Indecent Dressing in The Church
Apology
Brethren, we would like to express our sincere apology to everyone for not posting an article during last week. Thus, the article below was meant to be shared last week and we only discovered now that it was not published. Also, for next week we will be sharing an encouraging message with a rebuke to some Church leaders who accepts praise from members of their congregants. Please don't miss next week's article.
This week’s article is a repeat and this is a message DIRECTLY FROM GOD as His messengers, we only had to find the Scriptural references and add it and share His message. We have received numerous emails from concerned brothers and sisters in the Lord regarding woman wearing fake hair, jewelry, pants and make-up, etc. In these emails, we were asked if the Lord ever said something on any of the above things. Now, since this is such a contentious issue, the Lord has provided the opportunity for us today to share with you what He taught us through the messages He gave some of our female ministry members. In all sincerity, we are sharing this not as a rule to churches, but as ministers of the gospel and as members of the body of Christ. The Lord through His Word and His messages to us has given us authority to speak on His behalf as truthful witnesses. We therefore freely share what the Lord has entrusted to us in truth.
In this article, as a witness we have included the original messages the Lord gave Charis for some of our members. We have removed their names while we share their whole messages.
By now, many of you reading here are familiar with the fact that the Lord is speaking to us as a family and ministry. Whether you regard our claim as false or truthful, we have been sent to you as witnesses of what we heard from the Lord. We therefore cannot keep quiet on what we have learned (Acts 4:20); like Paul we pass on to you what we received (1 Corinthians 15:3). We are not here to convince you or make you believe our testimony. The things we share consolidate what the Bible teaches.
Is it Acceptable for Women to Wear Pants?
Honestly, I have been reading quite a few articles on this, including some ‘revelations’ supposedly from the Lord. Some even went as far as saying God was ‘frowning’ at women wearing pants. Let us therefore consider what the Bible say regarding women and pants wearing. The verse many use and conclude women must not wear pants is this, “A woman is not to wear male clothing, and a man is not to put on a woman’s garment, for everyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD your God” (Deuteronomy 22:5 HCSB).
In reality, this verse does not say anything about “a woman must not wear pants.” There is not even a hint of it in the original languages in case we sit with a translation error. The error we have is the wrong meaning some believers add to this Scripture and sadly, many use the Scriptures to justify a way of life; this is at best abuse of the Word of God and using Scripture for evil purposes is sinful.
There are many different clothing in the market today which looks similar in design for both men and women. Isn’t this the case? For instance, certain pants like jeans or denim, socks, shoes, shirts, tops, jackets, and the list goes on. The only differences in these are the shapes, sizes and colors, while they are all classified as either pants or shoes for men and pants or shoes for women, ladies or boys/girls. If, for instance, a man purposely purchases a woman’s pants or a woman buys a man’s pants to wear (cross-dressing), then we could justly invoke this scripture. As it is, we know this Scripture was primarily concerned with issues of perversion and of natural distinctions.
Worldly Dressing
Brethren, in our experiences with the Lord, He never rebuked any of our female ministry members for wearing pants. He did rebuke some of them on certain things, which I will share shortly, but not on pants. In fact, they all wear pants, but not in an indecent way. What I mean by this is that too tight a pant is indecent if it reveals much of our posture. As for shorts, if they are tight-fitting or too short, it draws too much attention; it may promote indecent behaviour or even laughter from others (1Timothy 2:9). I hasten to add, if woman or man wears too extravagant clothes, they are drawing attention to themselves and not to Christ; this becomes a problem and the Lord once rebuked a sister for that saying she was showing off and dressing for the world. In a separate message to another sister who dressed inappropriately and worldly, the Lord said that she must stop dressing like a worldly person; the way she dressed was shown to Charis in a vision where this sister had a transparent dress on with most of her breast partially exposed. My sisters, this might look cool and has become the current trend in fashion, but the Lord forbids such kind of dressing. This is promoting lust, and it is a stumbling block (consider reading our Stumbling Blocks article for more information). Herein the Lord judged her motive. Clearly most of us dress up with a motive; is your motive pleasing to God when dressing up? He will judge you for it! Don’t think He will overlook your motives, my brother or sister. The Lord takes note of every sin (1 Corinthians 4:5; Ecclesiastes 12:14;2 Corinthians 5:10). This is very true because we are drawing people to us (Luke 6:26).
Also today, the youth are being encouraged to wear things that reflect their attitudes and rebellion. Many are arguing saying, “Well, this is what they sell in the shops!” God would answer saying, “You had a choice when buying things that invite wicked behaviour!” Indeed, material things like clothes, cars, etc. are used today to “make a statement” and the person having it knows that.
Does The Lord Approve Women Wearing Make-up?
I once received an email from a sister who asked me if it was right wearing makeup. She referred to a few prominent women of God who are in the habit of wearing makeup. Beloved, kindly allow me to say this: it does not matter how powerful our preaching, singing, testimony or ministry might be; we must all, without exception, submit to the Word of God which is our guide to holy living. It is deceitful to use Scripture as a licence to indulge in sin. In the Bible we read, “Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious” (1 Peter 3:3-4 NIV). This is the rule in God’s Word for the Christian; elaborate dressing is worldly and egocentric. But modest dressing is neat, tidy and acceptable to God and man (1 Timothy 2:9). Sadly, some women wear makeup to hide their aging or wrinkles.
In our experience with the Lord, He has rebuked and commanded some women in our ministry to stop wearing makeup of any kind, and this includes nail polish. You may ask, "what about clear nail polish"? All cosmetic related items whether clear or dark are classified as makeup. For your edification, we have included Charis’ original writing just as the Lord told her. Again, the motive we employ when putting on makeup is to beautify ourselves and to make ourselves attractive and acceptable to others. The Lord says: Stop the fake look and be genuine within, like the above Scriptures declare.
Are Earrings and Tattoos Forbidden for Both Men and Women?
There are quite a few Scriptures in the Bible that have a direct reference to earrings, and sadly, some even wrote articles using the reference to earrings as justifying that it is right to wear earrings. Again, we are warned not to wear jewelry (1 Peter 3:3; 1 Timothy 2:9); in wearing costly earrings we do so to set us apart from others because of its costliness and to give us a proud or haughty look. Among the motives in such an incident is to show off and to appear better than others; this is not a quiet and humble spirit which we are called to but a worldly bragging and a loud attitude (Ephesians 4:2). Some men also like shaving their hair in various showy styles, along with wearing necklaces, rings and other different types of "bling-bling"; this is also worldly and attention-drawing.
Wedding rings: Some people say God has a problem with people wearing wedding rings/bands. We know many people wear wedding rings/bands to symbolize their wedding vows, fidelity (faithfulness to each other), and the marital covenant they took with God being their witness (Malachi 2:14-16); as opposed to to selfishly drawing attention to themselves.
People think they own their bodies so they do as they please mutilating it with body piercings (on nose, tongue, lips, eye brows, ears, belly button, etc). If one belongs to Christ Jesus, He is owned by (united with) the Lord for His glory (1 Corinthians 6:17). Indeed the Lord also forbids tattoos, which have become very popular in today's culture: "Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord" (Leviticus 19:28). Having tattoos is also attention-seeking and the very motive is to honor and idolize that tattoo. Tattoos are demonic and the tattoo symbol we carry is a form of idolatry. Again the motive is judged. Many people make tattoos because it is fashionable, and even if it is to honor someone (dead or alive), the Bible says that Christ died to become Lord of the living and the dead (Romans 14:9). I have seen and gently rebuked one young man who had a whole Bible verse tattoo on himself. His motive is to please God, but he followed the way of the world (Romans 12:2; Exodus 23:2).
The body is God's temple, and we have been purchased at a great price; we should therefore glorify The Lord in our body (1 Corinthians 6:19; Romans 12:1).
Does The Lord Allow Fake Hair?
The answer is a resounding NO! I recently read an article in which someone claimed the Lord told her that it is right for her to have her hair “braided” while another woman said she has been told by the Lord to dye her hair as a sign of distinction. Both these instances contradict the above Scriptures and saying God does not judge outward is correct; however He does judge our motives and attitudes (1 Samuel 16:7; Jeremiah 17:10), and the Lord considers it as rebelliousness if we fail to obey His Word. The dying of hair, even by men, is displeasing to The Lord.
We have a sister in the Lord who was wearing fake hair and even putting fake hair extensions on her daughter, and this was displeasing to the Lord. He commanded that she stop having fake hair. This has nothing to do with us feeling good for a fake look. The Scriptures say we must dress the inner man (1 Peter 3:4). Finally, on hair covering (1 Corinthians 11:6-15), we have no command from the Lord on this, and the Apostle Paul did not lay down a command on hair covering but said believers should judge for themselves.
Those of you who are convicted to repent may be wondering what to do with your items, such as expensive jewelry, for example. I advised one of the sisters whom the Lord rebuked to break hers and either throw away or sell to someone who buys gold items. But giving these things to someone when we are forbidden to wear them is not right. Even throwing them away whole is not good since someone else might find them and use them; rather break them up beyond repair or destroy them completely, just as King Josiah did in the Bible (2 Kings 23).
Finally, in Romans 14:1-23, Paul gave a great explanation on issues of doubt and for believers who promote separatism on food; clothing and criticizing what is the right belief or not is surely not building up the body, but this divides. Let us therefore follow our conscience, the Scriptures, discernment, and the conviction of the Holy Spirit in deciding on questionable or doubtful things which are not precisely or clearly defined in Scripture. In whichever decision we take, God will judge our motives whether out of ignorance or out of indulgence to be seen as being ‘in sync ’with the times.
Transcripts of Messages from The Lord Regarding Dressing and External Adornments
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you and keep you as you prayerfully read and share this teaching.
Blessed grace,
Brother Glenn
PS: We have rewritten and refreshed the article Prayer: The Key to All Problems with a lot of new prayer points. This will be helpful to many Christians who are struggling to pray.
