Mosiah 17-18

Mosiah 17

Abinadi finishes delivering his message from God to King Noah and his wicked priests. They are angry and determined to kill him, but his message touches the heart of one priest—Alma—who pleads with the king to let Abinadi go. The king orders his guards to kill Alma, but he runs and is able to escape and hide. He hides for many days, and while he is hiding he writes down the words of Abinadi, which is how we have a record of what he taught. We will read a lot more about Alma.

But meanwhile, back in the palace Abinadi is sentenced to death by fire, despite his warning that King Noah and his priests “shall suffer, as I suffer, the pains of death by fire (v 18).” And so Abinadi dies a martyrs death, being burned at the stake, “having been put to death because he would not deny the commandments of God, having sealed the truth of his words by his death (v 20).” Abinadi is one of the great heroes in the Book of Mormon -- a prophet of God brave enough to die for his convictions. 

I stumbled across a blog post about Abinadi that I really liked. The author said, “God sends certain people into our lives to help us see the Savior more clearly. I will refer to these people as “Abinadi’s”. They can be prophets (like the Abinadi in this account), or leaders, or parents, or teachers, or friends, or whomever the Lord chooses. We don’t always appreciate the Abinadi’s God puts in our lives. They can make us feel uncomfortable. Sometimes they point out things that we are doing wrong. But God sends Abinadi’s into our lives because He loves us and He is trying to save us. Unfortunately many times we ignore the Abinadi’s that God sends. And sometimes we may even burn them! (Mosiah 17) If I could get one message across with this post it would be: DON’T BURN YOUR ABINADI’S! They are your friend, not your foe. We tend to burn our Abinadi’s when we confuse friends with fiends."

Mosiah 18

Alma begins to teach the words of Abinadi in stealth mode! He hides out by day near a “body of water” in the wilderness called the Waters of Mormon, and people come to hear him preach there. He begins to develop a following of people who believe the words of Abinadi, and want to repent and follow God again. 

I have always loved Alma’s words about baptism:

8… and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;

 9 Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—

 10 Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?

I think this counsel is so logical. If you want to be part of God’s people, and you want to help other people and make their burdens light, and be a witness of God, and be part of the first resurrection… well then, what do you have against being baptized to demonstrate to God that you are willing to make a covenant with him? Ultimately God expects this change of heart and demonstration of commitment from all of us (John 3:5, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”, and 2 Nephi 9:23, “And he commandeth all men that they must repent, and be baptized in his name, having perfect faith in the Holy One of Israel, or they cannot be saved in the kingdom of God.”)

Alma establishes a proper church amongst those who are baptized in the Waters of Mormon in the wilderness. He ordains righteous priests (unlike King Noah’s) and teaches the people to work hard, to avoid contention, to keep the Sabbath day holy, and to support each other by sharing their possessions with those in need.   

Their peace won’t last long, however, because King Noah’s spies discover Alma and his people and tell the king. But Alma’s group is able to escape deeper into the wilderness before they are caught by the King’s army.