Peter knew through the operation of the gift of the word of knowledge that Ananias was
keeping back some of the money. He said, ". . . why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the
Holy Ghost. . ." (Acts 5:3).
Ananias fell down dead, as a result of divine judgment that came through the working of
miracles in operation. The disciples didn't even dismiss for his funeral, and no one went to tell
Ananias' wife that he had died.
Three hours later Ananias' wife, Sapphira, came in (Acts 5:7). I don't know how long the
service had been going on when Ananias arrived, but three hours later it was still going on.
Once while listening to a sermon on Ananias and Sapphira, I heard the preacher say,
"Sapphira came in about thirty minutes later."
About that time I thought, Wait a minute! And I read that verse again. It was three hours, not
thirty minutes later, that Sapphira came in (Acts 5:7).
Later I pointed this out to that minister. He read it again, shook his head, and said, "I guess I
got it confused with our services. If it had been in one of our churches today, if she had come
in more than thirty minutes after the service had begun, there wouldn't have been anyone
there!"
I believe that most of the time, this is true. However, where the gifts of the Spirit are in
operation, I have seen people stay in church all day. Where God's Spirit is moving, folks are
not in any hurry to leave.
Divine judgment came to Sapphira and she, too, fell down dead. The working of miracles was
again used to carry out divine judgment (Acts 5:8-10).
Paul and Elym 0