Abinadi Preaches

Mosiah 11:20 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.
21 And except they repent and turn to the Lord their God, 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.

This painting was part of a grouping finished and displayed in August of 2020 at Writ & Vision in Provo. I was especially interested in this story at that time because of current political and church policy events. Many Latter-day Saints at that time drew parallels between King Noah and Donald Trump. Additionally, the creation of the first “Mormon” church in written story, at the Waters of Mormon, was an interesting thing to think about in light of the directive to drop the self-identifier “Mormon” within the church.

Copyright retained by J. Kirk Richards. Contact the artist to license this image for publication.