...does great wonders and miracles among the people. The scribes and elders drag him before their Counsel as they had Peter and John. These guys, bent on destroying the Jesus movement, don't know they are out of their league. They bribe false witnesses and accuse Stephen of blasphemy.
"Are these things so?" they ask him.
He answers the charges by reciting the entire Jewish history from Abraham to Jesus. Winding down, he calls the Israelites stiffnecked and murderers. (Way to go, Stephen.)
The Counsel turns into an angry mob, gnashing on him with their teeth, and chasing him out of town as they throw stones. Interesting that the future Apostle Paul was a part of that mob.
Acts 7:55 But he, being full of the Holy Gost, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.
Stephen cries with a loud voice, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." And then he dies.
Stephen wins.
