Politics continues to be an area riddled with deception, consternation, and concern. If you want to be in politics, our core reason should be ‘to be a representative voice for affecting change”. If the core reason is to seek power and gain money, those people should stick to capitalism. Recently in the New York Post, there was an article on how badly some politician’s families were using their political office for financial gain. Since pictures were available, the information seems indisputable. It was a disturbing story considering how much money is exchanged to garner influence. We should have 100% agreement that truth is how politics should operate.
Pure truth
If I had pure water and put a few drops of deadly poison in the jar, it is no longer water that anyone would want to drink. Like pure water, we should argue that truth is absolute. It is not relative.
There was a disturbing story of greed and corruption in the early church, and how it was received in Acts 5:1-11. At the end of Acts 4, Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, sold a field and gave the money to the church’s mission. No one said he had to do it. He was not a local (he was from Cyprus), so it’s likely he was not part of any social group that had expectations of its participants. He was not appealing to vanity or some special cause. There is no indication that he was poor or wealthy. He simply was helping the church. The beginning of Acts 5, by comparison, tells a different story.
The deception of Ananias and Sapphira
What were you thinking?
7 About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?” “Yes,” she said, “that is the price.” 9 Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”
Sapphira chooses deception
Sapphira had a chance to show she was not complicit with her husband, but she did not speak truth. Our sin is never the fault of someone else, no matter how much role others brought into the sin. We cannot blame others for the personal sin in our hearts.
I also want to point out that Peter’s judgement did not kill Ananias and Sapphira. It was God who caused them to die at that moment. God’s actions were just and decisive. As a result of this event, church people truly realized that deception with God will only hurt the sinner.
By maturing in my faith, I now accept that God was (clearly) right in the actions that occurred to Ananias and Sapphira. In deception, we are only going to hurt ourselves and dishonor God. God will always show us how to live in Spirit and truth. We can and should overcome our sin before it takes root and causes a problem.
