Lamanite aggressors and Nephite apostates wanted to suppress Nephite freedoms, particularly their freedom to worship God. “The Lord knows that without the spirit of freedom in the souls of men, there could be no willing response to the gospel plan. For it is in the culture of freedom and the use of agency in that freedom that men come to know the difference between good and evil. This progress leads to yearnings in the hearts of good men, and eventually to gospel dispensations. This is the pattern to be noted down through the era of the historical writings” (Dyer, “Last Dispensation,” 53).