Persecution of the Mormon Faith

The other day, I went into a dangerous part of West Warwick, Rhode Island with the LDS missionaries. As we pulled up to the home of those we were visiting, I was shocked as about 5 young men appeared seemingly out of nowhere. They came up to us and followed us as we walked the short way to the home, the whole time screaming obscenities and foulness that I won't repeat. It was directed not at "mormons", I'm not even sure they knew what a "mormon" was. Their diatribe was directed at their own Savior! They uttered some of the most foul things I've ever heard at the one person, who loves them more than anyone.
It was a strange experience, that 5 people whom I had never seen would go out of their way to confront us and deride Jesus in such a way. I felt a range of emotions, shock, anger, but then I felt a gladness, because I remembered what the Lord said "blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you."
I also thought of something that I read while I was at the University of Utah. During the war in Vietnam, men were flown in and out by commercial jet. Those leaving Vietnam and those arriving in country would often pass one another on the their respective paths. One path led to hell and one to home. For both groups of men, it was a profound experience. For the men newly arrived, it was a shock to see the haggard, tired and transformed men who were shells of their former selves. They wondered if they would end up like that if they made it home at all. I was amazed reading these accounts, because the reaction of those home "newbies" was predictable, they wanted to jump back on the plane and go home, but the men leaving Vietnam, on the other hand, their reaction was totally conter-intuitive. They should have been glad to go home to their parents and family, but they were not. They saw what they had lost and they became angry! They started to hurl insults and threats in an attempt to break the "new guys'" faith.
When I read this, I realized that it is the same with the growing persecution of the LDS faith. Men are all given the ability to detect good and evil. We can look at someone's face and see either light or darkness in their eyes and we either get angry or our testimonies are strenghtened and we are convicted to follow Christ. I was amazed the other day when someone told me I was evil "persecuted evil is still evil", he said. He told me that I shouldn't ignore the bible as mormons do and I thought, but wait a minute, why is he saying its ok to persecute "evil". Doesn't the bible tell us to love our enemies and pray for them? I don't try to be evil and I hope I'm not, I like many other christians in the world pray that I'll do what the Savior would have me do, I know I've done a lot of things that I'm not proud of, but the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints alone has given me the strength to overcome, where things that seemed impossible and consuming are barely an afterthought now and if that is evil then I don't know what good is. If it is the church of the devil as some profess, why does it have such a powerful influence for good (by their fruits we shall know them).
As persecution increases as it has been (we see this with Mit Romney and having to "explain his mormonism"), I hope that we as followers of Jesus Christ can take confort in the fact that our reward will be great in heaven if we endure the trial of persecution. I don't mean to say in this article that only LDS members desire to follow Christ, I'm know there are lots of good people around the world, who are persecuted because they are trying to follow truth. Much of my family is not LDS and I know they try to live right and are good people. I know that the LDS faith teaches that most religions have truths and teach good things so it would stand to reason others follow true principles and are thus mocked by the world because of it, but I'm focusing on the rise of persecution directed at the LDS Church. We as members of the Church should rejoice when we are persecuted and should not be discouraged by it! Just maybe, that means that we are on the right track, especially in a world where society's values are so out of line with the teachings of the Savior.