"Once the Nephite soldiers started to wage offensive war they soon became so bloodthirsty they were concerned only with the taking of human life…The leaders of this dispensation have also warned against the dangers of starting an offensive war. President Charles W. Penrose has said:
’…we Latter-day Saints must watch ourselves and not give way to passion and desire to shed blood and to destroy, for that is the power of the evil one. We do not want to imitate any nation that is bent on a policy of destruction, to destroy where they cannot rule, to break down and trample under foot where they cannot dominate. If we have that desire, it is the spirit of the wicked one...
’There is a very great difference between arising to go forth for conquest, for blood, for plunder, to gain territory and power in the earth, and in fighting to defend our own possessions in the spirit of justice and righteousness and equity, and standing up like men for those things that we have a right to contend for.’ (Conference Report, April 1917, pp. 21-22.)" (Daniel Ludlow, A Companion to Your Study of the Book of Mormon, p. 301)