Because of the Plainness of His Words

As I was reading in Alma 14 last night, it occurred to me that we see almost exactly what Alma and Amulek witnessed and experienced, in our society today - maybe not to the same, extreme measures, but the general idea exists.   In our culture, it is taboo to speak about darkness, Satan, works of evil, societal decay, or third-party candidates. Those who are brave enough to say things the way the really are, seem to be labeled as "Extremists", "Conspiracy Theorists", "Purists", "Radicals", and many other, more obscene, names.  In Alma and Amulek's time, they courageously spoke out against the evils that were being practiced and taught in the great city of Ammonihah. Because of the unpopularity of their words, and of the powerful and cunning men in high places, they were attacked verbally and physically, and their faith and patience were tried time and time again. The people of Ammoniah were angry with Alma and Amulek, "because of the plainness of [their] words". Those evil men conducted the vilest of acts, in burning women and children, along with their scriptures, in an attempt to break Alma and his companion. Those two faithful and brave men were victorious in the end, however, because of their staunch resolve to carry out what they had been sent to accomplish. One of the fiercest adversaries was converted to the Gospel of Christ, and many more were baptized into the Church. Their mission, their determination, was not in vain.
I have seen those in this day and age who try to speak out in plainness, against the devil and the conduct of his followers. Not surprisingly, they are bombarded with opposition, time and time again. They are attacked, they are made out to be demented fools, and many times, they are shut down completely.
I came to the conclusion today that, if Christ was born in this Country, in this century, He would have been accepted much less than He was in Jerusalem. He would most likely be shut down and pushed aside, labeled as "mad". He would be verbally and physically abused. He would be cast down by the anger of even good men and women. He would be ignored, even by the "open-minded".
Satan is very cunning in his devices. He makes evil seem as light, and tempts even the strongest in the Faith to believe that the most grotesque abominations are fun and harmless. There are very real and very prevalent evils in this world. That is a fact that cannot be disputed.
My challenge to anyone who reads this, and to myself as well, is to listen intently when a person speaks "plainly" about things that are not popular, or well-known. We have plenty of wickedness in this world, what harm would it do us to listen to good people stating truth so that we can learn and know to remove that wickedness from our lives, in whatever form. I believe that a lot of the time - if not most of the time - those people who are going against the status quo actually have something of substance to say. Listen to them, rather than immediately dismissing them as raving mad. If they are claiming things that are in accordance with the Lord's laws, with complete truth. Who knows? They may just be right.
To end, I would just like to ask you all, if we who know truth do not spread it, who will?
Let us be tolerant of truth. Let us abhor evil. Let us remember that some of the "craziest fools" in history turned out to be some of the most brilliant and wise. Let us never be afraid to think outside of the box.