Abinadi
by Shauna Gibby

Invite Abinadi to your family's Family Home Evening lesson.

What a powerful example Abinadi should be to all of us! He courageously obeyed the Lord’s commandments—even though it cost him his life!

(Robert D. Hales, “ ‘If Thou Wilt Enter into Life, Keep the Commandments’,” Ensign, May 1996, 35)

Song:

“Dare to Do Right,” Children’s Songbook, p. 158.

Scripture:

Now Abinadi said unto him: I say unto you, I will not recall the words which I have spoken unto you concerning this people, for they are true; and that ye may know of their surety I have suffered myself that I have fallen into your hands.

(Mosiah 17:9)

Story:

Explain to your family that you are going to read a story about a very courageous Book of Mormon prophet. Tell them that they need to listen to the story very carefully because when the story is over you are going to read to them nine statements about the story that are false. Their challenge will be to try to recognize what is wrong with each statement and correct it.

There was a very wicked and selfish man named Noah who became king over a group of Nephite people. Noah was very lazy, yet he wanted to be rich, so he made the people pay a large tax. With the money he received from the tax he built beautiful buildings for himself and bought lots of nice things for himself.

Noah seemed to love being wicked. He replaced leaders of the Church with wicked priests. He used the tax money to support them. They taught the people incorrect things, telling them that they could do anything they wanted. They taught them to pray to statues instead of God. Soon many of the people were as wicked as Noah and his priests.

There was a prophet named Abinadi, who knew the priests were lying. He tried to get the people to repent and live the commandments. Because of his preaching, the priests became very angry with Abinadi. They tied him up and took him before King Noah. They asked him many questions and tried to mix him up, but he mixed them up instead.

Soon Noah and his wicked priests were really angry. They tried to grab Abinadi so they could kill him, but God had given Abinadi a special power. No one could touch him until he had finished teaching the priests about Jesus and the importance of keeping the commandments. Abinadi was not afraid of dying but just wanted to help the people and the priests to live the gospel and be happy. Abinadi preached for a long time. When he was finished, Noah and his priests had Abinadi put to death by burning him at the stake.

Because of the great courage of Abinadi, one of the priests repented. This was Alma, who became a great prophet. Because of his preachings, many of the people repented of their sins and started to live the commandments.

(Allan K. Burgess and Max H. Molgard, Fun For Family Night: The Book of Mormon Edition, [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1990], p. 84.)

Lesson:

Read each of the false statements to the family members and see if they can recognize the errors and correct each statement. The corrections are in parenthesis.

1. A very righteous (wicked) man named Noah became king over a group of Lamanites (Nephites).

2. Noah was a very had worker (lazy), so he worked alongside his people for the things he needed (charged a large tax of all the people).

3. Because of the teachings of the priests, many people began to be righteous and pray to God (wicked and pray to statues).

4. The people (the priests) tied up Abinadi, but the priests untied him because they wanted to hear the truth (did not untie him and did not want to hear the truth).

5. When Abinadi started to tell Noah and his priests to repent they repented of their sins (were very angry and tried to trick him).

6. The priests of Noah grabbed Abinadi and beat him up before he could finish preaching (they could not touch him until he was done).

7. Abinadi was (not) afraid of dying, so he didn’t (did) finish his talk.

8. Alma (Noah) had Abinadi killed.

9. Noah (Alma) listened to Abinadi and was converted but did not (did) teach the people the gospel.

(Allan K. Burgess and Max H. Molgard, Fun For Family Night: The Book of Mormon Edition, [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1990], p. 84.)

Activity:

One player leaves the room while the others select something he is to do, such as standing on a chair, opening a window, or going to a certain corner of the room. He is not allowed to ask questions. When he is close to or nearly attempting the stunt the whole group loudly sings “Do What is Right,” when he is not on track they sing the song softly. They modulate the volume according to his closeness to the required action. When he actually does the desired act he chooses someone else to be the next one to leave the room.

When we are in tune with the Spirit, as Abinadi was, we can be guided to the best course of action.

(Alma Heaton, The LDS Game Book, [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1968], p. 46.)

Caramel Corn

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup Karo syrup

1 1-pound package brown sugar

½ cup butter

1 large bowl popped corn

Combine all ingredients in a heavy saucepan and cook and stir over medium heat until mixture reaches the soft ball stage. Pour over popped corn.

(Janene W. Baadsgaard, The LDS Mother’s Almanac, [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2003] p. 332.)

LDS Living Magazine