I must also confess that God does not save or condemn any man based on the behaviour of other people. Not all who claim to believe the message of the hour are believers. When the crow eats the food reserved for the dove, it does not make it a dove. By their fruits we will know them. So look beyond the human veil of others and go for the precious pearl – the revealed Word of God.

The message believer who lives anyhow is not a message believer though he claims he is. No one can meet God and remain the same. On the other hand, the message believer whose desire is to fulfill the will of God is blessed of God even before he fulfills that desire. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled (Mathew 5:6). So hungering and thirsting after righteousness in itself is a blessing.

It is good to look up to your pastor for leadership, if he is a true leader but if your pastor stands between you and God (the Word), you have no option but to declare your stand for the Word against your pastor. You must always look up to the Word. It is the final authority. If you call your pastor God Father, how will you call God? The Bible says in Mathew 23:9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.

Hello John,

Sorry for experiencing initial difficulty in sending your question. The anormally has been rectified.

A tithe payer can choose to record his/her tithe-paying in their private book with the purpose of making sure they do not miss payment. As to the extent of a tithe-payer receiving receipt for what he/she has paid, it is far-fetching. In contrast to the payment we receive receipts for, tithe-paying is to God, and the priesthood should not give receipts on behalf of God. God keeps His own record of payers and non-payers of tithes that is why He cried out in Malachi 3 that the people have robbed Him. God gives us His "receipt", so to say, when He blesses us, according to His Word, for tithe-paying.

The modern church, however, has become so worldly and carnally-minded to the point that they give special preference to those who give much money and disregard those who give little or none. Some even go ahead to refuse to bury their deceased members who paid little or no tithe. The payment of tithe is not for the burial of the people.

Your obligation to God in your local assembly, as a church member, is your tithes, offerings and your presence in church. What differentiates you from visitors to your church is your frequent attendance, tithes and offerings. For this reason, your trustees keep records to know payers and non-payers. That information is vital to the trustees as they seek to know those who are employed and those who are not in order to give appropriate advice and assistance to non-payers and payers alike.

Anytime you remit your parents and they receive the remittance, the money is no more yours but theirs. They must therefore pay tithe on the monies that come their way as you pay tithe on the remuneration that comes from your employer to you.

We are supposed to honour the Lord with all our increase according to Proverbs 3:9.

I thank God for your faith in Him and His Word revealed.

God bless you, John.

a. Hello Maame, it is right there in the Scriptures that unbelief is what is sin. Lying, drinking etc. are the attributes of sin. Romans 14:23 states "And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin". So notice, anything that is not of faith is unbelief which is sin. Anything that is not of faith is sin, and what is not of faith is unbelief. So lying, cheating, drinking, smoking, flirting, etc. are not sin itself but the attributes of sin. The attributes is what men see. Before fruition, there must be a seed to bear those fruits. The seed of sin is unbelief, making unbelief sin. John 3:18 states "He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God".

A person who does these things does not believe in and live by the Word of God. Notice, the Bible does not say, he that smokes, drinks, etc. is already condemned but he that believeth not is already condemned. Just as faith is counted as righteousness (Romans 4:5), unbelief is counted as sin. 1st John 3:9 states "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God". Those who do not believe in the Lord are not His. They are sinners (John 10:26). A person may not drink, fight, fornicate etc. but as long as he does not believe in the Lord and accept His Word, he is a sinner. A person that lies, fornicates etc. has his soul not freed by the Word. He has not been set free. Jude verse 5 states "I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not".

A person that lives in worldly pleasure, without condemnation or conviction, has to ignore the Word of God to live that kind of life. However, there are Christians on the level of justification, who may live ungoldly for a season. In a message, Church Order-1958, God's prophet William Branham said "We believe in justification by faith, Romans 5:1. We believe that after a person being justified by faith, he has peace with the Lord Jesus Christ. But it is possible that this same person could have habits such as drinking, smoking, doing things that he should not do, filthy habits of the flesh. Then we believe that the blood of Jesus Christ sanctifies this person for the service of the Lord. And that's...We believe in sanctification according to Hebrews 13:12 and 13, 'Where Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His Own Blood, suffered without the gate.' And we believe that sanctification is taught in the New Testament, and meant for the believers through the New Testament age, which we are now living. And we also believe that after the person has been sanctified, unclean habits has gone from the person." So you see, if they are God's elects, Grace will find them and they will return to the Word to climb higher to be sanctified by the blood of the Lord Jesus where they lose their worldly desires. They will climb higher still to receive the Holy Ghost baptism.

b. If someone believes the message of the hour but lives in worldly pleasures, that fellow is yet to be sanctified and filled by the Spirit, as quoted from the Prophet's message above. If he is God's elect, he will come all the way to the Holy Ghost. He cannot be lost (John 17:12). If he is not, he will be damned in sin. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 states "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortionists, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." So the elect will live by the Word (fulfill all righteousness) and make it for the rapture.