Enos is Forgiven and Prays for Others

I Enos, know that my father, Jacob, was a just man. He taught me in his language, and he taught me about the Lord’s kindness, and of His warnings. Blessed be the name of my God for giving me such a father!

Now I will tell you about the struggle I had before receiving a remission of my sins. One morning, I went to hunt in the forest. While there, I pondered the words of eternal life and of the joy of the saints that I had often heard my father speak. My soul longed for this joy, so I knelt down before my Maker and cried to Him in mighty prayer, asking Him to bless my soul.

I prayed all day long, and when night came, I still prayed loudly so that my voice would reach the heavens. Then a voice came into my mind, saying, “Enos, your sins are forgiven and you will be blessed.” I knew that God could not lie, so my guilt was instantly swept away. I asked the Lord, “How is this done?” In my mind the Lord answered, “This is done because of your faith in Christ, whom you have never seen nor heard before. Many years will pass before He will show Himself in the flesh.

Now, go forth in peace. Because of your faith, your soul has been healed.” When I heard this, I became concerned for the welfare of my brethren, the Nephites. So I poured out my whole soul to God for them. While I was struggling in the spirit, the Lord’s voice came into my mind again, saying, “I will visit your brethren according to how well they keep my commandments. I have given them this holy land and will only curse it because of iniquity. Therefore, I will visit your brethren as I said I would, but I will bring down their sins upon their own heads, and they will be sorry.”

After hearing this, my faith in the Lord became so strong it could not be shaken. I prayed very hard to Him, struggling for my brethren, the Lamanites.

After I had prayed diligently, the Lord said to me, “I will grant your desires because of your faith.” And this is what I, Enos, had asked the Lord to do: “If my people, the Nephites, ever fall into sin and are destroyed, and the Lamanites survive, will Thou, oh Lord God, by the power of Thy holy arm, save a record of my people, the Nephites, so that it will come to the Lamanites in some future day—so that they, too will be brought to salvation?” I asked the Lord to do this, knowing that He alone could do it, for our preaching to the Lamanites and attempts to restore them to the true faith had been useless. In their anger, the Lamanites had sworn to destroy us along with our fathers’ traditions and records. Knowing that the Lord God could preserve our records, I cried to Him without stopping, for He had said to me, “Whatever you ask, in the name of Christ, believing that you will receive, will be granted.”

I had faith and prayed to God to preserve the records, and He covenanted with me that He would bring our records (the complete Book of Mormon) to the Lamanites in His own due time. I knew that it would be done according to the covenant that He had made, so my soul was at peace. The Lord said to me, “Your fathers also required me to save their records and to bring them forth in the future. This will be done for them as well, according to their faith. Their faith was strong like yours, Enos.”

After having this experience, I went out and prophesied of the future among the Nephites, testifying of things that I had seen and heard. Upon these plates, I now testify that we, the people of Nephi, tried very hard to restore the Lamanites to the true faith in God, but our labors were in vain. The Lamanites’ hatred was fixed, and they were led by their evil nature. They had become a wild, ferocious, and bloodthirsty people, full of idolatry and filthiness. They ate beasts of prey, lived in tents, and wandered around the wilderness wearing loincloths. They shaved their heads and became skilled with the bow and arrow, scimitar, and axe. Many of them ate only raw meat, and they were always trying to kill us, the Nephites.

We tilled the land and raised all types of grain and fruit. We also raised all types of cattle, goats, and horses. There were many prophets among us, but the Nephite people had become too proud to listen to them. Nothing but constant, harsh, and plain preaching about war, death, the length of eternity, and the judgments and power of God would keep them from quickly going down to destruction.

I, Enos, have seen many wars between the Nephites and the Lamanites during my lifetime. It is now 421 BC, and I am growing old. It has been 179 years since my grandfather, Lehi, left Jerusalem. All my life, God’s power has compelled me to preach and prophesy to this people. I have declared the word according to the truth in Christ, and I have rejoiced in His word more than anything in the world. Now I will soon go to my resting place with my Redeemer. And I will rejoice in the day when my mortal body becomes immortal and stands before Him. Then I will see His face with pleasure, and He will say to me, “Come to me; you are blessed. There is a place prepared for you in my Father’s mansions.”