Lehi was a “great Nephite military leader. … Lehi played a significant role in the long war described in Alma 43–62 … .
“Lehi was described as ‘a man like unto Moroni’ who was ‘beloved by all the people of Nephi’ (Alma 53:2)” (Largey, Book of Mormon Reference Companion, 510).
The First Presidency (Heber J. Grant, J. Reuben Clark Jr., and David O. McKay): “The Church is and must be against war. The Church itself cannot wage war, unless and until the Lord shall issue new commands. It cannot regard war as a righteous means of settling international disputes; these should and could be settled—the nations agreeing—by peaceful negotiation and adjustment.
“But the Church membership are citizens or subjects of sovereignties over which the Church has no control” (“Position of the Church on current issues such as war, military service … April 4, 1942,” in Clark, Messages of the First Presidency, 6:158).
President David O. McKay: “There are … two conditions which may justify a truly Christian man to enter—mind you, I say enter, not begin—a war: (1) an attempt to dominate and to deprive another of his free agency, and (2) loyalty to his country. Possibly there is a third, viz., Defense of a weak nation that is being unjustly crushed by a strong, ruthless one … .
“Paramount among these reasons, of course, is the defense of man’s freedom. An attempt to rob man of his free agency caused dissension even in heaven” (Gospel Ideals, 287, emphasis in original).
President Gordon B. Hinckley: “It is clear … that there are times and circumstances when nations are justified, in fact have an obligation, to fight for family, for liberty, and against tyranny, threat, and oppression” (“War and Peace,” 80).