I’m always so interested in the story of Amalickiah and Lehonti in Alma 47. It’s the one where Amalickiah is a Nephite dissenter who goes to the Lamanites and desires to be the king. Lehonti is the leader of the Lamanites who don’t want to battle the Nephites. Go read Alma 47 for a refresher.

Here’s what I find interesting. Amalickiah is a type of satan and Lehonti is a type of us. It’s an epic battle between the wicked one and someone who “wants” to do the right thing but is lulled away quietly.

Lehonti positions his men on a hill and refuses to come meet Amalickiah. But Amalichiah is so persistent. He is cunning. He keeps trying to get Lehonti to come off the mountain and talk with him.

Here are a couple phrases that stand out to me.

Alma 47:4 Now behold, this was the desire of Amalickiah; for he being a very subtle man to do evil therefore he laid the plan in his heart to dethrone the king of the Lamanites.

satan is trying to dethrone the King in each of our hearts. he will never do it generally, but he can succeed individually if we let him.

Alma 47:10 … when it was night he sent a secret embassy

Alma 47:13 … Amalickiah desired him to come down with his army in the night-time

satan works in the dark. Jesus Christ is the light. In the very real battle for each of us, seeking the light, dealing with the light, and remaining in the light is critical to our survival and success.

Alma 47:11 … Amalickiah sent again the second time, desiring him to come down. And it came to pass that Lehonti would not; and he sent again the third time.

satan is so persistent. He keeps working on us with the same requests. He knows our weaknesses and he won’t let up. We have to recognize those tendencies and build the fortifications to resist. Lehonti would have been better off to keep moving his forces and changing the circumstances to not be weakened.

Alma 47:12 And it came to pass that when Amalickiah found that he could not get Lehonti to come down off from the mount, he went up into the mount.

When Lehonti wouldn’t come down completely, Amalickiah went up as far as he could. satan is so eager to meet us where we will meet him, if we allow it.

Alma 47:18 … Amalickiah [administered] poison by degrees to Lehonti, that he died.

satan administers poison “by degrees” trying to kill us. We have to recognize the signs of the poison and not consume it.

I can’t help but read this story as a very real battle for our personal souls each day. satan is doing everything he can to destroy us. he doesn’t want us to enjoy the blessings already purchased through the blood of our Savior. he wants to usurp that power.

But we can avoid his cunning with a few easy steps.

1. Seek light—both spiritual and physical. We must put ourselves in places where the Spirit can dwell.

2. Remove from questionable circumstances. I can’t help but think that if Lehonti would have removed his army and run away (especially if he would have run to the people of Ammon who were former Lamanites who converted), not only would he have lived, but he would have flourished. But it would have required a sacrifice on his part to give up old ways and embrace new.

3. Keep our focus on the Savior and His Atonement. Sadly, satan won’t give up. But he doesn’t even care what happens to us. he only kills as a means to get to his own end. If our focus is firmly on the Savior, we will not be fooled by his cunning plans for our destruction.

I think we are given these very real, very specific stories in the Book of Mormon because they are our stories. We have to recognize the plots and learn from them. We can win if we know the plans of the evil one.

*Editor’s note. I don’t like satan. So he doesn’t get a capital letter on his name or his pronouns. That’s intentional. I want to stick it to him where I can. 🙂