by John P. Pratt
21 Oct 2020
©2020 by John P. Pratt. All rights Reserved.
|
1. Personal Revelation 2. Book of Kathryn 3. Why Read It? 4. Conclusion Notes |
The scriptures teach us to pray to Heavenly Father and to expect answers to those prayers. We are children of God and He is there to guide us if we just ask Him with true faith that He loves us and wants to help us on our journey through life.
|
The reason this book may well be worth reading by others is that the answers did not just take the form of directives to her to do some specific task or choose some specific path, but rather general truths were presented which could be used by almost anyone to guide their lives. They are comparable to the Book of Proverbs in the Bible, expressing truths which all could benefit by following.
I have personally known this woman all of my life, and she shared these "messages" (as she called them) with me. She passed away in 2005, but these truths seem important enough to pass on to others not only to help them with their own problems, but also to encourage others to publish similar answers to prayers which may have universal appeal.
To what extent should answers to personal prayers be shared with others? That seems like a question worth considering. Just where is the line between personal and public revelation?
What does it mean to be a prophet? One definition is anyone who receives communications from God. Both Moses and Joseph Smith both wanted everyone to be a prophet in the sense that the Holy Ghost is a revelator and anyone with that gift should receive revelations. We should all have a personal relationship with God. Another more common definition of a prophet of God is someone who is given a message from the Lord and commanded to take it to another person (such as Jeremiah to the king of Judah) or to an entire people (such as the prophets of Israel, or Jonah sent to Assyria).
Kathryn was never told to take any of her messages to anyone else. Of course, in the case where her own children asked her to pray for them, she shared her answers with them. All during her life, to my knowledge, almost no one but she and her children knew of these messages. She made no claim that she was a prophetess and indeed would have been shocked by the suggestion.
On the other hand, most of the scriptures are like the journals of people who were familiar with God and turned to Him for help. They contain stories of people who had the faith to do extraordinary things. For example, Daniel was taken as a youth to Babylon for training to be a public leader. He soon distinguished himself by refusing to follow any instruction which disagreed with his personal beliefs. This led to him being favored of the Lord to the extent of demonstrating wisdom greater than that of the king's wise men. Eventually he became prime minister of Babylon.
As far as we know, Daniel did not receive any revelations which he was commanded to deliver to others. Rather, he was an adviser to several kings and received revelations for them, in the capacity of being a wise man. And yet, the Book of Daniel is included in the Bible with the prophets. Someone at some time thought his book was worth including in the Old Testament as a prophet.
Other examples of inspired scriptures are the Book of Proverbs and of Ecclesiastes. They were written by Solomon, who did not claim to be a prophet, and most of Psalms was written by his father David. Neither of these men claimed to be prophets, having messages from God for all to obey, but rather they received answers to their own prayers. Other men, such as Nathan, were the prophets. So why were those three books included in the canon of the Old Testament? Is it not because they contain eternal truths, which readers may either accept or reject. Think what a loss it would be if the Book of Psalms, which contains so many prophecies of the Messiah, were not available for others to learn and be inspired from.
Thus, it appears that sacred books are canonized when enough people feel they contain inspired words worth keeping. A modern example is Section 138 of the LDS book called the Doctrine and Covenants. It contains a vision which was given to a man who was alone, pondering the scriptures. He wrote down what he saw. He was LDS Church President Joseph F. Smith, and even though the vision was just given to him without any known commandment to share it, he did mention in general conference that he had some important visions lately. Many years after his death the vision was canonized and accepted by the vote of the Church as LDS scripture. It did not contains any commandments for the Church at large, but it contained many truths which were worth preserving.
The Book of Kathryn is now presented as a book containing many truths worth preserving. They can be treasured by many readers without any need for them ever to be officially canonized!
The Book of Kathryn being announced in this article is a collection of 108 written answers to prayer given to Kathryn Kay, who was a fairly well known poet in her day (1940s). The "messages" she received in answer to prayer appear to be very similar to the Lord's revelations to Joseph Smith, meaning that they are spoken in first person by the Lord. The reader can decide if it is recognized as the same Voice heard when reading the scriptures.
She received these messages over a period of about forty years from 1964 to 2003, when she was 57 to 96 years old. They came as answers to her fervent prayers, for help with either her own problems or those of her children. The book contains about 150 pages of revelations to her, followed by some 30 pages of scriptures quoted in the revelations.
The main reason to read this book is that it is filled with truths which could help almost anyone with difficult problems, or who is discouraged, or trying to understand what is going on in life!
When this article was begun, it was anticipated to include several excepts from the book to generate interest, but that plan has been abandoned because it would have made the article too long. The Spirit will tell the reader whether there is anything for them in this book. I am not trying to promote it, but rather to provide readers access to it for those interested. Rather than present excerpts, about half of the titles of the messages are listed here so that the reader can see the breadth of the topics covered. These titles were taken from the messages themselves.
 |
This article announces the publication of the Book of Kathryn, being a collection of revelations given in answer to fervent prayers to a woman known as Kathryn Kay. Although these responses were to her personal prayers, they contain many eternal truths, sometimes reading very much like the Biblical Book of Ecclesiastes. That book is not in the "Prophets" area of the Bible, but rather in the "Writings" area, which contain wisdom and poetry including Psalms and Proverbs. Thus, it is proposed that many of the answers she received could be of use to a wide variety of readers, even as are those Biblical books of wisdom.
Kathryn (1906-2005) was a member of the LDS Church, but never held a position of prominence. Thus, one reason to publish this book is to show that amazing answers to prayers are available to the faithful, without need to elevated status in society. She was just praying for herself and her children.
The free online version is found at johnpratt.com/items/docs/book_of_kathryn.html. It contains links to all of the scriptures quoted as well to other related messages within the book itself. There is also an online version designed to be read by an audio reader which has all of the inline references deleted, except those given in the actual message. Thus, it has no links, but it is much easier to understand when read by a computerized reader. It is at johnpratt.com/items/docs/book_of_kathryn_no_refs.html.
There are also 100 numbered copies of the hard-cover book available for sale at johnpratt.com/items/docs/order_kathryn.html.
It is hoped that, even if readers do not even look at the book, this article will encourage them that it might be possible for them also to receive clear and precise answers to prayer from their Heavenly Father.