Part 1 of 2: The Plight of Abinadi

Before we dig in on the witness of Abinadi (part two), we have to set the scene and remind you of this very rich context which is full of insights. It is here in this context that the witness of Abinadi will come alive if you have spiritual eyes to see and ears to hear. As you do this, I invite you to once again remember the pure intent and divine purpose in which Mormon selected these brief records from within the vast piles of records available to him. I testify to you that every word, every paragraph and every bit of Mormon’s commentary of every record preserved in the Book of Mormon was 100% intentional and inspired. Also, keep in mind that there is a natural man/woman tendency to see what you want to see and likewise also to not see what you don’t want to see. Thus, a broken heart, contrite spirit and the Lord’s spirit of revelation and discernment is a must-have.

Now, let’s understand the leadership of Noah, the leadership under him and the culture that was created. To do that we’ll deep dive into the eleventh and twelfth chapters of Mosiah:

1 And now it came to pass that Zeniff conferred the kingdom upon Noah, one of his sons; therefore Noah began to reign in his stead; and he did not walk in the ways of his father.

2 For behold, he did not keep the commandments of God [both written and personal revelation], but he did walk after the desires of his own heart. And he had many wives and concubines. And he did cause his people to commit sin, and do that which was abominable in the sight of the Lord. Yea, and they did commit whoredoms and all manner of wickedness.

3 And he laid a tax of one fifth part of all they possessed, a fifth part of their gold and of their silver, and a fifth part of their ziff, and of their copper, and of their brass and their iron; and a fifth part of their fatlings; and also a fifth part of all their grain.

4 And all this did he take to support himself, and his wives and his concubines; and also his priests, and their wives and their concubines; thus he had changed the affairs of the kingdom.

Note: Polygamy is not a doctrine—it has always been a “practice” (same family as policies and procedures) adopted by certain people and cultures throughout history. Polygamy was manipulated into a doctrine as it later became required for salvation or even exaltation by altering Joseph Smith’s original revelations years after the martyrdom (e.g. D&C 101, 132, etc.; see also Joseph Smith Papers and other sources). There is such a thing as a doctrine of family that deserves its own sermon, but this is not the right application of the doctrine of family. This wickedness of polygamy and committing other sin was not necessarily as strange to them as you might think. Remember, it was an accepted practice among the people as evidenced by their knowledge of the escapades of King David and his son, Solomon which would have been contained in the brass plates. Sin and abominations lead to more sin as, “They did commit whoredoms and all manner of wickedness.”

5 For he put down all the priests that had been consecrated by his father, and consecrated new ones in their stead, such as were lifted up in the pride of their hearts.

He replaced priests with those that would go along with his unrighteous leadership style and culture.

6 Yea, and thus they were supported in their laziness, and in their idolatry, and in their whoredoms, by the taxes which king Noah had put upon his people; thus did the people labor exceedingly to support iniquity.

Noah was a telestial kingdom builder. His interests were in establishing a true hierarchy where leaders were asking others to serve the interests of leaders. This is very subtle, but Noah “used” the spiritual or religious side of their societal organization to build up his own temporal kingdom—having the appearance of spiritual by using titles like “priest” or even “high priests” which were empty, hollow and never carried with them gifts of the spirit. Ideally, leaders should be serving the spiritual needs of the people. Contrast Noah with King Benjamin. The kingdom of God is not of this world and is never encapsulated in a telestial religious institution. However, it can be found individually within you (Luke 17:20-21) in the form of the gift of the Holy Ghost (the glory of God placed within you as a transponder).

7 Yea, and they also became idolatrous, because they were deceived by the vain and flattering words of the king and priests; for they did speak flattering things unto them.

Idolatry is placing any person or thing as an intermediary between you and the Lord. This is true no matter the religious title or prestige. A person becomes idolatrous when they believe their salvation is given to them through another person or religious institution—as if their mere association or membership with the institution offers them salvation. The truth is that the scriptures say, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling before [the Lord]” (Alma 34:37; Moroni 9:27). If you have been told or taught that a person or any religious institution offers you salvation or exaltation, you have been deceived—”Yea, Satan doth stir up the hearts of the people to contention concerning the points of my doctrine (the doctrine of Christ); and in these things they do err, for they do wrest the scriptures and do not understand them” (D&C 10:63).

Flattery is a literal device of the adversary (see The 3 Voices of Personal Revelation Study Guide). This is true among all people. This is subtle, as all devices of the adversary are, even to leading any person or group of people to an “all is well in Zion” mentality (2 Nephi 28).

8 And it came to pass that king Noah built many elegant and spacious buildings; and he ornamented them with fine work of wood, and of all manner of precious things, of gold, and of silver, and of iron, and of brass, and of ziff, and of copper;

9 And he also built him a spacious palace, and a throne in the midst thereof, all of which was of fine wood and was ornamented with gold and silver and with precious things.

10 And he also caused that his workmen should work all manner of fine work within the walls of the temple, of fine wood, and of copper, and of brass.

There are some that believe there is a relationship between the amount of money or telestial sacrifice put into a building and the Lord’s appreciation of it, or even the blessings placed within it. People apply heavy adornments that are pleasing to the eye in order to capture the attention of others to attempt to send a subtle message of religious or righteous supremacy. This cannot be further from the truth. God can make any place on earth holy. A temple of God is the body or housing for one’s spirit. This is the house that was always meant to be sanctified and purified as if by fire (baptism of fire and Holy Ghost). A broken heart and contrite spirit is the only requirement that the Lord asks in order to receive all that the Lord has to offer.

11 And the seats which were set apart for the high priests, which were above all the other seats, he did ornament with pure gold; and he caused a breastwork to be built before them, that they might rest their bodies and their arms upon while they should speak lying and vain words to his people.

These adornments to these seats were very purposeful. They sent a message of superiority and false authority. Divine authority is only given of God. Titles are not a guarantee of divine authority. A person that accepts or receives a title in order to manage people or operate a religious institution must always receive their authority from the Lord. Authority from the Lord will be known or exhibited only through gifts of the spirit (fruits). A person that accepts or receives a title has organizational authority because it is granted through the people. The opposite of that is a coup where a leader is removed from organizational authority where the people no longer give permission for that person(s) to preside over them. A person can individually and symbolically remove unrighteous spiritual organizational authority over them by repenting. Repentance is merely removing all people/things (idols) that stand between them and the Lord and making a formal commitment, or recommitment, to the Lord. It is part of the Everlasting Covenant—to make the Lord your Prophet (personal revelation), Priest, King and Judge. This is the one thing that the children of Israel could never completely do (as a whole) even to the time when Christ came among them in the meridian of time. Instead of having an eye single to the glory of God, they promoted people (prophets, priests, kings, judges, Pharisees, Sadducees, etc.) to have organizational authority over them. Moses just happened to be the first (D&C 84:18-28) in a long line of unbroken organizational authority.

Lying also includes not telling the complete truth. Vain words means that they assumed the authority to speak by the gift of prophecy (gift of the spirit). Lying and vain words only serve one purpose—to maintain organizational control over a people. Lying and vain words promote bondage while truth will literally set you free. More on this later.

12 And it came to pass that he built a tower near the temple; yea, a very high tower, even so high that he could stand upon the top thereof and overlook the land of Shilom, and also the land of Shemlon, which was possessed by the Lamanites; and he could even look over all the land round about.

13 And it came to pass that he caused many buildings to be built in the land Shilom; and he caused a great tower to be built on the hill north of the land Shilom, which had been a resort for the children of Nephi at the time they fled out of the land; and thus he did do with the riches which he obtained by the taxation of his people.

14 And it came to pass that he placed his heart upon his riches, and he spent his time in riotous living with his wives and his concubines; and so did also his priests spend their time with harlots.

15 And it came to pass that he planted vineyards round about in the land; and he built wine-presses, and made wine in abundance; and therefore he became a wine-bibber, and also his people.

Wine was to be used for the sacrament—a sacred offering. A pretty blatant thing to disregard all things spiritual.

16 And it came to pass that the Lamanites began to come in upon his people, upon small numbers, and to slay them in their fields, and while they were tending their flocks.

The organizational resources that were supposed to be used to set up borders and protection from outside evil were already committed to support the King and his leadership.

17 And king Noah sent guards round about the land to keep them off; but he did not send a sufficient number, and the Lamanites came upon them and killed them, and drove many of their flocks out of the land; thus the Lamanites began to destroy them, and to exercise their hatred upon them.

18 And it came to pass that king Noah sent his armies against them, and they were driven back, or they drove them back for a time; therefore, they returned rejoicing in their spoil.

19 And now, because of this great victory they were lifted up in the pride of their hearts; they did boast in their own strength, saying that their fifty could stand against thousands of the Lamanites; and thus they did boast, and did delight in blood, and the shedding of the blood of their brethren, and this because of the wickedness of their king and priests.

20 And it came to pass that there was a man among them whose name was Abinadi; and he went forth among them, and began to prophesy, saying: Behold, thus saith the Lord, and thus hath he commanded me, saying, Go forth, and say unto this people, thus saith the Lord—Wo be unto this people, for I have seen their abominations, and their wickedness, and their whoredoms; and except they repent I will visit them in mine anger.

“Thus saith the Lord” is the proper phrase for a servant of the Lord when exercising the gift of prophecy (gift of the spirit). It delineates between one’s own personal ideas, thoughts, opinions, counsel, advice, etc. and the actual words coming from the Lord. The servant is responsible for making this delineation. It is a false tradition that every word that comes out of the mouth of a servant is from the Lord.

“It is not to be thought that every word spoken by the General Authorities is inspired, or that they are moved upon by the Holy Ghost in everything they write. I don’t care what his position is, if he writes something or speaks something that goes beyond anything that you can find in the standard church works.”

Harold B. Lee, “Stand Ye In Holy Places” pg 162-163

“Though general authorities are authorities in the sense of having power to administer church affairs, they may or may not be authorities in the sense of doctrinal knowledge, the intricacies of church Procedures, or the receipt of the promptings of the Spirit. A call to an administrative position of itself adds little knowledge or power of discernment to an individual, although every person called to a position in the Church does grow in grace, knowledge, and power by magnifying the calling given him.”

Mormon Doctrine, “General Authorities”

The words of the Lord come through a servant by way of the gift of prophecy because the people collectively are deaf to the voice of the Lord. There is an section in the Appendix A of The Doctrine of Christ Study Guide that has dozens of other quotes on this same subject.

21 And except they repent and turn to the Lord their God [the true meaning of repentance], behold, I will deliver them into the hands of their enemies; yea, and they shall be brought into bondage; and they shall be afflicted by the hand of their enemies.

22 And it shall come to pass that they shall know that I am the Lord their God, and am a jealous God, visiting the iniquities of my people.

23 And it shall come to pass that except this people repent and turn unto the Lord their God, they shall be brought into bondage; and none shall deliver them, except it be the Lord the Almighty God.

The Lord in His infinite wisdom, mercy, and even justice allows for people to experience bondage. He does this for multiple reasons, one being that it allows people to experience both light and dark, enabling them to experience opposition in all things. Another reason is that it allows people to see that only the Lord can deliver a person or people both spiritually and temporally. By experiencing temporal bondage, spiritual liberty and freedom (being released from spiritual bondage) is the real lesson to be learned. To be released from spiritual bondage is “salvation”—received when a person receives their baptism of fire and Holy Ghost.

24 Yea, and it shall come to pass that when they shall cry unto me I will be slow to hear their cries; yea, and I will suffer them that they be smitten by their enemies.

25 And except they repent in sackcloth and ashes, and cry mightily to the Lord their God, I will not hear their prayers, neither will I deliver them out of their afflictions; and thus saith the Lord, and thus hath he commanded me.

“Except they repent” is the theme of the Lord as it relates to receiving salvation. He is teaching eternal principles. Principles are spiritual.

26 Now it came to pass that when Abinadi had spoken these words unto them they were wroth with him, and sought to take away his life; but the Lord delivered him out of their hands.

Why would Abinadi’s own people reject him and his message so much to even seek his life? This speaks volumes about the people’s knowledge of the scriptures (written records/plates). The message of spiritual salvation and even temporal bondage was unfamiliar to them at this point having spent years enveloped in their culture of idolatry—idolatry where they became so dependent upon a king (considered a spiritual leader). Nephite law allowed for the people to be placed in prison if there were active teachings against their laws (stirring them up). The problem is that they saw Abinadi’s message as contrary to their own law/gospel teachings. This is an obvious sign of apostasy. Apostasy is falling away from the Lord’s doctrine, not necessarily a religious institution’s teachings. Abinadi was protected in this case because his work as a servant was not yet completed.

27 Now when king Noah had heard of the words which Abinadi had spoken unto the people, he was also wroth; and he said: Who is Abinadi, that I and my people should be judged of him, or who is the Lord, that shall bring upon my people such great affliction? [King Noah is not denouncing the Lord. Rather he is saying, “There is no way that God would ever be displeased with us. If the Lord is displeased, it is because of this Abinadi guy—he’s the troublemaker.” This is pride and vanity.]

28 I command you to bring Abinadi hither, that I may slay him, for he has said these things that he might stir up my people to anger one with another, and to raise contentions among my people; therefore I will slay him [the legal punishment if found guilty could have been prison]. [This was his legal rationale for charges to be brought against Abinadi. These were punishable crimes in Nephite law if you were to stir up contention. Remember, their society was a hybrid religious/secular where laws of the land would seem hyper-religious by today’s standards in America even. However, this same intolerance exists among fear-based religious institutions today.]

Ok, there is something really, really important that you need to understand here. This is absolutely critical to your personal progression. King Noah believed these were his people—believing he was the lawgiver and owned or mediated the Lord’s relationships with each person. Not because he truly loved his people, but because the people served the purpose of sustaining his leadership and organizational authority. Contrary to Noah’s belief, the truth is that the Lord owns each and every relationship with every soul. A true servant does not even stand between the Lord and a soul. As a matter of fact, the sign of a true servant is that they know they don’t own the relationship, and instead will always point a soul to the Lord to work out their own relationship with the Lord. A true servant knows that the Lord personally bestows every ounce of glory upon a soul through that same personal one-to-one relationship.

Contrast messages from one with divine authority vs. one who has organizational authority with title only.

A true servant knows that the Lord owns that relationship with each unique soul. Their message is a message of faith, liberty and freedom. Their message might look something like this:

“Repent, seek the Lord with an eye single to His glory. I encourage you to seek the Lord in all things. Make Him your Prophet (personal revelation), Priest, King and Judge. I have complete hope and faith in the Lord. I trust Him to help you and guide you in all things. I would never think of questioning the Lord in His omniscience and perfect knowledge of each soul. He has a perfect knowledge of each soul’s strengths, weaknesses, and needs. I have complete trust that the Lord will meet each person where they are no matter where they are at on the path. Seek all the gifts of the spirit and exercise them as the Lord guides. Seek a baptism of fire and Holy Ghost so you can be personally taught by the Lord in all things. Demonstrate your faith and loyalty to the Lord by doing as the Book of Mormon says, which is to “work out your own salvation” personally with the Lord” (Alma 34:37; Moroni 9:27).

Now contrast that with a message from someone that has been given organizational authority and a title only (prophet, priest, king, judge, seer, revelator, Pharisee, Sadducee, elder, apostle, pastor, president, etc.) that does not or cannot exercise divine authority and power through the gifts of the spirit. Their message would be a message subtle fear. Their message might look something like this:

“We fear that you cannot correctly discern the Lord’s voice from the voices of darkness and even your own voice. Therefore it is unsafe for you to venture out into a 100% personal relationship with the Lord. We must intervene on your behalf. Trust us. Even though the scriptures say that you must experience opposition in all things, including personal knowledge of light and darkness, we cannot afford to have you be led astray. Therefore, we have established volumes of written oracles that define the boundaries of truth and what is right or wrong. Please stick to them and do as we have counseled. Do not question them. If you do, you might have a personal problem and be lacking faith. Because of this fear, we have established an order among the people where if you have concerns you should seek for counsel and direction within this hierarchy whose revelation is of a higher quality and more meaningful than your own personal revelation. You should be very weary of exercising gifts of the spirit on your own, including the gift of revelation. You would hate to get a different answer than those with organizational authority. Demonstrate your faith and loyalty to the church by maintaining an ‘active’ membership status and certification of worthiness. If you have thought about leaving our organization, I must instill in you a healthy fear by asking you to ponder, ‘Where else will you go for socialization, acceptance, verification of what is truth or not, and your certification of worthiness?’ Just a little forewarning, because we love you with all of our hearts, don’t speak publicly against our organization or any of its leaders (‘stir up my people to anger one with another, and to raise contentions among my people’ Mosiah 11:28) that we have so lovingly provided or we will be forced to bring official charges of apostasy against you (“therefore I will slay him”) for not safeguarding the purity, integrity, and good name of the institution” (not even focused on the Lord’s name by the way.)

The contrasts should be obvious but the primary point is that one is focused on faith in the Lord Jesus Christ while the other is focused on faith in arm-of-flesh and an institution. The scriptures are very clear on where one receives salvation and exaltation and it is not the latter—burn it into your heart and mind. One is about spiritual freedom and liberation while the other is about subtle spiritual bondage.

You might think it would be an obvious choice if I told you that each soul is making a decision between love and loyalty to the law or love and loyalty to the Lawgiver. However, in many cases, like this one, who the lawgiver is may not be so obvious. The king and his leadership have convinced the people that they are the lawgivers and therefore the people cannot discern between the lawgivers and the true Lawgiver. Can you?

29 Now the eyes of the people were blinded; therefore they hardened their hearts against the words of Abinadi, and they sought from that time forward to take him. And king Noah hardened his heart against the word of the Lord, and he did not repent of his evil doings.

They were blinded because they placed idols (people/things) in front of them and could not see the glory of the Lord having been taught that all things would and should be provided through a king and his leadership. Abinadi was offering the people spiritual freedom and liberation, having the utmost hope and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. As a true servant would do, he was pointing them to the Lord to receive all things in and through their personal relationship with the Lord. Keep in mind, this was the reason the organizational authority sought to remove Abinadi. He was a threat to the organizational authority.