Pastor Wendell Estep of the First Baptist Church in Columbia, South Carolina warned over the weekend that the so-called persecution of Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis was a sign of Christ's return.

In his sermon on Sunday, Estep argued that the Bible predicted "militant homosexuality" would be rampant during the End Times.

"Are you surprised at how quickly the homosexual movement has become militant?" he asked. "I mean, there is a clerk in Kentucky who has been jailed for not going along or not agreeing. There is a baker in Washington who has been fined. There are florists around the country who have been fined because they do no participate in same-sex marriage."

According to the pastor, the antichrist would establish an atheistic one-world government that was "anti-God."

"We see some of this taking shape now even in our on country," Estep warned. "We see that atheism is on the rise in our country."

"The clerk in Kentucky, I go back to, but she was put in jail. Why was that?" he continued. "Because there is no place for natural law in a secular society. In other words, you can believe what you wish within the confines of the walls of the church, but you can't take it outside the church."

"Folks, as we come to the End of Time and as the antichrist comes and establishes his kingdom, don't think that things are going to be favorable to Christianity and favorable to God," Estep insisted.