Alma — Chapter 48
1 As soon as Amalickiah got the kingdom, he began to make the Lamanites angry with the Nephites. He even chose men to say bad things about the Nephites to the Lamanites from their towers.
2 He had succeeded in becoming king over the Lamanites. He made the Lamanites hate the Nephites so much that in the last part of the nineteenth year of the judges, he got ready to make war on the Nephites so he could be king over all the land.
3 He made the Lamanites so full of anger that they hardened their hearts and blinded their minds; and he gathered up a great army to fight against the Nephites.
4 He had such a big army that he thought he could take over the Nephites and make them his slaves.
5 He made Zoramites his chief captains, because they knew how strong the Nephites were, and where their strong places were, and where the weakest parts of their cities were.
6 Then they took their armies and went into the wilderness toward the land of Zarahemla.
7 While Amalickiah had been getting power by lies and tricks, Moroni had been helping his people be more and more faithful to the Lord.
8 Yes, and he had been making the Nephite armies stronger, and building small forts and walls of dirt to protect his armies, and walls of stone to protect their cities and the borders all around the land.
9 He put the most men in the weakest places. This was how he made the Nephites’ land stronger.
10 This was how he got ready to fight for their freedom and their lands and their wives and children, and their peace, and so they could keep the Lord their God’s commandments and live their lives as Christians (as their enemies called them).
11 Moroni was a very strong man who understood [God’s ways] perfectly. He was a man who did not like killing, and whose soul loved keeping his land and his people free from slavery.
12 He was a man whose heart thanked his God for the many blessings God had given his people, and a man who worked very hard for the good and safety of his people.
13 Yes, he was a man with strong faith in Christ. He had promised to protect his people, his rights, his lands, and his religion, even if he had to die.
14 The Nephites were taught to protect themselves from their enemies, even if they had to kill them. But they were taught never to begin a war, nor to fight unless it was against an enemy, and then only to protect their lives.
15 This was their faith — that if they did this, and kept God’s commandments, God would help them prosper in the land, and he would warn them to run away, or to prepare for war or for any other danger.
16 When his father heard these words, he was angry with Lamoni and took out his sword to kill him.
17 Yes, I truly tell you, if all people had been, and were, or would ever be like Moroni, even the powers of hell would be shaken forever. Yes, the devil would never have power over people’s hearts.
18 He was a man like Mosiah’s son Ammon (and Mosiah’s other sons). Yes, Moroni was like Alma and his sons, because they were all men of God.
19 Helaman and his brothers served the people as much as Moroni. They taught the gospel and baptized to repentance all who would listen to their words.
20 So they taught, and the people humbled themselves because of their words. The Lord blessed them, so they had no wars or fights among themselves for four years.
21 But as I said, in the last part of the nineteenth year, even though they had peace among themselves, they had to fight against their brothers, the Lamanites.
22 Yes, even though they did not want to fight, their wars with the Lamanites went on for many years.
23 They were sorry to have to use their weapons against the Lamanites, because they did not like to kill. Not only that, they were sorry to have to kill so many of their brothers and send them to the next world unprepared to meet their God.
24 Even so, they could not let themselves nor their wives or children be cruelly killed by those who had once been their brothers — who had left them and the church and had gone to destroy them by joining the Lamanites.
25 Yes, they could not let their brothers be happy about killing the Nephites, as long as there were any who kept God’s commandments, because the Lord’s promise to them was that if they kept his commandments, they would prosper in the land.
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