Poison by Degrees

Alma 47: 18 And it came to pass that Amalickiah caused that one of his servants should administer poison by degrees to Lehonti, that he died.

I know this point gets brought up pretty often, but that's partly because it's a lesson that warrants frequent reminders. Amalickiah had one of his servants poison Lehonti "by degrees." One's enemies aren't always as direct as a knife to the heart. Sometimes, they use methods so subtle that their attacks are difficult to notice.

Satan often operates this way. Lacking the ability to physically destroy us, he tries to subtly trick us into figuratively destroying ourselves. And he knows that he has to be subtle about it, or we'll catch on and avoid his tricks. 

Lehonti would not willingly drink poison, and most of us wouldn't either. If Lehonti could have tasted the poison, then he wouldn't have drunk it. That's why Amalickiah's servant couldn't administer the poison all at once. If the smell or taste of poison was too obvious, Lehonti wouldn't have fallen for it, and the assassination attempt would have failed.

Similarly, the adversary tries to keep his poison hidden. That's why we need to be cautious. We need to recognize the spiritual poison that the enemy tries to feed us, and we need to carefully avoid it so as to consume as little poison as possible.

We need to be wary of Satan's subtle attempts to weaken and destroy us. If we're not careful enough, we too may find ourselves being "poison[ed] by degrees."