Wickedness cannot tolerate righteousness. And so it was that the impure sought desperately to remove the disciples of Jesus—meaning, specifically, the three translated Nephite Apostles.
Inasmuch as their bodies had been changed, such that they were not subject to pain or death or the minions of Satan, these disciples stood in majestic confidence while others sought to eradicate them. For those with eyes to see, they stood as physical evidence of the power of God over the puny efforts of man. Compare 3 Nephi 28:19-22.