# Helaman 15

*Paraphrase*

### A Warning to the Nephites

Listen closely, my friends: Unless you turn around and change, your homes will be left empty and destroyed. Unless you turn back to God, your wives will weep bitterly when they’re nursing their babies. You’ll try to run, but there will be nowhere safe to go. And the pregnant women—they’ll suffer most. Too heavy to flee, they’ll be trampled and left to die. Disaster is coming for you, the people of Nephi, if you don’t turn back when you see all the miraculous signs God will show you. You were chosen by the Lord. He loved the Nephites deeply, and because he loved you, he disciplined you when you strayed. He corrected you in your worst moments because he cared.

### The Lamanites Turn to God

But look at the Lamanites. God allowed them to suffer because their evil ways never stopped—all because of the lies passed down from their ancestors. Yet salvation has come to them through Nephite missionaries. That’s why the Lord has kept them around this long. Most of them now are doing what’s right. They walk carefully before God, keeping his commands, his laws, his teachings—all according to the law of Moses. The majority are doing this, and they work tirelessly to bring the rest of their people to the truth. Every day, more join them.

You’ve seen it yourselves. When they learn the truth and discover how twisted their ancestors’ traditions were, when they come to believe the Scriptures—the prophecies written by holy prophets—it leads them to faith in the Lord and real repentance. That faith and repentance transforms their hearts completely. Once they experience this, you know how rock-solid they become in the faith. They hold firm to the freedom they’ve found. You know they’ve buried their weapons of war and are terrified to pick them up again, afraid they might sin. You can see how deeply they fear doing wrong. They’d rather let themselves be trampled and killed by their enemies than lift a sword against anyone. That’s how real their faith in Christ is.

### God’s Promise to the Faithful

Because of their commitment—when they believe something, they really believe it—because of how firm they are once they see the light, the Lord will bless them and give them long life, even despite their past mistakes. Even if they drift away from faith, the Lord will preserve them until the time our ancestors spoke about—the time the prophet Zenos and many others prophesied about—when the Lamanites will be restored to knowledge of the truth. In the last days, the Lord’s promises reach out to the Lamanites. Despite all the suffering they’ll endure—driven back and forth across the land, hunted down, attacked, scattered everywhere with no safe place to hide—the Lord will show them mercy. The prophecy says they’ll be brought back to true knowledge—knowledge of their Redeemer, their true Shepherd—and they’ll be counted among his flock.

### A Final Warning

So let me tell you straight: Things will go better for them than for you, unless you change. Think about it. If the Lamanites—who drifted into unbelief because of their fathers’ lies—if they had seen the miracles you’ve witnessed, you know they never would have fallen away. The Lord says: “I won’t completely destroy them. When the time is right, I’ll bring them back to me.” But here’s what the Lord says about you Nephites: If you refuse to turn back and do what I ask, I will completely destroy you because of your unbelief—despite all the miracles I’ve done among you. As surely as the Lord lives, this will happen.

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*Source: [The Book of Mormon](https://bookofmormon.com/paraphrase/helaman/15)*
