Stephen stood before the 71 members of the Jewish Sanhedrin, after having lies stirred up about his preaching (Acts 6:10-14). Upon hearing Stephen’s sharply pointed sermon directed at them, these Jewish supreme court justices “cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him” (6:57-58). The next verse says, “And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit’” (6:59).
The force of the verbs in this verse indicates that “as” Stephen “kept on calling on God,” these enraged and out-of-control religious leaders “kept on stoning him.” Which one was causing the other? Was Stephen constantly praying because they were constantly stoning him, or were they constantly stoning him because he was constantly praying to God? It was a vicious cycle.
What would you be doing if someone was trying to silence you from speaking about Jesus? Would they be able to get you to stop before they gave up and stopped themselves?