The apostles still keep performing all kinds of awesome miracles. They even go to the temple and manage to win some more believers. They also heal the sick and everyone gets cured. Naturally, the high priest does not like this at all. He and the other religious authorities have the apostles arrested. But as luck would have it, an angel of the Lord sneaks into prison during the night and unlocks their jail cell. The angel tells them to head up to the temple and keep on preaching on. The next day, when the religious authorities find out that these guys have broken out of their cell and are preaching in the temple, they are not pleased. They have the apostles re-arrested and then start questioning them. The religious authorities are wondering why the apostles are talking about Jesus when they've been expressly forbidden from doing just that. The apostles tell them that they have to listen to God, not ordinary humans. After all, the apostles know about all the amazing things God is trying to do through Jesus. Well, they just dont want to stop talking about Jesus. At this point, the religious authorities pretty much want the apostles to go the way of Jesus.
One of the Pharisees (his name is Gamaliel) stands up and tries to reason with everyone. Look, he says, these so-called prophets come along all the time. Remember Theudas, or Isiah? He had a whole bunch of followers, but when he died they disappeared. Same thing with Judas the Galilean. So these followers of Jesus are gonna die out soon, too. Gamaliel tells them not to worry. If they're just a bunch of peoples running around preaching a false message, it'll all fall apart on its own. But if, just by chance, they are following God Himself, then it would probably be best not to mess with them. The religious authorities seem okay with this. They have the apostles flogged and then release them and tell them not to talk about Jesus any more. As soon as they leave, the apostles all start celebrating because they got to suffer for Jesus. And they also head right back to the temple and start talking up Jesus again. Everything is going pretty well for a while, but then a little issue comes up. Some of the Christians claim that they aren't getting the same quality charity as other Christians. The twelve apostles don't have time for this nonsense—they need to spend time preaching about Jesus and making the religious authorities stew with anger. So they appoint seven other men to oversee these ministries and make sure everything is running smoothly. Their names are Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus. This fixes the issue and the good word about Jesus keeps spreading and more new recruits join up every day.
So, of this group of seven, Stephen is very good. He can even perform miracles. Naturally, some of the people in the temple don't appreciate this too much. One day they start arguing with Stephen. When they can't win the argument fair and square, they get him arrested on charges of blasphemy even though Stephen would never blaspheme. Stephen goes before the council and the baddies get people to come foreword and tells lies about Stephen and the things he's been saying. The whole time Stephen just stands there not saying a word. Soon though, Stephen gets his chance to speak and goes on for a really long time. His topic? The Old Testament. The whole speech is a summary of the story of the Jewish people. He goes through highlights on Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, and Solomon all in one chapter. Its amazing. It's not easy packing all of history into one lecture. I just love it!.. Read it ok.. its important. The point of all of this is that the people from the temple are just as stubborn as their ancestors were. Just like the ancient Israelites didn't always welcome God's prophets and the chosen ones with open arms, these guys are doing the same thing to Stephen. Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it. Stephen tells them that they're "uncircumcised in heart and ears" and that they're opposing God. They've been given God's law, but they're tossing it aside because they're too pig-headed to recognize the truth. When Stephen looks up into the sky and says that he sees Jesus in the heavens, it's just too much for them. The crowd grabs him and drags him into the city to stone him. Between peltings, Stephen prays that God will receive his spirit and also asks God not to hold this whole stoning against the crowd. Stephen finally dies from rock-related injuries. Stoned to death!! The first Martyr in the Bible. All the while, there's a guy named Saul hanging around thinking all of this is a-okay. He'll become pretty important later. The same day Stephen is killed, the baddies start persecuting other Christians, too. Everyone, except the main apostles, makes a run for it to avoid meeting the same rock-hurling fate as Stephen. Saul is one of the ringleaders of all this. He's having people arrested left and right all on account of them being followers of Jesus.
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