There has been much persecution in this land also. Joseph Smith was imprisoned under miserable conditions until he asked God why. (He was informed that he was not yet as Job). Eventually he was killed for his belief, and so were many others. The state of Missouri drove the Mormons out and passed a law that Mormons should be exterminated. That law stayed on the books there into the late 20th century. And persecution continues to strengthen, rough as it is to go through the fires at the time. The analogy to a refiner's fire seems to be very accurate.