Post by Lamoni’s Father, King of the Lamanites
Our people are not a record-keeping people. A thing I sorely regret. If we were, I believe it may not have been so difficult a work to bring us to repentance. I do qualify that statement understanding that even today as the Nephites struggle to obey the commandments of God, they have been a record-keeping people.
Thus for me, a record from which I could refer, would make what I wish to write more accurate. But the testimony of my beloved Savior which I bear, needs no previous record to support what I declare. For He lives. I know it personally, first-hand.
I wish to share how I know my Savior in a way that might seem unique. To do so, I step back several generations and tell how this came to be. You may then realize the miracle of mercy that is extended to someone even as wicked a man as I was. Only through the great mercy of Jesus Christ could my sins become as white as sun-bleached wool.
Roughly 120 years ago an ambitious and powerful Nephite came up to our lands to inhabit what he claimed is the land of our father’s first inheritance. He did not want to conquer but to live in harmony. This was when my grandfather lived. Our king obliged that man who I remember being told was named Zeniff. His people were industrious. They flourished. Our people became jealous of their prosperity in flocks, herds, and fields. They also became a strong people causing our people, the Lamanites to fear them one day overpowering us. After some twenty years, our king died. Several times we broke the treaties our king made with them. Each time we infringed upon them, they drove us back.
Eventually, the conflicts became bloody battles. About the time I was born, these Nephites living among us became a wicked people. We did not know why but we were successful, and our armies subdued these Nephites and put them into bondage. Each time they attempted to free themselves from the yokes of our bondage, they failed.
At one point several of their priests kidnapped our daughters and constrained them to become their wives. In our anger, we attacked the Nephites, and our king was left for dead. Rather than killing him, which the Lamanites had the right to do, they used him to soften the hearts or our warriors. I was one of those warriors. We increased the taxes as punishment. I eventually became king over this people.
After living among us for 80 years, our guards failed to keep the people in bondage, and the remnants of their people fled by night. My armies tried to follow them and bring them back but became lost in the wilderness. We did however discover another group of Nephites led by a man named Alma. They too built a prosperous city. The Nephites continue to be industrious, whereas our people without God fail to do so.
We later found that the priests of King Noah were responsible for kidnapping our daughters. The leader of those priests, a man named Amulon succeeded in convincing us to appoint him the leader over the Nephite people led by Alma. He escaped our people and King Noah’s people years earlier, which we found when we were lost in the wilderness. You may wonder about the importance of this brief history, but in this one point, you will see that when a man turns from God, he becomes more hardened. He becomes an enemy to God. And since we are without God, we become subject to the persuasions of these hardened people.
These are the hardened Nephites we call the Amulonites. Because our people share in the hatred of the Nephites, our people mostly live in harmony. Yet, conflicts are settled by the sword most often.
During my reign as king, I have seen much bloodshed, and much of it at my hand and my command. Most recently we were stirred up in anger and our armies again charged into Nephite cities and began the work of murder. In one day, we destroyed every living soul in the city of Amonihah. We left the city desolate.
So now, as my sons including Lamoni and my son Anti-Nephi-Lehi to whom I confer the kingdom, are facing the anger and hostility of the hard-hearted Amulonites and Amalikites, you may witness how much evil can be perpetrated by those who once knew God and then rebelled against Him. I fear many more of my people and many more of the innocent Nephite people will perish at the hands of these godless men. Although I feel responsible for much of the wickedness and destruction, my Redeemer has forgiven me. In His great mercy, my heart is new. He lives. I know it, I know Him.
May God protect and preserve those of us who have now laid down our weapons of rebellion, whether those weapons are made of steel, flesh, or passion.
Book of Mormon, Alma Chapters 22-23
