Why They Stoned Stephen – Sunday, June 02, 1940
“And Stephen said unto them: “Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?” (Acts 7:52) Speaking unto his own generation and his own people, Stephen might have directed this accusing question with equal justification to any generation; Which, indeed, of the prophets have not men persecuted – if not in person, at least in effigy, in thought and speech, by ridicule, by unbelief. Men have persecuted those who have seen ahead of their own generation both in science and in things material and things spiritual, and in all fields of thought and knowledge pertaining both to things here and hereafter.
The Pasteurs, the Noahs, the Galileos the Isaiahs, the Columbuses, the Elijahs, the Peters and the Pauls have never been popular – but they have been so right, despite the unwillingness of men to believe them. And no doubt it will not be popular to say now, that the unprincipled chaos in which we find the world, was all foreseen by the prophets of God and will find no cure except as the prophets have testified, that there will be no lasting peace until men turn to God, seek Him in prayer, observe His ways, and pattern their lives in accordance with His word. Mere lip service will not be acceptable, and the temporary repentance that is forced by immediate fear and present stress will not be mistaken for obedience and a contrite heart. Let the cynic deny it; let the scoffer enjoy his brief day; let the man of evil point the finger of scorn; and let the unbelieving take such hope as they can find in their logic and their rationalization. But despite all this, the unchangeable facts remain, and we rise to meet the dissenting storm of protest, by repeating the query of Stephen, “Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?”
June 2, 1940
Broadcast Number 0,563