Mr Gordon has made a similar mistake in his comments that South Korea is persecuting JWs because they are jailed because they refuse to serve in the army. There is no religion persecution. They are jailed because they are breaking the law of the land.
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Pear, there are in fact 2 higher laws than the 'law of the land' whenever that land binds themselves to international alliances. The UN charter should be binding to the member nations of the UN, however most nations operate independently. Then there is God's law that they mistakenly feel they are not answerable to.
“Pay back, therefore, Caesar’s things to Caesar, but God’s things to God.” - Matt 22:21
That Christians were persecuted is an indisputable fact of history. While Nero sat on the throne, a great fire swept through Rome in July 64 C.E., destroying about a quarter of the city. The historian Tacitus says that to take suspicion off himself, Nero blamed the fire on the Christians, who were then “torn by dogs and perished” and “doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired. Nero offered his gardens for the spectacle. (The Annals, XV, XLIV)
During this persecution, Paul, who had preached from Jerusalem to Rome and perhaps even to Spain, was imprisoned for a second time. He was likely killed by Nero about 66 C.E.
