Property. Family. Discord. Lies. Money. No one ever wants to discuss the elephant in the room. Privately maybe, but out in the open, it may be harder to convince those to partake. The things that happened during the bible days, in most cases are still happening today. It is never easy to understand why someone will lie to you. It is never easy to understand division and lies within families, yet it still happens. What makes a person want to be dishonest. Mostly greed. When you are being unfair we all must remember, God sees it all. When the job is unfair, God sees it. When you have been shortchanged out of your inheritance, God sees that too. When there is a miss handling of funds, God is still on the clock. Vengeance is His. No need to worry, God will handle things according to His will. Take a look at the story below. I'm sure you or someone you know has or is going through the same thing. I know I have been through something similar. What I had to remember is, they are the only one who has to live with it. They are the only one who has to deal with God. There is nowhere you can run or hide from God. As grandma Rose would say, "always do the right thing and God will handle the rest." You just do right by others and leave the rest up to God.
Romans 12:19
Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it[a] to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
Deuteronomy 32:35
Vengeance is mine, and recompense,[a]
for the time when their foot shall slip;
for the day of their calamity is at hand,
and their doom comes swiftly.
ANANIAS & SAPPHIRA
Sometime after Jesus went back to heaven, his disciples preached throughout the land spreading His good news. People came from far and wide to hear the word. Most of them gave offerings to the disciples and as way of giving onto the Lord. Now a man named Ananias and his wife Sapphira had a piece of land they decided to sell so as to give the proceeds to God. Ananias and Sapphira managed to make the sale and earned some money. Ananias decided to keep some of the money with his wife's knowledge and give the remaining to Peter, the disciple of Jesus. No one was being forced to make offerings and everyone did it on their own accord. Ananias went to Peter with his money and explained that he had sold his land to make the offering. But he also lied. Ananias told Peter that he was giving all the money he made from the sale of the land. There was absolutely no need for him to lie about it because the money was his and he could have kept it all if he wanted to. Peter asked Ananias if what he had said was the absolute truth and he said yes. This disappointed Peter who replied by saying:
“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? 4: Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.” (Acts 5:1-11)
Soon after Peter said that, Ananias fell down and died. Some men covered his body, took him away and buried him.
Sapphira, not knowing what had just happened, arrived three hours later and Peter asked her to confirm if the money she and Ananias gave was all they received from the sale of the land.
"Yes it is." She replied.
Sapphira suffered the same fate as her husband. She fell down and died on the spot. It was a very harsh lesson to learn but they had absolutely no reason to lie about the money they were offering, after all it was an offering to the Lord. Had they just said 'here is some of the money we got from selling our land' they could have been fine. Tragic couple.
*I do not own the rights to the scriptures or the story about Ananias and Sapphira*
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