APOSTLE EDWARD SSEWANYANA: CHRISTIAN DRESSING: PART 5

Many Christian sisters take 1 Samuel 16:7 out of its context and assume that it was talking about having a good heart and indecent clothes. God told Prophet Samuel not to choose David's elder brother as the King of Israel simply because of his size and strength. This scripture can not be used as an excuse for indecent dressing. In any case it is out of the heart that lasciviousness (tendency to incite lust) proceeds and then manifests itself in indecent dressing. "For from within, OUT OF THE HEART OF MEN, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, ... LASCIVIOUSNESS... All these evil things come from within, and defile the man” (Mark 7:21-23) Jesus said that if you have evil treasures in your heart you will bring out evil dressing, "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the EVIL TREASURE OF HIS HEART bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh” (Luke 6:45).

2. The men who look at the indecently dressed woman and get stumbled are at fault and should be looking elsewhere

This is a very absurd excuse since the lady who is dressed indecently knows that she is doing a wrong thing and is aware that men are more visually oriented. It is like dropping a crate of beers into the fridge of someone who has just quit alcoholism and somehow expecting him to glance at it and throw it out of the house. That man would certainly look at the beers and would be tempted to drink them and hence you would have led him into sin indirectly. Bathsheba is also to blame for having bathed during daytime in a place which she knew could be visible from the King's balcony. David was wrong to commit adultery with her, but neither was Bathsheba innocent. When you place a log in the path of runners and some fall over it, they will surely come and teach you a lesson, you will not say that they could have seen it and jumped over it in time, "Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way” (Romans 14:13).

3. The man will undress me in his mind even if I dress decently

This kind of excuse tends to judge all men at the same level of carnality whereas there are those who are walking in purity. This is like finding a person about to commit suicide with a knife and instead of taking it, throwing it away and counseling the person you instead get the knife and help him finish the job by killing him. When you are discovered by the police you will surely be hanged for murder regardless of the intentions of the person you killed.

4. It is cool and fashionable, everyone is doing it

The path of Jesus is not always fashionable or cool. It was not cool for Jesus to carry the cross up the Golgotha hill and get crucified. You have to get ready to be hated by the world if you want to please God, "Blessed are ye, when men shall HATE YOU, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake” (Luke 6:22). You should not just do something because everyone else is doing it, you should not get a panga/machete if you are in a Rwandese genocide and start killing everyone around simply because everyone around you is doing it. There is a cross to carry when you serve Jesus and many times it will mean doing contrary to what the world is doing, "And he that taketh not HIS CROSS, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:38).

THE NEGATIVE IMPACT OF INDECENT DRESSING

1. It is a sin against God

Many people take indecent dressing lightly because they think it is just about people. They are very wrong since God Himself condemns lasciviousness which is the tendency to incite lust in others, "And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which HAVE SINNED already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and LASCIVIOUSNESS which they have committed” (2 Corinthians 12:21). Lasciviousness is also defined as a propensity to obscenity and this is something God considers as part of the works of the flesh and ranks it at the same level as witchcraft, "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; ...fornication... LASCIVIOUSNESS...witchcraft... of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-21).

2. It causes God's children to stumble

A person who goes out of their way to dress indecently is placing a stumblingblock in the path of those who desire to live a holy life. Sometimes sisters even go ahead to enter church dressed indecently and instead of the brothers focusing on worshipping God their mind is elsewhere. Jesus says that it is better to be sentenced to death by drowning than being caught making God's children to stumble, "But whoso shall OFFEND one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18:6).

3. It brings shame and dishonor to the wearer

One time a famous lady preacher changed her dressing to indecent clothing and in spite of the fact the ministry kept expanding, some of her staff members went ahead to resign. This is because she lost the honor she had before them. A male employer may hire an indecently dressed woman but at the end of the day will not respect her in spite of all her degrees but will view her as a prostitute and demand sexual favors from her. There are times I have walked in public with indecently dressed sisters and daughters in Christ but I would end up becoming ashamed on their behalf and longing for the time when they would depart from me. If you can not honor your body by covering it up, do not expect anyone to honor you for who you are, "Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they SEE HIS SHAME” (Revelation 16:15).

4. It allows demons to oppress a person

Demons of sexual lust are attracted and make their dwelling in a person who dresses indecently. Such people tend to complain about demons coming to sleep with them at night and raping them (Gen 6:1-5). They fail to realize that they are inviting these demons to torment them through their indecent clothing. Notice that the man who always went about without clothing was possessed by demons, “And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and wore no clothes...” (Luke 8:27).

5. It harms the person's health

God warned the Priests in the Old Testament not to wear anything that would cause them to sweat, "they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth SWEAT” (Ezekiel 44:18). It is a scientific fact that women who wear tight trousers commonly suffer with candida and other fungal infections in their female organs. We see from this that wearing loose clothing that does not reveal someone’s form is not only decent but has health benefits. Why should a sister subject her future or current husband to torture simply because she likes tight clothing, this shows that she does not really love him.

6. It can lead to early pregnancy or rape

I have personally encountered sisters who have come close to being raped simply because of their indecent clothing. When a sister dresses indecently she makes herself a centre of attraction for unbelievers and immoral brothers. Sister, when you get multiple phone calls from unbelieving men, check up on your dressing. The vultures and marabou storks will always gather if you have a rotting carcass in your back yard, "For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together” (Matthew 24:28) Throw the corpse out of your compound by dressing decently then you will avoid early pregnancy. Many sisters who dress indecently tend to get impregnated by young men who are baby Christians since the sisters tend to think that when they go out on a date or visit the homes of these baby Christians or unbelievers they are not noticing their indecent dressing.

7. It prevents unbelievers from getting saved

One time two young ladies went out to the Sheraton gardens to preach the gospel to the idlers in that place. They found a man and preached the gospel to him in a very convincing manner. At the end of the sermon when they asked him if he wanted to give his life to Christ, he replied, "I would have given my life to Christ if it were not for this lady who is dressed indecently." God will not hold you guiltless if you fulfill the devil's mandate of populating hell with indecent clothing. You should forfeit your liberty and do all you can to make people get saved through dressing decently.