The book of Acts as a sustained narrative of persecution — Paul's pre-conversion role as persecutor and post-conversion experience of being persecuted

Saul/Paul systematically persecuted Christians beyond Jerusalem before his conversion. After becoming a follower of Jesus, Paul himself was pursued by persecutors, including a group of Jewish assassins who vowed to kill him. Mike argues Acts is historically reliable but notes that even skeptics cannot simply dismiss its historical core about persecution.