The Story Line of Ananias & Sapphira (Acts 5):
The early church was on fire. There is dynamic growth and miraculous vitality. There is a sense of awe and wonder at all that God was doing. Thousands are getting saved, a cripple is leaping for joy, an earthquake occurs at a prayer meeting, boldness is in the heart of believers and there are no impoverished among them. All the material needs of believers are being met. Acts 2&5 describes almost a socialistic style of living among the believers. The rich were giving and the poor were receiving. People didn’t have to give.

As a matter of fact, many were receiving not giving.  All the needs of the believers were being taken care of. Enter Ananias and Sapphira. They wanted a certain appearance. They sold something of value and then approached the apostles and gave moneys to them in a pretense / pretending as if they were giving the full value of it to them. They had agreed to pretend, beforehand they had agreed to act as if they were giving all when in reality they were only giving a portion of the full value. Peter calls them on their lie and tells them they have lied to God and they fall down dead, divine capital punishment, they are judged for their charade. End of story…
Today we don’t see any one falling down dead in church. The Lord does not seem to be working in the same dispensational manner. Nevertheless, there are many Ananiases and Sapphiras today. Let me explain.
Today tithing is taught in a lot of churches including Hydesville Community Church. In the Bible the words tithe and Christian are never put together but in order to support the church budget Christians are taught to tithe. That is, they are taught to give a minimum of 10% of their income to the church. As a matter of fact for the church to teach tithing to its members they imply that to not tithe is sin.  They even use the famous Malachi 3 verse saying you’ll be cursed if you don’t tithe, whether this is said outright or not... the implication of the tithing doctrine is; if you don’t tithe your in sin. Now for the reality test, most Christians don’t tithe. The statistics are out. It is actually a small percentage of Christians that attend tithe teaching churches that really give 10% of their income. Lets draw the similarities to Ananias and Sapphira. A pretense is given that more is being given than what is really given. Most Christians act/pretend like they give the prerequisite amount yet in reality they give less. The church has stolen an Old Testament law and applied it to Christians because it serves its budgeting needs. It heaps guilt upon most of its members without scriptural precedent and yet the members act as if they are fine and have given what is the proper amount. Reality, according to the tithe teaching church doctrine, they are in sin and act as if they are not. Today’s Ananias and Sapphira are not falling down dead they just live with the guilt of ‘I should be giving more but nobody knows… well maybe the treasurer knows but if I act like everything is fine I will still be accepted.’ This is a pretty sad story, Ananias and Sapphira are pretty sad. Their sin was no different from the Pharisee, who ‘made broad their phylacteries’ ‘all their works they do for to be seen of men.’ Maybe your Church doesn’t teach tithing, good for it. There is hope for todays church.

In today's tithe preaching church the scriptures are twisted in an effort to secure funding for the church budget. Promise of a better marriage is given if… you only would give more. Promises of prosperity and health and ladled out if… you only would give more. This cycle is somewhat of a catch 22.  When you are supposed to give a certain amount there can be no love motive so people fall into an obigatory trap.  This then turns them into pretenders, just like Ananias and Sapphira.