I don't think so. I think it is the cares of the world choked them out.
if it is like unto the Korah rebellion, why isn't it fully like unto the Korah rebellion?
Peter says they were in a conspiracy ((Acts 5:9)) and says Satan filled their hearts.
of course the text of Acts 5 doesn't say they were true believers, nor does it outright say they were false. but who was Korah? a servant of God or a representative of an evil & adulterous generation? if he is a type of antichrist in the OT, and he is a like type of Ananias, then it stands to reason Ananias is also a type of antichrist.
i mean, does Satan have power to fill the heart of a child of God?
or only his own children?
bro, God Himself personally striking a man dead had not been seen since olden times, when it happened in Acts 5. it is a very significant event. so i think it is a very significant sin, and to understand it we have to understand for example why God did not do the same thing to Judas when he stole money, or to for another example Simon the sorcerer when he wanted to buy the gift of God, or even to Balaam?
these pieces all fit together when i consider that they were conspirators with the agencies that also conspired against Christ. wolves among the sheep. i don't understand them as saints who made one mistake out of care for wordly comfort & security through money. i understand them as purposefully seeking to defame the church. there is a reason why it is mentioned at the close of Acts 4 that a certain Levite sold land and gave all the proceeds before Peter's feet, and immediately afterwards we have Ananias & Sapphira doing something similar but holding back some of the price. i don't think that reason is that 'one saint did greater works than another so the second was damned and the surety of God reneged' -- i think it is because the second was not a child of God to begin with.
IMO Acts 5 is very complex, as all scripture is.
i may be wrong of course, but from my perspective what makes sense is that they were not sheep; they were goats, and what they did was no small sin, but great wickedness.
thanks for taking the time to write back to me and think of this. i know what it is like to have 15 people trying to get your attention about 20 different things, lol.
**prays for your patience** ♥