Don't Be Too Quick To Trust Your Pastor's Judgment, He May Be WRONG!

"God killed Ananias and Sapphira," the preacher said.
He was referring to the story in the Book of Acts 5.1-10.
Ananias sold some land for a certain amount of money.
Then he gave half(?) that money to the Church,
claiming that that was the full price of the land.

So he was lying to the Church officials in order
to keep some money for himself and his wife, Sapphira.
When the Apostle Peter confronted them about the lie,
They both dropped dead(Acts 5.5,10).
So. supposedly God Himself slew them because
"Satan filled their hearts,causing them to lie to the Holy Ghost"(Acts 5.3).

But there is another way to see this story.
Ananias was scared to death due to his guilt.
The same goes for Sapphira, his wife.
Fear can cause death, especially guilty fear.

An example was when the "Ark of the Covenant"
was being transported on a cart drawn by oxen.
"Uzzah reached out his hand to the Ark of God
And took hold of it for the oxen shook it.
The anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah....
He died there beside the Ark of God"(2 Samuel 6.6-7).

Apparently Uzzah felt the Ark was too holy to be touched.
His sense of guilt and fear killed him on the spot.
It wasn't "the anger of the Lord" so much as
Uzzah's imagination of that divine wrath.
He imagined that God was angry with him.

Getting back to the Apostle Peter,
It was Peter, NOT GOD, who killed Ananias and Sapphira!
There was no need for Peter to do that.
He had no right to scare them to death!!

How does the Bible communicate that Peter was in the wrong?
After chapter 5, the focus is no longer on Peter,
(Except for half of Acts, chapter 12)!
There is the choosing of Stephen in Acts 6,
Followed by his martyrdom in Acts 7,
which, we read, Saul of Tarsus witnesses.
Then there is the persecution of the Church by Saul(Acts 8),
Followed by Saul's miraculous conversion in Acts 9.3.

Then for the remainder of the Book of Acts,
it's Paul, whose original name was Saul,
Who is in the spotlight and leading the Church.
He seems to have succeeded Peter..
Peter seems to have been demoted.
Perhaps it was because of the heavy-handedness
Of the way he dealt with Ananias and Sapphira!

PS: "the placebo effect" is where you get better
If your doctor gives you a sugar pill but tells you it is medicine.
The power of belief is real and powerful.
But there is also such a thing as the NEGATIVE placebo effect.
If you eat something, but then you are told it is poison,
Just your fear of poison can make you sick, sometimes.
LSS: I believe Ananias and Sapphira died due to
The negative placebo effect of Peter's words.

PS#2 - The name of the man that Peter killed was Ananias.
And what was the name of the man that Christ sent to Saul,
To heal him of the blindness that he received when Christ Appeared to him?
ANANIAS(Acts 9)! Yes, the very same name !!!
The name Ananias connects both Peter and Paul(Saul).
Is this a mere coincidence? I think not.
I think God is telling us something here.
What do you think it is?
Leave your comment below.