Eventually some of the people revolted from the Church and called themselves Lamanites. By 210 AD, the people had stopped sharing all possessions in common and divided into economic classes. There were many different churches in the land which claimed to know Christ but denied parts of his gospel. The people became wicked and they despised and persecuted members of the Church of Christ.
Sources:
• 4 Nephi 1:20-29
By 300 AD, the people had become as numerous as the sands on the seashore and all the land was covered in buildings. But the Nephites and Lamanites had all become extremely wicked. The only people who were still righteous were the three apostles of Jesus who could not be killed, but there was so much wickedness in the land that Jesus took the apostles away.
Sources:
• 4 Nephi 1:45-46
• Mormon 1:7-13
At this time there was a descendant of the apostle Nephi named Mormon. He wanted to preach to the people, but at age 15, he was visited by Jesus who forbade him from preaching to the people, for they had become too stubbornly wicked. The people were under the power of Satan and were practicing sorcery, witchcraft, and magic.
Sources:
• Mormon 1:15-19
Starting in 325 AD, the Nephites and Lamanites were almost constantly at war. At age 16, Mormon lead the Nephite army of tens of thousands against an even larger Lamanite army led by Aaron their king. Blood and carnage spread throughout the entire land.
Sources:
• Mormon 2:1-8
By 344 AD, so many people were killed from this violence that thousands of bodies were piled up like heaps of dung across all the land. There was great mourning and grief among the people, but their sorrow did not lead them to repent. This was the sorrow of the damned, and they cursed God, wished for death, and kept on fighting.
Sources:
• Mormon 2:11-15
In 350 AD, a treaty was made and there followed 10 years of peace during which Jesus told Mormon to preach repentance. But it was useless. The people were too stubborn. And in 361 AD, Jesus said to Mormon, "Vengeance is mine. Because this people will not repent, I will wipe them off the face of the earth."
Sources:
• Mormon 2:28-29
• Mormon 3:1-15
And so the Lamanites resumed the war against the Nephites, for it is by the wicked that the wicked are punished. Thousand were killed on both sides in horrible scenes of blood and carnage that are impossible to describe. Never had their been so much wickedness in the land. All the people's hearts were hardened and they delighted in the constant shedding of blood.
Sources:
• Mormon 3:7
• Mormon 4:5-12
In 366 A.D, the Lamanites pushed northward and drove Nephites out of the cities of Desolation and Teancum. Many women and children were taken captive, and the Lamanites offered them as sacrifices to their idol gods. This act caused extreme anger among the Nephites, and they lost all fear of death and thirsted for blood and vengeance.
Sources:
• Mormon 4:10-16
• Moroni 9:5-6
At the city of Moriantum, the Nephites took captive many virginal daughters of the Lamanites. After depriving them of their chastity and virtue, they tortured them in a most cruel way until they were dead. Then they cannibalized their bodies, devouring them like wild animals, believing it to be a sign of bravery.
Sources:
• Moroni 9:9-10
The Lamanites advanced farther north by 379 AD, burning Nephite villages, towns, and cities as they went. Those who could not flee fast enough were trampled underfoot and destroyed. Mormon then wrote a letter to the Lamanite king requesting that all the Nephites be allowed to gather at the Hill Cumorah for one final battle.
Sources:
• Mormon 5:3-7
• Mormon 6:2
The Lamanite king accepted this request, and by 384 AD, the Nephites had gathered all of their people to the Hill Cumorah in what is now upstate New York. At age 74, Moroni led the Nephites into battle one last time. 230,000 Nephite soldiers were killed in battle, along with untold numbers of women and children, leaving only 24 Nephites alive by the battle's end.
Among the flesh, bones, and blood of the dead that was left by the Lamanites to decompose, stood Mormon, who was wounded, and his son Moroni. Seeing all the dead, Mormon's soul was torn with anguish, and he cried, "Oh, you fair people! Fathers, mothers, husbands, and wives! If only you had repented! But Heavenly Father has dealt with you according to his justice and mercy."
Sources:
• Mormon 6:10-22
The few Nephite survivors of the battle at the Hill Cumorah, including Mormon, were quickly hunted down and killed by the Lamanites. They put to death anyone who would not deny Christ. By 400 AD, Moroni was the very last Nephite alive, and he moved about the land, staying hidden from the Lamanites who now began to war among themselves.
Sources:
• Mormon 8:1-7
• Book of Mormon Stories, (1997), 154–55
Moroni completed engraving the history of his people on gold plates, writing in reformed Egyptian. When he was finished, he took the plates to the Hill Cumorah and hid them in a stone box which he covered with a large rock, knowing they would one day be found in a wicked age when all churches are corrupt and the people have stopped believing in miracles.
The Lamanites divided themselves into tribes according to family, kindred, and friends, and were governed by chiefs. They became a dark, filthy, and loathsome people because of their unbelief and idolatry, and were led by Satan. Their descendants became known as the Native Americans, and it is prophesied that they will one day become a pure and delightsome people.
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