My husband wants to go to this nondenominational church permanently. There are unfortunately alot of us out here needing help.. I find it simply awesome that you are responding and helping me.. I think of the words of Paul in Galatians regarding these topics and have realized, all the fruitless rules and regulations are simply nothing more than bondage. We are to be Free in Christ. Yes, Amen!!!! Excellent article. I love that verse: For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
That is our aim! Salvation through faith in Christ, not our own worthless works! What arrogance to think that we bring anything to the table of a holy God but our sinful little selves. As if not wearing certain things could put us in league with his Holiness. Restricting makeup, jewelry, and certain clothing serve no purpose other than to control others mostly women , and certainly do NOT make us holy.
Thanks for doing this blog. A resource like this would have been such a blessing to me several years ago when I left the UPC. God Bless you in what you are doing Ralph. Hopefully we can strip all this foolishness away and get things back to the beautiful simplicity of the gospel of Jesus Christ! Does that not sound like Jezebel to you?
Thank you for swinging by and most importantly for taking the time to comment. First, and foremost, there is a great value to be captured from the narrative of Jezebel but I fear it has been twisted and misused by the Holiness movement, most notably the Oneness Pentecostal and prior Anabaptist communities in an attempt to pour a foundation on the house of cards for their standards.
From the introduction of King Ahab 1 Kings 16 to the culmination in her death, being fed to the dogs and her absolute hatred for the things of the One True God, a lesson is learned. The failure was Ahabs, as Scripture says, he followed in the sins of Jeroboam 1 Kings and married Jezebel who was of a foreign land and served a foreign God Baal. Ahab turned to Baal worship and that was the thrust of the story. And, it is easy to take a verse or passage such as you have done in good faith, but to do the same thing you mentioned, which was to build a case without the entirety of Scripture.
Reading the article published provides many passages of positive affirmation of jewelry and make-up. Taking the entirety of Scripture was the point of the article, and with all due respect Sister, it seems as if you are saying not to do just that, by building a case on a single passage.
There is a grave danger in taking a descriptive narrative in history and making it a prescription commandment for the people of God. That is a fulfillment of the words of our Lord Jesus in Mark I think so many people interpret the Bible in different ways and makes Christianity more complicated.
I have read 1Timothy and 1peter; I understand that wearing jewelry, makeup,braided hair or costly attire is not actually the problem. Beautifying and purifying your inside heart is the main issue. No one is suppose to tell you what not to do or what to do. You become a judge to yourself.
The Holy Spirit helps you to be gentle always. If someone has to remind you all the time to live or behave like a Christian, then you still lack the Holy Spirit.
Peter and Timothy said these because they were led by the holy spirit. God works with our hearts not our bodies or physical appearance. I use to wear many jewelries and desire to have more when I was still getting to Christianity. But now that I am fully inside,I just love to wear few on my body. I wear dresses that make me few good and happy no matter the cost. The purest and holiest person is that person whose faith is in God alone through Christ Jesus.
I am also reading the Bible with the Holy Spirit and my own research. I am so glad to be in a different place than I was in I have been drawn to return even recently. It is difficult for me sometimes because the UPC is a comfort zone. I know God gives me grace too. As for the original article, I see things so differently now. In the scripture about Jezebel it also says that she did her hair up nice as well. Is it wrong then to do so ourselves?
There was this lady in my old church that was wearing a charm bracelet that was called out. She showed one of her charms was a watch which we can wear. This old world is shaping up for that time of trouble such as man has never seen or experienced, or will ever experience again. See Dan. The opinions of men, be they ministers or laymen, are not going to avail us anything when we come before the Great Judge on that final day.
I have not written this article to personally condemn anyone who is wearing jewelry. You are going to stand or fall before God and His Word. Some of our good ministers today are being ostracized and classified as false prophets and teachers simply because they teach and preach against the wearing of jewelry and all kind of ungodly clothing, etc.
The folk who are guilty of such actions should read Psa. They had better refrain from such lest God should become so angry with them until He tear them to pieces Psa. I also have a conviction that we ministers need to be foremost in being EXAMPLES of complete consecration and obedience to God in the ridding ourselves of all jewelry and everything else that is ungodly, worldly, and not pleasing to our Lord. If we ministers wear jewelry, flashy and ungodly clothes, etc.
We, the under- shepherds, are duty bound to lead His sheep in the right paths of His Holy Word. September 27, No Comments. An Open Door To Worldliness. Click here to cancel reply. Please Login to Comment. Like in 1 Timothy, braided hair, jewelry, and nice clothes are associated with worldliness, and women should avoid them and focus on their character instead.
Another passage United Pentecostals cite is 1 Corinthians In this passage, Paul teaches that men should have short hair and women should have long hair. This passage is a primary reason why many women in the United Pentecostal tradition have long hair. Is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?
But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her : for her hair is given her for a covering. I Corinthians , KJV. Non-Christian critics charge the United Pentecostal tradition with an oppressive, misogynistic , and outdated mindset that leads to restricting women of liberty and self-expression.
But they define modesty differently. According to critics, the United Pentecostal tradition practices an unhealthy application of the biblical principle of modesty. They argue that a woman can dress in modern styles , wear braided hair as well as makeup, and still be modest and defined according to her character. He is the master architect. The holy Writ also forbids us to make cuts or engravings in our bodies. These customs were initially invented in honor of pagan traditions.
I will remind you that the prophets of Baal ceremoniously made violent cuts in their flesh hoping to induce their god to send fire on Mount Carmel.
And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them. And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window. She was a sensuous and ruthless woman. She knew how to seduce men and, in the Scripture above, she gave it her best shot.
Years of successful practice at her unholy profession of seduction had thought her that men become weak in their knees when confronted with a woman who has applied the right make-up and decked her hair with the perfect kind of jeweler. She was now oozing sensuality. What a gross incongruity we see a few verses later when we hear of dogs licking her blood. That was a strong statement from the God who hates those who misuse their God-given bodies and talents to destroy souls.
But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. The prophet Isaiah is very graphic in his description of jewelry that has instilled pride and haughtiness in the daughters of Jerusalem and he proclaims judgment against them:.
Moreover the LORD saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet: Therefore the LORD will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will discover their secret parts. In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon, The chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers, The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings, The rings, and nose jewels, The changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins, The glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the vails.
And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty. Ears were also seen as the means of entry and exit of spirits Frazer, ibid.
III, p. From these reasons comes the necessity to protect the ears by means of ring amulets in the form of serpents or moons. Blood drawn from the ear by piercing may have been used as a ritual penance prior to the conferring of the amulet see also Frazer, ibid. Similarly, for the Hebrew, the ears were as a means of experiencing God as a form of understanding or comprehension viz.
Jesus never seemed to be preoccupied with glamour and all that glitters.
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