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TODAY'S THEME
Painting: Arnold Friberg
Abinadi Testifies of Jesus ChristMosiah 16: 1 AND now, it came to pass that after Abinadi had spoken these words he stretched forth his hand and said: The time shall come when all shall see the salvation of the Lord; when every nation, kindred, tongue, and people shall see eye to eye and shall confess before God that his judgments are just.
2 And then shall the wicked be cast out, and they shall have cause to howl, and weep, and wail, and gnash their teeth; and this because they would not hearken unto the voice of the Lord; therefore the Lord redeemeth them not.
3 For they are carnal and devilish, and the devil has power over them; yea, even that old serpent that did beguile our first parents, which was the cause of
their fall; which was the cause of all mankind
becoming carnal, sensual, devilish, knowing evil from good, subjecting themselves to the devil.
4 Thus all mankind were lost; and behold, they would have been endlessly lost were it not that God redeemed his people from their lost and fallen state.
5 But remember that he that persists in his own carnal nature, and goes on in the ways of sin and rebellion against God, remaineth in his fallen state and the devil
hath all power over him. Therefore, he is as though there was no redemption made, being an enemy to
God; and also is the devil an enemy to God.
6 And now if Christ had not come into the world, speaking of things to come as though they had already
come, there could have been no redemption.
7 And if Christ had not risen from the dead, or have broken the bands of death that the grave should have
no victory, and that death should have no sting, there could have been no resurrection.
8 But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ.
9 He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death.
I now give you the opportunity of reading the entire chapter 16 of the Book of Mosiah, from which came TODAY'S THEME. This chapter provides us with the very strong testimony of the Nephite prophet, Abinadi, regarding his sure knowledge, by the Spirit of Prophecy and Revelation, of our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
Knowing, by that same spirit, that his life would be taken, Abinadi courageously and devotedly taught that which he knew to be the most important truths that can be taught. (After clicking on the link below, the chapter will be on your screen. Please then scroll up and click on the word, Listen, which will be on the upper left hand side. Listening will help you to feel more fully the impact of these words of this great prophet. After you have finished listening and reading this, please click on the white arrow in the blue background at the upper left hand corner of your screen to come back to this post.)
Now I invite you to read and listen to a second chapter in which are recorded the brave and faithful prophet, Abinadi's words addressed to King Noah and his court.
Mosiah 15: 1-31 (Please follow the same instructions given above for the previous link.)
The prophet, Abinadi, is perhaps my favorite prophet from the Book of Mormon. We know know nothing of his personal history. However, we know without any doubt, that his testimony of Jesus Christ was exceedingly strong. We know also that he did what the Lord asked him to do. He made it clear as recorded in other chapters of the Book of Mosiah, that he knew his life would be taken from him, nonetheless, he knew that the Lord wanted him to preach the Gospel to King Noah and his court.
Among the wicked priests of King Noah in his court pictured above, there was a young misguided priest, by the name of Alma, who had served King Noah and been a part of the wickedness that went on the court of the king. Alma's heart was touched deeply by the words of Abinadi.
This Alma, through much tribulation and sacrifice, became the leader of Jesus Christ's Church, in Ancient Central America, and remained such during the remainder of his life. Much additional good came of Abinadi's mission to preach to King Noah and his court. I don't have the space to list all of that here.
I'm going to speculate. First, however, some background: In recent posts you have had the opportunity to read the speech King Benjamin gave from the wall of the temple. Most, if not all of his people were there to hear that speech. They had come at the King's request to this event where he announced that he would be turning his kingship over to his son, Mosiah when the time came for him to leave this life. He told his people that time was near at hand.
Now my speculation I referred to above is this, that about twenty four years prior to the time that Abinadi preached to King Noah and his court, he, Abinadi could well have been among King Benjamin's people who, it was reported in King Benjamin's record, spoke in one unified voice:
Mosiah 5: 2 And they all cried with one voice, saying: Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.
3 And we, ourselves, also, through the infinite
goodness of God, and the manifestations of his Spirit, have great views of that which is to come; and were it expedient, we could prophesy of all things.
4 And it is the faith which we have had on the things which our king has spoken unto us that has brought us to this great knowledge, whereby we do rejoice with
such exceedingly great joy.
5 And we are willing to enter into a covenant with our God to do his will, and to be obedient to his commandments in all things that he shall command us, all the remainder of our days, that we may not bring upon ourselves a never-ending torment, as has been spoken by the angel, that we may not drink out of the cup of the wrath of God. (Emphasis Added)
Isn't that remarkable! If Abinadi had been among those of King Benjamin's people who joined in expressing that commitment expressed in Mosiah 5:5 above, he lived up to that commitment completely. His following the Lord's commandments actually brought him to the last of his days doing the will of the Lord.
Abinadi, I love and honor you! I'm sure many of my readers will join me in this expression of love and honor! I look forward to the privilege of meeting you at the feet of our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ after I have left this mortal existence. Thank you! Thank you for your great commitment!
I must add a word of gratitude to the great and talented LDS artist, Arnold Friberg, for enabling my, and possibly your (the readers of this post), tribute to the prophet, Abinadi, through his painting of Abinadi as he testified before the wicked king and his court. Brother Friberg, your artistry allows us to feel that we were right there! Thank you!
I'm pleased to have added the name of the Prophet Abinadi to the list of Book of Mormon prophets who have testified of the Lord Jesus Christ which I have been accumulating in this series of blog posts entitled: The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ.
There will be just a few more such posts in this series, but I'm sure I will have overlooked a number of prophets whose testimonies of Christ were also very strong.
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I deeply appreciate your readership and hope you found very beneficial, that which was presented to you in this blog post.
If you have any questions about what you have read or viewed in this post or in any previous posts of mine, or if you even have a curiosity about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and or its teachings, please e-mail me. I'm Neil and my e-mail address is: jneilmelva@gmail.com. If you contact me I'll get back to you just as soon as possible.
I invite you to let your friends and relatives know about this blog if you think they would be interested. Please be advised that I also have two additional blogs. One is in Spanish: http://varsinaisella.blogspot.com/ and one is in Finnish: http://varsinaisesti.blogspot.com/ The content of each is translated from the English in this blog.
Neil Birch
