Dressing Time
“Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments:”
Genesis 35:2
“And it shall come to pass in the day of the LORD'S sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king's children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel.”
Zephaniah 1:8
Many years ago when I had opportunity to visit a museum, they had the life-size figures portraying that when the missionaries came to the islands and taught the heathen how to serve Jesus and how He came to save them from wrong, the idol worshipers were shown how to dress themselves and be respectable, thoughtful people. Instead of having no clothes and bowing before the sun and going through their former incantations of the pagan worship, they now were singing praises to the God who created them and looked like humans, men and women made in the likeness of God.
Well, what do we see today? Christian and heathen alike strewn across the beaches and at the lakes and rivers worshiping the sun with only little strips of cloth here and there. Are the minds turned to the Saviour who gave His life for them or are they thinking about themselves and how they can look good to their friends and passers bye.
Then when the leaders introduce some new way of worship in the church the majority just fall in line with what everyone else does and do not really know what they are getting into. The deceiver is sly and so cunning. I do not know everything and when some thing new comes along there have been time when I was not sure just what to do about it and for sure for awhile was deceived. We have to go to the bottom of the issues that are presented and find the origin of the things that are going on. Are they from the Lord or from the devil? So is it right to be partially clothed or is this an evil snare that most have gotten so use to that is seems no longer it is wrong to expose the body. Are we still missionaries or are we compromisers and joining the pagans so we are also pagans with a Christian name? What is the thing that separates the people from God more than anything?
“Be not hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Fashion is deteriorating the intellect and eating out the spirituality of our people. Obedience to fashion is pervading our Seventh-day Adventist churches and is doing more than any other power to separate our people from God. I have been shown that our church rules are very deficient. All exhibitions of pride in dress, which is forbidden in the word of God, should be sufficient reason for church discipline. If there is a continuance, in face of warnings and appeals and entreaties, to still follow the perverse will, it may be regarded as proof that the heart is in no way assimilated to Christ. Self, and only self, is the object of adoration, and one such professed Christian will lead many away from God.
There is a terrible sin upon us as a people, that we have permitted our church members to dress in a manner inconsistent with their faith. We must arise at once and close the door against the allurements of fashion. Unless we do this, our churches will become demoralized.”
4T 647-648
Where are the clothes that God has ordered? When Adam and Eve sinned, they lost their clothes of light, which God had given them and when they could feel the guilt of sin in the mind they knew they needed to put some clothes on. They were ashamed of their true condition even though they did not even really understand why. So right then they made themselves make-shift clothes of fig leaves. At least they tried to do something about their guilt and sin. But now a day man is so use to sin and evil and shame and guilt and wrong ways that they hardly try to do anything to better the situation. The devil has so much control of the minds of man that many cannot be convinced that they have done anything bad.
God did not see that they had done a good job of making clothes and so He made them coats to cover the body, not just a skimpy piece of cloth or leaves. God knows how much the body reveals and temps the mind to sin and so He set an example for the generations to come how to dress by making coats of skins for Adam and Eve. The people who paint pictures of Adam and Eve in short pieces of skin need to read what a coat is. The Israelites wore coats that covered the arms and legs. And when they were bowing before the idol calf it was to their shame that Aaron made them naked.
“And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:)” Exodus 32:25
So we should be ashamed to go about with our body exposed and tempting the people around us to sin by looking at our naked body, which God says is only for the spouse to behold. It is a sin to behold another and makes for the sin of adultery as Jesus said it is when a man just thinks about it in his heart. So when we are not dressed properly we are causing others to go to hell and destroying those about us by making them to see evil in us and causing sinful thought to come to their minds.
Spiritualism is rampant and Satan has taken control of the minds of man to no end. There are dozens of forms of spiritualism that he comes to everyone with, for everyone is to be tested on this point to some degree or another. So this is why we are told to test the spirits and every new thing that comes along for we are not exempt to anything that the devil is concocting for this earth, and yes he has a thousand snares of bewitching art that his demons are practicing on everyone. He hypnotizes and benumbs the brain so the people do not suspect that anything is bad or going wrong.
Now one of these among the many is the yoga coming right into the churches, big time and he has the people thinking that this is just exercise out in the sunshine or gathering together the people to have a good time and do something together as it seems so innocent and full of good and pleasure. These movements of exercise are worship to the devil in the form of sun worship because yoga is sun worship. The leaders of these programs are completely under the control of demons and the demons help them do many marvelous things that attract people to them and make them think they are very blessed with great power from god, which is Satan himself who we are warned would come to work wonders on the earth in the sight of men. He can make people get sick and then take away what sickness he gave them. He can rescue people from all kinds of dangerous things and cause strange things to happen that make it seem like God is doing it.
We need to keep close to Jesus and walk in his steps and obey Him or we will be lost in all these over-whelming deceptions that are going on all about us.
When a person walks down the street what do they see? It is to be expected what is seen because the Lord told His people ahead of time what was going to happen. All through the Bible we are told that the majority of people in this world are not going to serve God and therefore will be serving self and have self as their god. Years ago many of the sights we see now would end up in jail. But sin is no longer classed as sin so people get use to sinning and the heart becomes calloused and hard. So if any one says anything about the low necks and shorts and short skirts and bathing suits and tight sleeveless tops, what is said but that they are extreme and fanatic. Everybody is doing it so there is nothing wrong with these things. Have we become careless in thinking it doesn’t matter to Jesus how we are dressed? Sometimes you have to wonder if it is a man or a woman that you see. This fashion business of the modern day is very confusing and totally out of God’s plan. He plainly states that there is to be a distinction between the sexes in the way of dress!
“The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God.”
Deuteronomy 22:5
The example of heaven is what we are to follow and not those who are walking by or showing off on the TV. The angels do not dress other than their whole body covered. And Jesus wore a long robe even while on earth. The Bible tells us that the Saints will be clothed in long garments of white. It will not be worth it to have the world’s clothes and miss out on eternal life. Let’s put our eyes on the true genuine goal of heaven and dress as Jesus has specifically told His people to dress.