Ever tried to lie to God? A couple observations:
1. It doesn’t work. (God is omniscient.)
2. It is dangerous. (God is all-powerful.)
These two things are something that the early church figures out rather quickly at quite a cost to a couple among them.
They sell their field and give some of the money to the church, which is not a problem. The problem is that they wanted people to think that they were giving all of the money to the church. They attempted to deceive the Apostles and God.
The problem with their plan was that God still knew. In verse 3 the Bible says, “Then Peter said, 'Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?'”
God knew, and God revealed it to Peter.
The second problem with their plan shows the power of God. Verse 5 says, “When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened.” God killed him for his deceit. His wife dies shortly after her husband because of the same deceit.
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