“…[O]ne particular type of evil, religious persecution, is especially hateful to God and often brings calamity- even national ruin- on nations and empires that practice it. Not all punishment is reserved for the hereafter. Shedding the blood of those who sincerely serve the Lord (though in ways that kings or priests may regard as heretical) often entails the most fearful retribution… After the prosecutors have killed the martyrs, they often have to bury their own: thousands, sometimes millions of them… Nationally sponsored persecution follows whenever a state supports a particular faith in opposition to other forms of religion.”
(Edwin de Kock, “Christ and Antichrist in Prophecy and History, p.25)