Amulek and Alma were led by the leaders at Ammonihah to the place of martyrdom where the believers--men, women, and children--were destroyed by fire. Amulek plead with Alma to save them from the flames, but Alma replied, "the spirit constraineth me that I must not stretch forth mine hand" (Alma 14:11). In a personal comment, Hugh Nibley says: "I went on a mission quite shortly after World War I, of all times, in German towns, and everybody had the same story. Nobody would believe anything. They wouldn't accept religion because God would not allow that [the atrocities of war] to happen. . . . Would he allow the holocaust? Would he allow the fire raids and things like that of World War II? Well, it is not God who is being tested here. It is men who are being tested here. We say he has failed to pass our test. We are not giving tests to him. . . . God has always permitted the great religious persecutions. Religion has been the main cause of persecution. [Hugh W. Nibley, Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Semester 2, p. 345]