Did God Kill Ananias and Sapphira?

The story of Ananias and Sapphira lying about money and falling dead is found in Acts 5:1-11. As you read this story, you notice a few things. First, the passage never says that God killed them. Instead, it says they fell down and breathed their last (5:5, 11). 

Second, it never says that they’re believers. Instead, it says that Satan filled Ananias’s heart (5:3), and that his wife was in on it (5:9). Now, Scripture says that believers have new hearts (Ezekiel 36:26), obedient hearts (Romans 6:17), and hearts filled with God’s love (Romans 5:5). Additionally, Ephesians 3:17 says that Christ lives in our heart. Furthermore, Satan cannot touch believers (1 John 5:18). 

This leads us to conclude that Ananias and Sapphira were not believers but were just a part of the church. If this story was really about God striking down believers for sin, then we would all be dead. But that is not the gospel. The gospel is that Jesus took our sin and the punishment for our sin so that we would never have to!