Post by Enos –
Once I had received a forgiveness of my sins and knew I was known by the Lord, I began to feel a desire for the welfare of my fellow Nephites. I began to then pray for them with my whole soul. As I was so doing, the voice of the Lord came to me again and said, “I will visit thy brethren according to their diligence in keeping my commandments. I have given unto them this land, and it is a holy land; and I curse it not save it be for the cause of iniquity; wherefore, I will visit thy brethren according as I have said; and their transgressions will I bring down with sorrow upon their own heads.” This is good and bad. I know my people and they are not an easy people to care for. Let me tell you about them.
The people of Nephi seek diligently to restore the Lamanites to the true faith in God. But our labors are vain; their hatred is fixed, and they are led by their evil nature that they have become wild, and ferocious, and a blood-thirsty people, full of idolatry and filthiness; feeding upon beasts of prey; dwelling in tents, and wandering about in the wilderness with a short skin girdle about their loins and their heads are shaven; and their skill is in the bow, and in the cimeter, and the ax.
And many of them eat nothing but raw meat; and they are continually seeking to destroy us. Now on the other hand the people of Nephi till the land, and raise all manner of grain, and fruit, and have flocks of herds, and all kinds of cattle, and goats, and wild goats, and also many horses. Yet, my people are a stiffnecked people, hard to understand. And there are exceedingly many prophets among us. Unless they speak with exceeding harshness, preaching and prophesying of wars, and contentions, and destructions, and continually reminding them of death, and the duration of eternity, and the judgments and the power of God, and all these things—stirring them up continually to keep them in the fear of the Lord, they do not respond. There is nothing short of these things, and exceedingly great plainness of speech, that keeps them from going down speedily to destruction.
You can see why I worry so much about their souls. I fear that at some time in the future my people will fall into transgression and by some means will be destroyed by the Lamanites. If that happens, I fear for the safety of this record. The Lamanites have not only vowed to destroy us the Nephites, they have vowed to destroy this record.
Throughout this wrestle to have my prayers answered, my faith began to be unshaken in the Lord. The Lord had said to me “Whatsoever thing ye shall ask in faith, believing that ye shall receive in the name of Christ, ye shall receive it.” So asking in faith I not only prayed for my people but for the preservation of this record, that at some time in the future it may become a tool to bring any remnant of our people unto salvation. The Lord then said, “Thy fathers have also required of me this thing; and it shall be done unto them according to their faith; for their faith was like unto thine.” I knew it would be according to the covenant which He made and so, my soul did rest. This record will be preserved.
(Book of Mormon | Enos 1:1 – 27)
