Monday, July 22, 2013

Craig Winters - Philadelphia Church of God, on What Kind of Shoes Are Proper for Men to Wear

The Philadelphia Church of God has always been know for the leglasitc burdens that it places upon members.  The PCG ministry and leaders regularly invade the personal lives of members to the point they tell them what to wear and what kind of sex is appropriate.

Craig Winters, a Six Pack Flurry lap-poodle has this to say about proper shoes for men.  If I had been sitting in the room that day when he said this I would have went out and bought a pair of these forbidden shoes.  That is what Ambassador students did in Pasadena when Spanky Meredith went apeshit over men wearing pink Izod shirts.  Of course he had to claim pink alligator shirts were a homosexual conspiracy.  Most of the guys in that class went out and bought pink shirts and wore them to class the next tie.

In a Spokesman Club meeting one time, Craig Winters instructed us, "You should not wear slip-on shoes, loafers or penny loafers, and don't wear shoes with tassels. Tie shoes are the shoes that you, as leading men in the church, should wear." We were discouraged from wearing "burgundy shoes" but "black and sometime brown shoes would be okay." Months after this lecture, the local minister and his three sons were all still wearing slip-on" shoes.

ht: SD

22 comments:

Byker Bob said...

Where does this come from? We know that the Babylonian pagans did not have penny loafers, and while no mention is made of tassels on shoes in Mosaic law, tassels were required on an Israelite's outer garments. Tassels would seem to be of God. Aren't ministers supposed to relate to people, and to be approachable?

What this reminds me of is a line in a recent movie regarding David Frost's interviews of Richard Nixon. At one point, Nixon asks David where he gets his shoes. David tells him (they are some sort of loafer), and Nixon asks, "You don't feel a bit effeminate wearing them?" David replies in the negative. In the last scene of the movie, Frost presents Nixon with a new pair of the loafers, and Nixon is seen smiling as he admires them.

I could understand this Winters character reprimanding a PCG minister for going on his Gestapo calls in sequined red Chuck Taylors, but loafers and other slip ons have been a very mainstream part of American mens' wardrobe for at least a century. What a loon!

This may make Christians slip and accidentally think the "F" word.

BB

Anonymous said...

Sadly, I had those exact shoes.

Exact shoes.

I guess I played the part as expected!!! LOL

Anonymous said...

In the WCG/PCG one is taught how to be an ancient Israelite; there is no room for new covenant Christians.

Anonymous said...

Thanks to the old-fashioned sense of retired minister Marvin Campbell, white is the preferred color for men's dress shirts, and the only color for "leading men" in the PCG.

In the early PCG days, GF and his sidekick John Amos had the particular stylings of the late 60’s with checked jackets and bright colors. MC would have none of that hipster fashion, and took the PCG back to 50’s-style crisp suits days.

On more than one occasion, my colored dress shirts disqualified me of opening/closing pray-duty. :) It's not that unusual for a mininter or an aspiring speaker to make an appearance at a PCG picnic donning a very conservative suit & tie.

GF is still a ginger-haired hipster at heart, the devil that he is.

Anonymous said...

Graig Winters would give his congregations homework assignment sheets after weekly independent Bible studies, and the people who were counseling had to write a number of essays, on respecting the ministry, in order to regain a good standing status.

He must've finally gotten in GF's crosshairs, when he was canned, along with a two other half-wits, this past spring. I'm pretty sure GF was a loafers kind of guy before Campbell & Winters introduced their fashion taste into the PCG.

Winters might want to team up with Pack and join the RCG, since they both have a great fondness for paperwork.

Corky said...

Little do people know that wearing slip-on shoes is extremely sinful, practically unpardonable... Brogans are the way to go - hide those sinful ankles.

Oh, and don't wear tight fitting trousers either...do you realize what that does to the lady behind you when you stand up to sing? Boy, I tell ya, she just about swoons when she sees that cute butt...

You must wear a suit...yes, that's a must, because that's what Jesus and the apostles wore, wasn't it? No, that's wrong, they wore what looked like choir robes (without any other clothes underneath - except for a loin cloth like a sumo wrestler). Hey, wouldn't that be a riot in church today!!! Hehehehehe. And those sandals...~snicker~giggle~guffaw

Head Usher said...

I hate slip on shoes with tassels because I don't think a good shoe should use elastic and I have no idea what those tassels are for. I also don't like the frivolous decoration of wingtips. Loafers are okay, I guess, but they wind up hurting my feet after a while. I like classic oxfords. But heck, I don't care what anyone else wants to wear, and nor do I judge them for it. Except, of course, if they dressed like Jesus.

If Jesus were transported in a time machine from the middle of giving the sermon on the mount, *boom* right smack dab into the middle of an Armstrongist church service today, everyone would be shocked and horrified at this horrible sinner. He's not clean enough. How long since he shaved his face? What's that "robe" thing that smells like urine? He's not wearing a tie! OMG, he's wearing SANDALS!! The ushers would immediately escort the bum out of the building, and he would probably be told never to return. I am sure he wouldn't have to understand English to get the message. This just makes it so obvious how much Armstrongists follow HWA and how they follow Jesus practically not at all.

All this stuff is so cultural. Even if you were transport a snooty upper-class person from, say 1870's America to today, an Armstrongist would probably judge them a sinner because they didn't match up to today's cultural norms. Culture has nothing to do with "sin," but try telling that to an Armstrongist.

Unknown said...

Flurry and Winters...

Even the names are COLD!

Joe Moeller
Cody, WY

Anonymous said...

Such weighty matters.

Anonymous said...

I wonder if Jesus got after the Disciples for being a little light in the sandals?

We know Peter thought Paul was....


M.T.Shoebox

Sweetblood777 said...

Would they also tell one what under pants that men should wear?

I can see it now. Ladies would you all take off your panties for inspection.

If the husband or father does not punch out these creeps, then they have all become girly men as the Terminator would say.

Anonymous said...

Boxers were looked down upon if I remember right. it was Tighty-Whities Hanes in the Underwear Department. No colored undies either. Sorry, Marty McFly. And silk belonged only for TIES.

Anonymous said...

"My what BIG shoes you have!"

"The better to kick you with, my dear!"

Anonymous said...

In all of my years in the church I never allowed any minister to dictate to me what I should do in my personal life. If they railed on and one about non-white shirts, colored ties, penny loafers, etc. I made sure I wore it for many weeks afterwards to church.

Von Howitzer said...

Just look at those shoes! Paragons of paganism, ready to dangle on your feet!

First of all, they are not black. If a shoe ain't black, you can't take it seriously. Secondly, this is really a moccasin, not a shoe, and has only a suggestion of a heel. Pathetic.

Tassels?? Tassels?? Two dangling tassels are going to remind people of, um, church bells - like in a steeple. Know what I mean? Nudge, nudge, wink, wink. And especially so when combined with a KILTIE!!

Good lord! A KILTIE!! You might as well wear a dress!

It's a good thing that PCG has ministers that will tell you that God is not a respecter of "shoes" such as this!

Anonymous said...

my black silk boxers are the most comfortable shorts I own...I have many pairs, and they are worn to services each week.

I guess I'm ok, unless they start doing the short arm inspections.

Anonymous said...

Nice to know about yet another detail that has to be addressed so that one can qualify for salvation.

Maybe the pagan connection doesn't involve Semiramis giving a pair to Nimrod at his birthday. As VH pointed out, loafers resemble the moccasins worn by the Indians, whom HWA and Herman Hoeh referred to as Canaanites (kinda like how they gave the Germans a race makeover and converted them to Assyrians).

Anonymous said...

Clearly, especially for armstrongist ranchers, their shoes should HAVE LESS TASSELS AND MORE COWBELLS!

Anonymous said...

Boxers are ok to wear as long as they have cute little images of Herbie's face printed all over them.

(If you can't find them at your local Macy's, you can get a pair with 'Poppin Fresh Pillsbury Doughboy' on them, and use a sharpie to draw eyeglasses on the Poppin Freshes, and you can hardly tell the difference.)

I heard that those boxers, along with a King James Bible, assistant deacon armband and a pocket full of condoms, helps a guy to get lucky during the FOT!

Anonymous said...

"Tie shoes are the shoes that you, as leading men in the church, should wear."

I thought the "leading men" were supposed to wear jackboots. Do jackboots have laces?

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry, I guess I am just getting short tempered. These kind of edicts just make me angry. I don't find any of it even slightly amusing anymore. Having lived through some 40 odd, and I DO mean odd, years of this kind of crap just makes me sick.

Anonymous said...

You should wear tie shoes because you have to bend over to tie them, then we can, well, you know the rest.