Come Follow Me: What we can learn from Stephen, the Martyr

In Acts chapters six and seven, we read the account of the martyr, Stephen. Stephen was one of the seven men chosen by the apostles to help assist the members of the church (equivalent to one of the presidents of the Seventy today). It seems that he spent most of his time serving and teaching in Jerusalem. 

While serving in Jerusalem he "did great wonders and miracles among the people". He also spoke with "wisdom and the spirit" in the synagogues with people of many different backgrounds and positions. He was sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and preaching to the people about the fulfillment of the Law of Moses. This was deemed blasphemous by the Jewish leaders at the time, and so he was put on trial by them (with false witnesses, just like the Savior), and then sentenced to death by stoning.

In the church, we usually spend the most time talking about the vision that Stephen had right before his execution. As the Jewish leaders reviled and condemned him, Stephen saw "the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God". We use this verse to demonstrate the fact that God the Father and Jesus Christ are two separate individuals, and not the same person, as most other Christians believe. I've found that this story is a very useful way to help others not of our faith understand our doctrine of the Godhead.

But what can we learn from the story of Stephen? Most of us already know and believe that the members of the Godhead are three, distinct individuals. Although Stephen's story is fairly short, I think there is something very important for us to learn from him and his testimony.

For one thing, as with the story of Abinadi and Alma the Younger, Stephen's story teaches us the importance of sharing our testimonies. Like Abinadi, Stephen's testimony only resulted in the conversion of one person (at least, that we know of). That one person was Saul--who later became the apostle Paul, who would go on to write a large chunk of the New Testament. Like Abinadi, Stephen teaches us that sharing the gospel and our testimonies of it can have a great impact on the lives of other people, even if we can't presently see those effects.

We can also learn a lot from what Stephen said in his testimony before the Jewish leaders. When asked to defend his actions, Stephen replies by giving the Jewish leaders a rather long and detailed lesson from the scriptures. He starts out by recounting the histories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He then goes on to remind them of the Israelites in Egypt and Moses being called to deliver them. After that, he discusses how Moses prophesied of Jesus Christ--and how the Jewish leaders had rejected Him, just like their fathers had rejected Moses and wandered in the wilderness for forty years. Specifically, he tells them "Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye."

This is a rebuke aimed at the Jews of Stephen's day, but I think it's also a rebuke that can apply to us if we're not careful. Sometimes, we act as if being a member of the church makes us impervious to the sins of the ancient Jews. However, if we're not careful, we ourselves can be stiffnecked and "uncircumcised in heart and ears". We can become so set in our own ways of thinking that we ignore the doctrine of the Gospel and the whisperings of the Spirit.

There's an infinite amount of ways for us to "resist the Holy Ghost". Perhaps we've become so involved with our political views that we've started listening to political pundits more than we listen to the prophets. Perhaps we're unwilling to forgive someone who has hurt us--ignoring the healing promised by the Savior's Atonement in exchange for "righteous indignation". Or, maybe the Holy Ghost is simply telling us to step up and do more than we're currently doing--and we don't like how much work that would entail (perhaps trying to avoid being given a calling...).

The Holy Ghost will give us ideas for how we can improve and listen to him better. When those thoughts come, we have a decision. Will we reject those thoughts? Will we "cast them out of the city" and stone them like the Jews did to Stephen? Or, will we have the humility to listen, and act upon what the Holy Ghost says?