Alma 45

Alma has completed his mission. After giving Helaman responsibility for the church, he leaves the land and is never seen again. I wonder if he was terminally ill or still in good health. Did he know he would soon die and that is why he passed on his responsibilities to Helaman? Or was he so strong a figure he worried that the people would continue to look to him rather than Helaman if he stayed? There could be a number of reasons why he left, but now he confers being high priest of the church on Helaman and tells hims a prophecy which he is not to pass on to anyone. The Nephites have just been through a terrible war, but Alma tells Helaman that in 400 years, there will be such a great war that all of the Nephites will be destroyed except for those who choose to become Lamanites. And the sad thing is, they will be destroyed because they will become such a wicked people. With that prophecy obviously in the back of his mind, Helaman sees growing problems in the church because of the wars, small dissensions to the Lamanites, and other disturbances that Mormon doesn't explain, and so Helaman begins an campaign to strengthen the church. And for good reason as we will see in the next chapter.