Ronald said:
I surely do not follow you there! Stephen was killed by people like Sha'ul, who could not bear to see the thimgs he did via the ruach. This was not in my opinion a guilty man deserving to be stoned to death, it was similar to what happened to the Mashiach.
False witnesses spoke agianst him. Since I was not there and there is no explaination, one can form his own opinion and it may or maynot be correct, but mine is to prove a point as spoken by Yeshua "Jn.15:18 ¶ If the world hate you, know ye that it hath hated me before you.
19 If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
"Like Stephen in the book of Acts? Did I even come close to an answer you expected?
Shalom
No I was speaking about when Stephen, full of and lead by the holy spirit spoke wrongly and made mistakes. Stephens impassioned speech before the Jewish court is an emotional point in the new church. But Stephen was very special. Acts 6:3-5 says
Acts 6:3-5
3Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among
you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.
4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.
5 And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and
they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch:
A man full of the Holy Spirit. Acts 6 goes on to describe the degree by which Stephen was blessed and filled with the Holy Spirit
Acts 6:8-10
8And Stephen, full of faith and power,
did great wonders and miracles among the people.
9Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called [the synagogue] of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.
10
And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.
So holy and full of the Holy Spirit was Stephen that Acts 6 says
Acts 6:15 And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.
What a holy, holy man that he was looked upon as if his face were that of an angel! So Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, starts his long recitation of Jewish history to that point. This is where things get confusing
Acts 7:14Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to [him],
and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.
15 So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers,
We see from the text of the Torah that this is not true.
Gen 46:27
27. And Joseph's sons, who were born to him in Egypt, two souls;
all the souls of the house of Jacob who came to Egypt were seventy.
Exo 1:5
5. Now all those descended from Jacob
were seventy souls, and Joseph, [who] was in Egypt.
Deut. 10:22
22.
With seventy souls, Your forefathers descended to Egypt, and now the Lord, your God, has made you as the stars of heaven in abundance.
How can this be? He was full of the Holy Spirit. How could he make this big of a mistake if he was guided by the Holy Spirit? Doesnt it even say in the NT that when they spoke they were not to worry because the Holy Spirit would give them the proper words which to say? This is a serious question because I cant remember where it is. Further Stephen forgets where Jacob was buried
Acts 7:16 And were carried over into
Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of
Emmor [the father] of Sychem.
Gen 50:13
13. And his sons carried him to the land of
Canaan, and they buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which field Abraham had bought for burial property from
Ephron the Hittite before Mamre.
(See also Gen. 23:17,19) These places arent even close to each other. Did the Holy Spirit forget Jewish history?
Can you see why this would be problematic for non-christians?
