Abinadi teaches King Noah and the Wicked Priests
King Noah was a very wicked king. What is weird is that his father was a righteous king. And after Noah's death his own son was a righteous king. King Noah was a drunk and a murderer. He ruled in wickedness and his people followed his lead and embraced very evil behavior. King Noah was basically a party animal. He was immoral and had numerous wives and concubines. He was angry when he was called out by Abinadi.
Abinadi, on the other hand, was a prophet of God. God sends prophets to tell us God's will. Nowadays we have modern prophets. The current prophet is President Russell M. Nelson who is the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. His two counselors and the Quorum of 12 Apostles are also considered Prophets, Seers, and Revelators. We should listen to them.
King Noah was forced to listen to Abinadi because the Lord protected Abinadi until the message had been delivered. That message included Abinadi teaching the king and his wicked priests the ten commandments. The king and his priests were breaking pretty much all of the commandments and did not want their fun to end. But the king was intimidated and he was about to release Abinadi when the priests convinced the king to execute the prophet.
The priests decided that Abinadi was guilty of crimes worthy of a death sentence because he testified that the Son of God would come down and live among men and suffer and die for the sins of all mankind. . . and Abinadi taught that those who repent could be forgiven of our sins and one day return to live with God. But Abinadi also taught that wicked people, who do not repent, would face severe judgment and consequences from God.
Abinadi died a martyr - from being burned to death. This eventually led to King Noah being also burned to death... probably several months to a few years later. Abinadi. as he was dying, prophesied that the king would also suffer death by fire.
It is an interesting fact that one of the priests accepted what Abinadi said. He knew that he had been living wickedly. He knew that the king, the other priests, and probably the majority of the people were also breaking God's commandments. This priest was named Alma. He is on the far right in the drawing. Alma actually pled with the king to spare Abainadi's life and the king wanted to kill Alma. But Alma fled and hid out in the forest. He then wrote down the words of Abinadi.
Alma went on to teach many people in secret. They came to his hiding place in the forest to be baptized. But King Noah discovered them there and sent his army to kill them. The Lord intervened and helped Alma and the converts to Christ to escape. They sent up their own community many miles or kilometers away.
Alma's son became a prophet and great religious leader. He was called Alma the Younger. HIS son was also a religious leader, and his son, and his son, on and on for many generations. So Abinadi had ONE convert, but that had a ripple effect on the history of the Nephites and Lamanites. To me this is a great lesson about how much good one person can do. This true story is found in The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ in Mosiah chapters 11-19.
NOTE: This drawing is based on the Mississippian culture. The early Mississippians may have been the Nephites and Lamanites. We don't know for sure. For those of us who have read The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ, we DO know that the stories in that book are true and that they testify of Jesus Christ being the Son of God. If you are a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and you are following along with the Come Follow Me curriculum, then this drawing should be useful to you. This is especially true if you have small children who would like to color the picture. I should note that there were probably at least twice as many wicked priests than those illustrated here. You could think of this drawing as being done from the perspective of the priests seated across from those priests that you see in the picture.
This drawing, in printable form, can be found by clicking on one of two buttons. . . . . . . . .
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