21 1 When Ammon and his brothers split up, Aaron went a great city near the border of the Land of Mormon that the Lamanites called Jerusalem. 2-3 The city was built by the Lamanites, Amalekites, and the Amulonites, who were wicked, hard-hearted, abominable people. 4 Aaron preached in the Jerusalem synagogues, after the teachings of Nehor.
5-6 As he was preaching, an Amalekite said, “We believe that God will save everyone.” 7 Aaron said to him, “Do you believe the Son of God will come to save people from their sins?” 8 The man replied, “No, and there’s no way you could know that. You don’t know what will happen in the future.” 9 Aaron explained what the scriptures say about the coming of Christ, resurrection of the dead, and atonement by the Christ’s blood. 10 As he said these things, the people began to mock him and refused to listen to what he was saying.
11 So Aaron left for the village of Ani-Anti. When he arrived he found Muloki and Ammah preaching to the people. 12-13 But the people of Ani-Anti had hardened their hearts too, so Aaron went to the land of Middoni. 14-15 He and some of his associates were cast into prison, but Lamoni and Ammon somehow managed to get them released.
16-17 They were led by the spirit to preach again in the synagogues of Amalekites and Lamanite, and they converted many of them. 18-20 Ammon and Lamoni returned to the land of Ishmael and built some synagogues. 21 King Lamoni declared that his people were free to worship God however they pleased. And Ammon taught the people all things pertaining to righteousness.
22 1 As Ammon was teaching the people of Lamoni, the Spirit led Aaron and his brethren to the house of King Ishmael (Lamoni’s father) in the land of Nephi. 2-7 When they arrived at the king’s palace, they discussed the usual things: repentance, God, Christ, hell, etc.
17 The king fell on the ground and said, 18 “O God, Aaron told me that there is a God, and if this is a God, and if you are God, then let me know that. I’ll give away all my sins to know you so I can be saved on the last day.” Then the king fell down as if he were dead.
19 All of the kings servants saw this, and they ran to tell the queen what had happened. She was angry with Aaron. She thought he killed her husband. She ordered her servants to kill Aaron and his friends. None of them were willing, because they knew how powerful Aaron was. 21 So the queen commanded her servants to tell the people to kill Aaron.
22 Aaron feared that the people might kill him, so he touched the king and said to him, “Stand up.” And the king stood up. 23 Everyone was pretty amazed. But the king calmed them down and converted everyone in his household. 24 But still there were great murmurings among the people. 26-27 The king asked Aaron and his brethren to preach to the people, while he wrote a proclamation about something and distributed it throughout the land.
23 1-2 King Ishmael’s proclamation was to protect Mosiah's sons. The Lamanites were prohibited from doing the following things to Ammon, Aaron, Omner and Himni (or any other of their preachers): Lay their hands on them, bind them, cast them into prison, spit on them, smite them, cast them out of their synagogues, scourge them, throw stones at them, or prevent them from going to their homes, temples, or sanctuaries.
4-6 So Aaron and his brothers went freely from city to city, converting thousands of Lamanites. They established churches and consecrated priests in all the places they visited. They retained every member that they converted.
8-12 Here's the list of people they converted: The people in the land of Ishmael, the land of Middoni, the city of Nephi, the land of Shilom, the land of Shemlon, the city of Lemuel, and the city of Shimnilom. 14 But not everyone was converted. They didn’t convert a single Amulonite and were only able to convert one Amalekite.
16-17 The Lamanites who had converted had a problem, though. They didn't want to be associated with the other, wicked Lamanites. They needed a new name. So the king consulted Aaron and his priests, and they came up with the perfect name: The Anti-Nephi-Lehies! 18 The Anti-Nephi-Lehies became an industrious people. And God's curse didn't follow them any longer.
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