Bible Study with Jairus – Acts 7

Bible Study with Jairus – Acts 7Show more

In Acts 7, we find the story of Stephen being stoned to death. As we consider Stephen’s tragic death, we see two types of people: people of faith and people of fear. Stephen, a person of faith, saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God. The angry crowd, people of fear, could not see the heavens opened. Instead, they covered their ears and stoned Stephen to death. We must ask ourselves: Are we people of faith who can see into the throne room of God, or are we covering our ears and seeing nothing but the material world around us?
Are we those who see the heaven opened, or are we persecuting those who see heaven opened?
Bill Johnson, an American Charismatic pastor says that each new wave of God’s work in the world is persecuted by people instrumental in bringing about the last wave. This is not limited to persecution between denominations. Even within the Charismatic church, each new movement is persecuted by the previous movement.
For example, when the charismatic movement was just emerging, many charismatic denominations were persecuted by their previous evangelic denominations. One of the big charismatic sects, Denomination A, was persecuted by traditional evangelical churches. Neville Johnson, an Australian prophet, says that Denomination A also participated in making up lies about future prophets. Regarding the prophet who has been accused of claiming to be Elijah, Johnson says, "The prophet William M. Branham did not claim to be Elijah and there were tapes to prove that he had said that he was not Elijah. This [accusation] was made up by the people of Denomination A.” If Neville’s statement was correct, then the once-persecuted Denomination A also participated in persecuting others.
In addition, the church in Canada that initiated the Toronto Revival was originally a church of the Vineyard Movement. But when the revival began, John Wimber, the leader of the Vineyard Movement, excommunicated the church. This type of persecution has been seen not only in the Charismatic movement, but in many religious groups throughout the history of Christianity.
In Acts 7, the persecutors were the Pharisees, scribes, elders and priests. They were the elite of the elite, and they believed they knew all they needed to know about God and the Bible. They believed they had mastered the truth, and that their persecution was an outflow of their dedication to God. Why did Israel’s elite make this mistake? Why were they unable to see heaven opened and Jesus standing at the right hand of God? Why did they cover their ears and beat Stephen to death?
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