Why did God kill Ananias and Sapphira?

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danschance said:
Why did God kill Ananias and Sapphira? What is your take?
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Fate of Ananias and Sapphira

5 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2 and kept back some of the price for himself, with his wife’s full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles’ feet. 3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? 4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you haveconceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” 5 And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came over all who heard of it. 6 The young men got up and covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him.

7 Now there elapsed an interval of about three hours, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.8 And Peter responded to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for such and such a price?” And she said, “Yes, that was the price.”9 Then Peter said to her, “Why is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out as well.”10 And immediately she fell at his feet and breathed her last, and the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.11 And great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things. Acts 5:1-11
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I hope you don't mind me going a little off subject. Did you notice the evidence of the Trinity in these verses?

The Holy Spirit in v.3, God in v.4, and the Lord in v.9 are all one, especially in the experience of the believers.:)

 
danschance said:
I am sure there are many "Ananias' and Sapphira's" out there. I am sure they are in every church seeking the praise of men rather than seeking God's approval--and God does not slay them, right? So what is different about these two?

We read that many in the early Church sold land and gave it all to the church. This must of been the desire of the Holy Spirit to set the early church in high gear. Then we have these hypocrites who felt the Holy Spirit ask them to sell a plot of land but they retained part. This was being plain stingy on their part but they also cooked up a plan to tell others they gave all. I can only assume God chose to make an example of them, for reasons I still can not fully comprehend.
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I kind of agree. I think the Lord knows He has to take drastic steps sometimes to get our attention. A lot of those types of examples were to emphasize the gravity and/or importance of the lesson.

Similar to those in the OT. The cutting off of hands and such. I don't think He really wanted to do that to them. God was trying to get the Israelites who had been under bondage for 400 years, with no education, kind of a wild people I suppose, to get civil. He was teaching them morals. At that time, if the punishment wasn't severe, would it have been enough?
 
Why? Because the two were greedy and didn't care about helping others IN COMMON. They were hypocrites, fake, deceitful. God decided this is how He would remove this sin from the church. Apparently giving from the heart means alot to God.
 
danschance said:
I am sure there are many "Ananias' and Sapphira's" out there. I am sure they are in every church seeking the praise of men rather than seeking God's approval--and God does not slay them, right? So what is different about these two?

We read that many in the early Church sold land and gave it all to the church. This must of been the desire of the Holy Spirit to set the early church in high gear. Then we have these hypocrites who felt the Holy Spirit ask them to sell a plot of land but they retained part. This was being plain stingy on their part but they also cooked up a plan to tell others they gave all. I can only assume God chose to make an example of them, for reasons I still can not fully comprehend.
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Acts 5:4 KJV
(4) Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.

They should have just told the truth rather than lie. They said that the money they gave was the full price when it was not the full price.
 
The thing is, Ananias and Sapphira were idolaters of money just like Judas Iscariot was; they were directly baptized with the Holy Spirit just like Judas Iscariot was; and they testified great signs and wonders from the Holy Spirit just like Judas Iscariot did; nonetheless, at some point they decided to betray God and to be filled in their heart with Satan because of idolatry of money; Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus to the authorities and after that went kill himself; what do you think Ananias and Sapphira would have done if God wouldn't have taken their lives ? They would have done the exact same thing as Judas Iscariot; they would have betrayed their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to the authorities because of their idolatry of money; and who knows how many would have been killed in atrocious ways that way ? And after that, they also would have killed themselves just like Judas Iscariot did; so the Lord just made a shortcut in events, and saved many lives by taking their lives, and He also protected the Church from their total devotion to Satan; they were directly filled with the Holy Spirit, but they chose to serve Satan; imagine how evil they were; they were certainly demons, just like Judas Iscariot was. Remember that the early Christians were greatly persecuted and many were killed in atrocious ways by the authorities, including most of the apostles;
they had to meet together secretly.
 
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Misty77 said:
They lied in church to make themselves look better. I'm guessing God decided to relax that punishment afterward or else He wouldn't have much of a church anymore.
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Misty!

Was it a joke you said? Ha! Ha!

God has no real need for anything and, whenever He demanded a thing, it was to bless others. The simple example He gave, allowing His own son to partake this life, gave me a lesson He knows more than we are said: Jesus, Himself (Heb. 5:8), learned the obedience He (God) expected from all He gave life to make the perfect world-kingdom he planned.
 
danschance said:
Why did God kill Ananias and Sapphira? What is your take?
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They broke the eighth Commandment and...

Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

It was a lesson for the early NT church and for Christians down through history.
 
there has not been "much of a church" in the world's eyes ever since constantine and the worldly wolves gained power. only remnants here and there or the remnant, those set apart , sanctified, immersed in Jesus Name, wherever they are gathered in His Name together around the world. and the world church still persecutes us and murders us whenever and wherever they get the opportunity to, just because they hate Jesus, they hate us His people.
 
jeff_peacemkr said:
there has not been "much of a church" in the world's eyes ever since constantine and the worldly wolves gained power. only remnants here and there or the remnant, those set apart , sanctified, immersed in Jesus Name, wherever they are gathered in His Name together around the world. and the world church still persecutes us and murders us whenever and wherever they get the opportunity to, just because they hate Jesus, they hate us His people.
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They disobeyed.
 
jeff_peacemkr said:
there has not been "much of a church" in the world's eyes ever since constantine and the worldly wolves gained power. only remnants here and there or the remnant, those set apart , sanctified, immersed in Jesus Name, wherever they are gathered in His Name together around the world. and the world church still persecutes us and murders us whenever and wherever they get the opportunity to, just because they hate Jesus, they hate us His people.
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You know what? Persecution on the order of the inquisition is coming again. When we read the history of the Bogomils, the Vaudois, Peter Waldo, Peter de Bruy, Stephen Mumford and the likes, we see a small group being persecuted by the large organized religions. We will see it again.
 
Here's another possibility:

Co 11:28 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. 30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. 31 But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.

True Christians, who willingly choose sin, place themselves in grave "physical" peril:

1Co 5:1 It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father's wife. 2 You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst. :3 For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present. 4 In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Indeed, when we willfully sin when we know what is right, and we do not see this judgment from God, it is proof that we aren't really His children, regardless of our beliefs:

Heb 12:4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; 5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, "MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM; 6 FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES." 7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?

Weakness, feebleness, sickness, and loss of life are all a part of this:

Heb 12:12 Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.

We are to know, as Christians, what sins lead to this physical death, or "sleeping" as is says in scripture, or we ourselves are sinning:

1Jn 5:16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. 17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death.
 
Because people were selling their possessions and giving it to the church, This man sold his possession and gave a part and said He gave it al, Which was a lie, Now keep in mind that people were selling what they had and giving to the church. Peter said while it was in your hand was it not yours, why have you lied to the Holy Spirit? This was to set a precedence that what you give is what you give and don't lie about it, Remember that some sold all they had and gave it and this guy sold what he had and pretended to give it as he keep the most part back. He didn't have to, but boasted that he did. The same reason that God killed Aarons two sons offering a lie.
 
Because they dared to lie to the Holy Spirit. And they lied stupidly. All they need do was say, "This is a portion of what we made from the land," and they would have lived, but no, they lied.
 
It is totally wrong to look at it that way. God did not kill anybody. God is the God of the living. But that does make you think about why their spirit was taken away; 'they gave up the ghost.' It was asked of Ananias about the sale of the land, 'While it was in your possession, could you do with it what you wanted? And after you sold it, it was no longer yours.'
But, they held back some of the proceeds. They held on to something that was not theirs. Why did something like that happen to them? They were part of a group that in order to survive, they were selling things and putting all the proceeds in a pot, so to speak. There were rules that they all agreed to and the leader of that group was a Supernatural Being that was in control of your spirit. Well, why? I mean, he provided manna from heaven and water out of a rock to the Israelites in the desert, why would he need money?
Go to I Cor. 10:9.

1Co 10:9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.

So, it was not the Lord who took their spirits, but the force of deceit.
 
This story seems to be missed by all those prosperity preachers. It makes for a good incentive to tithe!!!
 
Ahhh well see...??? Although there are a bunch of Ananias and Sapphira threads., Christians are still making the same mistake at thinking God kills His own. And so maybe there isn't ENOUGH Ananias and Sapphira threads??!!! :D
 
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