Because of the apostasy of their fathers, the knowledge of God and the great plan of redemption had been totally lost to Lamoni and his people. By tradition they held that there was a Great Spirit, one apparently in the form and likeness of a man, who knew all things and had the power to bring great evil upon them. There is no hint in the text that this Great Spirit was involved in the granting of blessings or the giving of commandments. No divine code to regulate behavior appears to have existed among the Lamanites, (“they supposed that whatsoever they did was right”). We would assume that the Lamanites involved themselves in various rituals designed to appease this Spirit, whom they obviously feared.