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 Deceiving the Holy Spirit by Robert Wurtz II


But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. (Acts 5:3, 4)


Our passage has an underlying theme that is often overlooked when this passage is dealt with. That theme is found in the final words of verse 4, thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. Typically this verse is used to demonstrate the deity of the Holy Spirit as He is called God in the passage. Yet there is a very important fact that must also be noticed, the Holy Spirit was uniquely present and working in the events of the Church so that God was literally present in the person of the Holy Spirit. This is not the presence of God by logical deduction or the presence of God by some physical emotion; this is the Holy Spirit truly present and in absolute authority.This reality ought to occasion great contemplation of how God desires of a truth to be among His people.


Filled With Deceit


The Holy Spirit was present at such a level that Peter was moving in an almost priestly function as the mouthpiece of God. We are kings and priests unto God and this event demonstrates that reality as it played out in the beginning. Yet, while God is working out His design, Satan is working again in the early stages of God's purposes. This is his pattern; infiltrate at the beginning. Ananias was supposed to be filled with the Holy Spirit, but instead Peter asks him, why has Satan filled your heart to deceive the Holy Spirit? This question is rich with revelation. Satan had filled his heart with a strategy to deceive the very Spirit he was supposed to be utterly surrendered to. But the question of Peter is, why?


Why?

Why would a person sell a piece of property, keep back a portion, and then pretend to donate all of the money to the cause of Christ? Because that is what the others that were moved upon by the Holy Spirit, such as Barnabus, were doing. yet, it seems certain that the Holy Spirit was not moving in them because they lacked the grace to follow through by faith with the revelation. Faith cometh by hearing. If they had no faith it is because they had not heard God saying in their hearts to sell the property. To attempt to move in ones own mind as if it were the revelation of God is presumption. In this case, they were apparently desirous of the position or esteem that those who had sold their land had received, so they got in line to do the same. Yet in the end they lacked the confidence of their well being and kept back a portion as a safety net. They wanted to be known among the chosen of God and were prepared to deceive who necessary to attain the position.

No Pretenders

The couple pretended to be among the apostles, but were found lacking. The sale of the goods was surely a rite of passage in that it requires a special grace and faith bestowed by God. To have them added to the number would have surely brought trouble to the Church as they were willing pretenders to be filled with the Spirit, but were filled by Satan himself with deceit. How often would such an one been at work seeking to thwart the work of God? This event is exemplary in revealing God's estimate of pretending to be led of God in the churches.

The Gates of Hell Will Not Prevail

The enemy wanted his agents in the Church in it's infancy. Had God not smitten them down it may well have been another case of destruction as did characterize Israel. But not this time. God was intent on dwelling among His people and establishing His Assembly on the earth. Self-serving men and women had been the source of God's departure more than once. Ananias was obviously ambitious. He made a deadly calculation. Had he received and been full of the Holy Spirit, he had known that he could not deceive God; he would have been moving in the same resurrection authenticating power as did the apostles. This was false piety. It was a strategy to deceive men.

Satanic Synergism

Ananias was apparently in a brainstorming exercise with Satan. Little did he know it. Satan must have appealed to his desire for fame and popularity much like the Simon in Acts 8:18ff - seeking to buy the gift of the Spirit with money. God is not going to be a means to any person's end. How terrible is such sin? We read of Simon, "For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity." Another failed attempt by Satan to somehow use the ambitious to cause problems in the Church. Notice Peter told the man to pray that perchance God would forgive even the thought of his heart. I'm afraid these events are not taken seriously enough. God looks with great severity on even a mind that thinks as Simon's or Ananias'.


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