President Spencer W. Kimball declared: “I remember that the Lord was long-suffering with ancient Israel. … Here [the Lord] has the Indian or Lamanite, with a background of twenty-five centuries of superstition, degradation, idolatry, and indolence. He has loathed their wickedness, chastised them, brought the Gentiles to them for nursing fathers and mothers, and (it would seem) has finally forgiven them. Their sufferings have been sore, their humiliation complete, their punishment severe and long, their heartaches many, and their opportunities reduced. Has he not now forgiven them and accepted them? Can we not now forgive and accept them?” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1954, 106).