Something to think about!

God commanded the women to be covered in prayer and worship.

God commanded the men to be uncovered in prayer and worship.

The men are still obeying their command to be uncovered but the women are not obeying theirs?

If the covering practice were for all the time then the men would have to be uncovered all the time.

We know the practice is for worship and prayer or expounding on the Word of God for both men and women.

Men uncovered and women covered, why have the men chosen to be uncovered but the women have chosen to not cover?

I don't think men or women are doing what they do out of obedience, the men don't know why they are uncovered any more than the women knew why they were covered just one generation ago.

Just saying!

Just to be Clear About the Head Covering for Women or not the Head Covering for Men.

Men didn't force women to wear coverings in the worship of God, women chose to to it in obedience to God.

Men didn't force women to stop wearing the coverings in the worship of God, women chose to remove it and go with the world.

So you see, women made their own choices to obey or disobey God, the men had nothing to do with it except to teach the truth and the women saw the truth and complied with what GOD said.

Many years ago I was reading 1 Corinthians 11, questioning and praying for understanding about this passage. As I prayed the Lord compelled me to show it to my husband without explanation and receive a confirmation about what God had been telling me.

I handed the Bible to my husband open to the Corinthians passage and simply asked: "what do you think of this" without giving any explanation.

My husband read the passage handed the Bible back to me and said; "I think God is commanding the women to be converted and the men to be uncovered."

That was my confirmation that God really did say what He meant and that I was to obey it. I had no command from my husband to do it, but I did have his full support when I decided to do it.

Nearly everywhere I went after that I wore a covering in the gathering, not out in the world, it was not for the world it was for the angels and in the worship. And, nearly every gathering I have been in with a couple of exceptions I was the only woman in the gatherings with a covering on, except those from other countries from time to time.

I have lost friends over this matter not because I spoke about it but because they were embarrassed of me. I rarely speak of it to others unless led by the Holy Spirit but the mere wearing of it causes women to isolate from me as though I am someone strange. Yet, just one generation ago all women were wearing something on their heads in church gatherings and even out in the culture.

I realized that most women who were wearing the hats were doing so because it was the fashion at the time and they never knew of the Scripture about the covering. So when fashion changed the women changed their practice too.

I notice though that the men still practice not being covered, but don't know why. If a man came into the church building in any church they would be asked to remove it, they think it is out of respect or something. They do not know the passage about being uncovered for the man has to do with the angels and obedience to God.

My mother used to wear hats to her church all her life until fashion changed. She had a saying; "an outfit without a hat is like cake without the frosting", this is a clue that it was according to fashion rather than the Bible.

Let's not make our choices to obey God about cultural traditions or fashions, lets let our choices be about obedience to God.

Something to think about!

God Said: "You Shall Know Them by Their Fruit", I Believe Him

"Just believe" has been the gospel message for as long as I can remember. While it is true we must believe in what Jesus Christ did on the cross to pay for our sins, we must also obey the other things He said to be saved; change minds (repent), confess sinfulness and desire to be changed by Him. These are all a part of believing in Him.

Matthew 4:17

"17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Repent means to change one's mind about their sin and about Christ. When we realize we are sinners and cannot pay the penalty for our own sins, then we can trust in Christ. However, if we want Christ without admitting we have a sinful nature then we are not changing our minds about our sins. Christ said; "you must repent."

Then after we have changed our minds we must trust what He did for us and desire to be changed by Him. These are not works these are thoughts of the mind.

Many people for many years have been trained to only use the word; "believe" without any explanation causing many pretenders, and false converts who have no idea about holiness, obedience to the word, or desiring to be changed by Him. They said they believed and those with a false gospel accepted them in as brothers and sisters. This is the reason we have so many pretenders in the church today.

When Christ changes us in response to our confession, repentance and desire to be changed, we are no longer the same person.

With the pretender, they "believe" but remain the same person they were before they said they believed. No change has happened and there is no desire to be changed by Christ, most often there is no Bible study or there is academic study to appear more intelligent than others, but the commitment to Christ is not there in their heart.

Many of these pretenders went to Bible school and Seminaries to feel a sense of being above others or the need to work their way to heaven through knowledge. There are many pretenders who hold positions in the pulpits today who were not only not called by God to do it but are not even born-again.

Pretenders have the ability to "act" as they are expected to act around those they wish to impress but it is not the real them on the inside. A pretender is not regenerated by Christ but can fake it around those who expect certain things of them. This is the cultural Christianity that has been a large part of our Christian experience for many years.

A pretender can go from friendly and kind to angry and raging at the drop of a hat because the real them emerge when they are confronted with their false teachings. The nature of the pretender remains the natural bent of defensiveness when challenged. They do not have the Holy Spirit so pretending to be like a Christian is their mode of operation until they must account for themselves, then the real self rises to the surface. This is also one of the reasons we see elderly people who seem to get worse in their old age when they have been in church all their lives.

Those who have been authentically born-again do not rage at others no matter what is said and done. They may become adamant but they are generally kind all the time because it is their nature to be kind. The authentic believer remains the natural bent of the new nature in Christ when they are challenged.

Matthew 7:15-20

A Tree and Its Fruit

15 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

16 You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they?

17 So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 1

18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.

19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 So then, you will know them by their fruits."

Galatians 5:22-23

"22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."

The born-again believer does not have a need for a rule not to become angry because anger is not a part of their natural response in Christ Jesus. If they slip up and allow the flesh momentarily to act badly they quickly confess because they hate what they have done. The pretender is never sorry for their anger, in fact, often they justify it and never confess it. The pretender does not hate what they have done and in many cases are proud about what they have done that displeased God.

1 John 1:9

"9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

The pretender is embarrassed by righteousness even repelled by it, but the born-again believer who loves Christ and His principles love His Law, they do not need rules against stealing, adultery or any other violations of the Law because they don't have any desire to do those things. The hate it when they fail, because they love the principles of Christ.

The godly person operates according to their new nature in Christ without pretense.

The ungodly operate according to their natural bent toward manipulation, causing people to believe things about them that are not the real them on the inside. They cannot "be" kind and loving, they can only pretend to be so.

We must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved, however, within the word believe is embodied confession of sinfulness and a desire to be changed by Christ.

Many people "believe" in Christ but never confess their sinfulness and have no desire to be changed by HIm, these are the pretenders, those whom God will not change because their belief is merely academic, not systemic.

Anyone can pretend to be a Christian with a few words they repeat and constant church attendance, but this does not mean there has been a transformation by Christ.

This is why as believers we need to have more in-depth conversations with people than the pablum coming out of superficial church gatherings.

Being on the right side of politics, doing the things that make someone a good citizen in the culture can be done by anyone who wishes to avoid trouble in their lives, it is not a measure of whether or not someone is born again.

One way to test a person's spirit is to challenge something they say they believe by asking for the Scripture that supports it. Most people either will not engage or they will bring up a Scripture out of context to support what God never said.

The pretender has two natures, the one they show to those they wish to impress and the one they show to those they dislike. One loving the other angry. The pretenders are controlled by their feelings more than rational thinking. The pretender can switch from friendly to rage on a dime because their feelings do not tolerate any correction or disagreement. Another thing I have noticed is that the pretenders gravitate toward familiar ritual that may not even be Scriptural. Rituals bring good "feelings." The pretender leans often if not always toward the feelings instead of the facts.

The born-again believer has two natures, the Christ-like nature that is the same on the inside as on the outside for others to see. The fleshly nature that is under the control of the Holy Spirit. They are not perfect, when they fail they hate it. They are generally self-controlled, as God said would be one of the fruit of the Spirit. They may feel angry at times but it does not control their actions and attitudes. and when they fail they confess to be cleansed as God commanded in 1 John 1:9

1 John 1:9 "1 John 1:9

"9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

The pretender never grows in maturity,emotionally or spiritually because they never confess their wrongdoing. The born-again believer grows in direct proportion to how often they confess to be cleansed by God. Those who will not confess do not grow.

1 Corinthians 3:2-3 "…2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for solid food. In fact, you are still not ready,

3 for you are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and dissension among you, are you not worldly? Are you not walking in the way of man? "

May many people who have walked in pretense all their lives realize they must change their mind to desire change by Christ and confess their sinful nature.

May those who withhold the gospel message out of fear they are judging, let go of their pride in desiring to be seen as a good person by the culture and speak the truth to those who might be perishing. In order to do this though, one must be steeped continually in prayer for guidance from the Holy Spirit and in the Word of God, His principles are the very essence of Who Christ is, they will guide all that we do and they will expose problems that need to be confessed.

God said "you shall know them by their fruit", I believe Him.

Another Violation of the Scriptures of Christ that is Mocked in our Day

I had a question from someone about the teaching of the practice of the head covering and thought it would be good to put the answer to that question here too.

1 Corinthians 11:5-7 "…5And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for it is just as if her head were shaved. 6 If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off. And if it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head. 7A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man."

The men are to be uncovered and the women are to be covered during the gathering, not all the time. If the women were to wear the covering all the time then the men would have to be uncovered all the time. God said that a woman is to be covered when she prays and prophesies in the coming together of the gathering for worship.

There is nothing in the Scripture that says this has ever been changed and it is for the sake of the angels. The angels learn from us all the time.

If the covering was as so many people say; "for back then" a custom of the time then why all the explanation in chapter 11 about the order of man and woman. Some people have tried to explain it away by adding to scripture but with a straight reading of the Word in context, we see that it is for all believers. Some say the scripture says; "we have no such custom", this is a mistranslation, the original language says; "we have no such custom of being contentious about this, and we have no other custom than this, all the churches are doing it in obedience to God."

This is one of those things that has been done away with back in the 1960s when women began to shed all their responsibilities. The covering for a woman was a matter of obedience to show her role as under the man. The lack of covering for the man was to show his obedience under God as the leader of the home and in the church.

When I was a child all women wore either a cloth covering over their hair or a hat but most didn't know why, they thought it was respect because no one was teaching this practice. Then when the Pope decided the women didn't have to be covered anymore suddenly, almost overnight the covering went away everywhere except in some small groups.

In all the countries of the world except the western countries, meaning Europe and the United States, the women are covered. What is different? It is clear that western countries are more modern and disrespectful of the Bible.

This is not to say that the other countries of the world are doing everything right, but it does show that they are not as "fashion conscious" as the western countries and they are less "feminist oriented."

It was feminism that was the driving factor in the removal of the covering in gathering. Notice that the men still remain uncovered, although they don't know why in most cases, but the women who have rebelled against any sort of submission have chosen to uncover to be like men.

Men and women have different roles, it has nothing to do with equality in God's eyes, its just the order of things God commanded. Order does not equate to less or more equal, it is according to the job God has for each gender, one is not better than the other, just different.

The devil managed to convince women they didn't have to be under anyone, that power over others was preferable to submission. Men do not have "power" over women in God's order, they have influence and responsibility to their families, their wives and under God. Women's responsibilities carried out in God's order has influence, just in a different way.

The best way for the devil to ruin families was to remove the most powerful influence in the home, that is the woman and divide her attention from the family to that paycheck outside the home. Once the woman left the home the children began to be raised by school systems, paid babysitters, and the culture rather than their mother. The mother's influence declined within the family. It harmed the homes of those mothers who did remain the keeper of the home because now the entire culture was against the very important job she did there.

Even now, when a woman chooses to remain in the home, taking care of everything there and teaching her own children, she is mocked and diminished in the community as having less intelligence. Women's lib has destroyed the family but they could only do this because the women didn't know the Lord, didn't know the Bible and became greedy for power and money.

This article will be an affront to many women, the purpose is not to cause anger but to show God's order and perhaps those who still can return to the home will see the value of obeying God.

Homemaking is God's design for the woman, the covering is also God's design for the woman. If you are strong enough to obey God and ignore the mocking of the world, you can see the value of God's way and obey Him.