Kim Davis dismisses critics of her 'sordid past': Sinners 'don't have to remain in their sin'

Kim Davis insisted she was willing to be jailed for defying court orders to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

The Kentucky county clerk, who appeared Thursday morning in federal court for a contempt hearing, spoke to Fox News broadcaster Todd Starnes -- who frequently reports on instances of alleged persecution against Christians.

“I’ve weighed the cost and I’m prepared to go to jail, I sure am,” Davis said. “This has never been a gay or lesbian issue for me. This is about upholding the word of God.”

Davis, the elected clerk of Rowan County, repeated many of the arguments she made in a statement issued earlier this week after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear her appeal.

“This is a heaven or hell issue for me and for every other Christian that believes,” she said. “This is a fight worth fighting.”

The clerk, whose mother served in the position for 40 years, said she would not step down from her elected position -- which pays $80,000 a year in taxpayer-funded salary -- because she would lose a platform to preach the gospel.

“I would have to either make a decision to stand or I would have to buckle down and leave,” Davis said. “If I left, resigned or chose to retire, I would have no voice for God’s word.

Davis, who has been divorced three times and is currently married to her fourth husband -- who was also her second husband -- said she has heard LGBT rights activists want to kill her.

“They told my husband they were going to burn us down while we slept in our home,” she claimed. “He’s been told that he would be beaten up and tied up and made to watch them rape me. I have been told that gays should kill me.”

She brushed off criticism about her own tangled marital history, saying she had been forgiven for past sins after converting to Apostolic Christianity.

“All I can say to them is if they have a sordid past like what I had, they too can receive the cleansing and renewing, and they can start a fresh life and they can be different,” Davis said. “They don’t have to remain in their sin, there’s hope for tomorrow.”