A Baptist pastor in South Carolina believes that the jailing and persecution of Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis is a sign that an Antichrist is coming.

In his sermon over the weekend, Pastor Wendell Estep of the First Baptist Church in Columbia claimed that the Bible predicted "militant homosexuality" would surge during the End Times, according to Raw Story.

"Are you surprised at how quickly the homosexual movement has become militant?" he asked.

Estep cited the case of Davis, a baker in Washington and florists who were fined regarding same-sex marriage.

"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 not participate in same-sex marriage."

Estep said the Antichrist would have an atheistic one-world government that is "anti-God."

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

About Davis, he said, "The clerk in Kentucky, I go back to, but she was put in jail. Why was that? 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."

He warned, "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 favourable to Christianity and favourable to God."