[Faith-talk] Satan And The Saint, Part 7

[Paul]

If you remember yesterday, we reached the last category of the four demonic categories given by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 6:10-12.  Herein, he refers to wicked spirits in high or holy places.

They affect the area of religion and superstition.  They endeavor to captivate the minds and hearts of human beings, and to interest them in just about every cultish and superstitious movement imaginable to man, in order to divert them from the truth found in Jesus Christ.

They also play havoc with sincere Christians by making them overstress the truth, or the supposed truth.  We call this a "hobby horse" that places a stress on some particular aspect of truth or what a believer feels to be truth.  A good example can be found when a Christian gets "hung up" on clothing.  While a believer is exhorted, particularly a feminine believer, to be adorned modestly, there are many who will get on a binge relative to clothing.  There are actually preachers who, in every message, either in the beginning, the end, or the middle, will somehow stress what is proper or improper in the wearing of apparel.

Then it is not long before Christians and preachers who overly stress any aspect of truth, or supposed truth, become quite fanatical, unbalanced, even irresponsible, relative to the important matters of faith and conduct which would lead to a balanced, temperate life for the believer.

Now what I am about to say may shock many of you, but as a minister of the Gospel, I must declare the whole counsel of God, and by His grace, warn my brothers and sisters in Christ of the possibility of their coming under the oppression or obsession of one of these wicked spirits, and making fools of themselves by always dwelling upon some supposed, or even a real truth.

Here is what might be shocking:  Did you know that absolutely nowhere in the Bible will you find the words "trousers" or "pants"?

Some time ago, I had a friend who became absolutely obsessed with the idea that women wearing slacks was terrible because they were wearing men's apparel.

I asked him, "Show me one verse in the Bible, and I will preach it with all my might." Of course, I knew he could find no such verse.

Actually, pants and trousers are an invention of the Western world.  The Bible is an Eastern book.  Thus, I asked him, "How is it that you are wearing pants and not a skirt?"

"A skirt!" he replied.  "Why, that would be wearing women's clothing."

I replied that I am sure this is the case today, but all the great men of the Bible wore skirts.  He asked me where I found that information.

"All right, let us look at some of the mighty men of God who were dressed in skirts.  Let's read Deuteronomy 22:30, I Samuel 15:27 and 24:4 and 5, Zechariah 8:23, Psalm 133:2, Ezekiel 5:3 and Haggai 2:12."

We learn here that Saul and the other kings of Israel wore skirts.  The tearing (renting) of a skirt became prophetic, and David cut Saul's skirt as a witness that he could have killed King Saul.  I give these few references because it was men who wore skirts.

Then, too, though women wear girdles today, in Bible times, it was always the men who wore them.  To mention just a few references, you will find men wearing girdles in I Kings 2:5, II Kings 1:8, Job 12:18, Matthew 3:4, Mark 1:6 and Acts 21:11.

I have quoted all of these verses just hoping that some very zealous, fanatical believer, who is endeavoring to say that slacks made for women are still men's apparel, will find there is no Scripture reference to back up such a statement.  Much of this is found in a verse wherein Isaiah speaks of men wearing women's clothing or women wearing men's apparel is an abomination.  But it is not pants or skirts to which he is referring, but rather to those garments, which were manufactured for women, being worn by men, and vice versa.  Here is an abomination, but it was not the type of clothing being worn.

Then, there is the hobby horse of keeping certain days--sabbaths, new moons, and on and on we could go in this area.  But the Christian is plainly exhorted to let no man judge him in respect to such things (see Colossians 2:16).  Again, in Romans 14:5, we are told to let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.  How could the great Apostle Paul say this if God were putting a special emphasis on one day above another?

Now, we have space and time for one more great "hang up" in the area of externals, and this is the length of one's hair--either a man's or a woman's.  Oh, what a great controversy this has caused, especially among believers, yet the Apostle Paul put this to rest once and for all when he stated, in a mocking manner, "Doth not even nature teach you that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?" (I Corinthians 11:14)

If the thoughtful Christian thinks a moment, as Paul would have him do, he knows that nature teaches nothing of the kind.  In fact, nature teaches just the opposite.  If one does what comes naturally, the result would be that every man would have long hair and a thick, long beard.  Therefore, man must do what is contrary to nature; namely, he must shave and cut his hair.

Likewise a woman.  For some reason, the Corinthians made a dogma of the length of men's and women's hair.  The Apostle Paul ends the whole argument and this needless wrangling over hair, by saying in verse 16, "But, if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither (do) the churches of God."

Paul is saying in essence, "Stop your bickering and arguing over such a silly question when, in reality, in the church and under grace, we have no stipulations as to the length of anyone's hair.  This just doesn't occur under the New Covenant of grace."

Before we leave this subject, if Paul was endeavoring to say that long hair for a man was a shame--which, of course, he was not saying--then Samuel, and our own Savior, who was a Nazarene, would of necessity have to come under the condemnation for this because the Nazarene vow was never to touch a razor to one's beard or hair.

Thus, Satan will use the most ridiculous thing to cause division among God's children.  I do trust that, if you have ever been overcritical in these areas, God will open your eyes, illuminate your heart, and erase all of these divisive and unscriptural teachings.

And there, my fellow saints of the Most High God, concludes Part 7 of this series.  We have one more part to go.

One comment I'd like to make here, and unfortunately Dr. Montanus is not here to defend himself.  He used the name "Nazarene" when in reality he should have used the term "Nazirite." It is true that Jesus was a Nazarene for most of His life, as that was where he was brought up in the town of Nazareth.  Samson and, judging by his physical description John the Baptist, were Nazirites.

And now may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, in these last days more than ever in which we live.  Lord willing, tomorrow we will conclude this series of articles on Satan and the saint.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul