Alma had recommended that Helaman teach his people an eternal hatred of sin and, more specifically, make known generally the wickedness and God-ordained destruction of the Jaredites. On the other hand, he had forbidden Helaman to make known the secret signs and covenants and oaths of the secret combinations described on the twenty-four gold plates. (See Alma 37:21-32.) Helaman had been true to his word. How, then, had such things come to be known by the wicked among the Nephites and Lamanites? Simply stated, Satan delivered an independent revelation—he put such ideas and information into the hearts and minds of the ungodly (see 3 Nephi 3:9; 3 Nephi 6:28).