By now, you have noticed that Satan loves to accuse God’s people falsely, and even the “good people” fall for it or go along. We have seen Jeremiah and Joseph falsely accused and suffer from the accusation.

Our next case study is that of Stephen, a man whom people unjustly accused and then stoned to death. His story strongly reminds us of the injustice that can happen to even the most righteous, stirring a deep empathy in our hearts.

Stephen was one of seven servants, probably deacons, chosen to help the apostles and the church take care of the growing church’s needs, especially those of the widows, and how the church cared for them each day.

Stephen, a man filled with the Holy Spirit and used by God, was a figure of immense wisdom and knowledge of the Scriptures. The people never doubted Stephen’s character, which inspired admiration and respect.

The fact that Stephen was part of the new group, which the religious crowd perceived as a sect or cult, angered the Jewish leaders. This ‘new group’ was the early Christian church, a movement multiplying and challenging the traditional Jewish religious hierarchy. Frustrated and desperate, the Jewish leaders wanted to stop the movement from gaining more followers.

The religious crowd, obviously fueled as tools of Satan, claimed that Stephen spoke blasphemous words against the Bible, the books of Moses, and God. They convinced wicked men to spread gossip, lies, and accusations, causing the people to be inflamed.

The liars, the gossips, and the false accusers said that Jesus would destroy the temple and everything Moses stood for. These attacks hit the very heart of their religion and their culture.

The few Satan-infused liars easily lead, manipulate, and guide the mob, which never thinks for itself.

They arrest Stephen and drag him before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish court, where the false witnesses publicly sign the charges.

No matter that the accusations were not true. There’s no need to investigate since an angry mob will just act like the lynching mobs of the Wild West in the USA.

When Stephen stood to speak, instead of defending himself against the false accusations, he courageously revealed God’s plan for Israel and how it all points to Jesus. His resilience in adversity is a powerful example of courage for us all.

Stephen starts with Abraham and goes through Moses, Solomon, and the prophets to challenge the religious leaders of being stiff-necked, religious resisters of the Holy Spirit who constantly persecuted God’s men to the point that they had now killed Jesus.

They knew his statements were factual, but couldn’t humble themselves enough to repent. They just got furious and decided to kill Stephen.

Stephen looks up to heaven to see the Son of Man at the right hand of God.

They killed Stephen, and Saul, who would become better known as Paul, was there listening to Stephen call on Jesus to receive his spirit and not hold the false accusers, the murderers, guilty of their sins.

They thought killing Stephen would be the end of it and brought more persecution, but the people of God scattered, taking the gospel message to further regions. Their intention was to harm and stop the work of God. They meant it for evil, but God used it to expand His kingdom and message further.

Saul might have been one of very few, but he knew it was wrong, and God saved and transformed him into a man who would carry his ministry forward.

Think about this

Mob mentality is not interested in truth, just anger and acting.
Satan used false accusers in an attempt to destroy the work of God.
Good men rarely investigate to find out the truth.
Good men are quiet and do whatever will save their own skin.
God gets glory anyway.
God uses even false accusations to further His kingdom and his work.
Social media pile-ons are very similar to the mob mentality
The goal is to cancel the message by destroying the messenger
The accusers take the words out of context and twist them to their own devious purposes.