“But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” Acts 5:3-4 NKJV
I don’t typically like to mention people by name, but you need to be aware of who is teaching you false doctrine, “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.” II Peter 2:1-3 “For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Jude 1:4 “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” 2 Timothy 4:2-5
Joseph Prince said this, “So for Ananias and Sapphira, rest assured that they were not believers. They were con artists who came into the early church to try to deceive God’s people financially. Like a good shepherd, the Lord protects His sheep from wolves that come to molest and fleece His sheep. The story of Ananias and Sapphira should not make you fearful of God, but rather give you confidence that He is watching over you and protecting you from those who want to inflict harm. It’s a story of God’s protection, not God’s anger at His people.”This is a direct quote from his preaching on Nov 28, 2010. He says that “God showed him” this revelation concerning Ananias and Sapphira. Never mind that his “revelation” contradicts what the Scripture records, “You have not lied unto men but unto the Holy Spirit”, but it also contradicts hundreds of years of historical and Biblical teaching.
You can only lie to the Spirit if you’ve been born again of the Spirit. His reasoning doesn’t even make sense. Yet, this is what we do- we make up a god in our mind and paint him according to our own vision and then make Scripture align with our visionary drawing. This man is not a baby Christian, he has millions of followers. It’s still the same words of the serpent to Eve, “Did God really say?”
How does one twist Scripture so easily? I don’t think false teachers start off to be false teachers, but over time the more you operate outside of sound Biblical doctrine, the more deceived you become. This man teaches we are not to fear God. This is false doctrine. Beware. One reason the church is in the state it is currently in is because there is a lack of the fear of the Lord. People listen to false teachers with itching ears- telling them the things they want to hear. Things like, “Your sin doesn’t matter. Do what you want. You are forgiven. God doesn’t operate like that anymore. Grace means I can live like I want to live. You are loved (translated as ‘live like you want’)”
Huh? Who told you that? Who told you that you should not fear a holy God? Who told you? The truth is Ananias and Sapphira were believers that were joined to the church through the blood of Christ and they lied to Peter and ultimately to the Holy Spirit and were struck down dead. There is no OT God and a NT God- there is only God and He does not change.
The fear of the Lord produces a cleansing effect and a holy reverence for an awesome God. When we read this story, it should produce in us humility, awe and a holy fear of a wonderful and magnificent God. Without a proper fear of a holy God and His wrath against sin, God’s people return to the ungodly ways of the world and will cease to experience the outpouring of the Spirit and God’s miraculous presence. You will trade in the genuine for the fake.
The fear of the Lord is an essential element in the NT faith and in Biblical Christianity. Not only does the fear of the Lord bring with it a cleansing effect, for God is purifying to Himself a separated and called-out of the world people; but it brings comfort, peace and joy (edification) in the Holy Ghost. And then the church multiples, “Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.” Acts 9:31 NKJV“Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.” Psalms 86:11 NKJV#runyourrace
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