Church Members Led Away by Flattery

Those who would not listen to Helaman and his brothers gathered against them, and were determined to kill them. The leader of these angry apostates was Amalickiah, a large, strong man. Amalickiah wanted to be king, and his followers also wanted him to be king. Most of the lower judges of the land had become angry apostates, desiring more and more power. They had been led along by Amalickiah’s flattering words, who promised them ruling positions over the people if they helped him to become king. This is how Amalickiah led the dissensions in spite of the preaching of Helaman and his brethren, who, as high priests, took great care of the church. Many church members believed in Amalickiah’s flattery and left the church. Because of this situation, the Nephite affairs became very precarious and unstable, even though they had just been victorious over the Lamanites, and had greatly rejoiced in being delivered by the Lord.

From this we learn just how quickly people forget the Lord their God and return to sin, being led away by the evil one. We also learn how only one man can cause great wickedness among the people. For Amalickiah led many hearts away by his cunning plans and flattering words, seeking to destroy God’s church and the foundation of liberty—a blessing that God had sent upon the land for the sake of the righteous.

When Moroni, chief commander of the Nephite army, heard about these dissensions, he was very angry with Amalickiah. He tore off a piece of his coat to make a flag, and on it he wrote, “In memory of our God, our religion, our freedom, our peace, our wives, and our children.” Then he fastened the flag to the end of a pole. After putting on his helmet, breastplate, shields, and armor, Moroni took his flag, which he called The Title of Liberty, and bowed himself to the earth. He prayed mightily to his God for the blessings of liberty to rest upon his brethren, as long as a band of Christians was left in the land. All the true believers of Christ, who belonged to God’s church, were called Christians by the non-believers.

Those who belonged to the church, who truly believed in Christ, were faithful to Him. They gladly took on the name Christians because they believed in Christ who would come.

Moroni prayed for the Christians’ cause and for freedom in the land to be favored. After he had poured out his soul to God, he named all the land that was south of Desolation, both the northern and southern parts, “A chosen land, the land of liberty.” Then Moroni said, “Surely God will not allow us, who are despised because we take the name of Christ upon us, to be trodden down and destroyed, until we bring it upon ourselves by our own transgressions.”

Then Moroni went among the people, holding his flag in the air for all to see its message. He shouted, “Whoever would maintain this title upon the land, come forward in the strength of the Lord and enter into a covenant to maintain your rights and religion, that the Lord God may bless you!” When he had proclaimed this, the people came running, wearing their armor and tearing their coats as a covenant that they would not forsake the Lord their God. In other words, if they transgressed God’s commandments, and became ashamed to be called Christians, then the Lord would justly tear them, as they had torn their coats.

As they threw their coats at Moroni’s feet, they said, “We covenant with our God that we will be destroyed like our brethren in the northern land (the Jaredites) if we fall into transgression. God may throw us at the feet of our enemies, as we have thrown our coats, to be trampled under foot, if we ever fall into transgression.” Then Moroni said, “We are descendants of Jacob (Israel), the father of Joseph of old, whose coat was torn into many pieces by his brothers. Now let us remember to keep God’s commandments, or our coats will be torn by our brethren, and we will be thrown into prison, sold, or killed. Let us preserve our liberty as descendants of Joseph of old. Let us remember the words of his father, Israel, who before his death, saw that a remnant of his son’s coat had been preserved. He said, ‘Even as this remnant of my son’s coat has been preserved, a remnant of my son’s descendants will be preserved by God’s hand, to be taken to Himself. The rest of Joseph’s descendants will perish, just as the rest of Joseph’s coat has perished. This brings sorrow to my soul, but my soul has joy in my son, Joseph, because of the part of his descendants that will be taken to God.’ ”

Moroni then speculated, “Perhaps the remnant of Joseph’s descendants that will perish, like his coat, are those who have dissented from us. Surely we will be part of the destroyed remnant if we do not stand firm in the faith of Christ.”

After saying this, Moroni went out himself, and also sent letters to all parts of the land where there were dissensions. In this way, he gathered all who wanted to maintain their liberty by standing against Amalickiah and his dissenters, called Amalickiahites.

When Amalickiah saw that Moroni’s people outnumbered his followers, and that his followers also had doubts about the justice of their cause, he was afraid that they would not prevail. So he took his faithful followers and headed toward the land of Nephi to join the Lamanites.

Moroni did not want the Lamanites to gain any more strength. He knew that he had to bring back Amalickiah and his followers and put Amalickiah to death. Otherwise, they would stir up the Lamanites to become angry and to battle against them in order to obtain their own purposes. Moroni knew he had to take his army, who had entered into a covenant to keep the peace, and stop Amalickiah in the wilderness. Moroni acted on this, and marched his army into the wilderness to head off Amalickiah’s army. Upon seeing Moroni’s army, Amalickiah ran away with a few of his men. The rest of his army fell into Moroni’s hands and were taken back to the land of Zarahemla.

Moroni had been given authority over the Nephite army by the chief judges, who in turn had been elected by the people. With this authority, Moroni had every Amalickiahite put to death who would not enter into a covenant to support the cause of freedom and maintain a free government. Only a few would not enter this covenant of freedom. Moroni ordered The Title of Liberty to be raised up on every tower in all the land, thereby planting a standard of liberty among the Nephites. They had peace in the land until the end of 73 BC.

Helaman and the high priests were able to maintain order in the church for four years, during which they had peace and rejoicing. Many went out of the world rejoicing, firmly believing that their souls were redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Some died from the seasonal fevers, but not many, for they were healed by the excellent qualities of the plants and roots that God had prepared to remove the causes of their diseases.

Many died of old age, and we must suppose that those who died in the faith of Christ are happy with Him