“Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”’ When he had said this, he fell asleep.”
– Acts 7:60
Hi James and Ellen,
Would you tell a kid – or a guy or gal, that you are a Christ-follower if you knew that that you might be killed by divulging to him or her that you are a Christ-follower? Would you opt to become a Christ-follower if you knew that you might executed if you became a Christ-follower? Would you choose to become a Christ-follower if you knew that you might face being martyred as some faithful Christ-followers have been? When Stephen became a Christ-follower, Stephen did not hesitate to let the whole world know that he had become a devoted believer in the teachings of Jesus Christ. Stephen was martyred because of his being such a vocal Christ-follower. Stephen became a hero among Christ-follower guys, gals and kids. Doctor Luke – in Luke 7, in his letter that that he sent to his friend Theophilus – that is known today as the Luke Book, recounts Stephen’s story. When Steve was asked – probably by Caiaphas – who was the designated high priest at the time, if the charges were actually true that had been leveled against him – possibly by an overzealous whippersnapper whose name was Saul, if he was one of those seditious Christ-followers, Steve’s response was to give a condensed history of about 1,500 years of his people group’s – who were the Jews or God’s specially chosen guys and gals, existence on planet Earth. Saul had taken it upon himself to completely eradicate an emerging belief paradigm that has as its belief tenet a guy, gal or kid internalizing through repenting and having faith in an unshakeable relationship with an incarnate, crucified guy – Whose name is Jesus and Who is God – as God the Son, and who will then once and for all receive unconditionally the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life. How much of the history of the Jews do you know about? How do you think that Stephen came about to know his Jewish heritage so well? How would you explain what it is like being a Christ-follower? If a kid – or a guy or gal, should ask you about your personal relationship with Jesus Christ – or God – as God the Son, what would you say to him or her? Would you start by going back to where Stephen went – which was to Abraham, to explain how you became a Christ-follower, or would you detail how God – as God the Spirit, has divinely led you to and then through the grace/faith door and how God – as God the Spirit, is sanctifying you to enable and empower you to do the preordained/predestined service responsibilities that God has for you to do for Him on planet Earth?
Stephen’s own people group of guys used rocks to kill him. Mark Rich – on January 31, 1993, was kidnapped with two other New Tribes missionaries in Púcuro, Panama by purportedly around 100 FARC guerillas. During a Colombian military assault in 1996 against the camp where Mark, Dave and Rick were being held captive by FARC guerillas, the guerillas murdered the three missionaries during the assault. Tambo is New Tribes boarding school in Bolivia. Tambo is located between Santa Cruz and Cochabamba, Bolivia. Your dad and Aunt Lynn went to Tambo. Mark Rich went to Tambo. Ask your dad if Mark was a student at Tambo when he was at Tambo. Your Aunt Lynn graduated from Tambo in 1990. New Tribes – after an uptick in unrest several years ago in Bolivia, discontinued using their rather isolated school to board and teach missionary kids. New Tribes Tambo property was bought by another mission agency called LATCOM. Tom Rath is LATCOM’s director. Tom and Carla Rath were field team missionaries with South America Mission when your grandmaa and grandpaa were South America Mission field team missionaries in Bolivia. Carla’s birthday is the same day as your grandpaa’s birthday. After Tom and Carla procured Tambo’s property from New Tribes, Tom and Carla renamed the property Monte Blanco. Monte Blanco is now being used by Tom and Carla as a retreat center for groups of young guys and gals from evangelical churches in Santa Cruz and Cochabamba. Your Aunt Lynn and Uncle Chris are planning to be in Monte Blanco today. Your Aunt Lynn and Uncle Chris are in Bolivia to do setup for an Adventures in Missions Ambassador team that they are hoping to send to Bolivia this coming summer. Your Aunt Lynn has a lot of special memories from the seven years that she spent at Tambo. Ask your dad what kind of memories that he has of Tambo.
Why do you think that Mark was killed by FARC guerillas after they held him captive for three years? Why do you think that Stephen was killed by his very own people group? Per what has been said by a couple of captured FARC guerrillas who at times stood guard over Mark, Dave and Rick, Mark, Dave and Rick regularly witnessed to them – even leading some FARC guerillas to ‘make a decision of faith’. Stephen – after finishing his narrative that he began with Abraham’s birth in Mesopotamia and ending with Solomon building a temple in the city of Jerusalem for God, took a verbal potshot at his ethnic people group by calling them ‘stiff-necked people’ who were resisting what God – as God the Spirit – as the Holy Spirit, was instructing them to do. When Stephen’s fellow Jews heard Stephen call them pig-headed, they became furious with him. Stephen – by this time knowing that his death was imminent, looked towards heaven where he saw the glory of God – as God the Father, with Jesus – the Son of God, standing at His Father’s right hand side. Doctor Luke wrote what is now verse 60 what Stephen did next. “Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”’ When he had said this, he fell asleep.”
Acts 7 (1066)