Fraud in the church (Acts 5:11-11) - JSS3 Christian Religious Studies Lesson Note

Fraud is the crime of deceiving somebody in order to get money or goods illegally. It is the practice of duping people to collect their money and other property illegally to enrich oneself. It can be called deception of all kinds with the intention of gaining an undue advantage. The case of fraud in the Acts of the Apostles is that of Ananias and Sapphira who lied to the Holy Spirit to hide and collect half of the money from the sale of their land.

There’s no human organisation without shortcomings, hence the early church had its challenges. There were

 people who wanted to take advantages of others because of the collective ownership of everything. In the early church the human errors and weaknesses shook the unity and peace of the church. But the apostles were able to manage the situations very well. The problems that confronted the early church include: dishonesty, falsehood, lack of commitment, deceit, fraud and household conspiracy, but the damage was quickly and decisively halted by the apostles.

The case of Ananias and Sapphira was an example of this problem. The couple, Ananias and Sapphira were anxious to receive honour but were not ready to give what it takes. They sold their land but unlike other donors, they conspired to keep to themselves part of the money and brought a part of it to the apostles. They pretended as if had they donated everything. But Peter gull of the Holy Spirit confronted Ananias for his dishonesty to the Holy Spirit. Peter rebuked him strongly for defrauding and deceiving them. Out of fear and shock, Ananias collapsed and died. Some members buried him instantly. Later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened to her husband, she also confirmed to the lie of her husband. She too fell down and died immediately and was buried beside her husband. The aftermath of this was fear among the believers, they became so afraid of the power of the Holy Spirit and were living in honesty among one another.