I remember in the late 70s one popular UPC pastor/camp speaker was returning to his church after being out due to injuries that he had suffered in an accident. The tape of his "first message back in the pulpit" was wildly popular and almost required listening.
That man scolded and hollered at his church for their allegedly errant ways. He even demanded that any woman who had ever cut her hair write him a personal letter of apology. He was that forceful and that demanding with the people he was alleged to have served.
Many years later, after one of his favorites was charged with molesting children within his own family - this pastor publicly called the children "whores" for no other reason than that they had been victims. I know that I am angering some folks by bringing this up - But I see a clear and direct connection here.
This pastor was heralded for how "clean he kept his church." He brow beat people and drove folks off who wouldn't "line up" with the dress code. When sin was found in his camp, however, instead of calling out "Achan;" he called out his own grandchildren and called them "whores."
The arbitrary nature in which these "dress codes" and other "standards" (and even out-right sin) are administered and the harm that is done by our own ignorance is probably the biggest reason God has not blessed the UPC and other Apostolic organizations with revival. If we can't be trusted with the relative hand full of people who wander through our doors, how can He trust us with the billions who are seeking the Kingdom? (
Luke 19:12-27).
If we can't correctly disciple people on a concept as basic as "Jesus is the Savior" - then how can we be trusted with the souls of any child of God or even "potential" child of God?
Do your split ends really amount to something worthy of honor in the Kingdom? Honor for whom? We declare it to be an "honor" and "glory" for a woman to NEVER trim her split ends. We say that she cannot even be saved if she does. Torn and worn out strands of keratin protein have become our gods. That, and a "smart suit" and "bifurcated garments" on the "correct" people and no "bifurcated garments" on the "incorrect" people.
We have a "priesthood" that is garbed in stranger array than any Babylonian priest or priestess. And, none of it is Bible.
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