We are told several times in the New Testament that Christians will suffer for their faith. However, if we listen to the evangelical church today, it would seem that God's curse would be upon us if we do suffer for our faith.
This, however, is not how the early church (or the New Testament) viewed it.
"'Come fire, cross, battling with wild beasts, wrenching of bones, mangling of limbs, crushing of my whole body, cruel tortures of the devil—only let me get to Jesus Christ!' Hardly the stuff of Sunday morning conversation in the 21st century. Ignatius, a bishop in Antioch, wrote these words in a letter to the Roman church in the early second century. He had been arrested for being a Christian and knew that a grisly death probably lay before him. Yet he looked forward to it almost joyfully."
Read about persecution of the early church here.
For a more complete account of Christian persecution into the 1800s, read FOXE's BOOK of MARTYRS online.
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