splendid discourse of the Saviors marriage, if I had time I could add a great deal more to it.”

But we do not teach it to the world. And only indirectly in the church but refer to it every time we say, Father in Heaven or sing "O My Father” and in so many other ways.

I wish I could sit down with each of you and your children and teach you the fantastic future that lays ahead for every person that enters into the eternal marriage covenant. For the Lord Himself has said. “Then shall they be Gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting. Because they continue; then shall they be ABOVE ALL, because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they be Gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them.

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye abide my law ye cannot attain to this glory.

For strait is the gate, and narrow the way that leadeth unto the exaltation and continuation of the lives and few there be that find it, because ye receive me not in the world neither do ye know me.

But if ye receive me in the world, then shall ye know me, and shall receive your exaltation; that where I am ye shall also be.

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.” Doctrine and Covenants 132:20-24

I am thinking of that future which is eternal. It is our Heavenly Father’s desire and mine that it be an eternity of happiness for you and it will be if you grasp it.

Grandma appeared to me a few weeks ago dressed in the prettiest dress she ever had, a light blue in color. She appeared to be about 25 years old and beckoned to me to hurry up and get over there. Since then my health has failed rapidly and I’ve become so weak I can only walk a few steps with a cane. I expect by the time you receive this memo (about March 2011) NOTE Dad gave me a couple to insert before he gave me this book of memos so he was right on! I will be with her. If you have only a civil marriage now you can easily change that by going to your Bishop and get his instructions as to how to make it an eternal one.

There are three types of marriage in the world. Two of these are of the world and at the best will only last ‘til one of the couple dies. The third is doing it the Lord’s way and by obedience to the covenants it will last forever. So I will soon be with my wife never to be separated again.

I will briefly describe the three. 1^st. And I’m paraphrasing right out of the scriptures so that I might more easily explain. The first and most common marriage throughout the entire world is just to start living together. No matter what kind of promises they make to each other the longest such a marriage can last is ‘til one of them dies. That is the end, they will not meet again as I am going to soon meet your Grandma.

This is the most prevalent type of marriage in the world currently and is called common-law. Sadly only about ten percent of such last even until death.

The 2^nd. Type of marriage is arrived at by the couple going to the county recorder’s office and buying a license to marry. It comes in duplicate. They take this to anyone authorized by the state, which includes all religious leaders, Christian and non Christian. A justice of the peace, judges, many attorneys, some sheriffs, captains of ships and others.

The officiator does not need to perform any type of ceremony. All he/she really has to do is get five signatures on the license, present one to the couple and send the others to the recorders office. This is called a civil marriage. The five signers are the couple, the officiator and two witnesses eighteen years old or above. In fact one officiator to see if it would be accepted signed his dogs name, Fido, and it never came back so it must have been accepted. This is called a civil marriage, about fifty percent stay together ‘til death.

I’ve performed many of these in two different countries, several states and for both members and non members. And can do so now although retired but I have turned down any that has asked since then. All these end at death.

The third type of marriage and God’s way. The Church Proclamation of Marriage states:

“We solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and woman is ordained of God and that family is central to the creators plan for the eternal destiny of his children.”

“If a man marry a wife by my word which is my law and by the new and everlasting covenant, and it is sealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of promise by him who is anointed unto whom I have appointed this power and the keys of this priesthood; and it shall be said unto them ~ Ye shall come forth in the first resurrection...and shall inherit thrones, kingdoms and powers. That marriage, if both parties KEEP their covenants is ETERNAL. They will be reunited at the death of the second one to go. I cannot even imagine the future without may darling wife.

I’m having Rose enclose The Family A Proclamation to the World. I have underlined a few lines although it is ALL eternal truth!

My Love always,

Dad, Grandpa Pratt etc.

The Family

A Proclamation to the World

The First Presidency and Council of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter‑Day Saints

We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter‑day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.

All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.

In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshipped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize their divine destiny as heirs of eternal life. The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.

The first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve pertained to their potential for parenthood as husband and wife. We declare that God’s commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force. We further declare that God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife.

We declare the means by which mortal life is created to be divinely appointed. We affirm the sanctity of life and of its importance in God’s eternal plan.

Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. “Children are an heritage of the Lord” (Psalm 127:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach them to love and serve one another, observe the commandments of God, and be law‑abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.

The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed.

We warn that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.

We call upon responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society.

This proclamation was read by President Gordon B. Hinckley as part of his message at the General Relief Society Meeting held September 23, 1995, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

You can read many articles about the proclamation at: http://lds.org

They are up lifting and inspire me to do my best to live the three things Dad suggests couples do for a happy marriage.

1. Gentleness, 2. Meekness and 3. Love unfeigned. I know these are Christ like traits.

When I type Dad’s words I remember coming in to see him and how hard he worked to make these happen for us! I miss him immensely! I really appreciate all he did to make these come together for us.

Memo #128

2011-05-01T12:54:00.000-06:00

May 1, 2011

To: My Loved Ones

From: Dad, Grandpa etc Richard M Pratt

Re: Marriage

“In the heavens are parents single? No, the thought makes reason stare.

Truth is reason, truth eternal, Tells me I've a Mother there.” Eliza R. Snow

Or in the words of President Brigham Young, “We were created upright, pure, and holy, in the image of our father and our mother, the image of our God. Discourses of Brigham Young 51

Mankind are here because they are the offspring of parents; who were first brought here from another planet, and power was given them to propagate their species, and they were commanded to multiply and replenish the earth.” Ibid 105

How does God transfer mortals from one planet to another? By the process of “Translation.” What this means exactly we don't know but the mortal body is still mortal and must die at some later time. A few examples from the Bible was the “City of Enoch” and John the Revelator and from the Book of Mormon, the Three apostles known as the Three Nephites. All of these remain in that condition until the coming of the Lord.

Apparently then Adam and Eve were translated from a previous world to this one and placed in the Garden of Eden and were given an opportunity to go back to a mortal stage subject to death by eating something that would change their bodies.

“When was there a beginning? There never was one; if there was, there will be an end; but there never was a beginning, and hence there will never be an end.” Ibid 47

There never has been a time when there have not been worlds like this, and there never will be a time when there will not be worlds organized and prepared for intelligent beings to dwell upon...there never was a time when man did not exist, and there never will be a time he will cease to exist...the Priesthood of God is unchangeable in its system of government and its gospel of salvation.

Man is the offspring of God ~ No human being has the power to organize his own existence. Then there is a greater than we. Are we our own in our bodies? Are we our own in our Spirits? We are not our own. We belong to our progenitors ~ to our Father and our Mother and our God.

Things were first created spiritually. The Father (and our Mother) actually begat the spirits and they were brought forth and lived with him (them).

I want to tell you, each and everyone of you, that you are well acquainted with God our Heavenly Father (and God our Heavenly Mother). You are all well acquainted with them, for there is not a soul of you but what has lived in their home and dwelt with them year after year, and yet you are seeking to become acquainted with them, when the fact is, you have merely forgotten what you did know. There is not a person here today but what is a son or daughter of these beings. In the spirit world their spirits were first begotten and brought forth, and they lived there with their parents for ages before they came here. This perhaps, is hard for many to believe, but it is the greatest of nonsenses in the world not to believe it. If you do not believe it, cease to call him Father; and when you pray, pray to some other character. Ibid 50

The Lord created you and me for the purpose of becoming Gods like himself; when we have been proven in our present capacity, and have been faithful with all things he puts into our possession.

How many will become thus privileged? Those who honor the Father and the Son; those who receive the Holy Ghost, and magnify their calling, and are found pure and holy; they shall be crowned in the presence of the Father and the Son. Ibid 57

of securing to yourselves eternal life ~ to live and enjoy these blessings forever; you will say that is the greatest blessing that can be bestowed upon you. To live forever and enjoy the society of wives, children, and children's children, to a thousand generations, and forever; and also the society of brethren, sisters, neighbors, and associates, and to possess all you can ask for to make you happy and comfortable. What blessing is equal to this? What blessing is equal to the continuation to live, to the continuation of our organization? Ibid 96

How much matter do you suppose there is between here and some of the fixed stars which we can see? Enough to frame many, very many millions of such earths as this. Ibid 398

and were it possible that man could number the particles of the earth, (I take it a particle to be a speck of sand) yea millions of earths like this, it would not be a beginning to the number of thy creations; and thy curtains are stretched out still; and yet thou are there; and also thou art just and thou art merciful and kind forever. Moses 7:30

Yet with all this vast kingdom. Our Father has but one goal. ~ “TO BRING TO PASS THE IMMORTALITY AND ETERNAL LIFE OF MAN.” Moses 1:39

Like any good Father (and Mother) his eternal energies are to give to his children all that they are willing to receive. And in the quote above the two words IMMORTALITY AND ETERNAL LIFE have two different meanings.

Immortality is to live forever in some degree of happiness or even intense misery as will be the sons of Perdition. Immortality was automatically assured by the Savior, Jesus Christ, on the cross to every soul. Nothing has to be done to earn it. It is a free gift.

Paul explains why by telling us that we did not bring death into the world:saying, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept.

For since by man came death, (Adam) by man came also the resurrection of the dead. “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” but every man in his own order: Christ the first fruits; after ward they that are Christ's at his coming.” 1 Cor. 15:17-23

Now I'm going to take a dangerous course, and word the rest of this in modern jargon. It's dangerous for you, because if you are motivated to qualify yourself simply for the grand reward then you will still be disqualified as an eternal manager. But hopefully the modern wording will be so clear that you will be motivated to develop that pure love of Christ which is absolutely essential to Eternal life or leadership in the kingdom. (Yes, I know I’ve used this quote a few memos back but it is absolutely imperative that you understand it.

“For who so is faithful unto the obtaining these two priesthoods of which I have spoken, and the magnifying of their callings, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies. They become the sons of Moses and of Aaron and the seed of Abraham, and the church and kingdom, and the elect of God.

And also all they who receive this priesthood, receive me saith the Lord;

For he that receiveth my servants receiveth me, and he that receiveth my Father receiveth my Father's Kingdom; THEREFORE ALL THAT MY FATEHR HATH SHALL BE GIVEN UNTO HIM.

And this is according to the oath and covenant which belongeth to the priesthood, Therefore all those who receive this oath and covenant of my Father, which he cannot break, neither can it be moved.

But who so breaketh this covenant after he hath received it, and altogether turneth therefrom, shall not have forgiveness of sins in this world nor in the world to come.

And wo unto all those who come not unto this priesthood which ye have received, which I now confirm upon you who are present this day, by mine own voice out of the heavens; and even I have given the heavenly hosts and mine angels charge concerning you.

And I now give unto you a commandment to beware concerning yourselves, to give diligent heed to the words of eternal life.

For you shall live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God.

Comment: Notice that God is making a covenant with an oath to all who qualify themselves which He cannot break. You in turn also will make a covenant with an oath to live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God. Included in that oath and covenant you will receive two priesthoods, the lower being called the Aaronic and the higher the Melchizedek. ~ Priesthood means that God delegates to all who receive it the right to act in his name. And by appointment over any area of his vast holdings you govern, control, speak and officiate as tho you were God.

This life is a proving ground to see if we are dependable. Perhaps the smallest assignment we might receive here is home and / or visiting teaching. Only responsible for three to five families, if we can't be dependable in serving their needs, how can we be favored with Godhood and be trusted with the welfare of a world or worlds?

How about tithing? How can we be trusted with the vast riches of a world or many worlds if we are not dependable in our paltry little contributions here.

Or if we are not faithful in our prayers how could the Father let us rule over a vast area if we were not faithful in communicating with the head office. And all of the rest of the commandments.

But the greatest qualification for eternal leadership is marriage for time and all eternity which can only be performed in a temple dedicated for that purpose. No man will ever preside over a world or even a house in town who does not have one of our Father's daughters sealed to him, to walk by his side to bare his eternal children and be a forever helpmeet which means to help him meet the challenges of worlds without end. And that daughter is to rule with her husband as an equal partner forever.

Who desires to enter the eternal world and be a servant, when the promise is held out that we may be sons and daughters of God, Kings and Queens. Let us be among those who qualify to rule and reign in the Celestial worlds forever. Few there will be that arrive at that glorious state, and why; because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world and aspire to the honors of men that they do not learn this one lesson. That the rights of the Priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principle of righteousness.

That they may be conferred upon us, it is true; but when we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon souls of the children of men in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves; the spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is with drawn, Amen to the Priesthood or the authority of that man. Behold ere he is aware, he is left unto himself, to kick against the “pricks” to persecute the Saints, and to fight against God. D&C 121:34-38

I love the following description of a women worthy to be an eternal Mother in Heaven.

“Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.

The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.

She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. She is like the merchants ships; she bringeth her food from afar.

She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a protion to her maidens.

She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. She girdeth her loins with strength and strengtheth her arms.

She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night. She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.

She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of the snow for her household; for all her household are clothed with scarlet.

She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple. Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land, she maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant.

Strength and honor are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come. She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and she shall rejoice in time to come.

She looketh well to the ways of her household; and in her tongue is kindness. Her children rise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.

Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.” (Proverbs 31:10-31)

(Marriage continued next memo)

Love, Dad, Grandpa etc. Richard Marden Pratt

The Women in our lives by Gordon B Hinckley October 2004 General Conf. (see it at: lds.org)

“And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

“And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman” (Gen. 2:20–23).

And so Eve became God’s final creation, the grand summation of all of the marvelous work that had gone before.

Notwithstanding this preeminence given the creation of woman, she has so frequently through the ages been relegated to a secondary position. She has been put down. She has been denigrated. She has been enslaved. She has been abused. And yet some few of the greatest characters of scripture have been women of integrity, accomplishment, and faith.........

How thankful I am, how thankful we all must be, for the women in our lives. God bless them. May His great love distill upon them and crown them with luster and beauty, grace and faith. And may His Spirit distill upon us as men and lead us ever to hold them in respect, in gratitude, giving encouragement, strength, nurture, and love, which is the very essence of the gospel of our Redeemer and Lord. For this I humbly pray, in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen. (READ THE TALK IT IS POWERFUL!)

LDS Women Are Incredible! By Quentin L. Cook of April 2011 general conference

Author and historian Wallace Stegner wrote about the Mormon migration and gathering to the Salt Lake Valley. He did not accept our faith and in many ways was critical; nevertheless, he was impressed with the devotion and heroism of our early Church members, especially the women. He stated, “Their women were incredible.” 1 I echo that sentiment today. Our Latter-day Saint women are incredible!

God placed within women divine qualities of strength, virtue, love, and the willingness to sacrifice to raise future generations of His spirit children.

A recent United States study asserts that women of all faiths “believe more fervently in God” and attend more religious services than men do. “By virtually every measure they are more religious.” 2

I was not surprised by this result, particularly as I reflected on the preeminent role of families and women in our faith. Our doctrine is clear: Women are daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves them. Wives are equal to their husbands. Marriage requires a full partnership where wives and husbands work side by side to meet the needs of the family. 3

These two talks are powerful and you can enjoy them as modern day witness about women, going along with Dad's memo. lds.org is a wonderful site - try it out and learn!

Memo #127

2011-04-01T17:05:00.000-06:00

April 1, 2011

To: My Loved Ones

From: Dad & Grandpa Pratt etc.

Re: Continuation of personal life in a distressed world

Interesting story before I type Dad’s memo. I was thinking of Dad’s poem about I can’t and could not recall it clearly. I looked on google and found some similar but then a few more words and bingo it came up! Something in my head said to read the paragraph above the poem and it was like a hug from Dad. A sweet tender mercy that touched my heart. I hope you enjoy the poem and we can live by it’s words. Dad sure did!

“On days when I wonder how I can keep going, I remember the words of a poem that one of my favorite high school teachers, Richard Pratt, taught me years ago:”

I can't—a poor, pale, puny imp

Too lazy to work and from every duty does shirk.

I can—a giant, unbending he stands.

And he can conquer who thinks he can

In spite of the throngs who doubt him.

Memo 127

War has cursed the earth since Cain slew his brother Abel, yet the Father of us all uses war, “He certainly doesn’t cause them, wicked men must bare that responsibility,” but He brings to pass his great purposes of eternal peace by allowing wars to happen. Certainly man has been taught peace and love. And to physically restrain wars could only be done by removing free agency from the earth and that God will not do. And to physically refrain would be war.

Many miracles happen during war time. I’ve recounted some in the past. Many more will happen as wars escalate in frequency, ferocity, and brutality until the Lord comes at which point the war-mongers will be removed from the earth and only peace loving, peace practicing people will remain.

Starting with the Revolutionary War our nation has been involved in (I’m not sure of the number) ten or twelve conflicts. Half or more of them in my lifetime including World Wars one and two. Which are labeled the most destructive of history.

I was too young to serve in World War I and too old for all the rest or engaged in an occupation that made me draft free such as farming in the case of World War II. I’ve had mixed feelings of both relief but also regret that I missed that experience.

I think of my boyhood friend and our family farm hand, August Auckarook. Born in Russia about 1900, witnessed the awful Russian Revolution and the loss of his entire family therein. Escaping to America, drafted into the United States army, serving with great distinction in France and Germany. Buried alive by an exploding shell and before he suffocated unburied by another shell and severely wounded. He died as a result of those wounds by his mid-twenties. However he lived four or five years after and worked on our ranch. Then four or five years ago, he came to me from the World of Spirits and asked to be baptized and given the Priesthood so that he could be called on a mission to serve his people in that Paradisaical glory where the departed spirits live.

Or my friend Bill Ames we were home teaching companions in Wenatchee, Washington Branch about ethe same age and same number of children. The President assigned us to work with a young family who were leaving the church and joining some Pentecostal group. We set up an appointment with them. We arrived at the designated time only to find that the husband had gone fishing to avoid us. After an unsuccessful half hour with his wife in which she treated us very coldly we got up to leave with no intention of returning. As we started to leave she warmed up slightly and said. “Before you go administer to my sick daughter. She has been diagnosed with cancer and given only six months to live.” we thought what a strange request from someone leaving the church. We told her we would leave it up to the girl, whom of course we knew. We were ushered into a back bedroom and there lay this beautiful little nine year old. They had taken her out of school and were trying to make her as comfortable as possible at home. We explained to that sweet baby as best we could that Jesus could heal her and explained the administration procedure. Her eyes lit up and she eagerly asked us to give her a blessing. We did and left. Two or three days later we called back and found that the child was back in school and free of cancer. The mother coldly informed us that the doctor must have made a wrong diagnosis and closed the door in our face. Now I mention this to bring me up to the real story of Bill.

Bill was studying to be a doctor and enlisted in the Korean War as a medic. He was soon promoted and placed in charge of a group of medics. One night after a fierce battle the valley floor was covered with the dead and wounded. The wounded, moaning and crying out for help. Bill was ordered to wait 'til dark and then they would have a chance to bring out the wounded with less casualties of their own as the enemy still had the area under their control. But the full moon made so much light that Bill's men would be fired upon every time they tried to enter the area. Finally Bill told his men to lay low for a few minutes and he would be back.

Withdrawing to where he could be alone, he raised his hands heavenward and by the power of the Holy Priesthood, commanded a black cloud to form in the cloudless sky and hide the moons light. Almost instantly the moon was hid and the darkness such that they could only be guided to the wounded by their distress calls. And of course the enemy couldn't see to fire on them. As soon as they finished removing all they could hear, the cloud disappeared and no further efforts could be made in rescuing anyone but Bill felt that they had gotten them all.

Bill returned safely got his degree and moved to Canada to practice. He visited me a couple of times here in Provo. I assume he is now dead as most of my generation are.

Then there was the young man from a Southern Idaho town serving in the army in Vietnam. At that time after one year of service the soldier was sent home for a month and then returned to duty. For the last four or five nights before coming home for his thirty day rest he had a recurring dream. In the dream he was leading a patrol of four or five men into enemy territory. Coming to a turn in the jungle trail, he was shot by a sniper in the heart and killed instantly.

He had a great reunion with his family, told only his grandmother of the dream and told her he would not be coming back. Shortly after he had returned to his unit he found himself leading a patrol as he had dreamed. As he approached the turn in the trail, he thought, “no use trying to avoid it”, and pushed on, a shot rang out and he was shot right on the heart by a high powered armor piercing bullet. It knocked him flat on his back and he lay there hurting terribly. He thought, “so this is what being dead is. Then he thought, “but I was taught in primary that you don't hurt when you're dead.” He reached up to his tunic pocket right over his heart and pulled out his tiny serviceman’s Book of Mormon. They are about three inches by five inches and one half inch thick There was the bullet. It had penetrated about half way thru the book, about three eighths of an inch and stopped on page three hundred eighteen, Alma Chapter 44 and had slightly indented the word God in verse four which reads:
“Now ye see that this is the true faith of God; yea, ye see that God will support, and keep, and preserve us, so long as we are faithful unto him, and unto our faith, and our religion; and never will the Lord suffer that we shall be destroyed except we should fall into transgression and deny our faith.”

He returned home safely at the end of his second hitch and of course carried his much cherished Book of Mormon.

The Korean War took place in the early 1950's and was a scourge indeed. Utah was represented in that struggle by the 213^th Field Artillery from Southern Utah. It was composed of about six hundred men. They came mostly from Richfield, Cedar City and Fillmore. They were engaged in several terrible battles yet all of them returned home alive.

We also had the 1457^th Engineer Battalion who performed a decade before the Korean War. This was in the first war with Iraq. Engineers are in the most hazardous areas of wars. They go before the regular troops clearing the way, therefore they suffer the heaviest of casualties. They are always the most decorated of any troops. When they were gathered at Kuwait to come home it was discovered that all were present, all were alive; not one was killed. In fact when the government heard of it they sent several high ranking officers to Salt Lake to inquire about it and to express national gratitude for their service.

But the most interesting of them all I've saved for the last. It's the story of a man from Vietnam. He is a small man physically but a giant spiritually. In his home town, Saigon; which is the capital of Vietnam with near two million residents he was known among the church members as the “good shepherd of Saigon.”

Barely five feet tall he weighed sixty eight pounds when inducted into the Vietnamese Army. The minimum weight was supposed to be seventy pounds but they took him anyway. His rifle was taller than he was. He fought for over two years in the front lines and not even wounded. He said he was too small for a target. He finally was promoted to Captain and assigned to non combat duty.

Some where along the line he came upon a U.S. Soldier with a stalled motor bike. Speaking good English he asked if he could help. He soon had the bike going and as the soldier got on to leave, he asked, “by the way what do you know about the Mormons?” “Tay” had never heard of them and answered that he was Buddhist. Soon he was a member of the church and then became the president of a branch of two hundred fifty members or more.

Oh! His name was NGUYEN VAIV THE later when becoming an American he changed it to “THE VAN NGUYEN” for their custom is the reverse of English in that their sir name is first. His name is pronounced “TAY VAN WIN”.

In his near forty years in Vietnam he never knew peace, war was the way of life and his youthful years were ones of constant loss of family members. He remembers his childhood with great love. Listen to a description of his home and marvel. He described it as half of a building about twenty five by thirty feet divided in half making it a sort of duplex each side being one room about fifteen by twenty feet. The floor was just dirt, hard packed dirt. There were no glass windows and only the exit door with a glassless window with wooden bars. The end opposite the door was partitioned off by a bamboo curtain behind which his father and stepmother slept, no furniture. He and a sister five years older slept together during his early years on a mat. There was a home made stove of sorts made of mud and all the walls were of dried mud, nothing painted and he has fond memories of that as a happy home. Even tho his mother died when he was only two and four or five years later his father was shot while coming home from work. Their stepmother abandoned them taking everything that was loose. An uncle and aunt moved in to take care of them, each dieing within two years followed by a grandmother who also soon died and another uncle and aunt who also died.

Then at the age of 10 and 15 years they alone and dependent on supporting themselves he and his fifteen year old sister, “BA” made a pact to always take care of each other. Which they have faithfully kept.

At this early age, ten and fifteen, they either starved or took care of themselves. They decided to go into business for themselves. They sold their half of their home and had a much smaller one built. How could it be much smaller? With the few dollars left they rented an outdoor stall in the open market place. Getting up each morning before daylight, they would walk four or five miles out into the country, buy all the produce they could carry and sell it in their stall. In the evening they ate their one meal of the day, of whatever they had left over. They succeeded and in a year or two hired a helper.

Then his sister married and Tay could return to school. Here he excelled especially in languages. (I wonder how “BA” found time to be courted, but she did.) She was also very upset with Tay joining the church and herself has remained a Buddhist.

Tay writes to her regularly and remembering their covenant to take care of each other sends her, in his words, “a little money”.

Today things are very desperate in that country since it fell into the hands of the communists. Starvation is the way of life. Many live on as little as five to ten dollars a month and what they can raise.

Today “BA” with her husband and children still live in the same area in the same kind of house, one that she and Tay built. Now at sixty five, Tay lives in a nice home in Salt Lake City with his wife “Lien My Le” (Leen). They have three grown children and grandchildren. Tay is an agent for the FBI and serves as a translator in several languages. At conference time the church uses him to translate and broadcast conference and often at other occasions.

How did his success all happen. He gives all the credit to his Heavenly Father and his church membership.

At the end of the war as Branch President he helped many of his Saigon branch to escape to the point that he was captured and spent three years as a prisoner of war in a “re-education facility” where the treatment was more than brutal. Tay's 135 fellow prisoners appointed him as cook to help him from having to participate in the inhuman hard toil they were forced into. They never had enough to eat. One day he was allowed one chicken and a few wilted vegetables. Imagine that for 135 hungry men. To divide the chicken equally he ground it up into fine pieces and put it in the soup, mostly water. Each got one cup as their main meal and usually the only meal of the day.

He finally escaped and after four years was reunited with his family. His three children didn't even know him. And somehow they and the branch members wound up here in Provo, Utah. The branch was reorganized here in Provo with him as President. At his release I was blessed to follow him as President and he served as my clerk and translator. So I've heard these stories from his own mouth, and he is indeed my brother.

He has also written a two hundred fifty page book of his miraculous experiences and how the Lord has preserved his life for so very many times. The name of the book is “When Faith Endures” you will find it a gripping story. And is available at LDS book stores.

These stories are about people who in the face of great odds turned their lives over to God and he helped them to move forward. Turn your lives over to our Heavenly Father and live the gospel for it is true!

My love always,

Dad, Grandpa Pratt etc.

Memo #126

2011-03-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

March 1, 2011

To: My loved ones

From: Dad, Grandpa etc. Richard Marden Pratt

Re: Continuation of personal life in a distressed world

(NOTE: Some of you have asked if you can share these with other folks. YES! Dad would want that. He has such an amazing testimony and hoped that his study and faith and prayers and good works would draw people to Jesus Christ. You are also welcome to comment on the blog site as well.)

From the time Lehi left Jerusalem 600 B.C. until the final destruction of the Nephites about 385 A.D. covers one thousand years. What most of us don’t catch is that the wicked Nephites were destroyed twice during that one thousand years. Which indicates that the average dispensation of the gospel lasts about three hundred to three hundred and fifty years. In last month’s memo you read about the destruction at the coming of Jesus to the survivors at his crucifixion and resurrection. The first destruction took place about 320 years after leaving Jerusalem and is briefly mentioned in Omni V.5 “Behold, it came to pass that three hundred and twenty years had passed away, and the more wicked part of the Nephites were destroyed.”

Fourth Nephi fills only four pages and covers nearly three hundred years from total righteousness to preparation for total destruction. Or in other words the 530 pages of the Book of Mormon would only be about twelve pages long if righteousness had always prevailed. But it didn’t neither is it now. And I’ll cover that in some detail as soon as I finish this currant theme of “Personal life in a distressed world.”

But always remember that the obedient who suffer a martyr’s death in war or no matter the cause, will receive a martyr’s reward which is all that the Father hath to give.

“For the eternal purposes of the Lord shall roll on, until all his promises shall be fulfilled.” Mormon 8:22

“And if we will but cleanse ourselves and our covenant before God, to serve HIM, it is our privilege to have an assurance that God will protect us at all times.”

“Until we have perfect love we are liable to fall and when we have a testimony that our names are sealed in the Lambs book of Life we have perfect love and then it is impossible for false Christs to deceive us.” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith page 9)

Moroni finished the record of his father Mormon after the awful battle at Cumorah where his father was killed. Moroni writes what is now chapters eight and nine in Mormon’s personal book.

That terrible battle resulted in the lives of millions being destroyed around the little hill Cumorah, a very small hill perhaps two or three hundred feet high, one quarter of a mile long and two or three hundred feet wide and rises up out of the surrounding plains. The early settlers in the area had to clear the ground of human bones before they could farm it. One of the early farmers not knowing what to do with the bones built a large shed and filled it with the remains.

In the monastery at the foot of Mt. Sainai built about 600 A.D. the monks have preserved their predecessors bones in a like manner. One room contains just skulls an estimated fifteen hundred of them. Two other rooms are filled with the rest of the bones stacked like cord wood. Quite an interesting sight. Mother and I had the privilege of staying overnight at the Monastery when we were in Palestine. Not in the same room however.

Moroni reports: “My father hath been slain in battle, and all my kinsfolk, and I have not friends nor whither to go; and how long the Lord will suffer that I may live I know not...and behold, the Lamanites have hunted my people, the Nephites, down from city to city and from place to place, even until they are no more; and great has been their fall; yea, even great and marvelous is the destruction of my people, the Nephites.” Mormon 8:5-7

So far as Moroni knew there were no surviving righteous but himself. And apparently he lived the last twenty to twenty five years of his life without meeting a single survivor. But there were some survivors and one modern group are the Hopi Indians, now numbering about five thousand souls living on a reservation in Northern Arizona. I wrote about them several memos back but will give a brief refresher here.

Archaeology indicates that the Hopi village of Old Oribi is the oldest continually lived in settlement in North America and date its settlement back to about four hundred A.D. when the last battles of Lamanites and Nephites were being wages.

The Hopi legends of their people are as follows. A few families were fleeing from a terrible war. Their leader had a vision in which he was shown that if they fled westward they would come to ten mesas (a mesa is a mountain with a flat top and cliffs dropping off all the way around for four or five hundred feet. The flat top varies in size but appears to be about one city block square on the average. And in the case of these mesas there was a spring of cold sweet water at the base of each. The mesa of Holtvill, which we were familiar with, had four hundred stone steps they had carved in the cliff side down to the spring. I know, I carried water up from that spring, counting the steps, using four one gallon milk jugs that’s thirty two pounds. You didn’t need to go to the “health spa” after a couple of daily trips, and you didn’t waste water.

On top of each mesa they had, over the centuries, erected a communal home all three stories high. The first story sat back about twenty five feet from the cliff edge, the next two stories receded back from the story below several feet and it had a flat roof covered with brush over large poles and covered with twelves inches or more of clay. All building materials had to be carried up from the valley below over a precarious trail and ladders. They had been at it for fifteen hundred years.

One village or mesa named Pollaca now has a passable car road to the top. It was surely scary to drive up and down. And when you started there was no turning around and going back. We did it just once.

There was no barrier of any kind on the cliff edge. So the kids had that narrow strip between the buildings edge and the cliff edge to play on. I asked do your kids fall off? And the answer was, “Yes, we lose one now and then.” Today many have their homes down on the valley floor.

They are a peaceful people and have never gone to war against any others. They exist by a unique harvesting of the scanty rain fall and are farmers. The Spanish conquistadores tried to defeat them but had no luck. The Hopis would just retire to their Mesa tops and drop rocks on anyone trying to scale the cliffs. They always had a year or more supply of water and food up there with them and still do. So after a few hopeless tries the Spanish pretty well left them alone.

However the Catholic fathers did a little better and managed to convert one of the villages, but as soon as they had moved on the men from the other nine villages waited until the meeting day when all the men and boys twelve and older were gathered in the Kiva for a “priesthood meeting” (The Kiva is underground and accessed by entering the hole at the top about three feet square and descending a ladder. There is no other opening. The attackers threw burning brush down the hole covered it with a lid, stood on it until the trapped ones suffocated.

The women and children were dispersed thru out the other mesas to live. The mesa has never been re-occupied. This was about four hundred years ago when the Spanish were exploring the West.

No other Christian church has been successful in proselyting them until about fifty years ago and because their ancient religion is so near the truth they are now joining in large number and I believe we have large branches at each village but not on the top of the mesa.

They baptize by immersion, we have been to the centralized pool. They practice a form of what they hope is eternal marriage, all dressed in white. Priesthood starts at the age of twelve and many other practices that indicate that they once had the true church of Jesus Christ. Oh! They had a form of home teaching too. Every old person or couple or incapacitated had assigned to them a teen age boy who called on them every day to see to their needs, like water, wood etc. and they were very faithful about it. They also addressed each other as brother and sister.

Back to the final battle between the Lamanites and Nephites. Mormon records that when he was eleven years old in the year 322 A.D. that his family moved from the country to the great city of Zarahemla. He was so amazed at the dense population that he recorded, “The whole face of the land had been covered with buildings, and the people were as numerous almost, as it were the sand of the sea.” 1:7

And a war began that year, but wickedness did prevail upon the whole face of the earth. And the Lord took away his beloved disciples, and the work of miracles and of healing did cease because of the iniquity of the people. They were ripe for destruction. As a fourteen year old boy he tried to preach righteousness to them but his mouth was shut, and he was forbidden that he should preach to them. For they had wilfully rebelled against their God and the beloved disciples were taken away out of the land because of the their iniquity.

But I did remain among them, but I was forbidden to preach unto them, because of the hardness of their hearts; and because of the hardness of their hearts the land was cursed for their sakes.

And then an amazing thing happened. Although he was only in his sixteenth year he was large in stature, the Nephites appointed him to be their leader. For earlier in the book of Alma it tells us that they always chose a prophet to be their commanding officer. For the next sixty years, except when he refused to lead them, he led them in their struggles against the Lamanites.

Now in hand to hand combat the general leads his troops and is the first to meet the enemy and must kill each man that approaches him or be killed. In fifty years of fighting I wonder how many of the Lamanites he personally sent to the happy hunting ground.

And he wrote, “it is impossible for the tongue to describe, or for man to write a perfect description of the horrible scene of the blood and carnage which was among the people, both of the Nephites and of the Lamanites; and every heart was hardened, so that they delighted in the shedding of blood.” Mormon 4:11

In the meantime he is recording all this and abridging the thousand years of Nephite records and depositing them in their final resting place in Cumorah until that wonderful day when his son, Moroni turns them over to the boy prophet Joseph Smith. September 22, 1827 who translated them by the power of God from whence we have our knowledge of those ancient days in the Americas between the years six hundred B.C. and four hundred A.D.

From that date until Columbus discovered America twelve hundred years later the descendant of the Lamanites remained in a stone age culture. Man on the way down and not on his way up.

In his last recorded message to his beloved son Moroni, Mormon wrote; “My beloved son, notwithstanding their hardness let us labor diligently; for if we should cease to labor, we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness and rest our souls in the kingdom of God.” Moroni 9:6

This was the second people to be destroyed in the Americas, the “Etherites” having preceded the Nephites, Satan had won again.

And he wasn’t doing too bad in the Eastern half of the world either. The great Empire geographically that the world has known was also going to its destruction. Within seventy five years the Roman Empire fell. The date 476 A.D. while they didn’t sink to a stone age culture they were not far from it as all of Europe, the Near East, and Northern Africa all part of that great empire went into a thousand year period known in history as the Dark Ages.

The dark ages was a terrible time to live. One wonders what method God used to choose spirits to be born into mortality under such adverse conditions. All of Europe fell into a decline. The splendid roads developed by the Romans became miserable ruts, fields went back to forests. Towns shrunk to large villages. Travel was only safely done with a strong armed guard.

Cleanliness was unknown. King Henry the eighth was never known to bathe. Perfume came into vogue as a cover up for human stench. Only the elite had any heat in winter and that was a fireplace in those huge stone castles which themselves would have been ice boxes.

The peasants lived in an igloo shaped arrangement of willows woven together and plastered with clay. No doors, just an opening covered by a hanging skin, no windows, no furniture, just a raised platform to sleep on, and raised to keep the cow, pig or other animal out of your bed as they had been brought into your abode to help furnish some warmth. Aren’t you glad you live now?

At its peak less than five percent of the people could read and write. And these few, who kept learning alive, were dedicated monks living in isolated monasteries. Famous Joan of Arc lived in that era. Hers is an exciting story but can’t write it here.

Gutenberg came up with the printing press in the middle fourteen hundreds. At that time not more than twelve thousand hand written books existed in all of Europe. By the end of the 1400's over two million books existed. Finally Satan was on the run.

Visit the Crandall Printing Museum in Provo, Utah and see replicas of those early presses built by my son Stephen and his son Ben and an original Bible from Gutenberg’s first printing all of which made it possible and led to the restoration of the true church of Christ upon the earth for the last time. I bare you my testimony that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is on the earth and it is true. Learn it, love it and live it.

My love always,

Dad, Grandpa etc. Richard M. Pratt

Memo #125

2011-02-01T01:00:00.000-07:00

February 1, 2011
To: All I Love
From: Dad, Grandpa etc Richard Pratt
Re: Personal Life in a distressed world

One of the most serious mistakes of mankind has been to assume that they were chosen and accepted of God just simply because of their illustrious ancestors. The righteousness of parents can never save their children. The children must be righteous on their own account or they will be treated like anyone else. (W. Cleon Skousen pg. 3)
After Abraham and Lot separated so they would have more room for their large herds of stock. Lot chose to move into the city of Sodom on the south shore of the Dead Sea. It was not dead at this time but was a tropical paradise stretching out many miles of rich soil and prosperous cities. Then the area was invaded and Lot and his family were taken captive and carried off with their wealth. When Abraham heard of it he quickly called all his herders in, leaving their wives and children tending their flocks. He was able to muster in 318 men of his own camp and followed in hot pursuit. They defeated the spoilers rescued the prisoners and loot and returned home safely. The only military action ever taken by Abraham that we know of.
Later the whole Dead Sea valley was wiped out and turned into a dead sea and barren desert. Only Lot and two daughters escaped.
We’ll jump forward five hundred years to the days of Moses leading Israel in a 40 year camp out in the desert East of the promised land. They had many encounters with the locals but one that is interesting was the Mideanites.
Moses was commanded to destroy them for they were completely immersed in sin and there was no hope of their repentance. Why Moses chose an army of only twelve thousand Israelites is not known. But he called for one thousand from each tribe while the total manpower was in the neighborhood of six hundred thousand. We don’t know the size of the Mideanites but they were numerous.
The Israelites were commanded to destroy all human life except for little girls who were not old enough to have been defiled. These were to be scattered throughout the twelve tribes and raised as Israelites.
When the war ended. The home coming army brought thirty two thousand little girls and babies which alone indicates a good sized enemy.
Moses then asked for a count to be taken of the men, expecting many to be dead or missing. The count was taken and the officers reported: “Thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war which are under our charge and there lacketh not one man of us.”
(This happened nearly 1500 years before Heleman and his stripling warriors.)
Even though you are familiar with Goliath and David. Let me give a few details. This is about 500 years after Moses.
First to Goliath’s size. The Bible reports that he was six cubits and a span high. Using the smallest size given of a cubit which is eighteen inches and six inches for a span. He stood about nine feet tall. I saw a man eight feet six inches tall and my eyes were looking right at his belt buckle. This man I saw was in good physical shape, not fat at all, and weighed a little over four hundred pounds.
Goliath was clad in armor that weighed 156 pounds with a big brass helmet on his head.
David was just average size and only sixteen or seventeen years old. First they clothed him in King Sauls armor. Saul was bigger than most Israelites by head and shoulders. Poor little David couldn’t even walk. He cried “take it off!” Dressed just in his tunic or regular clothing he charged down to meet Goliath. It would have been similar to charging a modern day tank minus machine guns. As he crossed the brook separating them he picked up five round smooth stones about the size of a small chicken egg and slipped them into his pouch.
As he approached the giant, he cried, “you come to me with sword and spear but I come to you in the name of Israel’s God.” then he placed one of the stones in his sling twirled it over his head till it got to maximum speed and let the rock go. It struck the giant just below his helmet and sank into his head. Not having a sword then David ran over and climbed on the unconscious or dead giant, pulled out the giants sword and cut off his head.
The Philistine army was devastated, threw down their weapons and ran for home with the Israelites in hot pursuit. Killing many of the enemy before they reached the safety of their walled cities.
Now the rest of the story. It’s all in the Bible. Don’t know why its never told as part of the encounter.
Goliath had four sons, apparently as large and mean as he was and they grew up and spent the next forty years trying to avenge their Fathers death by killing David. They didn’t succeed but look it up and read it. Look in First Samuel.
As I mentioned before there are two main reasons for dying when fighting for righteousness. One: that man has lived his allotted life. or Two: he dies as a witness against the wickedness that has killed him. Neither will lose their reward but will receive the victor’s crown.
Now to Helaman and his stripling warriors. That seemed to indicate that they were from fourteen to eighteen years of age and you of course, remember that these young men were taking the place of their fathers who had covenanted with the Lord never to kill again and had buried their weapons of war in testament thereof. But when the Nephites were about to be destroyed these men considered breaking their covenant with God. They were persuaded not to by their young sons saying, “We never made that covenant so are free to fight and they asked the prophet Helaman to lead them. (Note: He would have to have been considerably younger than our modern prophets.)
When they approached their first battle Helaman said to them. “ Therefore what say ye, my sons, will you go against them to battle.” and they answered: “Father, behold our God is with us, and he will not suffer that we should fall; then let us go forth; we would not slay our brethren if they would let us alone, therefore let us go, lest they should overpower the army of Antipus.
Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives, yea they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them. And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.”
In the next battle Helaman reported: “My little band of two thousand and sixty fought most desperately; yea they were firm before the Lamanites, and did administer death unto all those who opposed them. And as the remainder of our army were about to give way before the Lamanites, behold, those two thousand and sixty were firm and undaunted.
Yea they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness; yea and even according to their faith it was done unto them; and I did remember the words which they said unto me that their mothers had taught them.
And it came to pass that there were two hundred, out of my two thousand and sixty, who had fainted because of the loss of blood; nevertheless, according to the goodness of God, and to our great astonishment, and also the joy of our whole army, there was not one soul of them who did perish; yea, and neither was there one soul among them who had not received many wounds.
And now, their preservation was astonishing to our whole army, yea that they should be spared while there was a thousand of our brethren who were slain. And we do justly ascribe it to the miraculous power of God, because of their exceeding faith in that which they had been taught to believe ~ that there was a just God, and whosoever did not doubt, that they should be preserved by his marvelous power. Now this was the faith of these of whom I have spoken; they are young, and their minds are firm, and they put their trust in God continually.”
Helaman chapter 57
“And the Lord has supported them, yea, and kept them from falling by the sword, insomuch that even one soul has not been slain. But behold they have received many wounds; nevertheless they stand fast in that liberty where with God has made them free; and they are strict to remember the Lord their God from day to day; yea, they do observe to keep his statutes and his judgements, and his commandments continually; and their faith is strong in the prophecies concerning that which is to come.” Alma 58
And this is the last we hear of these young men although the war continues on.
However it is recorded that many righteous people were killed and the report of their death is stated thusly; “Do ye suppose that, because so many of your brethren have been killed it is because of their wickedness? I say unto you, if ye have supposed this ye have supposed in vain; for I say unto you, there are many who have fallen by the sword; and behold it is to your condemnation; for the Lord suffereth the righteous to be slain that his justice and judgement may come upon the wicked; therefore ye need not suppose that the righteous are lost because they are slain; but behold, they do enter into the rest of the Lord their God.” Alma 60:12-13
When the Savior was being crucified at Jerusalem terrible destruction took place in the Americas by tempests, fires, earthquakes, whirlwinds and physical upheavals. Most of the people are destroyed and darkness covered the land for three days and nights. Many great and notable cities were sunk, and many were burned and many were shaken till the buildings thereof had fallen to the earth and the inhabitants there of were slain, and the places were left desolate... and the quaking of the earth...and it came to pass that there was thick darkness upon all the face of the earth...and there was not any light seen, neither fire, nor glimmer, neither the sun, nor the moon, nor the stars, for so great were the mists of darkness which were upon the face of the land. 3 Nephi 14-22
“And it came to pass that there was a voice heard among all the inhabitants of the earth, upon all the face of the land crying: “Wo, Wo, Wo unto this people; wo unto the inhabitants of the whole earth except they shall repent; for the devil laugheth and his angels rejoice, because of the slain of the fair sons and daughters of my people; and it is because of their iniquity and abominations that they are fallen.” Ibid 9:1-2
“And many great destructions have I caused to come upon this land, and upon this people, because of their wickedness and their abominations.
“Oh all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they, will ye not
now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?
Yea verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold my arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me, behold I am Jesus Christ. 3 Nephi 9
and it came to pass that thus did the three days pass away. And it was in the morning, and the darkness dispersed from off the face of the land, and the earth did cease to tremble, and the rocks did cease to rend, and the dreadful groanings did cease, and all the tumultuous noises did pass away.
And it was the more righteous part of the people who were saved...soon after the ascension of Christ into heaven (Acts 1:9-11) he did truly manifest himself unto them (in the Americas)
and now it came to pass that there was a great multitude (about 2500) gathered together, of the people of Nephi round about the temple which was in the land of Bountiful; and they were marveling and wondering one with another and were showing one another the great and marvelous change which had taken place. And they were also conversing about this Jesus Christ, of whom the sign had been given concerning his death...
(Three times they heard the voice before they realized it was coming from heaven) casting their eyes up they heard a voice saying, “behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name hear ye him.” And they saw a man descending out of heaven and he came down and stood in the midst of them. And he stretched forth his hand and spoke to them, saying: “Behold I am Jesus Christ whom the prophets testified shall come into the earth.” And then he invited them all to come unto him and examine and feel the wounds in his body that they would know for sure that HE was indeed the Son of God.
3 Nephi 11
Then he arranged for their baptism saying, “ whoso believeth in me, and is baptized shall be saved, and they are they who shall inherit the kingdom of God. And whoso believeth not in me, and is not baptized, shall be damned.” Ch. 11
I hope you will all open to 3rd Nephi at your first free moment and read it in its entirety and thrill with it as I do and then reread it.
After teaching them all day ~ wow, what a missionary!~ “There came a cloud and overshadowed the multitude that they could not see Jesus. And while they were overshadowed he departed from them, and ascended into heaven. And the disciples saw and did bear record that he ascended again into heaven.” 3 Nephi 18 & 19
“And now it came to pass that when Jesus had ascended into heaven, the multitude did disperse, and every man did take his wife and his children and did return to his own home.”
Note: in all the destruction that had taken place the homes of the survivors were still intact.
He then appeared the next day and apparently spent the entire day teaching and loving them. Please read for yourselves for it is a facsimile of things soon to come for Jesus Christ will come again just as he has promised.

My love always,
Dad, Grandpa etc. Richard Pratt

Memo #124

2011-01-03T16:12:00.000-07:00

To: My Beloved family and friends
From: Dad, Grandpa etc. Richard Pratt
Re: Our Personal life in a distressed world (continued)

You see, the righteous are protected until they have finished their allotted time on the earth. President Spencer W. Kimball said; that we all have an allotted time to live in this mortal life and that the obedient may not lengthen theirs much while the disobedient shorten theirs a great deal.
This is certainly true in my own life. So many times my life has been on the line and it has been preserved by a miracle. While all the male friends of my youth (we were the only LDS) have been dead for fifty years or more, mostly from defiling their bodies with the poisons of the mortal world. Two or three women still survive and we exchange letters two or three times a year. The young ladies of those early days did not smoke or drink so they have lasted longer.
Now I’m going to start with the aftermath of Noah’s flood and describe some of the events in which the Lord protected and saved individuals, groups of people, and whole armies. For as the scriptures say, “not even a sparrow falls to the ground that God is not aware of it. And if you are privileged to have God speak to you or an angel, they will always call you by your first name. I know, I have heard it. In his description of the First Vision the prophet says, “and I saw two men standing in the light above my head, and one pointing to the other, and calling me by name said, “Joseph” this is my beloved Son hear him.”
As the time of the flood approached the allotted animals came and entered the ark and Noah, 600 years old, Japheth 150 years old, Shem 142 years old and Ham 100 years old and their wives, a total of eight entered the Ark. Here is an interesting note, “and they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded them: “AND THE LORD SHUT HIM IN.”
WHY DID THE Lord shut them in? Where did those non-believes outside of the ark suddenly become BELIEVERS? Where did they immediately run to?
Some of these now-believers would have headed for the only safe place, you guessed it. THE ARK. Some would have been family.
As they beat on the side of the ark and cried, let us in, let us in. The parental and friendly love of those inside would be to open the door and let them in. But God closed the door and it took nearly a year before Noah and sons figured out the combination and finally opened the door.
By this time the ark had sailed half way round the world and finally came aground on the top of Mt Ararat. Genesis 8:4 Altitude over 16,000 feet. (Kings Peak the highest in Utah is 13,568 feet. Piolets start putting the oxygen at 13,000 feet.
Mt. Ararat is on the Turkish, Russian border between the Black and Caspian Sea at the headwaters of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers. Naturally as the occupants, man and beast evacuated the Ark they would have gone down stream to a warmer clime, the Mesopotamia Valley which means the land between two rivers. There we find the remains of mans earliest settlements. And it is assumed that if there was a garden of Eden it would have been in that area. Of course they deny that the flood ever happened. The destructive power of water is unbelievable and all signs of the civilization existing before the flood was washed away and or buried.
There is much more I could write about this perhaps I’ll come back to it in a later memo.
The four families exited the Ark and being the only occupants of the cleansed earth they no doubt stayed together in peace and love, and harmony. Until the babies started coming. The first recorded birth is Arpharad born two years after the flood. He was probably not the first. Genesis chapter 10 gives the names of the male babies born to the three sons or at least part of them and we learn that Japheth was the father of the Gentiles (means all people who are not part of Israel) Ham, whose wife was black of course became the head of the Negroids, Shem named one of his sons Eber from which comes the Hebrews and us. And by these were the nations begun after the flood. “And the whole earth was of one language and one speech.” Genesis 11:1
all was serene, peace and happiness. Yes? No! About the third or fourth generation came a man named Nimrod a grandson of Ham and therefore black. In the Bible he is called a “mighty hunter.” but from other sources such as Josephus we learn that Noah lived to see his descendants reestablish the wicked abominations of the pre-flood period. No doubt Noah labored against these degenerate trends with the last vestige of vigor left in his aging body. Perhaps that is why Nimrod and many of the people journeyed from the East (the Tigris River) and came over to the Euphrates River Valley called Shinar, Where they would not have to listen to Noah and his sons preaching to them. The wicked always prefer working in the dark.
The Jewish historians write that Nimrod began to be mighty in sin, a murder of innocent men and a rebel before the Lord. In another place they say: “He was mighty in hunting and in sin before God, for he was a hunter of the children of men.”
He built a mighty city with the Euphrates River running thru it. The city was fifteen miles square with an avenue every mile both directions the whole surrounded by a rock wall 300 feet high. It was considered invincible. One of the areas inside the city was devoted to building the Tower of Babel, a gigantic structure one quarter of a mile at the base and six hundred forty feet high. The city was later captured in one day and destroyed. But to this day “Babylon” stands as a sign of wickedness and we are constantly reminded to “Come out of Babylon.”
So with in two hundred years after the flood (Noah had 150 years yet to live) the cleansed earth was again drowning in the cess pool of its own making. Human sacrifices, heathen idolatry, imperialistic conquest and institutionalized immorality characterized civilization. Once again the race was corrupting its way upon the earth. It was as tho the majority of humanity had become like a lethal swamp filled with decay and stagnation.
But there were islands of righteousness throughout the people, as the Lord, thru the Priesthood provided areas of safety for the faithful.
Such was the ancient city of Salem later to become Jerusalem. Ruled over by a righteous king, a man named Melckizedek. Because of his influence all the subjects of h is kingdom accepted and lived the gospel. And the power of the Priesthood which is the power of God became known as the Melchizedek Priesthood. Previously it had been called “The Holy Priesthood after the order of the Son of God.” but out of respect or reverence to the name of the Supreme Being, to avoid the too frequent repetition of his name, the church in ancient days, called the priesthood after Melchizedek.
King David in the Bible spoke of the Savior as “A Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek” Psalms 110:4
Abraham visited Salem and payed tithing to the church via Melchizedek.
But a few years later when he took his son, Isaac up on Mt. Salem to sacrifice him to the Lord there was only bare rocks at the site. The city and its people had been translated to join the city of Enoch that had enjoyed the same release from this wicked world.
And when we are inquiring about the origin of heathen religions. They did not originate or evolve as the teachers teach. THEY WERE PROMOTED by evil men who were trying to destroy God. Idolatrus practices did not come into existence until long after true religion had been revealed from heaven. Heathen worship was set up by defiant and rebellious men. Heathen philosophy was brewed up in the dark minds of men who had apostatized from the truth and had set about to destroy the gospel which was had from the beginning. So again the learned men have it backwards, even as they do on the origin of man. Stone age men are not on their way up, they are on the way down having apostatized from it. So religion did not evolve; but false religion has been and is still being promoted by the wicked.
So the Lord sent a new prophet to earth to try and save his children. Named Abram which the Lord later changed his name to Abraham, meaning the “Father of the Faithful.”
Abraham was born in the ancient city of “Ur” about 150 miles downstream from wicked Babylon in the year 2000 B.C. exactly half way between the Fall of Adam and the birth of Jesus Christ. It was also the death date of Noah even tho Abraham was ten generations later. The evil Nimrod had just died, wicked Babylon was flourishing. Mankind was doomed again or so it seemed to be hanging on one man, Abraham. And then that thread was about to be broken for his idolatress father Terah took his teenage son to the priest to be offered as a human sacrifice. Just prior three sisters had been murdered on the bloody alter because they would not surrender their virginity to the evil priests. Surprisingly only the innocent and the pure were qualified to be sacrifices. Babies were used and were placed in the red-hot arms of a stove shaped like a man with out stretched arms on which the screaming child would be placed and fortunately were roasted to a crisp instantly.
Older victims like the three sisters and Abraham were stripped, laid on their backs and stretched legs and arms secured. The priest then delivered some type of prayer raised the sacrificial knife, plunged it into the abdomen ripped the victim in half and reached in, grabbed the beating heart, ripped it out still beating, and held it aloft to the cheering of the congregation.
Now I’ve hesitated to write such a gruesome account but feel that you need to know how low people can descend and how rapidly.
From the “First Two Thousand Years” by W. Cleon Skousen. (A personal friend)
But the Lord had other plans for that evil Priest and for righteous Abraham. For as the knife was raised an angel appeared and the Priest was struck dead. Abraham was freed and went on his life long mission of establishing the truth or the True God in the World.
Illustrating the point that I am trying to make. “Have NO FEAR in the service of the TRUE GOD.” Those that he allows to be murdered such as the three sisters will stand as witnesses at the judgement day against that wicked generation and will secure their eternal place in the Celestial Kingdom of our God.
While Abram became known as the father of the faithful, and lived to one hundred seventy five - a ripe old age by then as the Lord shortened the longevity from near one thousand years until five hundred years after Abraham the life of man was shortened to three score (60) and ten or 70 years and to eighty it says if they were strong. With all of our modern medicine few live beyond that age.
The Lord said to Abraham, “I will bless thee above measure; “and Abraham was very rich in cattle, in silver and gold.
Third: “I will...make thy name great among all nations. Today Abraham is honored by all the Christian nations , all of the Muhammadans, and by the millions of Jews. Altogether about one-half of the earths population honors the name of Abraham. In time all the rest will honor him also.
(Ibid 278) But that is not all. He was promised that as many as receive the gospel shall be accounted thy seed. (Although half the world profess Abraham as their father, only a few have accepted the true gospel as taught by Abraham. But they all will before the Judgement day.
Abraham was further told. “I will bless them that bless thee and curse them that curse thee. The lord has always promised to bless those who aid his servants. As Jesus said: “He that receiveth you, receiveth me.”
Abraham was further promised. “I give unto thee a promise that this right (of the Priesthood) shall continue in thee.” Only the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have the least idea what the “Melchizedek Priesthood is.” and many of them do not comprehend its full meaning or enjoy its full blessings. The next two or three memos will have some examples.
He was told, “In thy seed after thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed, even with the blessings of the Gospel.” the blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings, even of life eternal.
Abraham continued to live in that area until he was sixty two years old. He had married his niece, his brothers daughter, Sarai,(NOTE: like Abram’s name was changed to Abraham, Sarai’s name was changed by the Lord to, Sarah. Try looking her up in the Bible Dictionary.) marrying close relatives was a common practice in those days. By this time he had become very wealthy and owned many thousands of cattle and sheep.
The Lord commanded him to move and that he would be led to a choice land that would be given to him and his righteous descendants forever. He left Haran going Northward up the river taking his possessions and family and “All the souls that he had won in Haran.” and we know from later information that his party and family numbered over one thousand souls.
We haven’t time nor is it my purpose to follow Abraham further. They must have traveled very slowly, perhaps only three or four miles a day as they grazed the livestock forward.
Watch for the next memo in which I hope to illustrate some of the miracles in the lives of our military and others who have OBEYED GOD.

My love always,
Dad, Grandpa etc. Richard Marden Pratt

I thought you might be interested in Dad’s Priesthood line of authority.
Richard M. Pratt was ordained an Elder by William R. Sloan who was ordained by Heber S. Allen who was ordained by Apostle Teasdale who was ordained by Brigham Young who was ordained by Joseph Smith who was ordained by Peter, James and John who were ordained by Jesus Christ.

As we set our goals for the new year let us center our homes and thoughts in Jesus Christ, We will be led to be kinder, more loving, more thoughtful. Indeed we will put on the whole armor of God, becoming as he is. The more we embrace these goals the more we will want to share what we have found. Just like our wonderful parents dedicated their lives to being Christ like. Wow they were well read and Wow did they ever live what they believed. They really set a great example for us to follow.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is JOY! It is PEACE! It is PURE! HE LIVES! We can let our spirits become prepared in every needful thing and when we are prepared the storms of life will not have power over us to weigh us down. Happy New Year. God bless us everyone!

Memo #123 (72 to go)

2010-12-03T12:09:00.002-07:00

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

Memo #122

2010-11-01T11:03:00.001-06:00

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!)

Memo #121

2010-10-01T11:39:00.002-06:00

To: My Beloved Family & Friends

From: Dad, Grandpa etc. Richard Pratt

Re: a variety of subjects

October 1, 2010

The fall and infinite atonement is beyond the scope of the critics. As to the believers it is best stated by the Savior saying to Martha: “I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?”

“She saith unto him, yea, Lord: I believe that thou are the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.” John 11:25-27

Every member should have the same assurance that Martha had. It is their privilege to know that Jesus Christ is the Only Begotten Son of God, and is the resurrection and the life. It is likewise their privilege to know that Adam fell and brought death into the world. The resurrection is a demonstrated fact. And by faith we know that the atonement of Jesus Christ came because of the fall.

It is impossible for the worldly minded to understand the reason for the fall and likewise understand the necessity for the atonement of Jesus Christ. It is true that not all the purposes of our eternal Father have been revealed to man; there are some things that have to be received by faith; but these great truths have been made known and we have the assurance that thru the sacrifice made on the cross all mankind and every other creature, even the earth itself, are redeemed from death and shall receive the resurrection and be restored to immortal life. Men receive assurance and knowledge due to their faithfulness and adherence to the commandments of Jesus Christ. Those who reject their Redeemer and refuse to keep his commandments cannot know and comprehend these eternal truths.

Naturally the Lord cannot reveal the mysteries of his kingdom to the scoffer, neither can he to the member of the church who is not faithful. If a man does not exercise faith why should he have the revelations concerning the kingdom of God revealed unto him. They cannot understand them because they are “fallen” man, and without the enlightening influence of the Holy Spirit, they are as the Lord expressed it, “carnal, sensual and devilish.” When the disciples asked the Savior why he spoke in parables, he answered: “Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.” Luke 8:10

Of course, a man who believes that man has developed from lower forms of life, and by gradual development after an enormous length of time evolved from fish to reptile and then to ape, can never understand the fall of man and the atonement. These truths are mysteries to him and only contempt and abuse do they receive from him.

For example, as one carnal minded critic said: “But no Adam, no Fall; no Fall no atonement, no atonement, no Savior. Accepting evidence, how can we have a fall? When did man fall; was it before he ceased to be a monkey, or after? Was it when he was a tree man or later? Was it in the stone age, or the Bronze age, or in the age of iron? And if there never was a fall, why should there be any atonement?”

You can see from the above quotation the big problem that faces those who cannot or will not give up the total improbability of evolution for it is totally opposed to the truths of the gospel.

“And the Savior cometh into the world that he may save all men if they will hearken unto his voice; for behold, he suffereth the pains of all men, yea, the pains of every living

creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to the family of Adam.

Because everything is to be restored at the resurrection it then becomes necessary for us to take a view of creation as it rolled in purity from the hand of its creator; and if we can discover the true state in which it then existed, and understand the changes that have taken place since then, we shall be able to understand what is to be restored; and thus our minds being prepared we shall be looking for the very things which will come...after the creation God pronounced all the creation very good. From this we learn that there were neither deserts, barren places, stagnant swamps, rough, broken, ragged hills, nor vast mountains covered with eternal snows; and no part of it was located in the frigid zones...or everlasting chains of ice.

But the whole earth was probably one vast plain, or interspersed with gently rising hills and sloping vales, well calculated for cultivation; (like our central plains area, especially the state of Ohio, all very beautiful and usable) while its climate was delightfully varied with moderate changes of heat and cold, of wet and dry...all for the good of man, animal, fowl or creeping thing; while from the flowery plain or spicy grove, sweet odors were wafted on every breeze and all the vast creation of animated beings breathed naught but health, peace, and joy...with shouts of joy; neither a sign nor a groan was heard, throughout the vast expanse; neither was there sorrow, tears, pain weeping, sickness, nor neath, neither contentions, wars, nor bloodshed; but peace crowned the seasons as they rolled, and life, joy, and love reigned over all his works.”

(From The Voice of Warning by Parley P. Pratt page 86)

With the Fall of Adam all this had to change to make way for mortality. For apparently there was no other way. Had there been a way of lesser pain and grief surely our Father would have used it.

How far the flood may have contributed, to produce the various changes as to the division of the earth into broken fragments, islands and continents, mountains and valleys, we have not been informed... but after the flood in the days of Peleg, the earth was divided while the great curses which have fallen upon different portions, because of the wickedness of men, will account for the stagnant swamps, the sunken lakes, the dead seas and great deserts.

After, as an individual, we pass thru this world of opposites in all things such as joy and sorrow, health and sickness, have our spirit body clothed in a physical one, there must needs be a Savior. And God our Eternal Father has provided one. He has many titles such as, “The First Born” this would be in the world of Spirits, the “Only Begotten” in the world of flesh and “Our Redeemer”. He is also called “Father”, which is a little confusing but not when it is explained that he is the spiritual or foster Father of all those who believe in Him, His and our Father and the Holy Ghost. (Three separate beings making up the Godhead)

Our next question then is the Historicity of Jesus. I have already covered this in a previous memo so will simply state that the Historicity of our Redeemer is the most attested fact in history. Even his enemies admit that he lived, was crucified and resurrected three days after.

And in the church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints we have a second witness that cannot be disputed that is very plain in bearing testimony of the reality of our Lord, his mission, crucifixion and resurrection.

For as Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon declared (and there are many others) “and now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him; this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him, that He lives!

For we saw him, and through him, and of Him, worlds are and were created, and the

inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God.” This testimony has gone forth unto all the world. There are thousands who know it is true for they too have had witness borne in upon their souls. There are thousands who believe in the promise of the Lord, “that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments shall see my face and know that I am; and that I an the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” Doctrine & Covenants 93:1-2

The story of the Flood is one of the events recorded in the Bible that has met with contempt and ridicule by the wise and prudent of Isaiah’s prediction in these modern days of worldly learning. Even some members of the church reject the flood outright or say that it was just a local flood down the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers.

There are others in the church who reject the story of the flood entirely on the ground that it could not be an act of God; for he is a “kind Father” and a “a father even a normal, earthly father, could not command such wholesale slaughter.”

Haven’t they read the scriptures of how the pre flood prophets warned and re-warned the people of the flood for over 600 years before it took place, how those who believed were taken off the earth and after the prophets had finished their warnings that angels came down from heaven and “caught up” any that would believe. Not one soul needed to be drowned neither need one soul be burned at the coming of the Lord when he cleanses the earth with fire. Unhappily the majority of the people on earth at that time will suffer that horrifying fate.

For the Lord, himself shall descend from heaven with a shout and the voice of the Archangel, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive shall be caught up into heaven to meet the Lord in the air and thus shall we ever be with the Lord.

1 Thessalonians 4:18- but this will not take place until all have been warned. This is going on right now as 60,000 missionaries cover the earth crying, “ repent ye, repent ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand.”

Some say that a large ship couldn’t begin to hold a sample of all the different animals on the earth. I won’t take time to show how it is not only possible but that it did happen. And who are they that make such complaints. By what authority can they say that God couldn’t do this. No man has the knowledge, much less the authority to say that all the original pairs of animals and birds could not be placed in the Ark! The word of the Lord says that they were placed there, and thru the providence of God were distributed over all the face of the earth after the flood.

Another criticism of the universal flood is supposed to be indisputable. This is that there is not enough water in the oceans, rivers and lakes plus what may be stored in the atmosphere and in the earth to rise and cover the mountains, the account of the flood and from whence the water came is but briefly stated. We have no extensive details. The story is as follows.

“In the sixth hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.” Genesis 11:7 In as much as two thirds of the earth is currently covered with water and the deepest depths of water is as much as the highest mountain peaks there is no reason the Lord couldn’t so manage that amount of water to cover the whole earth. As the days of Noah were, so shall also be the coming of the Son of Man. JS Matthew 1:41

And it was the Son of Man, (tho I prefer to call him the Son of God), who said it. Baptized with water in the days of Noah, the earth will yet be baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost.

Be Not afraid but be believing!!!

I LOVE you, Dad, Grandpa etc. Richard Marden Pratt

WITH THANKSGIVING COMING UP HERE ARE A COUPLE OF THINGS DAD WOULD APPROVE OF:

One of the evils of our time is taking for granted so many of the things we enjoy. The Lord said: “For what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift?” (D&C 88:33). The Apostle Paul described our day to Timothy when he wrote that in the last days “men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy” (2 Tim. 3:2). These sins are fellow travelers, and ingratitude makes one susceptible to all of them....A grateful heart is a beginning of greatness. It is an expression of humility. It is a foundation for the development of such virtues as prayer, faith, courage, contentment, happiness, love, and well‑being. But there is a truism associated with all types of human strength: “Use it or lose it.” When not used, muscles weaken, skills deteriorate, and faith disappears....Gratitude is not only an expression of faith; it is a saving principle. The Lord has said, “And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments” (D&C 59:21). It is clear to me from this scripture that to “thank the Lord thy God in all things” (D&C 59:7) is more than a social courtesy; it is a binding commandment.

“And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more” (D&C 78:19). (James E. Faust as a member of the Quorum of the twelve in 1993)

Steamed pudding (Grandma Adaline Pratt’s recipe) (this is 2/3 the original ingredients but makes a large pudding!)

2 cups carrots grated

2 cups spuds grated

2 cups sugar

2 cups raisins

1 1/3 cups shortening melted

4 eggs

1 cup flour

1 tsp soda

1 scant tsp salt

2 tsp each: nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves

1 ½ cups chopped walnuts

stir all together. Pour in well greased pyrex or double boiler with a lid on. Steam for 1 hour. Will test done like a cake.

Use lemon sauce or caramel sauce.

Best served in Mom’s cut glass dishes!

You can do this ahead in quart jars and fill wide mouth jars half full follow your pressure canner for potatoes and it saves well.

Memo #120 (75 to go)

2010-09-01T00:00:00.001-06:00

September 1, 2010 (written Feb. 2009)

To: My Beloved Family & Friends

From: Dad, Grandpa etc. Richard M Pratt

Re: The Creation

The first great errors made by these researchers is in relation to the age of the earth. Evolution demands great periods of time for its purpose and in the imagination of their hearts have chosen a time far beyond the knowledge and power of research to fathom.

The ancient ancestors of the African savage...in the third generation from Adam, were musicians, and made harps and organs and were workers in brass and iron.

“Jubal was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ...and Tubal-Cain was an instructor of every artifice in brass and iron.” Genesis 4:21-22.

(These men, descendants of Cain and therefore black were only three generations removed from Adam who would have been their great-grandfather) We discover, thus, that men were intelligent from the beginning.

“And as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens thereof even so shall another come; and there is no end to my works neither to my words. For behold, this is my work and my glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” Moses 1:38-39

But there is another thing to be considered, are the wicked to receive this earth as an inheritance? Not; for Jesus did not say, blessed are the wicked for they shall inherit the earth; this promise was made only to the meek. Who are the meek: None but those who receive the same ordinances the earth has received, and be baptized with fire and the Holy Ghost, as this earth will be when Jesus comes to reign upon it a thousand years; and be clothed upon with the glory of God, as the earth will be; and after they have died as the earth will die, they will have to be resurrected, as the earth will be resurrected, and then receive their inheritance upon it.”

Orson Pratt, J. Of D. 1:293

it is your right under these conditions to know the truth which makes us free. You cannot be a true member of the Church and reject Jesus Christ. You cannot be a faithful member and reject the scriptures ~ Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price

for these are the standards of our faith. If you accept them you cannot accept organic evolution for they are diametrically opposed to each other.

1. Worlds without number have been created.

2. They have been created as habitations for the children of God.

3. The great work and glory of our Father in Heaven is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.

4. Inhabitants of other worlds are begotten sons and daughters of God.

5. When one earth passes away to its exaltation another comes.

6. The making of earths is a glorious work which has been carried on eternally.

The above being true then does it not appear to you that it is a foolish and ridiculous notion that when God created this earth he had to begin with a speck of protoplasm, and take millions if not billions of years to bring conditions to pass by which his sons and daughters might obtain bodies made in his image? Why not the shorter route and transplant them from another earth as we are taught in the scriptures.

Also be it remembered, and all who accept the Gospel should remember it, every creature is eternal. Evolutionists do not believe in the existence of spirit, for man or animal, but we, as

members of the church do. The Lord has revealed it.

Another thing I wish to say. A man cannot serve God and mammon. Organic evolution is destructive of faith in God. It is rebellion against him. Those who accept this pernicious doctrine cannot consistently believe in the fall of Adam. If they do not believe in the fall of Adam they cannot believe in Jesus Christ, for if Adam had not transgressed the law under which he was placed on this earth, there would have been no occasion for a redemption. How could Adam be redeemed from something that never happened.

Their theories are not compatible with faith in the God of the scriptures. They consistently have to reject the Son ship of Jesus Christ. They deny the resurrection of man and even of Jesus Christ. Many of them say they honor him as a teacher, a wonderful advocate of truth, but they cannot receive him as the Messiah, the Savior of the world. Therefore, I appeal to all people everywhere, turn away from these destructive teachings, for if you tamper with them they will eventually destroy your soul.

The bible reveals in several passages the pre-existence of man in the spirit. “And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew. For I, the Lord God, created all things, before they were naturally upon the face of the earth...and I, the Lord God, had created ALL the children of men; and not yet a man to till the ground; for in heaven created I them; and there was not yet flesh upon the earth, neither in the water, neither in the air.” Moses 3: 5 The spirit is not created at birth, but is eternal. “These evolutionists; these mighty men of renown, like those mentioned in the days before the flood, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown, had one great defect, their wickedness was great, and the imagination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually.” Any man, no matter how renowned he becomes who endeavors to destroy faith in God, in Jesus Christ as the Redeemer of the world and the Savior of mankind, the only Begotten Son of God is a wicked man. I care not how well he may be received and honored by his fellow men, if he takes a course of that kind, which will tend to lead admiring persons away from the worship of the true God, Elohim and his Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, and will ridicule the sacred writings of the scriptures is a wicked man. I repeat the greatest crime of all is to destroy faith in God and in the living, unchangeable saving principles of the Gospel.” page 317

Interestingly, allowing five generations to each one hundred years which is a generation every twenty years we, today are only three hundred generations from Adam and Eve or they are about our 300 great grandparents. Doesn’t seem so long ago does it? The Book of Mormon is a second witness that Adam and Eve existed and testifies with the Bible as does the Pearl of Great Price that they were the beginning of man on this planet some 6,000 years ago and were the first flesh on the earth.

Three yeas previous to the death of Adam, he called all his righteous descendants to the Valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman and there bestowed upon them his last blessing...and the Lord appeared unto them, and they rose up and blessed Adam, and called him Michael, the prince, the archangel. (Arch means first and Michael means who is like God.)

Michael is first mentioned in Daniel but not identified.

Then we read, “before man was placed on the earth, there was war in Heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels... 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 they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb.” Revelations 12:7-11

Adam not only stands at the head ruling over his posterity as a prince unto them forever; but also he has been appointed to hold the keys of salvation for the benefit of the people of all the world who will truly repent and receive the gospel, and this great honor is bestowed upon him to act under the direction of Jesus Christ who is the only Begotten Son of God and the holy one of Israel...the day will come when we will have to face this first man who has been crowned with honor to stand next to Jesus Christ holding the keys of salvation; and you will not pass through the gates into that kingdom without his consent.

The Father of Jesus is our Father also, Jesus himself taught this truth, when he instructed his disciples how to pray: “Our Father which art in Heaven” Matthew 6:9

Jesus however is the Firstborn among all the sons of God ~ The first begotten in the Sprit, and the only Begotten in the flesh. He is our elder brother, and we, like him are in the image of God. Genesis 1:27 All men and women are in the similitude of the universal Father and Mother, and are literally the sons and daughters of Deity.

“God created man in his own image.” this is just as true of the spirit as it is of the body, which is only the clothing of the spirit, its compliment; the two together constitute the soul of man. The spirit of man is in the form of man, and the spirits of all creatures are in the likeness of their bodies.

Man, by searching, cannot find out God. Never unaided, will he discover the truth about the beginning of human life. The Lord must reveal himself, or remain unrevealed; and the same is true of the facts relating to the origin of Adams race, God alone can reveal them. Some of these facts, however, are already known, and what has been made known it is our duty to receive and retain.

God formed every plant that grows and every animal that breaths, each after its own kind, spiritually and temporally “that which is spiritual being in the likeness of that which is temporal and that which is temporal in ;the likeness of that which is spiritual.

Some members of the church who are readily disturbed by the philosophies and theories taught in the colleges and it is difficult for them to see that these doctrines are false. Many of the theories are proclaimed with such positive finality that those weak in the faith are confused or perhaps inclined to accept the deductions of these teachers and think that the revelations must be wrong. This is a step towards apostasy. As the Lord declared, we cannot serve two masters. We cannot accept the hypotheses of science which are in conflict with that which is here set forth in clearness at the same time, they are diametrically opposite to each other.

Therefore it seems part of wisdom to present more testimony than is obtainable in the direct word of the Lord, therefore I shall proceed to present some of the writings of others of the church who were schooled under the Prophet Joseph Smith. Here is a quote from Brigham Young: “It is a true saying of the Saviors...He came for the express purpose of dividing the righteous from the wicked. We see this principle verified from days of old. It was demonstrated in the very commencement of the peopling of the earth. How soon an opposition was introduced in the morning of creation. When righteousness was proclaimed, when truth was revealed, when the light and knowledge of eternity shone with lustrous beauty upon Adam and his children. Cain must rise up and slay his brother.”

How did Adam and Eve sin: did they come out in direct opposition to God? No. They transgressed a command of the Lord, and thru this transgression sin came into the world...then came the curse upon our mother earth, and it came upon the creeping things, upon the grain, the fish, and upon all things pertaining to this earth. Thank you, thank you, to our first parents, Thank you. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. The scriptures are true. Be true to these God given principles. I suggest reading the selections from Moses in the Pearl of Great Price this is a small book of only 27 pages. It details the creation beautifully.

I love you each and everyone

Dad, Grandpa etc

Richard Marden Pratt

The following was written to the great grandsons in 2008. I’m sure it applies to us all. Enjoy

To: all my great grandsons December 25, 2008

From: Your Great Grandfather, Richard Marden Pratt

You don’t think I know you. But I do. True, I’ve only seen you a few times in this life but we were intimately acquainted prior to this life when there was war in heaven and Michael (Adam) and his angels (us) fought against the dragon (Satan) and his angels. And we cast them out of heaven. And we overcame them by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of our testimony! (That’s us). We cast them here upon the earth that in the mortal flesh we might be tried and tested, for there must needs be opposition in all things.

And the devil was wroth with the church, and went to make war with its members, which keep the commandments of God, And have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Rev. 12

That war, started in our Heavenly Home, is now raging on earth to its final conclusion prior to the second coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

In that pre earth war it appears that we out numbered the devils by two to one. And if we look just at numbers that is true. But notice that those who were effective in casting out the Satanic hosts had two things going for them that the bulk of the two thirds did not have and so there participation in that eviction was minimal and not of much effect. Those two things were

1. The blood of the Lamb, meaning the Power of the Holy Priesthood to act in his name. And

2. Our Testimony. For with that Christ given power and our obedience we could overcome all things.

For in Alma we read that we “were called and prepared from the foundation of the earth, that we chose good over evil and because of our faith (in the Spirit world) being prepared from the foundation of the world we were called in the Spirit World, ordained High Priests and with this power were able to do all things that would bring to pass the great work of our Heavenly Father. Alma ch. 13

We are also told that we received the title of “Israel”. Deut: 32:7-8 ~ Acts 17: 24-27. “Israel” means a Prince or Princess of God the Eternal Father. And with that title, by obedience, we may become as God is. The same thing can be said of each of us as was said unto the prophet Jeremiah, “Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” Mer. 1:4-5

Not only were we chosen “Israelites” before we were mortal but we are also of the leading tribe of the twelve tribes who is Joseph sold into slavery by his brothers. Joseph was given a double portion and from his twin sons came the two tribes Ephraim and Mannasah.

My Patriarchal blessing says, “Thou art a pure Ephraimite.” therefore you too are “Ephraim” and like Jeremiah you were chosen before you were born “to be a prophet unto the nations.”

As the oldest brother, then, we have certain privileges and rights and also a great responsibility. That responsibility consists of preparing our less active, less believing brothers and sisters for the second coming of our Lord and King even Jesus Christ.

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout... and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain (and many of you will be) shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord.

1 Thess. 4:16-18

The army of God needs each one of us desperately to save all of our brothers and sisters that will listen and we will do it by our testimony and thru the blood of Jesus Christ.

You have only a brief period of time from age 19 - 26 to enlist for two years. Two years of the hardest but most important work you may ever do. If you are in this age range please go down to the enlistment (Bishop’s) office and sign up now. You will be forever grateful that you did. We must have all our brothers and sisters, living and dead prepared. Most of them will not listen and their fate will be like that described in my Patriarchal Blessing, “Thou shalt go forth to meet the Savior at his coming, thou shalt witness the destruction of the wicked as they are consumed by fire. Thy heart shall cry out in lamentations over them.” but I will know that I did my best to warn and teach them.

I have filled four missions for a total of six years and two months at my own expense and wish I could go again and I soon will receive, with my wife, a fifth call when I step thru the veil called death. I hope to be able to call again on the same people who rejected us here until every soul, save the few sons of perdition, will be saved in some degree of glory.

And the Lord makes this promise unto all who follow him to victory. “He that receiveth me receiveth my Father, and he that receiveth my Father receiveth my Father’s kingdom, therefore all that my Father Hath shall be given unto him.” That means we become as he is, we become Gods. D&C 84: 33-45

And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world and then shall the end come. Matt. 24:14

Be sure not to cheat yourself out of this great experience. In my missions I’ve experienced nearly every kind of miracle promised those who believe, raising of the dead, casting out evil spirits, speaking in tongues, healing the sick.

But the one that stands out most in my mind is the need I had for 10,000 concrete blocks. My nearest source was three months away in Australia. The next morning, after asking in prayer, a large crate stood in front of our shack. It contained a cement block making machine, fresh from three months away Australia. Wow! You plus the Lord can do all things. See you at the enlistment office.

I love you my dear grandsons! Go forth to spread the gospel.

My love always,

your great grandfather Richard Marden Pratt

So here I sit this beautiful Christmas morning full of love for each of you. You are full of promise! Keep the faith!

Memo #119

2010-08-05T10:05:00.000-06:00

August 1, 2010

To: My Beloved family and Friends

From: Dad, Grandpa etc. Richard Pratt

Re: The Hypothesis of Organic Evolution

The word “hypothesis” is used by the scientists for the word “guess” and unless and until the hypothesis is proven it (Guess) remains just that, “a guess” and often an unprovable guess at the best.

Chapters 7-11 from page 130-258 are a detailed description of the “Guess” that is man made concerning the organic evolution of man. Because it is so asinine I am going to cover it in

this one memo.

“This brings us to the discussion of what I believe to be the most pernicious doctrine ever entering the mind of man: the theory (hypothesis or guess) that man evolved from the lower forms of life.” How can life come from where there is no life? Every living thing has come from a living thing. Every creature, microbe, or mammoth or man must trace back, and back and back. And there the difficulty arose. If spontaneous generation of life cannot be created, how could it be possible several millions or billions of years ago?

And even a greater hurdle to these wild speculations is not just one or more but everything had to evolve in pairs, male and female. This all just happened by chance??? How nutty a person must be to believe such trivia.

At the last count there is nearly one million species of plants - MALE AND FEMALE and about one half million animals - MALE AND FEMALE. And more species continue to be discovered.

“My dear friends, cannot you see how utterly foolish it all is? Why is it that thousands of intelligent looking human beings are willing to accept these stupid teachings? Frankly it is because Satan has deceived them and they love darkness rather than light.” (The above is from the book page 138 and I whole heartedly agree with it.)

To show how these followers of Satan are being deceived just read on page 155 the embarrassing situation to these fables. After outlining the so called four stages of mans development, 1. Old stone age, 2. New stone age. 3. Bronze age, 4. Iron age, and an attempt to show man in these so called developmental stages by exhibiting bits and pieces of bones titled, “Neanderthal, Cro-magna etc. all came to a head about 1910 when the final clinching (so the scientists said) evidence was the discovery of the “Piltdown man.”

Bits and pieces of bone of each of these so called prehistoric men had been arranged on display in the British Museum of Natural History.

On November 21, 1953 World news papers were headed with, “London’s Face Red on Oldest Skull.” a keeper in the British museum of Natural History shame facedly took from its case of honor the supposed skull of a primitive man which for forty years had been called the oldest ever found in Europe. Scientists disclosed Saturday that someone had made a monkey out of them. After a new test with modern techniques thy declared the skull an elaborate hoax. Someone, never found, had planted in a gravel pit near Piltdown England a piece of a human skull, a couple of molar teeth and a bit of jaw bone from an ape all cleverly aged with acid to look very old. It was immediately hushed up and is not now mentioned.

The fact remains that all the so called “men” have all been manufactured from a few scattered fragments of bones with no certain evidence that these fragments were even parts of the same skeletal remains.

Yet all of these wild guesses are taught in our public schools from kindergarten to post graduate work as FACTS.

If the doctrine of organic evolution were based on truth, there would be no need to search the world over for the “missing links”. The world would be full of them. They would be walking our streets in their various stages of development. The hypothesis (Remember it means wild guess) would find support on every foot of the earths surface.

Let no one think, that all scientists and all professors believe these foolish doctrines. There are thousands of professors and highly educated men who denounce these theories most vehemently. But they are not listened too.

It is much like the current, foolish “guess” called “global warming” it cannot be proven, and never will be proven and many thousands of reliable, learned men are continually pointing out the absurdity of it all. But they are not listened to and will not find them mentioned in current news. (I intend to write a memo on it when I finish this review. For its every bit as insane as the Hypothesis of Organic evolution. DON’T BELIEVE IT!”

Nothing exists by its own necessity, and nothing by chance. Some superior power is the source of physical matter and of physical laws.

The so called evolution of the horse is the most ridiculous story of them all. The horse has, so called gone through twelve stages of development beginning three million years ago. According to this ridiculous story the horse has developed form a small animal no larger than a rat thru the many geological ages; from a small five-toed creature to the magnificent animal it is today. (Rubbish!)

The diagram is purely artificial and the story is purely fictitious, but it serves its purpose well in deceiving innocent children and gullible people.

“This is the rubbish palmed off on the innocent and promulgated by the cunning, crafty, designing men bent on destroying the Bible order of creation.”

One of the criticisms used against the authenticity of the Book of Mormon one hundred years ago was its declaration that the Nephites found on this continent (about 600 BC) many useful animals as follows.

“And it came to pass that we did find upon the land of promise (America) ...the cow and the ox, and the ass and the HORSE.” 1 Nephi 18:25 (Also Elephants) Ether 9:19

in my early school years nearly 85 years ago. We were taught that horses were first brought to the Americas by the Spaniards. And that our current horses are descendants of them. Now horse skeletons are found all over the place antedating the Spaniards. Particularly is this true of the La Brea tar pools at Los Angeles where perfectly preserved skeletons of horses, elephants, lions and others dating long before the Spaniards are found.

There is not and cannot be, any compromise between the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the theories of evolution. Were evolution true, there could be no remission of sin. In fact there could be no sin.

Now as to the so called Stone-age man. Yes they existed and still do in some of the remote areas of the world such as the deep jungles of Brazil, the Fuegians at the tip of South America, the jungles of Borneo and other places.

But the so called scientists have got it backward. “Stone age man” is man on the way down not up. They are the remnants of a high civilization that through apostasy from the truth have descended to the benighted stage they are now found in. Yet taken as babies and raised in modern culture they are as intelligent and capable as any of us. Which has been demonstrated many times.

The Bible and Evolution represent two absolutely diverse, alien, and hostile realms of thought. No logical mind will even try to dwell in both at the same time. Some of us are not logical, but in the long run logic has a wonderful way of asserting itself. If the Bible does not kill evolution, evolution will kill the Bible; and the choice between the two is big with doom. In short evolution is not a scientific theory or explanation in any true sense of the word, but an unverified hypothesis (Guess) which has apparent strengths but falls to pieces under any really searching examination. First rate biologists do exist who knowing all that their science can say upon this subject, still flatly disbelieve in evolution.

One of the greatest evidences of creation is the human body. We will begin with the skull and the bones of the head. The skull is composed of a number of bones knit together which makes the bony covering for the brain. There are openings in certain places that were not placed there by chance. These are openings for the use of the eyes and nose, and mouth in the front and for the ears on each side. These holes are placed there symmetrically for the protection and beneficial use of these parts. There are also other openings for nerves, each placed in its proper position according to the need. The brain is placed in the large cavity of the skull for protection. The brain is the power house for the entire body. The brain is the seat of power for the nervous system. The mind is not the brain. The mind is in the spirit which inhabits the body, or the source from which comes our thinking, our love of knowledge, our power to know and to understand. It is the life, for the spirit is life and is eternal and when the spirit leaves the body, the body is dead. It may appear the same, it may weigh the same, to all appearances it has lost nothing of material substance; but from that moment the various materials of which it is composed begin to separate and decompose, the real you, the intelligent part, the part that made it think and exercise its intelligence, has departed.

The author goes on to analyze each of the skeleton parts and showing how impossible it would be for all these marvelous pieces could happen by chance. Only an intelligence could have engineered it. And then when we consider that every species had to be built in pairs, male and female and complement each other one begins to stand in awe that an intelligence could exist smart enough to accomplish it.

Why then do other wise intelligent people, teach, preach and practice these absurdities. The answer is very clear in the scriptures. I’ll just list two there are many.

“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 (or learning) as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion.” D & C 121:39

These men are governed by three great carnal satanical drives as is illustrated in the devils temptations to Christ after his forty days of fasting.

“Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” Matthew chapter 4.

The three temptations were: 1. Turn this stone to bread, 2. Cast thyself down from the temple pinnacle (a drop of 300 or 400 feet) 3. Worship me and I’ll give you the whole world.

(1. Appetites satisfied, 2. Famous, 3.Riches and power.) Appetite, fame, riches and power are the

motivation of most men. What must we do to guard against it happening in our own lives and in our children’s lives? I gave the formula for ourselves two or three memos back.

(Inserted from memo #115: What then can we do to protect ourselves? The first and most obvious step is to get out of debt if at all possible! Avoid looking to government for handouts or future security. Don’t look to “Big Brother” to take care of us thru price controls, rent controls, guaranteed jobs and wages. Remember the greatest helping hands you will ever get are on the ends of your arms! Second: Have something to eat stored away. This is a must!

Any government powerful enough to give the people all they want is also powerful enough to take from the people all that they have.

Third: above all don’t forget your PRAYERS and learn to hear the whisperings of the Spirit and OBEY them! Finally: the very least we can do is keep the commandments, pay an honest tithe and keep saying our prayers and reading the scriptures daily.

Our son Stephen is spending countless hours and money in public speaking. He is acting as a voice of warning to become prepared. And to be centered in Jesus Christ.

I’m trying to do my part through these memos as my lack of strength no longer allows me to do much more. Become prepared in every needful thing and be Christ centered. We will win! I pray for you daily!

back to memo #119

There are three possibilities as to our children. 1. Home teach thru the formative years, the first five to eight grades. And several of you are doing this. 2. Consider private or charter schools but investigate carefully. There are many good ones but not all are good. 3. If your children attend public schools, protect them with a daily examination to find out what they are being taught and then with love and wisdom and a prayerful heart teach them the truth. Let the school be a help to what you are teaching them at home. Let the home be the center of the best teaching! Protect them with the tools of truth. Be actively engaged in the things your children are involved in and lead the way.

Then, even after all we can do they must still choose for themselves. Scary isn’t it? But God will bless you that you will succeed in your personal life and in your family as you turn your will over to him. Seek him, come to know him and feel the peace he can bring into your homes.

My sincere prayers are for your success. We were sent here to succeed and we can if we keep on trying! Be humble, be prayerful and trust in the word of the Lord.

Dad repeats this often!

above all don’t forget your PRAYERS and learn to hear the whisperings of the Spirit and OBEY them! Finally: the very least we can do is keep the commandments, pay an honest tithe and keep saying our prayers and reading the scriptures daily.

My love always,

Dad, Grandpa etc

Richard Marden Pratt

Memo #118 (77 to go)

2010-07-02T12:17:00.001-06:00

Date written: February 28, 2008

Sent: July 1,2010

To: My Beloved Family & Friends

From: Dad, Grandpa etc. Richard Marden Pratt

Re: The idea of a God without “body, parts, or passions,” is not more absurd or inconsistent than that popular doctrine, that all things were created from nonentity or in other words, that something originated from nothing.

“It is a self evident truth, which will not admit of argument, that nothing remains nothing. Nonentity is the negative of all existence. This negative possesses no property or element upon which the energies of creative power can operate.” ( The Essential Parley P. Pratt page 193)

“Self-righteous learned men ridicule the thought that an exalted man, in whose form all men are created is in very deed the Almighty ruler of the universe. They ridicule the Holy Scriptures. They poke fun at the prophets who proclaim it, and who have testified that they have seen him, conversed with him and have received his commandments. No! All of this is too childish for these great men. It is our duty therefore, to show by evidence, that cannot be gainsaid, that God the Father lives; that Jesus Christ is his only begotten Son, and was born into this world in the express image of his Father.

Now let us present the evidence of God from scripture and from personal manifestations. In the first chapter of Genesis we read that God created man in his own image. Our scientific evolutionists say that this and all else in Genesis regarding the creation was taken from the Assyrian-Babylonian civilization. This is NOT true. The writings in Genesis go back to the beginning long before there were Assyrians and Babylonians and Egyptians. We Latter-day Saints should be extremely thankful for the revelations the Lord has given us. We have learned, contrary to the prevailing notion of the scholars, that Adam had a perfect language, his children were taught, “And a book of remembrance was kept, in which was recorded, in the language of Adam. And by them, their children were taught to read and write, having a language which was pure and undefiled. Enoch kept a record. The Lord revealed to him in the language of Adam the history of this world from its beginning to its end. Moses also had a similar revelation. These records kept in the days of Adam and Enoch, were preserved and were given into the hands of Abraham, and were preserved by him, so that he had a knowledge of the creation as it was kept, without question, in the language of Adam. By Abraham they were preserved, so it is a ridiculous fabrication, that the knowledge given in Genesis is a poorly constructed account of Babylonian mythology. These things were also revealed to Moses.

In the scriptures there are numerous accounts of the Lord revealing himself in person to his servants the prophets. He appeared to Enoch. He appeared to Abraham. He appeared to Jacob. He appeared to Moses face to face. He spoke to Isaiah, and many others.

Matthew records: “That Jesus came from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him...and 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 descending ... and lighting upon him. And lo a voice from heaven, saying. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

“And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my Father which is in heaven.....and upon this rock (revelation) I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

“And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.”

“Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be seeing I know not a man and the angel answered and said unto her, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”

“Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.”

NOTE: These are but a few of the scriptures which testify of the Godhead and the roles played by the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost in the creation and salvation of man.

From the doctrines of the scientific men, we see that they not only make their attack upon the fall of Adam, but upon the atonement of Jesus Christ. They condemn the Bible and go out of their way to destroy it, and thus destroy all that is sacred to every believer in the atoning blood of our Redeemer. They speak the truth in saying that one of us must give way. Their doctrines may prevail temporally during this benighted age when wickedness covers the earth like a flood, but the day is near at hand when all these man-made doctrines shall come to naught and shall pass away, for the Redeemer of this world has declared it. For the Latter-day Saints and all other good people who devoutly believe in the mission of Jesus Christ, there is but one course to pursue, and that is to remain humbly and prayerfully true to our convictions. THE great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at our doors. (Chapter 5 The Doctrine of God)

We have examined, very briefly the ancient accounts of the Godhead and the gospel. Now we will move to the Latter-days. As Peter says, “For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we have made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but

were eyewitnesses of his majesty. And the voice which came from heaven, we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.

The other apostles testified that he hath in the last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.

There is no doctrine in the Bible more plainly taught than the doctrines of the anthropomorphic nature(means “as man is now God once was and as God is now man my become.”) of both the Father and the Son and their separate personages. It is also written that God created man, male and female, after his won image and in his own likeness, created he them. It is an astounding thing that from the days of Athanasians (325 BC) and the great council at Nice, the true doctrine concerning the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, has been lost to the Christian world, both Catholic and Protestant.

Fourteen year old Joseph Smith said: “At length I came to the conclusion that I must either remain in darkness and confusion, or else I must do as James directs, that is ask of God...it was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of 1820...I had never as yet made the attempt to pray vocally.....I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God.....I was seized upon by some power which entirely over came me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered round me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction - not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in my being

(NOTE: I, Grandpa, had this same kind of experience with Satan. It is real, it is terrible.)

-just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.

It no sooner appeared, than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name, and said, pointing to the other -“This is my Beloved Son. Hear him.”

No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects were right and which I should join.

I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: “They draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power there of.....”

So we have the direct testimony of Joseph Smith that he had seen the Father and the Son, on a beautiful day, when the sun was shining brightly, the brightness of these personages outshone the brightness of the sun.

If he were wrong, how easy it should have been for these learned ministers of religion to challenge his statement and invite him to go to the scriptures and endeavor to show him that he was in error about his vision and that it according to the Bible, could not be true! Some of them tried it, but to their great consternation and discomfiture they invariably found that they were wrong and he was right. When they discovered their plight instead of humbly acknowledging their error and accepting the truth, they became all the more bitter towards him and sought more intensely his destruction. You, who may be in doubt, go to your scriptures and see for yourselves.

Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon beheld the glory of the Son, on the right hand of the Father, and received of his fullness; and saw the holy angels, and them who are sanctified before his throne, worshiping God, and the Lamb, who worship him forever.

“And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: THAT HE LIVES! FOR WE SAW HIM, EVEN ON THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father.

That by him, and thru him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God.”

Is it not strange that the Christian denominations refuse to accept the truth and return to the doctrines of our Redeemer, which again have been declared to them by the voice of the Almighty thru the testimonies of his servants the Prophets. But would rather hug to their bosoms the out-worn creed of the Athanasians?

Is it not just as strange that the scientist will not believe. Why is it that men will not humble themselves and in faith and prayer seek the truth from the divine source of truth? We can know for our selves as we ask our Heavenly Father through his son Jesus Christ in Prayer if these things are true. Please build your relationship with your Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. They love each of us and want our success.

All my love forever,

Dad, Grandpa, brother etc.

Richard Marden Pratt

Being this is July and we celebrate freedom I thought you’d enjoy a story from Parley P Pratt and maybe you would want to make a little flag with your families. My Brother Steve made us one years ago and we enjoy flying it on the 4^th of July.

The Year was 1839 Parley P Pratt and some others had been imprisoned on false charges in Missouri for 8 months and 4 days, deprived of the sweetness of liberty. Orson Pratt and some of the other saints not in prison had a vision that a way would be made for the freedom of their loved ones and went to the prison to visit. The plans for escape matured and on the 4^th of July 1839 while the town was in full celebration of the American Jubilee this is what happened (page 245 of Parley’s autobiography) little did the people know these great and courageous men were actually declaring their true intentions to the towns people.

The builders of our nation have always shown courage also the founders of our great church. Were it not for men like this we would not live in a free land and we could not enjoy the blessings of the restored gospel. So in my heritage I have an extra little flag to wave these are Parley P Pratt’s words about it.

Parley P Pratt’s Liberty Flag autobiography Parley P Pratt page 245-6

“I here by appoint unto my children and my children’s children, in their generations and nations forever, that the 4^th day of July be observed by them as a day of feasting, thanksgiving, and processions, with music and with joy, not only as the birthday of American liberty, but as a day of deliverance to their father. And when the stars and stripes of our national banner are unfurled to the breeze of honor of that day, let a small flag be also unfurled to wave in triumph. Let it consist of the half of a shirt, with an eagle and the word “liberty” rudely formed on the same by stripes of red cloth, and when they look upon it, let them remember who suffered for liberty and truth, and to win and perpetuate the blessings they enjoy.

And should the cause of liberty and equal rights ever require their actions in the battle field, let this rude flag be the standard which shall lead them to victory or to death. And whenever it is unfurled in the cause of right and freedom. I now leave my blessing upon it in the name of Jesus Christ, and say that it shall never be dishonored, but shall always prevail till the rod of oppression shall cease from the earth, and peace and truth shall spread and extend their dominion without end.”

Journal of Discourses Vol. VIII page173 6 Dec. 1846

“Imprisonment and Escape of Parley P Pratt, during the persecution in Missouri, 1838"

It’s up to us to perpetuate the blessings of liberty for which the builders of the nation sacrificed that our children will enjoy the special feelings found only in America.

Thanks Steve for our flag and for your teaching us about liberty! We love you brother!

Memo #117

2010-06-03T19:48:00.002-06:00

Re: Book review of: Man - His Origin and Destiny

(written February 27, 2008)

June 1, 2010

From: Richard M. Pratt

Because the eternal future is so brilliant I am going to endeavor to write a review of one of the most essential books ever written other than the scriptures. The name of the book is:

Man - His Origin and Destiny by Joseph Fielding Smith, a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for more than half of his 97 years of mortal life.( He was the prophet of the church from 1970-1972) It will take several memos to do so. This first one will reach you about two years from the above date. In all likelihood, I will be gone from this mortal life and I write this in hopes that you as if you were the only you and you really are because if you didn’t exist or worse yet, didn’t succeed in receiving the promised blessings would be forever regretful as, I would be, not to be able to enjoy eternal life together.

Here is a quote from Parley P. Pratt (my great grandfather) on what we might hope for in the eons to come.

“In the resurrection, and the life to come, men that are prepared will actually possess a material inheritance on the earth. They will possess houses, and cities, and villages, and gold and silver, and precious stones, and food, and raiment, and they will eat, drink, converse, think, walk, taste, smell and enjoy. They will also sing and preach, and teach, and learn, and investigate, and play on musical instruments, and enjoy all the pure delights of affection, love and domestic felicity. While each, like the risen Jesus can take his friend by the hand and say: “Handle me and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.”

“God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is every where in the scripture revealed as a being possessing a bodily organization in all its parts. He is said to have head, eyes, ears, mouth, nose, nostrils, face, arms, hands, fingers, back parts, feet and all other parts. It is also said that man was made in his likeness and image. Jesus Christ is also represented to be the express image of his person.”

This marvelous word picture of the God Head is so real, so scriptural and testified to by modern prophets that even a child can understand it.

What I don’t understand is why would anyone want to dispute such a glorious future. For the alternative doesn’t exist, at least not one that anyone in a sane mind would want to accept.

In the forward to Man - His Origin and Destiny Mark E Peterson (member of the twelve apostles) states: “Knowing the great need to provide Later-Day-Saints students of science with material which would help them to preserve their faith and coordinate in their minds the pure truth of both science and revelation, some of us have hoped for a book which could make the facts readily available to them.

Many have recognized in President Joseph Fielding Smith of the council of the twelve the profound student of scripture he is, but not so many were acquainted with the fact that he also is a deep student of science, widely read in various phases of the subject.

Recognizing his possession of this superb knowledge of both science and religion, some of us urged him to write a book on the creation of the world and the origin of man setting forth both the up-to-date views of science, and the facts provided through revelation.

The present volume is the result. It is a most remarkable presentation of material from both sources under discussion. It will fill a great need in the church, and will be particularly invaluable to students who have become confused by the misapplication of information derived from scientific experimentation.

All scientific TRUTHS harmonize with scriptural TRUTHS. The problem is that scientists, owing to their strong desire to display their brilliance have a tendency for theory to become more important than what the theory is trying to prove and if false never will prove. In fact one so called prominent scientist said, “I am more concerned with the elegance of the theory than the truth of it.”

“Few fields of science come into such direct conflict with the revealed scriptures as the palaeo-sciences-historical geology, palethnology, paleontology, palaeogeography.

The theoretical structure of these sciences is incorrect because it is not only in disagreement with the scriptures but is in direct opposition to them...when these sciences are denuded of their theoretical superstructure, they are not found to conflict with the revealed truths of the scriptures.”

I am deeply grateful for this documented and scientifically accurate volume to which one may turn for answers to technical questions.” Melvin A Cook Professor of Metallurgy University of Utah. (Introduction IX) from the introduction by the author.

“There cannot be any conflict between truth revealed from heaven and truth revealed thru the research of man; for truth is a unit and never is found in conflict with itself. Unfortunately we live in an age when many theories which have not been proved are accepted as truth.”

Most of the textbooks written today boldly and impudently contradict the doctrines in the Bible and its history. Instead thereof, the students are confronted with unproved and in many cases, unprovable theories.

That man who leads his fellows away from the path of eternal life, commits the greatest of all crimes!

It is a very strange thing, but verily true, that almost any false doctrine, philosophy or hypothesis, will be readily received. Charlatans and false religious leaders seemingly have little trouble to gain a following and become popular. But the truth has had to fight its way thru the most severe opposition.

The great trouble with so many members of the church is that they do not live in strict accordance with divine law therefore they have not freed themselves from darkness, and they are unable to distinguish the truths from heaven from the theories and doctrines of men.

So far as the philosophy and wisdom of the world are concerned, they mean nothing unless they conform to the revealed word of God. Any doctrine whether it comes in the name of religion, science, philosophy, or whatever it may be, if it is in conflict with the revealed word of the Lord, will fail. It may appear plausible. It may be put before you in language that appeals and which you may not be able to answer. It may appear to be established by evidence that you cannot controvert, but all you need to do is to abide your time. Time will level all things. You will find that every doctrine, every principle, no matter how universally believed, if it is not in accord with the divine word of God to his servants, will perish.

I know of no history published today dealing with ancient peoples that does not start out with a false conception in relation to the origin of man, the age of the earth, and the historical development of the human race.

In the Book of Job, we read, “Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?” The answer is, without the Spirit of the Lord, NO! The scientific mind which dwell constantly on the physical and temporal things of the universe endeavoring to fathom all of the laws of nature, but who ignores the spiritual guidance which he could have if he sought in faith for it, will never find out God. He will invariably find and follow false Gods, worshiping the substance and ignoring the Maker.

One thing that a member of the Church may know is most assuredly that God lives, that Jesus is in very deed the Only Begotten Son of God; the Redeemer of the world and the Savior of all those who obey him and keep his commandments. (Chapter I Conflict Between Religion and Science)

Between the revealed word of the Lord to his prophets and the truth revealed thru scientific investigation THERE IS NO CONFLICT. There can be no disagreement wherein truth is arrayed against truth. Could such a thing be possible all things would perish in confusion. There is a conflict between revealed truth coming from the Lord and the false doctrines taught by men of science. There is also a conflict between false religion and truth revealed thru Scientific investigation. The time will come when nothing will remain except truth.

As long as men of science have no faith in the Divine Creator, they will search the hard way. And will formulate false theories which may prove harmful in that they will guide their fellows who accept them away from the revealed plan leading to eternal life.

God does not create worlds to be destroyed. They are created to bring to pass his divine purpose to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. Life is not an accident and the human race is not destined to die and cease to be. Neither is life an unimportant by- product of the main line.

The Lord has not created worlds by accident, they are not wandering blindly thru space. The Universe is well organized according to divine law and it is revealed; all kingdoms have a law given:

“And the end shall come (of the present world) and there shall be a new heaven and a new earth...and not one hair, neither mote shall be lost. For it is the workmanship of my hand.

Therefore it must needs be sanctified from all unrighteousness, that it may be prepared for the Celestial glory.

For after it has filled the measure of its creation, it shall be crowned with glory, even with the presence of God the Father.

That bodies who are of the Celestial kingdom may possess it forever and ever; for for this intent was it made and created, and for this intent are they sanctified.”

Latter-day Saints should be extremely grateful for this light which the Lord has revealed to them concerning their destiny and the destiny of the earth, let us add this comment from Brigham Young:

“ and this world, so benighted at present, and so lightly esteemed by infidels, when it becomes Celestialized, it will be like the sun, and be brought back into the presence of the Father and the Son. It will not then be an opaque body as it is now, but it will be like the stars of the firmament, full of light and glory; It will be a body of light.”

John compared it, in its Celestialized state to a sea of glass.

I started with Parley P. Pratt and feel it fitting to end with Orson Pratt, brothers.

“Who, in looking upon the earth as it ascends in the scale of the Universe does not desire to keep pace with it...Who but the most abandoned, does not desire to be counted worthy to associate with those higher orders of beings who have been redeemed, exalted, and glorified together with the worlds they inhabit. Ages before the foundation of our earth were laid. O man remember the future destiny and glory of the earth and secure thine everlasting inheritance upon the same. That when it shall be glorious, thou shalt be glorious also.

And to YOU and only YOU I love YOU!

All my love always,

Dad, grandpa, brother, uncle friend,

Richard Marden Pratt

Recently I had to give a lesson on preparedness and thought you might like some of the basic information.

It is first and foremost the responsibility of the individual and the family to meet their own emergency needs. LOOK AFTER YOUR OWN FAMILY FIRST THEN AND ONLY THEN DO YOU SEEK TO HELP OTHERS.

Being prepared before an emergency is the key:
FEMA.gov has many disaster training classes at no cost. Also go to the following sites for more information., Bereadyutah.gov, redcross.org, cdc.gov, www.ready.gov

What you can do NOW!...
Make a flamily emergency plan.....choose an out-of-state contact.....pick two meeting places, close-by and one that’s out of the neighborhood......consider the special needs of family members and pets.....know the emergency plans for your children’s schools.....record important telephone numbers.....assemble your 72 hour kits.....PRACTICE with your family. Remember that if you don’t have to evacuate your home stay put and shelter in place. Do plan to be safe! Turning off utilities....leave them on unless there is a problem. TURN Gas off only if you smell or hear a leak. ......HAVE shoes and flashlight by your bed a bathrobe could be useful too.
Hint: If you have children your emergency supplies should include some simple activities. Maybe a good coloring book and crayons. A couple of old issues of the Friend would be fun. Most kits are the bare minium and that is only for survival. Consider making the kits well rounded: A copy of the scriptures, a good book, a game, some gum and hard candy.

News Flash! Another fantastic resource from the Rice family is a Blog site that is packed full of information. I book marked it on my computer as it has so much GOOD!

tm3emergency.blogspot.com

You can click on anything that is blue and it will bring up the “what to do if” on that particular emergency. GO CHECK IT OUT!

Memo #116

2010-05-01T06:00:00.000-06:00

May 1, 2010 (written Feb. 25, 2008) Dad worked the last couple of years of his life studying and writing for our learning and benefit! It is a special privilege to be entrusted to put these out monthly. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. In so many ways he is still helping us grow!

Re: 13^th article of Faith

From: Richard M. Pratt

“We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul, We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.” 13^th Article of Faith

What a wonderful world we would be living in if this was the universal code and it will be when the Lord reigns personally upon the earth. And may that day be soon is my daily prayer. The day of his second coming was laid in the great plan of Heaven before the earth was, so there is no use praying for the day to be hastened, it will come on the appointed day.

Remember that the Lamanite prophet Samuel gave the wicked Nephites a sign of the birth of Jesus by prophesying that, “there shall be great lights in heaven, insomuch that in the night before he cometh (be born) there shall be no darkness, insomuch that it shall appear unto man as if it was day.”

“Therefore, there shall be one day and a night and a day, as if it were one day and there was no night; and this shall be unto you for a sign; for ye shall know of the rising of the sun and also of its setting; there fore they shall know of a surety that there shall be two days and a night; never the less the night shall not be darkened; and it shall be the night before he is born.” (Remember this sign was to be given here in America signaling the birth of Jesus in Jerusalem)

Heleman 14: 3-4

“Now it came to pass that there was a day set apart by the unbelievers, that all those who believed in those traditions should be put to death except the sign should come to pass, which had been given by Samuel the prophet.....but it came to pass that the words of the prophets were fulfilled. For behold at the going down of the sun there was no darkness; and the people began to be astonished because there was no darkness when the night came.....and it came to pass that there was no darkness in all that night, but it was as light as though it was mid-day. And it came to pass that the sun did rise in the morning again, according to its proper order; and they knew it was the day that the Lord should be born.” 3 Nephi 1:1-19

but we don’t live in that wonderful world yet and must endure the wickedness of the present world. So let us follow the admonition of Paul. Lets start with the first word, “HONEST” What a joy to live in a world where everyone was honest. I can’t remember the many times dishonest people have taken advantage of me not the exact amount of money but it would run well in excess of fifty thousand dollars and a half dozen or more of people. Two of them I forgave the debt and cancelled it, but all the rest were totally dishonest. In fact one man said, “sue me, I never pay my debts in full, how do you think I got rich.” well we sued him and sure enough he won. When we heard he and the judge calling each other by their first names we knew we were lost and we were sure of it when they went out to lunch together.

And these crooks were not all men. I had a little 75 year old woman do about the same as the man listed above. She said, “take me to court, can you imagine what chance big rough old you has against me a cute little o ld widow.”

~ 2 ~

I just walked away in disgust for truly I didn’t have a chance of collecting.

yet I would rather lose all the money than to think some where in that group was an individual who would not have been saved had I kept the money.

An honest man is a true man and can be trusted with your very life. Such a man was my own father. As a small boy I learned this valuable lesson and he was not even aware of it. In the early spring when I was about eight years old, Dad needed money badly so he sold his first cutting of alfalfa hay for ten dollars per ton to be picked up in the field by the buyer when it was cut and cured.

The buyer gave Dad a $5.00 per ton deposit. Two months later the hay was ready to be hauled away. In the meantime the price of hay had doubled to twenty dollars a ton.

The buyer came to haul the hay away and fully expected to pay the increased price. There had been no papers signed, only Dad’s word and a handshake.

The buyer was willing to pay the increased price but MY DAD SAID, “NO WE MADE A DEAL AND I INTEND TO KEEP IT.” Boy what a lesson that was to a small boy and I’ve always tried to emulate my Dad! IT FEELS GOOD TO BE HONEST!

An honest person is a true person they can be depended upon. Both their words and actions are as solid as the mountain stone. An honest man is chaste. He shuns all things that are unclean and impure. An honest man is benevolent, always aiding those in dire circumstances paying an honest tithing and contributing to the other programs of the church that is helping their fellow beings.

I am constantly deluged as you are by mail and phone for charitable contributions. It would be utterly impossible to help them all. One time, long ago, I was looking at a picture of a starving little child and supposedly that child could be saved by as little as fifteen dollars a month. Then these thoughts went through my mind. Most of these commercial “do gooders” take from fifty to ninety percent of your money for management. I thought there must be a better way. And then I thought of my monthly tithing and offerings. Besides tithing which of course is ten percent, there are seven other categories that one can help in. And with the church 100% goes to the needy one. I”m going to list them. And the LDS Church reaches out into all areas of distress in the world.

1. Fast Offering - The equivalent of two meals per month. That’s a minum. And every cent goes to the hungry. So I could increase my Fast offering.

2. Ward Missionary - every cent goes to the missionary- I saw how this works when we were in the islands. The young men wanted to serve missions but had nothing. The church would finance ninety percent of their mission but never 100 percent. So I contrived ways to help those young men make that ten percent. And as soon as they had it saved the church paid the rest. They had found by sad experience that unless the missionary sacrificed a little, they were not effective missionaries.

3. General Missionary fund - if your ward is not sponsoring a missionary, a contribution to the general fund is always welcome.

4. Book of Mormon - suppling to those who can’t afford them.

5. Humanitarian Aid - where ever needed in the world regardless of race, color or creed the Church responds to disasters with supplies and help.

6. Temple construction - The only church in the world that has a saving program for the living and the dead.

~ 3 ~

7. Perpetual Education Fund - This is one of my personal favorites as I hear success stories of

returning missionaries being aided to qualify for a well paying job that would otherwise never be possible. The educational loan is then paid back for another to go to school!

And we believe in doing good to all men regardless of race, color or creed. I had a touching incident happen to me in Moses Lake, Washington about a half a hundred years ago. As I was driving on the busy highway out of town ahead I could see a man trotting as fast as he could carrying a lunch pail. Several cars passed him, but I stopped. He hurriedly got in, saying as he did so, “My car wouldn’t start. And if I don’t get to my job on time I’ll be fired!” He told me where the job was another two or three miles down the road and off to the side a mile or two.

We made it. He got out came around to my side, opened the door and kissed, yes kissed my dirty old work boots, not once but two or three times. I never saw him again, but his thankfulness was so touching I wanted to cry. Oh! Yes and he was black.

Paul says, “We believe all things (that are true) to believe in things that are not true is not just a waste of time, it is much worse than that. Much of what the world believes today is false. And no matter how faithful they are in their beliefs in untruths it will not only not save them but may well lead to their destruction.

Example: as quoted earlier in this memo. “The wicked did not believe the “day-night-day” of bright light that would signify the birth of Jesus in far away Jerusalem. But it happened and of course “scared the living day lights out of them.

So if we will just believe “all things about the Father and the Son, that they are resurrected, glorified men who are trying to lead us into all truth and that the Holy Ghost as the revelator will testify to us of these truths then all other truths are believable and as Paul says. Because of this fundamental belief about God, “we can HOPE all things.” Knowing that our hopes will be justified we can then rest assured with a good conscious that we are doing all things needed to assure our peace and happiness here on earth and in the life following. Such a person is then free from the sorrows of this world so far as they affect them although of course they still sorrow for those who have not yet arrived at a belief of all things.

We have endured many things and hope to be able to endure all things. And we are going to pass through many trials before long that will try our faith to the limit. But we must never, no never give up! And all will be well.“And when I think of God, his Son not sparing, sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in. That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing he bled and died to take away my sin.” Keep focused on Jesus Christ!

As I look back over my long life and the things I have endured, and they have been many. Yet now that its about over it really doesn’t seem important. The important thing is that everything I have endured has been educational and I have no regrets unless it is like that great patriot of the Revolutionary war, Nathan Hale as the British prepared to hang him, said: “I regret that I have but one life to give for my country.” Except in my case I would say: “I regret that I have but one life to give to my country, my family and my God.”

If there is anything virtuous, let us seek after it. Let us shun all that is unclean and is destroying the lives of those who indulge in them. I’m thinking of x rated movies and TV programs. I”m thinking of pornographic literature of all the poisons of mind, spirit and body that is ensnaring the unwary. Shun all such as if it were the very poison of hell for truly it is.

Seek after that which is lovely and of good report and praiseworthy. Above all be so living your personal life that the sick, the weary, the discouraged, the lonely and the abused may ~ 4 ~

look to you as an island of refuge in a world beset on its own speedy demise.

It’s such a thrill to be your father, grandpa, uncle, brother, friend or whatever. Let us rejoice together now and always.

My Love,

Dad, Grandpa etc.

Richard Marden Pratt

Mom’s Pink Jell-O fluff (Adaline Pratt’s by Rose Marie Pratt Rowbury)

put a can of canned milk in the fridge as well as a can of equal size crushed pineapple the night before you plan to make this.

1 large package red jell-O

make this with a tiny bit less water than called for and let set up tell “jiggley” in a large bowl.

Crush graham crackers, add 1/4 cup sugar, ½ cube butter and mix well. Put this in the bottom of a large cake pan. Set aside about a 1/4 cup to garnish the top of the finished fluff.

Beat the canned milk like whip cream, add ½ cup sugar and 1 tsp vanilla.

Put 1 T lemon juice in jell-o, fold in the whipped milk, stir in the can of crushed pineapple and pour this mixture over the graham cracker crust. Sprinkle the remaining crumbs over the top to garnish and set in fridge for 4 hours. This should set up just like mom’s did and served in her glass dishes bring a fond memory or two.

A mother is someone who knows all our needs, hopes and our dreams and desires.

With a genuine interest in all that we do, someone who guides and inspires.

The heart of my mother is full of compassion, is generous, kind and forgiving.

The smile of my mother is loving and tender, and adds so much gladness to living.

My mother is someone with infinite patience, who soothes all my troubles away.

My mother has limitless faith in we her children and loves us day after day.

My mother made a home out of a house by being there and using talents and thoughtful, sweet actions.

My mother is warm, understanding and gentle.

My mother is full of wisdom, strength, loveliness, and grace.

My mother is well read and shares bits of this learning well with others.

My mother shares all that is hers joyfully.

My mother takes pride in her husband, children and home.

My mother radiates beauty. She has a gentle tone to her voice.

My mother is a wonderful grandmother too. She is always thinking of one of them and seeing to their needs.

My mother has always kept her priorities in order.

My mother is an influence for great good on all whom she comes in contact with.

My mother has a quick mind for ideas and can see ways of making things beautifully.

My mother shares her sincere testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. She lives a life of dedication to these sacred beliefs.

If mothers were rated from one to ten, my mom would be much more she’d be at least a 15!

Happy Mother’s day!

Love,

Roger, Rose and tribe ((Written in poster form and mom saved this all these years. Probably written 30 years ago before we had a computer! In cleaning out the house from Dad’s passing we have found things they treasured. May 12^th, 2009)) May 9^th is Mother’s Day honor motherhood that day.