November 24, 2013: Walking Dead – Nick Elio

One of the most mysterious – and even bizarre – stories in the book of Acts is the one in which Ananias and Sapphira are both struck down dead for holding back some money. The story rings with familiarity however. In Joshua 7, we are told that “the Israelites were unfaithful in regard to the devoted things …” The word for “unfaithful” in the Greek translation of the OT (which would have been the translation Luke understood) is a rare word – enosphisanto. From the root, nosphizō which means “to embezzle.”

This is what Ananias and Sapphira did, and then proceeded to lie about the whole thing. This prompted Peter remind them they lied to the Spirit – for it was the Spirit that gave life to the church. With this they then died. One piece in this is crucial. Satan had filled the heart of Ananias. With all of the talk about the Spirit – who gives life – filling people it’s no wonder that when one is filled by the power of darkness, their death would be imminent.