Rhema
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JtB was dead before the New Covenant was in force and effect. The better questions in this case would be - Why didn't Herod Antipas kill him right away instead of having him imprisoned? Why did Herod have to be backed into a corner before issuing a command of execution? Why did Herod keep JtB alive for all that time? (New thread, of course.)How about John the Baptist.
That's a more difficult answer.I am asking if Stephen was not under His protection?
But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
(Acts 7:55-56 RV)
I think I'd die to see that.
Regardless, Stephen did not invoke God's protection.
I've been working on the following verse -
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
(Acts 1:8 KJV)
According to the Cambridge Greek Lexicon, "witnesses" is the wrong word. Within the context of religious expression, the word would mean "to invoke the name or protection of a deity to establish a matter." To coin a word, we are to be "invokers." Stephen died because he did not invoke the power of God to keep him alive.
... ye have not, because ye ask not.
(James 4:2 KJV)
Christians are typically not taught taught how to invoke the power of God that Jesus promised (again, cf. Acts 1:8).
Rhema
(What about Peter?)Peter etc?
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