From a netfriend:

Simply awful rejection and persecution has always been the Mother’s Milk of organized religion. Basically, if people despise us, the Lord loves us.

In the early years, “Prophet” Joseph Smith, Jr. sent Mormons out into the night to pillage farms in Ohio and Illinois. In short order, people hated Mormons. This helped to unite the early church. Smith was a genius even though he was a 1st-rate horndog.