A NOTE TO THE IMAGE OF GOD CALLED WOMAN (4) - PART 1.
JEWELRIES (OF ANY KIND INCLUDING WEDDING RINGS) AND MAKE-UP - The right attitutude towards receiving the message of truth.
By: Adom Ofori-Asenso
Friday, 18 October, 2013.
In this note, four (4) scripture passages will be examined, and these are provided below under the biblical references. I am beginning with these scriptures to bring to our understanding some of the underlining reasons for the arguments pertaining to jewelries and make-up in the ‘so called’ body of Christ. I say ‘so called’ because the true body of Christ is ONE in doctrines and beliefs.
Therefore, when there are different views pertaining to one subject area, only one view remains the TRUTH and all other views are lies engineered by Satan to lead many souls into eternal condemnation.
The first scripture (2 Timothy 3:16, see below) is to tell us that the Bible, which is the Word of God is owned by God. Every inscription in the Bible is filled with the very spirit of God.
Therefore, the human (carnal) mind can never understand and interpret the Holy Scriptures of God. It is good to attend Christian theology or divinity school. BUT, that training without the dependence on the Holy Spirit to unlock the divine wisdom, revelation and understanding into the interpretation of the Scriptures have made many teachers of the Bible spiritually blind, leading millions of innocent souls all over the world into the gates of hell instead of the gates of heaven (Titus 1:9-11 9 "He {an elder, pastor or leader of a church} must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by SOUND DOCTRINE and REFUTE (prove to be wrong or false; disprove) those who oppose it.
10 For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, ESPECIALLY AMONG THE CIRCUMCISED GROUP {in the church}. 11 They must be silenced because THEY ARE RUINING WHOLE HOUSEHOLDS {Christians who ought to be in heaven are now perishing in hell or heading for hell because of false teachings and human (carnal) mind interpreting scriptures) BY TEACHING THINGS THEY OUGHT NOT TO AND THAT FOR THE SAKE OF DISHONEST GAIN {for fear of losing church members, tithes and offering many pastors have silenced the truth in the Word of God and have allowed cultures and traditions to make void the commandments of God (Matthew 15:3,6,7,8,9 “3 Jesus replied, ‘And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?...6 Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition…7 You hypocrite! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
8 ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men)}.
The word of God speaks against jewelries, make-up and women putting on trousers. But in the name of weddings, ‘so-called’ cold weather, professional uniforms, the church has embraced seductive wedding attires, make-up, wedding rings, decoration of the bride with all sorts of jewelries and women wearing trousers. Theology, culture and traditions do not interpret scriptures; it is the work of the Holy Spirit of God. Paul confirms this in Galatians 1: 11-12 “11 I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. 12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; I received it by REVELATION from Jesus Christ”. And to this day, Jesus continues to give scripturally aligned divine revelations into the understanding of the Holy Scriptures or the Bible.
For example, one may ask: How do I know wearing jewelries and make-up will render vain your Christian service and land you in hell fire?
The subsequent parts on jewelries and make-up will address all the biblical perspectives regarding jewelries and make-up. So, in addition to these scriptural instructions regarding jewelries and make-up, our Lord Jesus Christ in His mercies to silence the author of confusion (Satan and his false teachers) among his bride (the church), has confirmed these scriptural instructions regarding jewelries and make-up by showing some believers in our present age divine revelations of hell, where women including Christian women are being tormented day and night without end for putting on jewelries, make-up and trousers.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is indeed merciful (Jude 1:22 “Be merciful to those who doubt) and does not wish anyone to perish out of ignorance or unbelief and is going every extent to make the church grasp this divine understanding of scriptures. What Jesus is doing in this present generation is the same thing he did for doubting Thomas (John 20:27-29 “27 Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe. 28 Thomas said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ 29 Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed’).
So, for those who doubt that jewelries, make-up and women putting on trousers will take one to hell, Jesus has taken people to hell to see with their very eyes to come back and testify this truth to satisfy your doubt. Yet this does not seem to be enough for humanity and most especially the very elect and they still argue about them (Matthew 24:24 “24 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even THE ELECT - if that were possible). I pray the day you realize this Truth, you would not have passed through Hell’s gate of no return. And worst of all, some so called Christians hold on to a false doctrine that the era of revelations have ceased and reject all divine revelations saying: “It is not biblical that Jesus can appear to people in this present age and take them to hell or heaven and back with a testimony for the church”.
I agree not all revelations come from God as Matthew 24:24 (see above) rightly tells us that there will be false Christs. Yes, satan also gives false revelations. And that is why God admonishes believers to discern (Acts 17:11 “…EXAMINED the scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true”. 1Corinthians 12:10 “…. to another the ability to distinguish between spirits…”) and test every spirit (1 John 4:1 “Dear friends, do not believe every sprit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world) with the Holy Scriptures. Every believer has the authority to test every spirit and that authority God has given us is the WORD OF GOD or the BIBLE (1 John 4:2-3 “2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that ACKNOWLEDGES that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does NOT ACKNOWLEDGE Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world).
ACKNOWLEDGING Jesus Christ should not only end with professing Him or mentioning his name in your church. It should go to the extent of OBEYING ALL HE COMMANDS (John 14:15 “If you love me, you will obey what I command” Luke 6:46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?”). Even demons acknowledge there is one God but all their activities are contrary to that of the one true God (James 2:18-22 “18 But someone will say, ‘You have faith; I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder. 20 You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21 Was not our Ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did”).
So, how different are you when you say, you believe in the only one God and his Son Jesus Christ and for that matter you are a christian and live contrary to His commandments in the Bible? Therefore, the spirit that tells you what the Bible instructs that it’s a sin IS NOT A SIN is the spirit of antichrist. Also, the fact that there are false revelations does not give you the license to reject every revelation. Those who do so, only do themselves harm by blaspheming against the Holy Spirit of God (Mark 3:28-30 “I tell you the truth, all sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. 29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin. 30 He said this because they were saying, “He has an evil spirit”). So my friends, if you have not tested the spirit to know whether the spirit is of God or not, desist from any form of mockery or pronouncements of opposition until you are fully convinced about the matter.
The second scripture (Acts 17:1-9, see below) is also to bring to our knowledge one of the ways people react to the message of TRUTH (The FULL Gospel). From verse 2, I would like to entreat my friends to desist from ARGUING about the Word of God. It is a sin before the Almighty God. The Bible is to be REASONED out as the verse 2 teaches us was the custom of Apostle Paul. God has been explicit on how his WORD (BIBLE) should be handled in 2 Timothy 3:16 i.e for TEACHING, REBUKING, CORRECTING and TRAINING IN RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Therefore, God does not permit his Word to be ARGUED because He is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33 “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints”. Titus 3:9 “But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless”).
Now, lets look at how the church in Thessalonica responded to Paul’s teachings concerning the saving power of Christ. There were two responses Paul received in Thessalonica.
Verse 4 tells us that some of the Jews got PERSUADED including a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women. The other response is seen in verse 5 where some of the Jews opposed Paul’s teachings to the extent of causing riots, and this resulted in Paul and Silas leaving Thessalonica for Berea. Remember, those that plotted the riots were not ‘outsiders’. They were the very Jews inside the synagogue whom Paul was reasoning the scriptures with. Not all who claim to be in the church will accept the bitter truth of the Gospel and will go every length to persecute you for telling the hard truth.
The third scripture (Acts 17:10-15, see below) brings to our knowledge the response Paul received from the Jews in Berea.
Also in Berea, Paul went to the Jewish synagogue for the same purpose of reasoning out the scriptures with the Jews. The Bible describes the Bereans as being of NOBLE character than the Thessalonians and does not indicate any opposition to the word of God Paul taught. In their response, they did something which the Thessalonica church did not do and that is: Acts 17:11 “…for they received the message with GREAT EAGERNESS and EXAMINED THE SCRIPTURES EVERY DAY TO SEE IF WHAT PAUL SAID WAS TRUE”. I want to highlight the word RECEIVED in the above scripture.
Note that, the fact that you RECEIVE someone’s message does not mean you have ACCEPTED or BELIEVED the message. Most Christians when they hear scriptural messages that they disagree with, they just burst out into arguments, and most often ends up rejecting the very TRUTH that will salvage their souls. The Bereans did not just receive, they did so with GREAT EAGERNESS. This great eagerness is a sign of GENUINE reception. Some Christian may receive but not from a genuine heart. They will give ear to you only to allow you to finish what you are saying and quickly dump your message in the bin and run over their arguments with you. This is false RECEPTION of the message.
After receiving the message Paul had for them, what did the Bereans do next? They EXAMINED the scriptures every day .So, when you receive any message from the Bible, do not reject it outrightly. Take time and EXAMINE with scriptures.
What if you were born into a Christian faith that speaks against jewelries and make-up?
Am sure you would have grown up without them. What about being born into a Moslem home? Am sure you would have grown up a Moslem. It’s about time you started questioning and aligning all your doctrines, beliefs and practices with the Bible, instead of holding on tightly to family religious beliefs handed down to you.
Some Moslems have been converted to Christianity simply because they started by asking questions. Some Christians believes in any one who claims to be a man of God, simply because that person performs miracles and mentions the name of Jesus and do not test the spirit behind the performance. When was the last time you reclined to your closet to pray to God to test the spirit behind the minister who performs those miracles? Many have been pierced with shuttered dreams, barreness, joblessness, all kinds of diseases, lack of marriage, failed marriages, poverty, addiction of fornication, pornography, masturbation, adultery, drunkeness etc because, they allowed demons who come as angel of light to lay hands on them.
In July this year 2013, God revealed to me concerning Christian groups on the university campuses. God brought to my attention that, Satan intentionally sends his agents into these Christian groups as prayer warriors and prophets to lay hands on believers to ruin their lives.
Unless you test the spirit, never allow any student prayer warrior or prophet to lay hands over you, speak tongues over you or prophesy anything into your life. In case you have been involved in such an encounter without testing the spirit, do no fear. In all seriousness and sincerity, I will encourage you to go down on your knees and pray to God to deliver you from any yoke or curse and restore all that Satan has stolen from you in Jesus name (Philippians 2:10-11 “10 that at the mention of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”. John 8:36 “So if the Son (Jesus Christ) sets you free, you will be free indeed”).
Take time and EXAMINE with scriptures what the other party is saying. The fact that some Christian have been wearing jewelries over centuries and you have been born into it and grown with it does not make it scriptural, acceptable or pleasing to the Lord. Don’t just rubbish the shocking message you are hearing concerning what you have been practicing all
your life.
I will also highlight EVERY DAY (Acts
17:11....examined the scriptures EVERY DAY....) to put across the fact that, the Bereans took their time to understand the message Paul had for them. They did not rush. They allowed as much time Paul wanted to reasoned out the scriptures with them.
Most Christians, upon hearing that wearing jewelries will land you in hell fire, will at that moment mock the message and clog their ears to hearing more information concerning that and will not search scriptures or commit it to prayer to confirm or reject it. It was after the Bereans had done all these things (RECEIVING, EXAMINING SCRIPTURE FOR CONFIRMATION, GIVING PAUL MORE TIME TO REASON WITH THEM EVERY DAY) before they BELIEVED. These steps to BELIEVING will produce Christians who are firmly grounded in the TRUTH and will not be tossed by any wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4:13-15 “13 Until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the TRUTH IN LOVE, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is Christ”).
In contrast, the Thessalonians who eventually believed Paul’s message will stand a high risk of walking away from the TRUTH later on because they did not take their time to believing the message.
Another interesting incident which occurred in Berea; Acts 17: 13 “When the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea, they went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up”. This shows that, the FULL Gospel which will move you from serving God in vain to serving God in a way that pleases Him, Satan will always prevent you from hearing and believing. Satan also goes to the extent of using those who rejects the message to be stumbling blocks to pollute the minds of those who would have believed the message.
But, the firm foundation upon which the Bereans believed the FULL Gospel will cause them not to shrink back in the mist of the confusion makers, false teachers and deceivers. It is my prayer that as you read the subsequent notes on jewelries and make-up, your attitude will be like that of the Bereans or even better, and not like the Thessalonians in Jesus name.
The fourth scripture (Galatians 1:6-10, see below) puts across a caution to everyone who propagates the message of the Gospel. The word of God cannot be taught by anyone in the body of Christ (James 3:1 “Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly”).
I always say this and I will say it again; the fact that you have gone to Bible College or divinity school and hold a degree, masters or Phd in theology/divinity does not make you a teacher of the Word of God. The teaching ministry is a divine calling and the Almighty God equips those he calls into the ministry to correctly handle (rightly divide; KJV) the Gospel (2 Timothy 2:15 “15 Do YOUR BEST to present yourself to God as one APPROVED, a workman who does not need to be ashamed {when you make any mistake in your ministry, do not feel proud and hide the correction. Out of humility, come out and right the wrong. Don’t let temporary shame and pride drag you to hell fire. You are only a workman/vessel being used by a PERFECT GOD. You are bound to make mistakes and not know it all so that the power of God is made perfect in your weakness; 2 Corinthians 12:9} and who CORRECTLY HANDLES THE WORD OF TRUTH).
Those who end up teaching the word of God without divine anointing end up teaching things contrary to the word of God and lead millions of souls to hell instead of heaven. Supposing a pastor of 2,000 membership says it is not a sin to put on jewelries and make-up, can you imagine the number of souls that one man’s utterance will lead astray to hell? This is the reason why God will judge teachers of His Word (Bible) more strictly because the blood of those souls that pastor led astray to hell will be required of him before the judgement seat of the Almighty God if he does not repent.
This is why Paul says in Galatians 1: 6-10 (see below) that anyone who teaches anything contrary to the Word of God is ETERNALLY CONDENMED. He continues by saying that; Galatians 1:10 “Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of God”.
The FULL Gospel DOES NOT PLEASE MEN and will never please men. So, if you are someone looking forward to please or be accepted by men, YOU CANNOT BE A SERVANT OF GOD; in other words YOU CANNOT PREACH THE FULL GOSPEL. However, believers are called to be evangelists to tell the world about Jesus being the only way of salvation, which is a general ministry given to every believer in the body of Christ. And we will all give account how we spread the good news about Christ to the world (Matthew 28:18-20 “8 Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey EVERYTHING I have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age’). Evangelism does not only mean standing in a bus or streets to preach or going out on missions. You call yourself a Christian but all you do on Facebook is to stalk people, gossip about people’s notes or status updates, post seductive pictures, show your new dress and hairstyle, tell people you have travelled abroad, bought that new car, got married, had a new baby, got that new job etc and not a single message on Jesus.
Facebook is enough audience to evangelise our Lord Jesus Christ. Just a single line that ‘COME TO JESUS’ is at least enough. However, there are special ministries such as teaching, prophecy, healing, apostleship, not everyone is called and not everyone can perform them (1 Corinthians 12:28 “28 And in the church God has appointed (It is by APPOINTMENT from the Almighty God Himself. Therefore, you cannot call yourself into any of these special ministries of God) first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking all kinds of tongues”).
In summary, this part one on jewelries and make-up is to encourage you to have the right attitude to receive the message of truth concerning jewelries and make-up so that at the end of the day, whatever decision you make (whether to accept or reject), will be firmly rooted and grounded on sound biblical doctrines.
All Glory to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit..Amen.
WHILES I TELL YOU THESE THINGS, I AM KEEPING MY OWN SELF IN THE LINE THROUGH THE SUFFICENT GRACE AND MERCY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST LEST I MYSELF MISS HEAVEN.
Biblical References
2 Timothy 3:16
New International Version (NIV)
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.
Acts 17:1-9
New International Version (NIV)
In Thessalonica
17 When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish
synagogue.
2 As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
3 explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said.
4 Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women.
5 But other Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd.
6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city officials, shouting: “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here,
7 and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying
that there is another king, one called Jesus.”
8 When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil.
9 Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go.
Acts 17:10-15
New International Version (NIV)
In Berea
10 As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue.
11 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness
and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
12 As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.
13 But when the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea, some of them went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up.
14 The believers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea.
15 Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.
Galatians 1:6-10
New International Version (NIV)
No Other Gospel
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different
gospel—
7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.
8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!
9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!
10 Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please
people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Culled from https://m.facebook.com/notes/adom-ofori-asenso/a-note-to-the-image-of-god-called-woman-4-part-1/651094944921276/?refid=17
