Acts 7:54-60. When Stephen finishes his lengthy testimony tying Christ to the promises of the Old Testament and reminding the council that the Jewish leaders have often persecuted prophets, the council members become enraged and grind their teeth. Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, looks up and sees the glory of God and Jesus at His right hand. He proclaims loudly what he is seeing, but this just makes the Jewish leaders angrier. They cry out loud, they stop their ears, and they rush together upon him. They cast him out of the city and stone him to death, and the witnesses lay their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. As he is being stoned, Stephen prays, asking God to accept his spirit and forgive these men who are killing him. Then he dies, with Saul consenting to his death.

The behavior the Jewish leaders is startling, and I think it is indicative of how our evil actions can affect our mental state, especially when we don't realize what we've done and somebody suddenly points it out to us very clearly. Stephen's testimony consisted of a short narrative of Jewish history, especially the history of the Exodus, and an accusation that the leaders are just like the leaders of the past who have been unable to see the true prophets, and instead have killed them or persecuted them. The reaction of leaders is completely out of proportion to what Stephen has said, ultimately they even kill Stephen, thus proving his point. Before they kill him, they first grind their teeth, then they shout (to drown out Stephen), then they cover their ears (so they can't hear what he is saying), and then they rush on him to kill him. They are overreacting in a major way, and simply cannot process or hear what Stephen is saying! They're acting completely unhinged - grinding their teeth, shouting, stopping their ears - these are not the behaviors of sane people taking criticism badly, they are the behaviors of mentally unbalanced people, of people not completely in touch with reality.

Stephen's testimony was truthful and inspired. It hit the leaders in the places they needed to be hit in order to wake up. It showed them who they were and what they had done, and they simply could not hear it. This is the extreme reaction of cognitive dissonance, and it is what we are seeing in many people today. It will get worse as the truth becomes more obvious and people cannot avoid what they've done. We must remain like Stephen, speaking the truth in a kind way, but in a way that wakes people up, we also must be prepared for persecution, while also doing everything we do with love and forgiveness. It is a tall order, but we were made for these times!