Helaman 15

“Unless you repent your homes will be destroyed,” Samuel the Lamanite prophet continued speaking. “Unless you repent your nursing women will have great reasons to mourn because there will be no place of refuge. Pregnant women who are unable to flee, will be trampled and left to die. I pity the Nephites who refuse to repent when they see the signs that I’ve described. You have been God’s chosen people. He has disciplined and criticized you for your sinfulness because he loves you.

“God has hated the Lamanites because of their evil deeds and because of the sinfulness of their ancestors. But now salvation has come to the Lamanites through the Nephite’s preaching, and God has prolonged their days. If you look, you’ll see that the majority of the Lamanites are now faithful to God, and keep the commandments, statutes, and judgments that God gave to Moses. The majority of the Lamanites are working hard to convert the rest of their brothers to the knowledge of truth. Because of this, there are many conversions every day of Lamanites who have come to recognize the wicked and abominable traditions of their ancestors. They have come to believe in the holy scriptures and the prophecies of the holy prophets that lead them, through faith in God, towards repentance and a change of heart. As you know, these people are firm and resolute in their faith because they have been made free.

“These converted Lamanites have buried their weapons of war, and know that it is a fearful sin to ever use them again. They would rather be oppressed and killed by their enemies than to lift these swords in their own defense. This is because of their faith in Jesus Christ. They know that God will bless them and extend the days of their descendants because of the strongness of their enlightenment. Even if their descendants’ belief falters, God will extend their days until a restoration of the truth occurs. This restoration has been spoken of by our ancestors, and by many prophets including Zenos.

“God has extended his promises to the Lamanite people into the latter days regardless of the sinfulness that they will come to. They will be driven, hunted, oppressed, killed, and scattered without any place of refuge. But God will be merciful to them because according to the prophecy, they will eventually return to the truth. This truth is the knowledge and acceptance of their redeemer Jesus Christ, who is the great and true shepherd. And these distant descendants of the Lamanites will be counted as his sheep.

“Therefore unless you repent, even they will be better off than you are. Because of the wicked traditions of their ancestors, they have not been shown the mighty works of God that have been shown to you. If they had seen what you have been shown, they would never have lost their faith as you have. So God has said, ‘I will not utterly destroy the Lamanite peoples. In the day of my wisdom I will cause them to return again to me.’

“Regarding you Nephites, this is what God has said, ‘If they don’t repent and obey my will, I will utterly destroy them because of their disbelief. I will bring this destruction upon them regardless of the many mighty things I have done for them in the past.’

“As surely as God lives, these things will come to be.”