Stephen and Cancel Culture

[381 words] Stephen was a man of tremendous courage who preached God’s Word with great boldness. On the occasion of Acts chapter 7, Stephen preached that he saw the heavens opened and Jesus standing at the right hand of God (Acts 7:56). In the audience that day were unbelieving Jews who rejected Christ. When they heard Stephen preach Christ, they were enraged and “stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city, and stoned him” (Acts 7:57-58). Notice from this text that the Jews “stopped their ears.” They refused to listen to what Stephen preached. Rather than listening, they stoned to death an innocent, godly man. We live in a time when some refuse to hear any opposing view. Rather than granting others freedom to express opposing views, the culture “cancels” them. “Canceling” often involves some type of punishment against those—mostly conservative—who…