Memo # (Written December 1, 2002)

December 1, 2002   From: R. M. Pratt    (posted to the blog December 3, 2014)

To: My Loved Ones    

Re: The Historicity of Jesus

This will be the third Christmas message since Grandma died. And as I think of the possibilities of soon joining her it dawns on me with an irresistible force that if this happens it will only be because of a man named Jesus Christ.Did he really live? Was he really the Son of God and not the son of man as he said? Did he really die on a cross and was he buried and three days later appeared in his body of flesh and bones? And most important of all questions: Is he soon to return to earth to clean up the filthy mess inflicted upon it by man and to redeem those who have fought against this vile corruption?

The answer to the four questions is a thundering YES!

No fact of the past has been so completely documented. Why even our calendar testifies to the yes of his actuality. And of course there is no way in these two brief pages that I can cover the thousands of pages written by thousands of authors attesting to the fact that he, Jesus, is everything the scriptures certify him to be. In fact without him we would not be neither the earth nor all the heavenly bodies. So I will devote this little space to his resurrection, for if this really happened then all the rest of his story is true. 

Everything stands or falls on the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead three days after he was crucified. He has to be the Son of God, for no one less than God had the power to lay down his life and the power to take it up again.

Our Eternal destiny depends upon Jesus being the Son of God and the Savior of men.

When carefully weighed, the evidence for Christ’s resurrection is so compelling that it is hard to understand how anyone can question it. What is harder to understand is WHY mankind fights against it, for without it we are doomed to total oblivion.

Many Lawyers going back for hundreds of years have attempted to prove Jesus a fake and without exception they have ended up converting themselves.

I’ll mention just a few: Lord Darling, Chief Justice of England said: “No intelligent jury in the world could fail to bring in a verdict that the resurrection is true.”

Professor E. M. Blaiklock said: “I claim to be a historian, and I tell you that the evidence for the life, death, and resurrection of Christ is better authenticated than most historical facts.”

John S. Copley, one of the greatest legal minds in British history has the following to say:

“I know pretty well what evidence is, and I tell you such evidence as that for the resurrection HAS NEVER broken down yet.” 

Josh McDowell decided that he would silence Christians once and for all by writing a thesis that would disprove Christ’s resurrection once and for all. Because of the discoveries that he made during his research, he ended up doing just the opposite of what he set out to do. He wrote a book entitled: “Evidence that Demands a Verdict.” in it he presents evidence for the resurrection so forcefully that a person would have to be WILLFULLY BLIND not to see it.

(The above excerpts from an article by Ralph Woerner)

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not a myth as skeptics would like us to believe. It’s one of the best attested facts of history. Supported by the strongest kind of evidence. But the best evidence of all is personal revelation, which is freely offered to every person, male and female, old 

and young.

“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they WHICH TESTIFY OF ME.” John 5:39

Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. John 7:16-17

And the great promise made by Moroni to sincere readers of the Book of Mormon. ... “Ponder it in your hearts...I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the Power o the Holy ghost ye may know the truth of all things.”  

Moroni 10:3-5

And by the power of the Holy Ghost I know what I am writing here is true. I have received and continue to receive my own personal revelation as to the divinity of my Savior

Jesus Christ. And if you (I’m speaking of each one of you as an individual) have doubts then believe on my word and keep the commandments that we might have ETERNAL LIFE TOGETHER! 

“Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, AND DENY YOURSELVES of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you. That by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ.” Moroni 10:32

I love this closing statement of Moroni: verse 34, “And now I bid unto all, farewell. I SOON GO TO REST IN THE PARADISE OF GOD. Until my spirit and body shall again reunite, and I am brought forth triumphant through the air, to meet you before the pleasing bar of the Great Jehovah, the Eternal Judge of both quick and Dead Amen.”

And the closing words of Ether also verse 34, “Whether the Lord will that I be translated, or that I suffer the will of the Lord in the flesh, it mattereth not, if it so be that I am saved in the Kingdom of God.” (With you) Amen.

So this Christmas season we will have the opportunity to mindlessly play or to offer our Thanksgiving to him who created us, gave us this beautiful life on this lovely earth and furnishes us the very breath that sustains our life from one moment  to the next and all he asks in return is for us to LIVE  the laws of happiness.

He has a plan for this earth and for us. Where we fit into that plan is our choice. But a fulness of joy eternally is to do all we can as an individual to bring his great plan to fruition.

Forty days after his resurrection and at least 10 personal appearances recorded in the Bible, “He was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. (11 apostles). And while they looked up steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” Acts 1:9-11

This great event is imminent. The baby Jesus born in a manger, a carpenter by trade, abused and vilified, scourged and crucified  is about to return to earth as King of Kings and rescue all who will, from the evil one. 

So this Christmas season joyfully commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lord’s.

Merry Christmas Love,     

                                   Dad, Grandpa, Uncle, friend etc.

Christmas Trivia

AT CHRISTMAS TIME Test your knowledge and have some fun with the family!

1. Name the angel that came to Mary____________________________.

2. Mary was told to name her son_______________________________.

3. Christ was born in the little town of ___________________________.

4. Why did Mary and Joseph use a stable?________   _________   ____ ___ _______ _______   _________   _____.

5. Mary wrapped baby Jesus in ________________   _________________.

6. Mary probably rode a _________________ to Bethlehem.

7. Mary was highly________________________among women.

8. Mary’s husband’s name was_________________________.

9. Angels appeared to ________________________in the fields to tell them of the birth of _____

10. Mary’s cousin Elizabeth was the mother of ______   ___    __________(Luke 2: 1-21)

11. What is the name of the garden where Jesus Prayed?___________ ___ _______________

(Matthew 26:36)

12. What was written above Jesus on the cross? It was written in three languages. (Luke 23:38)

________ ______ _______ _______ _______   __________   ________   __________

13. What is a scourge? ____________(would you like this to be used on you?)

14. Jesus was given to the soldiers to be crucified but first they put a ______________robe on him and pressed a crown of ___________    __________ on his head and mocked him.

(John 19:1-19)

15. Read john 19 and find the name of the Man who provided a tomb for Jesus. ____________ of   _____________________.

16. What day of the week was Jesus resurrected?__________________________

17. Some of the witnesses to the resurrected Christ:

a. John 20: 11-18________

b. Matthew 28: 1, 8-10_______

c. Luke 24: 33-48________

d. 1 Corinthians 15: 4-6_______

e. 3 Nephi 11: 9-10, 13-14; 17:25________

f. D. & C. 76: 11-12, 22-23_________

add together for a total__________________

We can know if these things are true by praying to our Father in Heaven for a personal testimony of these things. Try it! 

Memo #28 (Written September 1, 2002)

Memo #28

September 1, 2002         POSTED TO DAD'S BLOG NOVEMBER 1, 2014

From: Richard Marden Pratt

Re: Light and Life

Beloved family I feel totally inadequate to address the above subject of Light and Life even tho I have read much and ponder many times on the subject. However I know that what follows is true and to comply with the Light and life of the world even Jesus Christ, will bring us ever lasting joy and not to comply will leave us in eternal darkness and misery.

This life, brief as it is, may be called the final examination of eternity. We are being tried to see if we will walk in the “Light” or seek the darkness. 

First a word about the darkness. It is very real and Satan is its father as evidenced in the first vision of the boy prophet Joseph Smith.

“Having retired to the place where I had previously designed to go and looking around to find myself alone, I knelt down and began to pour out my heart to God. Scarcely had I done so than I was seized upon by some power which had such an astonishing affect upon me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me and I felt doomed to destruction, not to the power of some imaginary being but to the power of some real being from the unseen world.” (Joseph Smith’s first vision)

I have personally experienced this darkness and it is totally horrifying. It cannot be described except to say it is not imaginary but very real. It is Stygian black and is a substance that comes from every direction, from above and from below and from all sides. It is powerful and crushing and can kill that person who does not have the faith to call upon the powers of Heaven for rescue.

So on the one hand we have God the Father who has delegated to his son Jesus all life and all light and he delegates to his servants on earth sufficient of this Light to bring to pass eternal life and eternal happiness to all who will believe in him and follow His instructions. That they may eternally bask in His Light, Life, and Love and live as eternal families forever.

This Light of Christ fills the immensity of space and emanates from God. It is the Light by which the worlds are controlled, by which they are made. It is the Light of the sun and all other bodies. It is the Light which gives life to vegetation and all things. (Volume 1 Doctrine of Salvation page 52)

This Light is given to all men and women when they come into this world, (it is often referred to as conscience) and if followed will lead them to all truth even to the truth of the gospel when thru baptism and the bestowal of the Holy Ghost the Holy Ghost will then take that person on thru all the steps necessary to become as God is.

“For who so is faithful unto the obtaining of these two priesthoods of which I have spoken, and the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies......all they who receive this priesthood receive me, saith the Lord.

For he that receiveth my servants receiveth Me. (Jesus Christ)

And he that receiveth me receiveth My Father. (Heavenly Father)

And he that receiveth my Father receiveth my Father’s kingdom; therefore all that my Father 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 the Priesthood, receive this oath and covenant of My Father, which he cannot break, neither can it be moved. (D & C 84:35 - 41)

From the forgoing scripture it is obvious that all men must receive something called Priesthood and covenants made with God with an oath. Which done and continuing to follow the Light of Christ will bring to that man sealed eternally to a wife all that the Father has to give.

This is called Endowment And is a covenant that can only be made in one of God’s temples. 

Usually we think of an endowment as an inheritance and in mortal life the person giving the gift dies and the designated heirs receive per the written will. 

But God cannot die. Therefore in order to receive all that he has to give requires us to die and if we have fulfilled the requirements we receive all that he has to give. Which is to become like him that’s why worthy recipients can receive ALL. 

Man and wife thus are eternally qualified to have the Power of God and will be an eternal family.(together they are one!)

This is the meaning of the scripture in John and the 132 section of the D & C which says:

“This is eternal LIVES - to know the only wise and true God, and Jesus Christ, whom He hath sent,... Receive ye therefore my LAW.”  (Verse 24)

Therefore having received ALL we will emanate Life and Light, will create worlds and fill them with our sons and daughters eternally.

(Incidentally, Motherhood will not be the uncomfortable and distressing physical problem of this mortal world. Remember, you will have a physical, resurrected, perfected body but will be bearing spirit children.  As a perfected being we will know all things!

All truth is Light and all Light is Truth both that which enables the eye to see and the mind to comprehend.

The world is filled with darkness as Satan subtly leads his victims into eternal darkness. But we need not be his victims.

The very purpose I have in writing these memos is to help you, my loved ones, to find the Light and cleave to it.

Believe in God and His Son. Follow Their instructions and have that true Light that will lead you to do all things that will bring you eternal life and a fullness of happiness.

I don’t know how many more memos I will write. They are becoming quite a burden. But it is worth all my efforts if even one soul is encouraged to follow that Light that will bring all that the Father has to give. I know where of I write. It is true!

I love you,

                                                  Dad, Grandpa etc. 

                                                 Richard Marden Pratt

Memo #27 (Written August 1, 2002)

Memo #27

August 1, 2002

From - Richard Marden Pratt, Dad etc.

Re: The Kingdom

I remember an incident from our Islands mission wherein the pastor of a Protestant church visited us from another island. Short, very brown and rotund and dressed only in a lava lava, a bright piece of cloth about 3 feet wide and twice as long. They wrap it around their body just below the arm pits and it extends down to just above the knees.

He spoke no English. I sent for our translator. Thru the translator I inquired the purpose of his visit. 

He replied, “I’ve come to pay my tithing.”

Rather startled at such an odd statement I replied bruskly, “Pay it in your own church.”

He took no offense and replied, “I can’t, my church doesn’t even teach tithing therefore it is not the true church.” and then he quoted some of the many teachings in the Old and New Testaments as to the divinity of the Law of Tithing. He finished by saying, “I hear your church is the only true church on the earth therefore I want it to have my tithing.

To which I replied, “it will be very dangerous for you, for where a man’s money is his heart is also.”

He answered, “oh, I intend to be baptized into your true church as soon as you send missionaries to my island and I will bring my congregation into the church with me. I will also donate my nine acres of land to the church for a building site for a chapel.”

He then extended six dollars to me and I gave him a receipt and that was a lot of money for those so very poor people.

He visited us again a few weeks later and tithed another few dollars. Then he died suddenly and tho he had not been baptized he left his nine acres to the church which now has a large branch on his island.

I had forgotten this story until a few days ago when Carolyn brought my attention to it in our letters, which she and Dawn are preparing for publication. Carolyn suggests that I should go to the temple for him and have his baptism performed and endowments. I shall do so. No other church on earth has or ever will have this great truth, “those who have lived and died and not had the saving ordinances performed for them may receive them vicariously by a mortal going to the temple and standing in the place of the dead to receive the saving ordinances for them.”

His name is Temanaki (The-man-a-ki) just one name as was the custom there. Part of our mission was to help them select a sir name for identification purposes. It was much fun.

We often heard such statements as this, “We or I know from the Bible that our church is not true. The Bible also tells that in the Last Days the true church would be restored to the earth to prepare every soul living and dead, for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. We know that your church is the true church. How do we become a member?” 

One man asked this question in the late afternoon. We asked him what else he knew about the church. He replied, “nothing.” 

Well explained, Mother and I, you have to know what you’re getting into before you can be baptized and we have a series of seven lessons to explain it to you.

His reply, “hurry up and teach me then for I have to catch the boat home to my island in the morning.”

He was taught all night, baptized in the morning and caught the boat home and became the first Branch President of the branch that soon came into being on his island.

Why then the need of the true Church of Jesus Christ upon the earth? It is the Kingdom of God on earth to prepare the living and the dead for the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven, wherein the King, “Jesus Christ”, will come to earth and claim all those who have become citizens of his Kingdom, by faith, repentance, baptism and reception of the Holy Ghost and compliance with all the laws of his Kingdom.

I love the words of Paul wherein he says, “The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds,  to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” (1st. Thessalonians 4:16 -18 I recommend the chapter it is only 18 verses long.)

But before that day comes, and it is coming soon, every ear both living and dead must hear the Word and accept or reject it.

The earth will go thru a great change as it is prepared for a more perfect existence. Including a universal burning that will cleanse the earth from all the vile and filth that her inhabitants have imposed upon her.

At the coming of the Lord all who have accepted him who are dead will receive their resurrection known as the first or Celestial resurrection to be followed by the resurrection of all who are worthy of a Terrestrial resurrection.

Those who have defied God and His Son, who have polluted themselves with the filth of the world will be burned with the earth and will have to wait for another 1000 years to be resurrected. During this time they will suffer for their own sins because they had refused to accept the sufferings of our Savior made for all who will believe on His name which means “obedience to the laws of the Kingdom.”

Finally, having paid the price for their disobedience they too will become clean and fit to abide in a Telestial glory. Thus Jesus will have finished his work and saved all the workmanship of his hands.

Come my family, let us be prepared for the ultimate and dwell eternally as families in God’s presence.  I love you all and want you to be the best you can be!

Note: our efforts to prepare all is proceeding at a fantastic rate. For instance there were less than 10 temples in the whole world when Mother and I were sealed as husband and wife for time and all eternity. Now there are 131 and more being built.

In 1944 we finally had 1 million living members. Now we approach 12 million and a non  LDS poll predicts a membership of 200 million within 70 years. (If the earth lasts that long.)

As you may have  heard I had a bit more surgery Friday July 26th It all went well. Thank you for your prayers, I know they help. I feel great and am recovering well. I am enjoying a cool house thanks to the efforts of Roger, Dustin and Ammon. We have apricots on drying racks on the roof. I was glad to have Steve come and pick the last apricot tree with me. We are having a very hot summer but I keep my days full building in the shop, gardening and going to the temple. We had a great picnic at Sheryl’s and Gibb’s and the men of the family gave me a Priesthood blessing. 

                                                         My Love ALWAYS,

                                                       Dad, Grandpa, etc Richard M Pratt 

Memo #26 (Written July 1, 2002)

Memo #26                          Posted to the Blog September 1, 2014

July 1, 2002

From: Dad etc. Richard Marden Pratt

Re: The Light of the World

           Last Sunday I was a speaker in Stake Priesthood meeting on the above subject, “The Light of the World.” It was so well received that I feel inclined to discuss it on paper.

But first just a reminder that Grandma has been dead two years come July 13th. If being separated from her was an eternal thing I would want to cease to exist. Yet I know that she is waiting for me because she and I have complied with all the laws pertaining to eternal family.

Some of you, quite a few, have not yet done that. Please do not put it off until it is everlastingly too late.

How can we know? Very simple! “Listen” to the Light of the World even Jesus Christ.

“For the word of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is spirit, even the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

And the Spirit Giveth Light to EVERY MAN THAT COMETH INTO THE WORLD; and the Spirit enlighteneth every man through the world, THAT HEARKENETH to the voice of the Spirit.” D & C 84:45-46 

Conscience is a part of the Spirit of Christ and every soul has a conscience in the beginning but because it is ignored by most it is usually quite dead by midlife. No one will have an excuse when they are resurrected and stand at the judgement bar. All will be told that had they hearkened to the Spirit they would have complied with God’s law. 

I have many examples of this in my somewhat lengthy life. The following happened on our mission in Iowa.

We were working with the Mesquakie Indians who are very anti white and anti Christ. They still worship their old pagan gods and rituals. Neither do they live on a reservation as do most if not all of the other tribes. They own a piece of land about 4 miles square along the beautiful Iowa River and owning their own land separates them even further from whites.

Actually by a miracle - that I haven’t space to tell you now - we were fully accepted and attended their community gatherings that no other white person could gain access too. They even gave me an Indian name which I can’t spell nor pronounce but in English it was “Wild Buffalo”.

We baptized quite a few of them and organized an all Indian Branch of the church, except for us. And in as much as they had adopted us, I guess that made the Branch 100% Indian. 

Mother and I were giving the last discussion to a 40ish year old mother and some of her adult children. We wouldn't be back.

Over 1,000 miles away in the El Paso, Texas jail a 26 year old man, Scott Youngbear, was finishing a lengthy term for drug trafficking.

Scott was the illegitimate son of the lady we were teaching. Her husband and their kids had never accepted Scott and made his life so miserable that he left home in his teens. He had never held a job in his life and had made a living up ‘till then in drugs and other illegal pursuits. He also was an addict, smoked cigarettes and had a drinking problem. He said that he had committed every sin except murder and he had stood by and watched a man murdered. For a few months he was in the army but they gave him a less than honorable discharge.

In his cell was a New Testament left by the Gideonites. You’ve all seen them in motels. He started reading it. He couldn’t put it down. He read it through twice and came to the following conclusion.

1. That God the Father really is and Jesus is His Son and our creator and Savior.

2. That he (Scott) had to repent of his sins and accept Jesus as his Savior or be forever miserable.

3. That Jesus organized His church wherein all could come and through certain covenants be accepted back into God’s presence.

4. That this church was destroyed almost before the crucifixion and certainly by 98 AD when the last apostle, John, left this world.

5. But most electrifying to Scott was to discover from his readings that the Church would be restored in the last days. And the New Testament made it clear that we are living in the “Last Days”

The New Testament had also taught him how to pray. So he got down on his knees and poured out his heart and closed his prayer with, “Where can I find the true church?”

The voice of the Spirit spoke saying, “Go home and you’ll find the truth.”

He jumped to his feet and declared, “there is no truth in my home, they are pagans and besides they don’t even like me.” “Now where do I go to find the truth?”

Again the Spirit spoke giving him the same instructions but even more firmly. He actually heard a voice.

A day or two later he was released with a warning that if apprehended again he would spend many years in jail.

Scott started homeward as fast as he could hitch hike. He walked into the home just as we started the discussion. We just ignored him and went ahead with the lesson. He sat on a chair in the back corner of the room. 

When the amens were said, he jumped to his feet very excitedly and in a loud voice exclaimed, “You have spoken the truth, I have found the true church, what must I do?”

We gave him the seven discussions and he insisted on two a day. Shortly we baptized him, his mother and 16 year old half sister.

He stopped smoking, drinking and drugs that very day and never returned to them. When we left to come home about 10 or 12 months later he was a councilor in the branch presidency and was holding a job for the first time in his life.

“And the Spirit enlighteneth every man through  the world, that HEARKENETH to the voice of the Spirit.” he Hearkened!

Usually the spirit does not speak out loud but the sincere seeker of truth has feelings and promptings that quietly lead them to the truth. If these promptings are not acted upon gradually they go away and the person is left to wander the rest of their mortal life in darkness. Content with the temporal things (temporary) of the world, they live without hope and without the ultimate joy that comes to all who follow the teachings of the Spirit as did Scott.

Please Hearken to the Spirit! I love you!

                                                      Love, Dad, Grandpa etc. Richard M. Pratt