The overlords of the Church of God have always tried to dictate what was right and what they deemed to be wrong. From clothing colors and styles to colors of cars, the control church leaders have had over members is appalling. The church has built a religious empire out of majoring in the minors while ignoring the important things that Christians should have faith in.
Here we are in 2021 and church leaders still think their members are too stupid to know how to dress.
Dave Pack demands of his men:
RCG requires white shirts, no other color and ties of course, suit needs to be dark preferably black or grey
White shirts...or light blue is acceptable, but not every week. French cuffs if you are a minister or "ministerial material." Also, those ridiculous shirts that have a white collar but blue body are acceptable, but not on the same day the Pastor General is wearing one. Jos. A Banks or Brooks Brothers are the only accepted retailers if you are HQ or a minister. Just like what Jesus Christ wore!
No orange or green ties, only dark blue, red or gold. (recent comments on Facebook)
Gerald Flurry states:
“Are some of our members going to be kept out of the Kingdom of God because of the way you dress for Church services?” Mr. Armstrong asked members in the Worldwide News. “THIS IS SERIOUS! In some of our churches, members never think of dressing up, but come in slovenly attire, overalls, blue jeans, tennis shoes, any kind of slouchy sports clothes” (May 21, 1979).
For members of God’s Church today, coming to Sabbath services in jeans or sportswear seems unimaginable. However, after Mr. Armstrong died, the Laodiceans returned to those lower standards: Many of them now wear casual clothes to their services. They willingly rejected the Philadelphia standard (Revelation 3:14-20). They have chosen the liberal worldly standard over God’s spiritual standard.
Mr. Armstrong’s writings on dress are not just a matter of opinion. God led him to establish the Philadelphia standard. The godly example the end-time type of Elijah strove to set has been revealed in this last hour as a prophetic SIGNET STANDARD for God’s final Church era to emulate. “In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the LORD, and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith the LORD of hosts” (Haggai 2:23).
Today, as the various COG's get ready for another round of Feast of Tabernacles superspreader events, the Living Church of God is telling its members how to dress for services and playtime.
FEAST OF TABERNACLES Appropriate Dress for Feast Services
While Scripture teaches that God looks on the heart, dress and outward decorum are also important (Matthew 22:8–14). As we prepare to be “lights to the world” at the Feast, it’s good to review some basic principles for attire at Feast services. For men, in most modern cultures, coats, collared shirts, ties, and nice slacks are considered appropriate on special occasions. This may vary somewhat in tropical climates. For ladies, 1 Timothy 2:9–10 explains that dress should be “modest apparel, with propriety and moderation.” Short, tight, form-fitting dresses, necklines flaunting cleavage, bare shoulders, backless dresses, belly-baring tops, etc., are not appropriate for Church services. We come to services to worship God, not to display our bodies. Our challenge as Christian men and women is to come out of this world (2 Corinthians 6:17) and be lights to a world that has lost its way (Matthew 5:14–16). This is especially true as we gather to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles—picturing Christ’s glorious reign on earth!
What About at the Beach?
Appropriate beach attire for women and men at the Feast of Tabernacles is swimwear that is modest and in good taste. We should be guided by the two great commandments—to love God and love neighbor (Matthew 22:37–39; Mark 12:29–31)—so as not to offend God or neighbor in our dress at the Feast. Accordingly, following our Living Youth Programs policy, beachwear at the Feast for ladies should be a modest one-piece or a modest tankini (covering the mid-section), and for the men, no Speedo-type suits (unless pool facility rules require them, as is the case in some countries). Fathers and husbands have a responsibility to be leaders in their families to teach and guide regarding what is appropriate and what is not (Ezekiel 22:26).
18 comments:
Midriffs and shoulders on women seem to be of particular concern to Gerald Weston and the gang.
Flurry takes on the authority of a self important deity. He is a COMPLETE FRAUD & FALSE PROPHET!!! He has a litany of predictions & prophecies he proclaimed that failed to take place. Therefore scripture itself deems him a FALSE PROPHET AND A LIAR & THE TRUTH is not in him. Discard him and his false cult to the garbage heap. He is a bogus apjostle. His sermons are mind numbingly boring and his speeches are just as rambling and incoherent as those of Joe Biden.
Here we go that last part. Sure does set a culture to harm women.
Flurry Weston or Pack nekkid? Thats something out of a porno horror movie!
MATTHEW 23:24…
24You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. 25Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, so that the outside may become clean as well.
Romans 8:31-39
1 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? 33 Who will bring charges against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; 34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, but rather, was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or trouble, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 Just as it is written:
“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We were regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I meant to preface my comment from Romans 8: 31-39 with this quote from Flurry:
“Are some of our members going to be kept out of the Kingdom of God because of the way you dress for Church services?"
I really don't think king David danced naked. More likely his robe edge lifted as he whirled around.
King David was wearing a linen ephod. (Not linen and wool, of course, according to the law).
Maztthew 6:28 (MKJV) And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They do not toil, nor do they spin, 29 but I say to you that even Solomon in his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Therefore if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much rather clothe you, little-faiths?
"Solomon in all his glory". Sounds like he wasn't exactly drab and colorless, doesn't it? Given how colorful and eye-catching lilies, and all the other flowers, are known to be, he must have been spectacularly colorful, to be compared to them (even if he did fall short in the comparison). And haven't these organizations' leaders noticed how much more colorful male birds tend to be than the females? Do they think Satan created the birds that way? Why the belief that drab, somber, and colorless is pleasing to Him, while wearing a purple shirt with a white tie, or a green shirt with an orange tie (favorite combinations of mine) is not? Why should how we dress not be JOYOUS to the eye? He did NOT create color for us to deem it sinful! I'm so very thankful and grateful that my Father finally got me to realize that my salvation does not depend on obeying the edicts of men, but in setting myself to become like Him.
I am color blind, so sometimes my clothes and ties do not match in the eyes of the normal but to me they match. So, how? This shows we must not pre-judge without understanding someone's situations and conditions. Or am I limited to black and white attires only? But I love colors. The solution for me is to identify primary colors that match like red and orange or yellow and green. However,I can still mismatch. My point is as as long as one dresses for the occasion - neat and clean, then it is alright.
“…they…forget that David danced naked before the Ark of the Covenant (The Seat of God). Imagine Dave Pack, Bob Thiel, Gerald Flurry, or Gerald Weston dancing with delight over the Lord!”
Um on second thought let’s not!š
The reoccurring Clothes-aggeddon is another form of bullying. Those that rule usually justify their own wives and family wearing whatever they want. But if the lowly members wear the same they are condemned.
Notice no minister ever condemns women with hair dyed or bleached within an inch of its life. That's because many ministers wives have dyed/bleached hair. First lady Loma Armstrong appearance. But many ministers are first off the bat to condemn young women's and men's attire never the older women.
Weston includes "... so as not to offend God or neighbor in our dress at the Feast." Does he really believe God can be offended by our clothes or is this just another way to manipulate?
Exactly! I was bullied by a minister’s wife that was wearing a lot of makeup at the RCG Feast a few years back.
She accusing me of coloring my hair (which wasn’t true btw) and when I addressed the way SHE looked and all the makeup she was using, I was told by our minister that I was excluded from next day services..
The ones that make the rules don’t have to follow them!
It was my experience that some new church members were extremely socially backward. So that the issue of dress is occasionally brought up is
understandable. But the emphasis is overboard. And defining acceptable dress for men as the equivalent of a "Walt Disney executive" as one TV program on Christian fundamentalism put it, is unsupported by my bible. As well as pushing "old peoples clothes" on church members.
Christ's teachings in the NT is what needs to be emphasized by the church.
Agree.
Ministry Women in RCG don't wear makeup.
Post a Comment