Lachoneous Prepares His People for War

Event 152

Reference: 3 Ne. 3:1-21

AND now it came to pass that in the sixteenth year from thecoming of Christ, Lachoneus, the governor of the land,received an epistle from the leader and the governor of thisband of robbers; and these were the words which werewritten, saying:MormonNephite landsnear ofZarahemlaA.D. 162 Lachoneus, most noble and chief governor of the land, behold, Iwrite this epistle unto you, and do give unto you exceedingly greatpraise because of your firmness, and also the firmness of yourpeople, in maintaining that which ye suppose to be your right andliberty; yea, ye do stand well, as if ye were supported by the handof a god, in the defence of your liberty, and your property, andyour country, or that which ye do call so. 3 And it seemeth a pityunto me, most noble Lachoneus, that ye should be so foolish andvain as to suppose that ye can stand against so many brave menwho are at my command, who do now at this time stand in theirarms, and do await with great anxiety for the word—Go downupon the Nephites and destroy them. 4 And I, knowing of theirunconquerable spirit, having proved them in the field of battle, andknowing of their everlasting hatred towards you because of themany wrongs which ye have done unto them, therefore if theyshould come down against you they would visit you with utterdestruction.Giddianhi5 Therefore I have written this epistle, sealing it with mine ownhand, feeling for your welfare, because of your firmness in thatwhich ye believe to be right, and your noble spirit in the field ofbattle. 6 Therefore I write unto you, desiring that ye would yieldup unto this my people, your cities, your lands, and yourpossessions, rather than that they should visit you with the swordand that destruction should come upon you. 7 Or in other words,yield yourselves up unto us, and unite with us and becomeacquainted with our secret works, and become our brethren that yemay be like unto us—not our slaves, but our brethren and partnersof all our substance. 8 And behold, I swear unto you, if ye will dothis, with an oath, ye shall not be destroyed; but if ye will not dothis, I swear unto you with an oath, that on the morrow month Iwill command that my armies shall come down against you, andthey shall not stay their hand and shall spare not, but shall slayyou, and shall let fall the sword upon you even until ye shallbecome extinct.9 And behold, I am Giddianhi; and I am the governor of this thesecret society of Gadianton; which society and the works thereof Iknow to be good; and they are of ancient date and they have beenhanded down unto us. 10 And I write this epistle unto you,Lachoneus, and I hope that ye will deliver up your lands and yourpossessions, without the shedding of blood, that this my people may recover their rights and government, who have dissentedaway from you because of your wickedness in retaining from themtheir rights of government, and except ye do this, I will avengetheir wrongs. I am Giddianhi.GiddianhiNephite landsnear ofZarahemlaA.D. 1611 And now it came to pass when Lachoneus received thisepistle he was exceedingly astonished, because of theboldness of Giddianhi demanding the possession of the landof the Nephites, and also of threatening the people andavenging the wrongs of those that had received no wrong,save it were they had wronged themselves by dissentingaway unto those wicked and abominable robbers.Mormon12 Now behold, this Lachoneus, the governor, was a justman, and could not be frightened by the demands and thethreatenings of a robber; therefore he did not hearken to theepistle of Giddianhi, the governor of the robbers, but he didcause that his people should cry unto the Lord for strengthagainst the time that the robbers should come down againstthem.13 Yea, he sent a proclamation among all the people, thatthey should gather together their women, and their children,their flocks and their herds, and all their substance, save itwere their land, unto one place. 14 And he caused thatfortifications should be built round about them, and thestrength thereof should be exceedingly great. And he causedthat armies, both of the Nephites and of the Lamanites, orof all them who were numbered among the Nephites,should be placed as guards round about to watch them, andto guard them from the robbers day and night. 15 Yea, hesaid unto them:As the Lord liveth, except ye repent of all your iniquities, and cryunto the Lord, ye will in nowise be delivered out of the hands ofthose Gadianton robbers.Lachoneus16 And so great and marvelous were the words andprophecies of Lachoneus that they did cause fear to comeupon all the people; and they did exert themselves in theirmight to do according to the words of Lachoneus.Mormon17 And it came to pass that Lachoneus did appoint chiefcaptains over all the armies of the Nephites, to commandthem at the time that the robbers should come down out ofthe wilderness against them. 18 Now the chiefest among allthe chief captains and the great commander of all the armiesof the Nephites was appointed, and his name was Gidgiddoni. 19 Now it was the custom among all theNephites to appoint for their chief captains, (save it were intheir times of wickedness) some one that had the spirit ofrevelation and also prophecy; therefore, this Gidgiddoniwas a great prophet among them, as also was the chiefjudge. 20 Now the people said unto Gidgiddoni:MormonNephite landsnear ofZarahemlaA.D. 16Pray unto the Lord, and let us go up upon the mountains and intothe wilderness, that we may fall upon the robbers and destroy themin their own lands.People21 But Gidgiddoni saith unto them:MormonThe Lord forbid; for if we should go up against them the Lordwould deliver us into their hands; therefore we will prepareourselves in the center of our lands, and we will gather all ourarmies together, and we will not go against them, but we will waittill they shall come against us; therefore as the Lord liveth, if wedo this he will deliver them into our hands.Gidgiddoni