THE LORD, SOME LAND, AND A LIE

BERT THOMPSON

While Jesus was on the Earth, He taught us many lessons to help us be more like Him. When we become "Christians," we are to be "Christ-like." Jesus did not sin (read I Peter 2:21-22), and He does not want us to sin (disobey God). One lesson Jesus taught was that we should not lie (read Matthew 19:18 where we are told not to "bear false witness," which is telling a lie).

In the early days of the church, there were some people who were very poor. Christians wanted to help these poor people, so they sold things they owned and gave the money to the church, so the poor could have food and clothes. Jesus taught us to do for other people the same things we would want them to do for us (Matthew 7:12).

One Christian man, Ananias, and his wife, Sapphira, owned a piece of land which they sold to help the poor. But they decided to lie about how much money they received for the land. They wanted people in the church to think they gave all the money, but they kept part of the money for themselves (read Acts 5:1-11).

When Ananias gave the money to the church, he lied about it. Because he lied, God struck Ananias dead. Later, Sapphira came to Peter, and he asked if she gave all the money. She also lied about the money. God struck her dead, too. The church learned a valuable lesson, which we need to learn. Although God does not strike people dead today, He does not want us to lie. Revelation 21:8 tells us that God will not let liars go to heaven.

May 1990
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