Ammon teaches King Lamoni

Ammon teaches King Lamoni

Started drawing this yesterday and finished it today.  I previously posted a drawing of Ammon facing off against a band of robbers who were seeking to steal the king's flocks.  I am going to repost that drawing now:  

Ammon vs the Robbers

(This happened first BEFORE Ammon taught the King.)

The story of Ammon is my favorite story in the Book of Mormon.  Ammon was a prince among the Nephites.  Along with the prophet's rebellios son he went around trying to destroy the Christian Church.  This gang was visited by an angel to give them a chance to stop what they were doing and repent.  All of these young men took the opportunity to repent.  

Later, Ammon, and all of his brothers, refused the crown and instead went on a mission to try and convert the Lamanites to Christ.  The Lamanites were enemies to the Nephites.  The princes' father, King Mosiah, prayed and the the Lord told him to let his sons go on their mission and He, the Lord, would protect them and they would bring many people to the truth.  

When they got to the Lamanite lands the princes and their friends split up and Ammon went to the sub-kingdom of Ishamael.  The king, King Lamoni, was a king of that part of the Lamanite lands.  His father was king over the entire country.  

Ammon was captured and taken before the king.  Ammon told the king that he, Ammon, would like to remain with the Lamanites, perhaps until the day he died.  (He did in fact stay among them all the rest of his life)...   Anyway, as I was saying... The king even offered one of his daughters to Ammon to be his wife.  Ammon declined but said he would be King Lamoni's servant.  

Then the king put him in a rather tough job.  Ammon was sent to tend the king's flocks.  That was a tough job because a large band of robbers would scatter the flocks and then steal some of the animals.  (By the way, we don't know what the animals were.  We just know they are described as a flock.  I am guessing turkeys and that is why I drew turkeys in the drawing.)  

When flocks were stolen the king would punish the servants for letting the animals get stolen.  The punishment was excecution... making the job of tending the king's flocks the worst job in the world.  

Maybe King Lamoni thought Ammon could do a better job defending his flocks.  Or maybe he was offended because Ammon did not want to marry his daughter.  We don't know.  

In any case, when the robbers inevitably scattered the flocks the other servants started panicking that they would be killed.  But Ammon got them to round up the animals and he took on the robbers.  Then first the robbers and Ammon threw stones at each other with a sling.  Ammon hit a few and the robbers all missed him.  So the robbers rushed Ammon with clubs.  

Now, remember that Ammon had prepared himself.  He was a prince among the Nephites and he certainly would have had combat training.  Still, he SHOULD have been clubbed to death.  But instead he was operating with the promise of the Lord (made to his father) that he would not be killed.  So Ammon killed the leader of the robbers with hsi sword, and any robber who tried to club him got their arm chopped off.  

Afterwards Ammon's fellow servants took the chopped off arms in to the king to prove that Ammon must be an un-killable god.   King Lamoni was scared to talk to Ammon at first.  But eventually Ammon came to see the king and was able to teach him the Gospel.  

Ammon started with the scripture based story of Adam and Eve and went on to discuss other prophets etc. and the future coming of Jesus Christ to the world.  Ammon explained how Jesus made repentence possible.  King Lamoni believed, prayed and repented and eventually all his household.  In fact, most, if not all his people eventually believed.  

There is much more to the story.  Read about it in the Book of Mormon.  Alma chapter 17-27.  This is actually the reference for the story of both Ammon and his brothers' and thier friends' missions to the Lamanites.  As promised by the Lord... none of these missionaries were killed by the Lamanites, although some were put in prison and abused, starved, etc.  This is an amazing story of how people can repent and turn their lives around and go on to do great things in their lives.  First these young men, who were rebelling against God and seeking to destroy His church repented.  Then they endeavered to repair the wrongs they had done among their own people. . . then they volunteered to bring the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to their enemies.  They could not bear the thought of anyone not knowing about the Atonement of Jesus Christ that makes repentence possible.

If you are interested in the Chruch of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the General Conference of the Church was on the weekend of  April 6 and 7, 2019.  It is available online at 

ChruchofJesusChrist.org 

The outfits and weapons are from the Mississippian Culture . . . AKA Mound Builders.  We don't know for certain where in the Americas that the Book of Mormon events took place.  But one possbility is the Mississipian Mound Builders in the center of North America.  The Mississippian culture had swords of obsidian and other swords of wood with sharp stones placed along one or two sides to form a sword.  They also had clubs of wood witha round rock at the far end.  

In THIS drawing you can see the king's daughter standing back a ways from the throne.  The arms that Ammon chopped off are to the king's right or our left looking at the king.   You can see that Ammon is carrying his obsidian sword at his waist.  The princess's dress and King Lamoni's crown and outfit are based on a Mississippian Nobleman.  The Soldiers or other servants' outfits and weapons are also based on the Mississippian or Mound Builders culture.

Printable versions of the drawing are found under the Religions button up top . . . 

or the  All Printables button up top.