The Account

I am called Zebiyan. This is the account of what I saw, what I witnessed first hand and what I experienced. I will not exaggerated the things I saw. I do not need to, they do not need any embellishment to be fantastic. Nor, Will I leave anything out. I refuse to deny what I saw. How simple that would be, to pretend that none of this is real. To say that the miracles I saw where just hoaxes . To say the death was stage, that it was not really him on the cross. It would be easy to say that my fellow believers and I just stole the body and that we asked and paid five hundred people to claim to see The Lord after his death .There are several theories to try and rob Jesus of who he truly was, who he truly is.To the advocates of such theories all I will say for now is this: Stephen is dead.

Things happened so fast. I have much to tell you ,and much to fill you in on. I will give each happening a worthy telling in my later accounts, for now though let me tell you how I came to begin to follow The Christ. I was living in Jerusalem at the time. I heard about The Miracle Worker before, yet, I never really knew what to think. One moment people were parsing him. Telling tales of him healing the blind and the lame.How he was Giving hope to the hopeless and publicly leaving the lawyers and High Priest dumbfound by his understanding of his law and his teaching . Then I would hear that he would tell the crowds to eat of his flesh and drink his blood, that he made claims of blasphemy, or that in a rage he flipped tables at a temple. So when it was said that a beloved friend of his was ill, and that he would be sure to heal him, I had to go see for myself. Then something happened. As I was walking to the town where the sick man was I meet a man coming from the other direction. He said that the Teacher was there, but The man was dead, and had been for days. I was stunned. I kept walking though. I heard that once before a synagogue rulers daughter was ill, and even died, yet this man was able to bring her back. Something in me knew that this was not over. As I reached my destination the the dead mans sister, Mary, ran out of the house in tears. Myself and some others followed after her. That was the first time I saw him, a grieving women at his feet, and others mourners surrounding him. "Where have you laid him?” He asked. A group showed him the sight of the tomb.Then something heart wrenching, unforeseeable, and glorious happened. Jesus wept. He fell to his knees and started to weep. Some mocked the Healer, others were awestruck by this display. It was then that he got up, dried his tears, raised his eyes to the heavens and in a voice that we all could hear began to pray “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me." It was then in a mighty voice he commanded "Lazarus, come out” . Lazarus, who was dead, came out. A dead man heard and obeyed His voice. It was at that point that I knew that this man, was God. That this event that I witnessed and what it proved would literally change my life forever. I heard some of the others talk afterward. Saying that they were going to tell the chief priests and the Pharisees of the things they saw. I had no idea what that would lead to.


It wasn't to long after that that he rode into Jerusalem Triumphantly. I was There. I laid down palm branches in his path. I cried Hosanna. The overwhelming joy over me that day. To think that we had finally found the one to deliver us from the iron fist of Rome. I was in the crowd during his "trial", I heard Pilots offer. I heard them plead for Barabbas and I heard them cry out for Jesus to be crucified. At times it still rings in my ears, those hateful cries “Crucify him, Crucify him' I did not say a word. What was stirring in me that day fear, defeat, hopelessness, Disappointment, shame. I was there as he walked up to the place of the skull. I was there when when the sky went black, I was there when he breathed Tetelestai. I was there when the rumors of his empty tomb started to appear three days later. I ran to the tomb, it was as they said, empty. Later on I saw the Lord myself. I was there when he rose up into the heavens. I was there when the Fire Of God came down. I was one of those who spoke in many tongues, and they thought us drunk. The acts we did. The wonders we saw. The Truth we proclaimed. The hatred we faced, the animosity, Stephen is dead. I am called Zebiyan and this is my account of the final days of the Saviors life, his death, and his undeniable Resurrection, and the continuing story of those he left to proclaim his truth.


Fall 2010