Stephen was a man “full of faith and power . . . [who] did
great wonders and miracles among the people” (Acts 6:8). He was everything a
disciple of Christ should be: honest, full of the Holy Ghost, and wise (Acts
6:3). Because he chose to stand as a witness of Christ, he spoke with boldness
and faith. He admonished the people and gave them hefty criticism. Speaking truth,
he compared them to their ancestors, who persecuted prophets and denied the
Holy Ghost. The people resented his criticism and claimed it was untruthful. They
condemned Stephen to death. Stephen responded to this announcement with his
testimony of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Filled with the Holy Ghost, he
testified of Heavenly Father and of Christ, who stood at God’s right hand. He
taught just before the moment of his death that Heavenly Father and Jesus
Christ live, and that they both have physical bodies. He testified of the
reality of Christ’s resurrection, the actuality of life after death. He demonstrated
his belief that he would be received joyfully by Heavenly Father because of his
faithful obedience. In the moment he should have been overcome by fear he was
filled with the Holy Ghost and visions of the glorious existence to come.
Stephen was much like the Book of Mormon prophet, Abinadi.
Both of these men preached the word of God to the sinners of the world, and
invited them to receive Christ. These prophets spoke with great boldness
against their persecutors and stood by their words until death. The most
interesting similarity between these two men is that with their dying breath
they directly called upon God to receive their souls (Acts 7:59, Mosiah 17:19). Unto the very end of
their lives Abinadi and Stephen never lost their faith. They died in obedience
to the Lord’s commands. They suffered persecution of the worst kind, and they
did it because they loved the Lord. Abinadi and Stephen never lost sight of the
Lord’s promise—that they would find rest in him if they kept his commandments.
These men were so close to the Holy Spirit and had such great faith that they
were able to view their suffering as temporary. They recognized that the joy
and peace they would feel throughout eternity clearly outweighed the pain and
turmoil they experienced during their mortal lives. Their dying prayers were a
final demonstration of their faith and testimony of Christ’s redeeming power. These
martyrs used their deaths as a final testament of Jesus Christ.
