Now, in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 1, the Bible reads, Be ye followers of me, even as I also
am of Christ.
And this is a theme in Paul's epistles.
He's often talking about the fact that he believes that people should be following him
and that he should be an example unto them.
The Bible also says in Philippians 3, Brethren, be followers together of me and mark them
which walk, so as ye have us for examples.
For many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are
the enemies of the cross of Christ.
So Paul is over and over again saying, follow me, be a follower of me, let me be an example
to you.
He says, follow me as I follow Christ.
And then in 1 Peter chapter 5, when he talks about the elder or bishop or pastor, he says
that they should not be lords over God's heritage, but that they should be an example to the
flock.
And so we should have people as examples that we follow.
We look at maybe preaching or soul winning or good things about their life and say, you
know what, that's someone that I can learn something from, that's someone that I can
follow, Elisha followed Elijah, Joshua followed Moses, you know all throughout the Bible we
have leaders that God raises up and people who follow them.
Now a lot of people today have this attitude that says, I don't ever want to follow anybody
and if you're following man, you're unspiritual.
You need to just follow Christ and not follow man.
Well obviously there is a lot of truth in that that we need to follow Christ supremely.
And we should definitely not be following a man who's not following Christ.
Or if we're following a man who's following Christ and that man begins to go astray from
the ways of God's Word, then we need to stop following him because we need to always make
sure that we have our focus and our eyes on Jesus Christ.
But we don't want to take that to too far of an extreme where we just say, let's never
have a leader.
And in fact, I'm stepping down as pastor, we're not going to have any leader in this
church that's going to be a total anarchist church where everybody who wants to just gets
up and preaches and teaches whatever they feel God has laid on their heart.
No, this church has a head which is Jesus Christ and then this church has a bishop or
overseer or the one who God has entrusted the flock to as an under-shepherd and that
is the pastor of the church.
I strongly believe in churches having a pastor.
The Bible taught that every city should have elders ordained, bishops ordained in that
city to lead in the church, not to just have a church with no leader.
Not just me and my buddies getting together in a living room and there's 15 of us so we
think it's a church because we all just sit around in a circle on the sofas.
Who's the bishop of that church?
Who is the leader of that church?
Who has met the qualifications of 1 Timothy 3, Titus chapter 1?
I didn't say who, you know, wore a special robe or had their collar turned around backwards
or had a special degree from a cemetery or, I'm sorry, seminary, but I said who is the
bishop of that church who has met the qualifications laid out in the Bible in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus
1?
It says, Be followers of me even as I also am of Christ.
Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the ordinances as
I delivered them to you, but I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ
and the head of the woman is the man and the head of Christ is God.
Now what does he mean here by the head of the woman is the man and the head of Christ
is God and so forth?
Well if you would, keep your finger there, go to Ephesians 5, there's a few pages to
the right in your Bible, and this will help you to understand what he means by that because
he said that the head of every man is Christ and the head of the woman is the man and the
head of Christ is God.
Let me show you exactly what he meant by that in Ephesians chapter 5 and beginning in verse
number 23 the Bible says, For the husband is the head of the wife.
Isn't that similar to what he said in 1 Corinthians 11 when he said that the man is the head of
the woman?
Here he says, For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of
the church and he is the savior of the body.
Look at verse 24, he explains what it means.
Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands
and everything.
So what does it mean when we say the husband is the head of the wife?
What we mean there is that he has authority over the wife and that she is in subjection
unto his authority.
Now that is also teaching in 1 Corinthians 11, 3 then that every man should be in subjection
unto Christ.
He is our authority figure, right?
And that every wife should be in subjection to her husband as an authority figure.
But you say, wait a minute Pastor, I don't think that's right because look at the last
phrase that says the head of Christ is God.
That can't have anything to do with authority.
Okay, go to 1 Corinthians chapter 15.
And in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, the Bible talks about after the millennium, let's start
in verse 25 to get the context, it says, For he must reign till he hath put all enemies
under his feet.
Jesus Christ ruling and reigning for a thousand years, if you get the context.
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death, for he hath put all things under his
feet.
But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is accepted which
did put all things under him.
Now watch verse 28 and tell me if this is consistent with 1 Corinthians 11, 3.
And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be what?
Subject unto him that put all things under him that God may be all in all.
So do we not see here in 1 Corinthians 15 that after the millennium, Jesus Christ will
be subject unto God the Father?
Just as on this earth when Jesus Christ walked the earth, he said, I do always those things
which please him.
And remember, he said, not my will, but thine be done.
Now let me ask you something.
Did the Father and the Son have the identical will at that moment?
No, because otherwise it wouldn't make any sense to say, not my will, but thine be done.
And look, I believe that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh.
I believe in the deity of Christ.
I don't want to tamper with that doctrine.
The Bible says, but unto the Son he saith, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.
I mean we could go through all the verses that prove that Jesus Christ is God.
I don't doubt that for one moment.
But I believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost and that these three are one.
That is what the Bible teaches.
There are two false doctrines out there.
There's one that teaches that the three are not one.
And basically they teach that Jesus is not God.
And that Jesus is completely separate from God and he's a created being.
That's what the Jehovah's false witnesses believe, the Mormons believe, and so forth.
That's a false doctrine saying that, you know, the three are not one, right?
But then there's another false doctrine, I've noticed it getting a lot more popular and
a lot more prevalent lately, and that is what is known as the oneness doctrine.
Who knows what I'm talking about?
Put up your hand if you understand what I mean by the oneness doctrine.
And it's usually a Pentecostal doctrine that basically teaches that Jesus is the Father.
Okay?
And that there is no distinction between the Father and the Son, but that Jesus is the
Father.
Now, that is not true.
There is a distinction.
Look, we only believe that there's one God, but that God consists of the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Ghost.
Okay?
You say, well I don't fully understand that, it doesn't matter.
That's what the Bible teaches, just believe it.
One God existing as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost because these three are
one.
You say, well how is that one God?
Because the three are one.
So there's the false doctrine that says that the three are not one, and then there's the
false doctrine that says that the one are not three.
And both of those are false.
We believe in the triune or trinity or whatever you want to call it, or just use the Bible
term, the three and one.
Now, the proof for that is that Jesus said, not my will but thine be done.
The proof for that is that Jesus said that to the Father, He said to the Father, glorify
me with the glory which we had before the world began.
The Bible says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God.
That proves that the Father did not just become Jesus or be manifest as Jesus.
Even in eternity past, in the beginning, Genesis 1, 1, there was already the Word with God,
but at the same time, He was God, and then He became flesh and dwelt among us.
So don't get mixed up in this Pentecostal oneness doctrine.
And I'll be perfectly honest with you.
The first time I heard the oneness doctrine, at first it sounded good to me because I strongly
believed in the deity of Jesus Christ.
And at first when I heard them say, well yeah, I mean Jesus is God and Jesus is the Father.
You know, when you first hear that, it sounds pretty good on the surface because there's
a lot of truth in that because obviously they are one.
But as you look at it a little more closely, and as I listen to these people talk a little
bit more, it started to become apparent, wait a minute, these people believe a very weird
doctrine and they're not getting the biblical distinction between the Father and the Son.
And look, how can the Son be subject unto the Father after the millennium if supposedly
there is no distinction there?
So do you see how the head of Christ is God?
Do you see that?
Okay, and that's what it says.
And that's talking about the Father there, okay, and it does not take away from the fact
that Jesus Christ is God.
It's just the fact that there's the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and guess
what?
The Son is subject unto the Father.
That is what the Bible teaches.
Call me a heretic for saying that, but call the Bible heresy then.
That's what the Bible teaches repeatedly.
Okay?
But look at 1 Corinthians.
Ah, but they're co-equal.
Okay, it depends on what you mean by that.
Whenever you start using words that aren't in the Bible, you're opening a can of worms.
You know, what do you mean by co-equal?
Are they, yeah, they're both just as much God, they're both just as great, they're both
just as powerful, they're both just as wise, they're both just as whatever, but are they
co-equal as far as authority structure?
No, the Father is subject unto the Son.
That is the way God has ordained that, the Godhead.
And it's a mystery.
It's a great mystery.
Alright, yeah, everybody knew what I meant, alright?
I misspeak sometimes.
But anyway, 1 Corinthians 11.3.
So he says there, the head of the woman is the man.
What are we talking about?
Authority is what we're talking about.
So now let's look at the next verse.
It says, every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoreth his head.
But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoreth her head,
for that is even all one as if she were shaven.
For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn.
But if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered.
For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, for as much as he is the image and glory of
God, but the woman is the glory of the man.
For the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man.
And put this in your pipe and smoke it, women's lib crowd.
Neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man.
Can't believe you just said that.
And it says in verse 10, for this caused off the woman to have power on her head because
of the angels.
That's a whole other sermon of itself, right, Brother Donnie?
And then verse 11, nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman
without the man in the Lord.
Watch verse 12.
For as the woman is of the man, referring to the fact that, remember, the woman was
taken out of man by the rib that was removed from Adam, but it says even so is the man
also by the woman, meaning that every man was brought into this world by a woman.
Think about that now.
So what he's saying there is that there's a symbiotic relationship here.
The original woman was taken from man, and then every man who's ever been born since
was born of a woman, okay?
So what he's saying is that both are necessary, right?
And then he says in verse 13, judge in yourselves, is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered?
What does comely mean?
Comely means is it appropriate, does it look right, does it look good, does it feel right?
I mean, doesn't it just seem wrong for a woman to pray or prophesy uncovered is what he's
saying?
Doesn't nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair it is a shame unto him?
So what he's saying here is you don't even really need to see this in the Bible.
I don't even really need to say it because just naturally you just realize that a woman
praying or prophesying uncovered is not comely, and that a man having long hair is a shame
unto him.
So do you see how he's putting them side by side, the woman praying to God uncovered and
the man with long hair?
Look what it says next in verse 15.
But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory for her, for her hair is given her for a covering.
So what is the covering that we've been talking about in all these scriptures so far?
Long hair.
And he's saying if a woman is uncovered, it means she does not have long hair.
And if a man is covered, it means he does have long hair.
So what God is commanding us here is that men should not have long hair and that women
should have long hair.
The Bible then says, but if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is
given her for a covering.
But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches
of God.
Then he gets on a different subject.
But I want to stop here.
To me this is pretty cut and dry, it's pretty simple, right?
I mean it shouldn't really need a huge explanation.
Because right here he's making it real clear that men having long hair is shameful.
But some people will say this, well, but the Bible never really said it was a sin for
a man to have long hair.
It just said it's a shame unto him.
But here's the thing, if I'm going to go out and do something that the Bible says is shameful,
that sounds foolish and the Bible says the thought of foolishness is sin.
So you know, that is a sin to just do stupid things.
I got that from you, brother Segura.
But anyway, so you know, the Bible's teaching here that men should not have long hair.
But it doesn't just say that it's a shame unto them.
Back up to the beginning of the passage, because he says in verse 4, every man praying or prophesying
having his head covered, and what did he define that as later in the passage?
Long hair dishonoreth his head.
But what did he say in verse 3 was the head of the man?
The head of every man's Christ.
So if a man prays or prophesying with long hair, what's he doing with Christ?
He's dishonoring Christ.
So let me ask you this.
Is it just a shame to have long hair or is it also dishonoring to Christ when you pray
or prophesy and you have long hair?
Think about that now.
So this is a pretty serious matter.
This isn't a joke.
And especially if he's going to spend, what, 17 verses almost.
You know, the first few verses were introductory, but he's spending well over 10 verses here
covering this subject and people say, oh God doesn't care how you wear your hair, he just
cares if you love him.
Well, he said, if you love me, keep my commandments.
And here he's making it real clear that nature itself should teach us this, but that if that's
not enough, he's going to spell it out to us and spend half a chapter, I mean there's
only 260 chapters in the New Testament, he's spending half a chapter explaining this.
Why does it matter?
Who cares if men have long hair?
Because it's an authority thing, that's why.
And because it's a difference between men and women.
See that's why Jesus, well Jesus said everything in the Bible because he is the Word, but in
Deuteronomy 22 5, the Bible says that a woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto
a man.
Neither shall a man put on a woman's garment, for all that do so are abominations of the
Lord thy God.
So why does God want men to wear men's clothing and women to wear women's clothing?
To put a difference between the two.
And we live in this gender-bending society when we often see people and we don't even
know whether it is a man or a woman.
You know, we're looking at the clothes, we're looking at the hair, and we're trying to weigh
out the evidence.
And you know, there'll be real strong evidence on the man's side and then all of a sudden
it's like, well wait a minute, and then some will start tipping it this way and you go
back and forth and back and forth and you can't even figure out what is the gender.
You know, you're checking all different things and you just, sometimes you'll walk away and
you just don't know.
You never know.
You never figure it out.
Is that what God designed us to be like?
He's walking around just hermaphrodite, whatever, you know, you can't tell what they are.
Okay, no, there's supposed to be a difference.
God separated male and female.
He wants men to dress like men, are you listening?
And have their hair like men and live a lifestyle that men live.
And then he wants ladies to dress like ladies, have hair like ladies, and live a ladies type
lifestyle.
And he also has put an authority structure in place in the home.
Marriage is not 50-50, as much as people might want it to be.
Marriage is an authority structure where the husband is the ruler, the husband is in charge,
and the wife is subject unto him and she is to be obedient unto her own husband.
That is what the Bible teaches.
Now, what I want to cover now, because I think this passage is pretty clear and if you're
saved and you're here and you're listening to the Bible and you're reading it, I think
it's pretty simple.
But there's a false doctrine out there and it's been getting very popular lately and
I've seen this false doctrine spreading.
It used to be just amongst denominations that are not Baptists, but now I'm starting to
notice a lot more of what are called head covering Baptists.
So a lot of Baptists are starting to get mixed up in this.
And this is something that is gaining popularity all the time.
It's really a growing movement of head covering.
And what that doctrine teaches, and by the way, I'm going to destroy it right now.
I mean, look, by the time I'm done, you will have no doubt that head covering is a false
doctrine, as far as what they mean by that.
I'm going to prove it to you every which way to Sunday, and you know, I've shown this information
to people who believed in this head covering movement and they changed when they saw this
information because really, to still believe in it in the face of the information I'm going
to give you is bizarre because, you know, I've got all the information here to prove
this doctrine false.
But here's what this doctrine teaches of head covering.
They say, well, the covering mentioned here is not long hair.
They say this is referring to a bonnet or a hat or some kind of a, I guess that would
be what you'd call it, right?
A bonnet or a, I have it in my notes, something else that they call it, a shawl, is that what
it is?
Whatever.
Whatever they're wearing on their head.
Now look, how many of you have seen people out and about wearing head coverings?
Now of course we see the Muslims wearing head coverings, but how many of you have seen people
that didn't look like Muslims and they're wearing a head covering?
Or OK, it might have looked like a coffee filter type thing, and I say that with all
due respect.
But you know, like a white, like a see-through white deal on top of the head, or even a full-blown
bonnet or whatever.
Now you know, these are not Muslims.
These are people who claim the name of Christ that are wearing these.
Now a lot of times they're Amish, a lot of times they could be Mennonites or Quakers,
a lot of times they are Pentecostals, and sometimes they are even head covering Baptists.
Now some of them wear it all the time.
Some of them wear it all day long, every time they leave the house.
Others only wear it when they are praying or prophesying, and that's when they don the
bonnet.
Now let me explain to you why this is a false doctrine, because in the passage here, the
Bible says that it is a glory for a woman to have long hair.
Look at verse 15, for her hair is given her for a covering.
And what they will say is that well the hair is a covering, but it's not enough.
There's a further covering that's needed, such as a bonnet or shawl or hat, and that
is a further covering besides the long hair.
The long hair is a covering, and that's like a nature example that we can relate to about
long and short hair.
But we're taking it a step further here with an additional head covering.
Now here's where they get this doctrine from, and I'm going to explain to you where they're
getting it from, and I'm going to explain to you why it's false.
But go to verse number 5, it says, but every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her
head uncovered dishonereth her head, watch this, for that is even all one as if she were
shaven.
Now what does it mean to be shaven?
There's no question in our mind, is there?
That is when basically a woman would literally just like Britney Spears just shave all of
her hair off, just completely bald.
And what he's saying is, wouldn't you think that that would be shameful or bizarre if
a woman just shaved her head completely bald?
And you know that's why when Britney Spears did it, it was all over the newspaper, right?
Because people thought it was shameful and bizarre, okay?
Now he says here, well if it's a shame for her to be shaven, then let her be covered.
Because it said that if she's not covered, that's all one as if she were shaven, right?
So what's he saying?
He's saying look, if you're going to have, this is the correct interpretation, the biblical
interpretation, if we believe the covering is long hair, we would look at that and say
well ladies, if you're going to have short hair, you might as well just shave it all
off.
Because in God's eyes, short hair and completely shaved head fall into the same category.
Disobedience to this word, okay?
So he said look, if you're going to have it short, might as well shave it all the way
off, okay?
Now look at verse 6 and I'm going to show you where they're coming from because I want
to show you both sides and then I'm going to show you why this head covering thing just
does not add up with scripture.
Look at the next verse, it says in verse 6, for if the woman be not covered, let her also
be shorn.
But if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered.
And what they'll say here is that they will say that shorn and shaven are two different
things, okay?
Everybody listening?
They'll say shorn or shaven, that's two different things.
And they say, see the word shorn, see how it kind of looks like the word short?
See how there's just one letter of difference between shorn and short?
And they'll say here, it is saying for her to neither be uncovered nor have short hair
nor be completely shaven, thereby proving that uncovered does not equal short hair.
Because they're saying shorn means short hair, everybody following their logic?
And so they're saying well if shorn means short hair and shaven is completely bald and
he's telling us not to do any of these three, not to be uncovered or shorn or shaven, then
that's obviously something different.
But here's the problem with their logic.
Shorn does not mean short hair.
Now if shorn meant short hair, I would see where they were coming from.
But I will prove to you right now that the word shorn does not mean short hair.
Go to Acts chapter 18 verse 18.
You see it's always best to let the Bible be its own dictionary.
Now first of all let me say this, when you shear sheep, you don't just give them a nice
little short layered little look, okay?
When you shear sheep, I mean you take it all off, okay, I mean you shear them down to pretty
much nothing.
Wouldn't you say that they look shaven when you're done?
So even just our logic would tell us, hey, in our modern vernacular we use the word shorn,
we're talking about, you know, being bald.
Okay, but sometimes our logic is not right.
Sometimes our modern interpretation of words is not right.
So what's the best way to figure out what a word means in the Bible?
Well one way is we could go to a dictionary, right?
But that's not the best way because dictionaries are written by man and man is not infallible.
Man is not perfect.
So the best way to figure out what a word means is to let the Bible be its own dictionary.
So what I often do is if I want to know what a word means, I look up every time that word
is used in the Bible.
And usually the first time it's used, so let's say it's mentioned 15 times, usually the first
time usually gives the best definition.
But often if I can look at, let's say it's used 15 times, I can look at all 15 times,
I can usually get a picture from the context of what that word means, right?
I mean without even touching a dictionary.
If I see a word used 15 times, it's pretty easy to figure out.
And plus the way God wrote the Bible, he purposely made it that way.
Even in Genesis 1 he defines everything.
He called the light day, the darkness he called night, the gathering together of the water
called he sees.
I mean he defines everything, that's how God is.
So if we look up the first time the word shorn is used, and in fact the word shorn, it's
only used one other time in the New Testament.
And so in Acts 18, 18 it says this, and Paul after this tarried there yet a good while,
and then took his leave of the brethren and sailed thence into Syria, and with them Priscilla
and Aquila, watch this, having shorn his head in Sancria, for he had a vow.
So according to Acts 18, 18, at the end of Paul's vow, he had shorn his head.
Go to Numbers chapter 6, Numbers chapter number 6.
And in Numbers chapter 6 we will see a description of the vow that Paul took, which is the Nazarite
vow.
And the Nazarite vow ended with the head being shorn.
Let's see what the Bible says about that in Numbers 6, because remember, we're trying
to figure out what the word shorn means.
Those that are the head covering crowd, the head covering Baptist, the Amish, the Pentecostal,
whatever, they're saying shorn just means a short hairdo.
I'm saying shorn is synonymous with being shaven.
Just another word for being shaven, completely bald.
Let's see what the Bible says.
In Numbers 6, 5, the Bible says, all the days of the vow of his separation, watch this,
there shall no razor come upon his head.
Does that sound like getting a haircut or shaving your head when you're talking about
a razor coming upon your head?
Okay, but it gets even more explicit.
Until the days be fulfilled in which he separated himself unto the Lord, he shall be holy and
he shall let the locks of his hair of his head grow.
Verse 18, jump down to verse 18, and the Nazarite shall what?
Shave the head of his separation at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation and
shall take the hair of the head of his separation and put it in the fire which is under the
sacrifice of the peace offerings.
So according to the Bible, when the Bible uses the word shorn, it uses it interchangeably
with the razor coming upon the head and even explicitly in Numbers 6, 18, with shaving
the head.
It doesn't say at the end of your Nazarite vow, get a short hairdo.
No, it said at the end of your Nazarite vow, shave your head.
And then Paul in Acts 18, 18 had shorn his head at the end of his vow, proving that shorn
in the Bible is not a short hairdo, it is the same as shaving.
Go back to 1 Corinthians 11 with that knowledge.
Now let's look at it with that in mind.
It says in verse 5, but every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonereth
her head.
Who is she dishonoring by the way?
Her husband.
She's dishonoring the man.
She's showing a lack of subjection and submission unto his authority outwardly by trying to
wear the pants in the family, by trying to, you know, have the short hair in the family
so to speak.
But it says here, but every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonereth
her head, for that is even all one as if she were shaving.
He's saying it's just as bad as if she just shaved her head.
For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn.
And look, even that links it to what he just said.
He said it's the same as if she's shaven.
If the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn.
See how he's using it interchangeably?
But if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered.
You say, well why does it say or?
Why does it say or?
It's two different things.
No, it's not two different things.
It's two ways to get to the same destination.
Sheer it or shave it, but the end is the same, bald.
The destination's the same.
Whether you shear it or shave it or raise it, whatever you want to call it, you're getting
to the same place and I just proved that from number 6 in Acts 18.
But let's keep going because I'm going to prove this even further because that's a small
victory for the non-head covering side.
Non-head covering side 1, head covering side 0.
That's the scoreboard right here that I'm putting up on the platform.
But let me say this, there's a much stronger proof here that this is not teaching head
covering because, wait a minute, what did the Bible say about a man who prays or prophesied
having his head covered?
He's dishonoring his head.
We're not talking about the shame part because that was about the long hair.
Let's talk about if a man prays or prophesies having his head covered.
Is that good or bad?
Bad.
So if you're going to teach, as the head covering crowd teaches, if you're going to teach that
women must have their head covered while praying or prophesying, wouldn't you to be consistent
also have to teach that it would be a sin for a man to cover his head while praying
or prophesying?
Isn't this a two-way street?
He says the man has to pray or prophesy uncovered.
The woman has to pray or prophesy uncovered.
Now if it's long hair, it makes sense because guess what?
My hair is short all the time.
And my wife's hair is long all the time.
But if it's a head covering, then wouldn't it be wrong for a man to put on that head
covering when he prays?
Whether that be a bonnet.
And don't even think about putting me in a bonnet.
But you know, a bonnet, a sombrero, whatever.
In order to be consistent, that's what you'd have to believe.
Now go back to Exodus chapter 28.
Exodus chapter 28.
You see the answers are all in the Bible, aren't they?
Now first of all, God said that when we hear this, nature itself should teach us this.
What is he saying?
He's saying it should be obvious that men should not pray or prophesy with their head
covered and that men should not have long hair and that women should be covered when
they pray or prophesy and that women should not have short hair.
That all should be obvious.
Nature itself should teach it to us.
Which is why all over the world that's usually the tradition.
And it's, you know, it's the anomaly when it's the other way around.
But look at Exodus 28.40 and tell me if this is consistent with what the head covering
crowd is teaching.
It says in Exodus 28.40, and for Aaron's sons, thou shalt make them coats and thou shalt
make for them girdles and what?
Bonnets.
Shalt thou make for them for glory and for beauty and thou shalt put them upon Aaron
thy brother and his sons with them and shall anoint them and consecrate them and sanctify
them that they may minister unto me in the priest's office.
So is it just me or is Aaron wearing a bonnet when he ministers in the priest's office?
Oh, oh, oh.
Why is he praying and prophesying with his head covered?
He's wearing a bonnet.
Now how can you teach women must pray in a bonnet?
That means men cannot pray in a bonnet.
Why is God commanding the priest to put on a bonnet before he goes and prophesies and
prays?
It makes no sense.
Okay, look at, now this is like, this is not, I can't even call this one point for the non-head
covering side.
This is just a sweep.
This is seven, I'm going to give seven points.
So we're up to, we're 8 and 0 right now.
I'm giving seven points to the non-head covering crowd.
Okay, because I can.
I'm preaching.
I can give as many as I want.
I'm changing the rules as I go.
But look at Exodus 29 verse 9.
It says, Thou shalt gird them with girdles, Aaron and his sons, and put the bonnets on
them.
And the priest's office shall be theirs for a perpetual statute and thou shalt consecrate
Aaron and his sons.
Go to Exodus 39.
See this is not just a fluke.
The priests always wore something on their head as they are ministering in the priest's
office.
That's why it's brought up over and over and over again.
So if God is just over and over again in the Old Testament, put a bonnet on Aaron, put
a bonnet on his sons, put a hat on, put a miter on, it's part of the outfit, wear it
when you preach, wear it when you pray, you know, and then all of a sudden we get to the
New Testament.
It's like, what are you doing praying and prophesying with your head covered?
Doesn't nature itself teach you there's something wrong with that?
It's like, well God, we've been doing this for thousands of years.
Didn't you hear about the Mennonites?
But anyway, he says here in verse 27, And they made coats of fine linen of woven work
for Aaron and for his sons, and a miter of fine linen, and goodly bonnets of fine linen,
and linen breeches of fine twine linen.
Leviticus, or go to Ezekiel, I'll read for you from Leviticus.
Go to Ezekiel 44, and while you're turning there I'll read for you Leviticus 8.13, And
Moses brought Aaron's sons and put coats upon them and girded them with girdles and put
bonnets upon them as the Lord commanded Moses.
Now this should be the last nail in the coffin right here for this head covering movement.
Because right here he's making it real clear that men are being commanded to pray and prophesy
in a bonnet as far as the Levitical priesthood.
Obviously we don't do that anymore because we're not Levitical priests, we're in the
New Testament.
But you know, he didn't say, oh this is a new doctrine, we're switching, we're swapping
head gear folks.
The bonnets are coming off Aaron and they're going on your wife.
That's not what he said.
He said this is something that nature teaches you, this is something that should be obvious,
this is something that you should know, it has to do with the authority.
I mean look, did men just start having authority over their wives in the New Testament?
Or did they already have that in the Old Testament?
All the way back to Genesis 3.16 when he said, thy desire shall be thy husband and he shall
rule over thee.
That goes back to Genesis 3.16.
But he says in Ezekiel 44.17, it says, and it shall come to pass when they enter in at
the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments and no wool shall
come upon them whilst they minister in the gates of the inner court and within.
They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads.
They're wearing the bonnet while they minister, it could not be any clearer.
And it says they shall have linen britches upon their loins, britches are pants.
They shall not gird themselves with anything that causes sweat.
No sweat pants, he's saying.
But anyway, jump down to verse 20.
Because remember, what do we believe the covering is?
Long hair.
And uncovered means you don't have long hair.
Covered means you have long hair.
So look, did the Bible say not to pray or prophesy having your head covered?
It did say that.
If it meant a bonnet, it would contradict all these scriptures I'm showing you.
If it meant long hair, it would not contradict because look at verse 20.
Neither shall they shave their heads, watch this, nor suffer their locks to grow long.
They shall only pull their heads.
Now is the Bible not saying in verse 20 that these priests should not grow their hair long?
Is that consistent with 1 Corinthians 11?
See short hair and a bonnet is perfect for 1 Corinthians 11 by our interpretation.
By the head covering crowd interpretation, it's a major contradiction.
It falls apart.
Okay, now look, he's telling them not to shave their heads.
So what's he saying?
Don't be completely bald and don't grow your hair long.
He's saying only pull your heads.
And the word pull there is basically talking about a short haircut, not completely shaved.
This is what they were confused thinking that shorn meant.
That word is pulling.
That's the word that they were looking for.
So anyway, back to 1 Corinthians 11.
Now another thing that people who believe in head coverings would say, and you know
the score is looking pretty bleak, but maybe they can pull this out.
I don't know.
It's 8 to nothing, but let's see if they can pull this out.
Another thing they'll say is well Pastor Anderson, you have to go back to the Greek to get this.
Now look, when anybody cannot prove something to you from an English Bible, there's something
wrong.
When you can just look at the Bible and it's not saying what they want it to say, I mean
I could tell you, have you ever heard the expression, well that's Greek to me, it means
you don't understand it.
Why?
Because Greek is dramatically different than English.
Therefore if I stood up here and told you right now, well the Greek says thus and so,
would you really have any way of knowing whether what I was saying is true or not?
You have no way to verify that.
Well if you go back to the Greek, it's X, Y, and Z.
Oh really?
Whoa.
And people just believe that.
And 99% of pastors who get up and tell you what the Greek says, if we were to drop them
off, if we were to parachute them into Athens, they couldn't even find the bathroom.
They wouldn't even find a restaurant.
They couldn't even order a hotel room.
They could not even order their gyro.
They couldn't even order tzatziki sauce on their whatever.
So what I'm saying is, they don't even know Greek.
They're not fluent in the language.
They're just saying stuff that they heard somewhere.
They're just repeating stuff.
Or going to a Greek-English dictionary or going to a lexicon.
Just saying things that they don't understand.
And here's what they'll say.
They'll say, well Pastor Anderson, if you go back to the Greek, the word for covering
is parabolaon.
And the word for uncovered is acatakalipto.
And so here's what they say.
Well if the word for uncovered is acatakalipto, and if the word for a covering is parabolaon,
those are two totally different words.
Therefore the covering that's referred to as long hair is completely different than
the uncovered from verse 4 because the Greek words are different.
But here's what's so silly about that.
Just because two words look dramatically different does not mean that they have a different meaning.
One of them is an adjective.
Think about this.
Uncovered is an adjective, right?
Covering is a noun, right?
Well let me give you some examples from the English language of nouns and adjectives that
mean the exact same thing but look completely different.
For example, how about this?
If you have faith, faith is what part of speech?
Faith is a noun.
But what is the verb of faith?
I faith in Jesus Christ.
I faith you.
I faith what you're telling me.
No.
You have to change that to what?
I believe.
Now is there a difference between the word believe and faith?
None.
Absolutely not.
And if you go back to the Greek, they are both pistuo, okay?
So it's the same word.
Faith is a noun, believe is a verb.
The words are identical and we could prove that from the Bible.
We could go to all the verses that use believe and faith interchangeably, okay?
What about this?
If you're undressed, what are you not wearing?
Clothes, nope, two different things.
Being undressed and not wearing clothes are two different things, two totally different
things.
The word clothes and undress don't look alike at all, two different things.
No, if you're undressed, that just means you're not wearing a dress.
So right now I'm preaching undressed.
I'm not wearing a dress.
See this is the logic of people who go back to the Greek, they don't know how to speak
Greek, so they're just looking at stuff, oh, well that said he's not dressed.
He was still fully clothed.
He just wasn't wearing a dress.
But that's the kind of logic of people who don't understand a language.
What about this?
If you do something manually, if I say I've got to do this manually, what are you saying
you've got to do?
You have to do it by hand, okay?
Because manually comes from the Latin word mano, which means hand, whereas the word hand
is a Germanic word.
So if you do something by hand, you're doing it manually.
Those two words look nothing alike, but yet they are the same thing.
Doing it by hand is manual.
Believing is having faith.
Being undressed means you're not wearing clothing.
What about things that have to do with the moon?
What would we call them?
It starts with an L. Lunar, right?
What about things that have to do with the sun?
What would we call them?
Solar.
That's right, because sun is a Germanic word, like the German word zone, okay?
Solar is a Latin-based word, like the word el sold in Spanish.
These two words are different words, sun and solar, but don't they mean the same thing?
They're just two parts of speech.
One's a noun, one's an adjective.
So to sit there and go back to the Greek and say, well, you know, just because you're a
cat-a-calypto doesn't mean you're not wearing a paraboleon, you know, that's just two totally
different things.
You don't know what you're talking about.
It's uncovered and it's a covering, it's the same word, which is why it's translated into
English as the same word.
Why don't you just speak English and just read the Bible in English and just believe
what it says?
But they think they know more than the translators, you know, and they haven't even studied enough
to be fluent, to order in a restaurant or, you know, to get a taxi cab or whatever.
So we see here that it's a covering.
Now you say, well Pastor Anderson, why, where are they getting this?
Why are they doing it?
And look, you say, why is this getting so popular if it's so unbiblical?
And I'll tell you why it's getting popular.
Because the feminist movement has failed.
Are you listening?
The feminist movement has been a failure and it did not bring liberation unto women as
it promised.
It actually has made women miserable.
Because whenever you go outside of God's will and you go outside of God's plan, there's
no joy there, okay?
You're doing things wrong.
You're going against nature, okay?
And so these women who've been taught to be independent and to be, you know, it's my life
and I'm not going to, I don't need a man, I don't want to rely on a man, I don't want
to be married to a man who's going to tell me what to do, who's going to be the boss
of me, I don't want that lifestyle.
You know, those who believe that way and live that way have been miserable and they have
failed and it's becoming obvious to everyone right now in 2013.
Are you listening?
I mean everybody right now in 2013, even unsaved people are starting to think that feminism
is stupid.
Even non-Christians, even atheists are starting to say, I mean I talk to people all the time
recently that are not even Christians and say yeah the husband has to be the head of
the home, he's got to be the boss.
And I mean they're not even looking at the Bible.
Because it's so obvious, because it's been that way for thousands of years and all of
a sudden this women's lib movement and this feminist movement has turned everything upside
down and it's been a failure, it's failed.
Everybody can see it's failing.
Not even just, well it's just not right because the Bible said it's not right, that's the
biggest reason, but other than that it's just failing.
And when things don't work and they fail, people stop and think, maybe this isn't such
a good idea.
So right now there are a lot of people that are really craving and really trying to go
back to an old fashioned marriage and old fashioned marriage roles and even non-Christians
are embracing these roles in many cases and saying that the husband needs to be the head.
And so amongst Christians, there are a lot of women right now who are frustrated with
all the false doctrine and they're frustrated with all the feminism and when they hear preaching
like I'm preaching tonight, they love it.
They embrace it.
They're thriving.
I mean I just preached along these lines, you know it's a completely different sermon,
but just along the lines of gender roles, I just preached last Tuesday night at Verity
Baptist Church in Sacramento and you know what, you could just tell the sermon was well
received by the ladies that were there.
They wanted to hear it because it's the truth and we want to blame everything on the women
don't we?
Oh it's all these women's fault.
No it's the men who are a bunch of wussies and have allowed things to get the way they
are because women, they want to be in their right role.
They want to be in their proper place.
It's men who dropped the ball and failed to lead and then they step in and fill that void.
We just need some man with hair on their legs to step in and say, hey I'm going to be the
boss.
I'm going to lead and I'm going to rule.
And then their wife is going to respond to that, okay?
But what we see is a movement that basically wants to go back and be old fashioned and
have old fashioned roles.
So basically they're looking at Little House on the Prairie, they're looking at the days
when women would wear this type of headgear and they don't understand that women were
wearing that type of headgear for practical reasons or for a fashion statement, okay?
Now I would not have a problem with you ladies if you said I want to wear a bonnet because
I think bonnets are cool.
Put on that bonnet, you know, great.
If that's your style, bring it back, okay?
But here's the problem with that though.
As soon as you put on that bonnet, you're grouping yourself in with false religion.
You know, because let's face it, and look, I'm not ashamed to say this and this isn't
going to be popular among some people, but let me say this.
Every religion that I've ever been exposed to that teaches the wearing of this bonnet
or head covering has always taught a false salvation, okay?
Let's talk about the Amish and the Quakers.
They teach this sovereign grace doctrine which is not whosoever believeth in him should
not perish.
It's not God so loved the world.
It's a doctrine of hyper-Calvinism and I'm not even a hypo-Calvinist.
I'm just not a Calvinist at all.
I don't believe in any Calvinism.
I'm not a quasi-Calvinist, a hypo, a hyper, a whatever.
I don't believe in any of it.
And so they're either teaching Calvinism or they're often teaching a works-based salvation
or they're teaching a doctrine that says you can lose your salvation which is just a thinly
veiled works salvation.
You don't have to work to get saved, you just got to work to stay saved.
And so why would you want to put on that head covering and instantly be lumped in as, oh
you look like you're Amish or you look like you're Mennonite or you look like you're a
Quaker or you look like you're a Pentecostal or you look like you're one of these that
believes in the so-called sovereign doctrines of grace or Calvinism or whatever you want
to call it.
I would not want my wife to be associated with that crowd which is why my wife is not
going to go around town wearing a bonnet.
Now here's the thing.
Let me say this, there's another reason why I don't think that you should go around town
wearing a bonnet is probably because if you're wearing a bonnet, you're probably drawing
a lot of attention to yourself in 2013.
Wouldn't you agree with that?
If in Arizona you put on a bonnet and go to the store, don't you think probably a lot
of heads are turning?
Now let me ask something.
Is that modesty?
And the Bible teaches that modesty is basically not the outward adorning and trying to get
attention but that your value is the hidden man of the heart, it's the inner man, it's
the inner qualities.
And see a lot of people misunderstand the word modest.
They think modest just means, oh, you've covered your nakedness.
But that's not what modest means because if I said I'm very modest, basically that's kind
of an oxymoron because if I'm telling you about it, I'm not being very modest by telling
you how modest I am.
But if I said, hey, I would show you my basketball skills but modesty forbids, that basically
means that I don't want to lift myself up or draw attention unto myself.
If I had a modest abode, if I said that my house was a modest home, that doesn't mean
that we have blinds on the windows.
If I say we have a modest home, I'm saying that it's not that fancy.
It's nothing that's going to jump out and get people's attention.
Now let me read for you what the word modest means from the dictionary.
Modest means having or showing a moderate or humble estimate of one's own merits, importance,
etc.
Free from vanity, egotism, boastfulness, or great pretensions.
And to me, if you're putting on a bonnet, it's kind of an outward show because it is
not the culture that we live in today.
Now I don't believe that we should just dress in a way that's just completely foreign to
our culture here.
Just to stand out, just to be different.
I'm just going to dye my hair blue and I'm going to put on a toga because I just want
to be different.
I mean, would that really be modest?
No, because I'm saying, look at me everybody.
And there are a lot of people who do things like that to themselves and it's what?
To get attention.
And God's saying here, look, be modest.
Don't be out trying to draw attention to yourself and everybody, hey, look at me.
Be humble, esteem others better than yourself.
I don't think that wearing a bonnet is a good idea, ladies, to go out and wear a bonnet
and to be a head cover.
And some might say, well, I'm going to wear a head cover just in case that's what God
meant.
You can just study to show yourself approved and figure out that that's not what God
meant if he commanded the male priest to wear a bonnet when they preach and pray.
And so the reason I spend so much time on that is because it's a big movement that's
out there and you might come across this.
You might be confronted with this and I want you to know what to say and what to answer
these people that confront you for your uncovered head, okay?
When in reality you have long hair.
Now let me tell you something, throughout the last few decades there's been a double
standard in Baptist churches that says, you know, we're going to preach all day long against
men having long hair, right?
But they don't preach against women having short hair.
So what's with the double standard?
And that double standard is applied a lot.
A lot of times you'll definitely hear them say, don't put a skirt on a man, but then
they won't say don't put pants on a woman.
Or they'll say, don't you dare have long hair men, you know, don't be a long haired sissy,
you know, long haired hippie.
But then all of a sudden with the women it's like they can have their hair as short as
they want without anybody preaching it.
Now look, if you come in here, men, and we've had men come in here with hair all the way
down their back, and you know what, I'm not going to tell them what to do.
I'm not, I mean, I'm going to preach the Bible, but I'm not going to badger them or harass
them.
I'm not going to badger any woman that has short hair, but I'm going to stand by the
pulpit and preach what the Bible says, that women are supposed to have long hair and that
men are not.
That is what the Bible teaches, and I'm going to preach it.
And you know, my pastor back in Sacramento, he taught me a good principle a long time
ago.
He said this, he said, I never base what I preach on who's in the audience.
And here's what he said, he said, I never subtract anything, but he said I also don't
add anything.
And I think that's a smart principle, I think that's a good principle.
So for example, if I come to church with a sermon notes, right, like tonight's sermon,
all about men having long hair.
Let's say a guy walked in, and we don't have one here tonight, but let's say a guy walked
in with really long hair tonight, and I said, oh man, I better change my sermon.
What does that make me?
A compromiser, a hypocrite, a phony.
And here's the thing, if we happen to have a visitor walk in that had long hair and this
is my sermon, you know what my first reaction would be?
Well man, God, praise the Lord.
God brought this guy on the perfect night, because this is exactly what he needs to hear.
But you know what?
These spineless preachers would just look, oh man, I don't want to offend him, I don't
want to hurt his feelings.
No, let's tell him the truth.
Now do it in love, do it kindly.
You know, so if I, but here's the thing, if I have a sermon about something else and a
guy walks in with long hair, I'm not going to add it to my sermon either.
Oh, well, you know, no, just thought of another point, you know, no.
You shouldn't add it or subtract, you know, just write your sermon and just preach it
regardless whether it's about clothing.
And look, I've preached sermons about clothing and people are guilty of the exact things
I'm bringing up and you say, that is so rude, that is so insensitive.
But here's the thing, as the church gets big, there's probably always going to be somebody
there guilty.
There's always going to be a guy with long hair, you know, there's always going to be
some.
And so you can't censor your preaching like that, you shouldn't add it and you shouldn't
take it away.
You know, what I've often done when I had a situation like that, let's say a guy walked,
and I've preached this type of a sermon all about long hair and had a guy walk in with
long hair.
And I preach the sermon.
So I'm not just blowing smoke up here, I've done it, I've lived it, I've been there.
And let me tell you what I would do is after the service, I immediately make a beeline
to that guy and you think I apologize for the truth?
No.
But you know what I do though?
I'm very nice to him and just show him, hey, that I love him and that I'm not, I don't
say anything about the sermon because I'm not going to apologize for the truth.
I never will.
But I just go up to him, man, it's so good to have you here tonight, you know, thanks
for being here, God bless you, what's your name, what do you do for a living, you know.
And I'm right away going to show this guy, hey man, this isn't personal, this is just
the Bible being preached, you know.
And you know, a lot of times that same guy will come back with a haircut the next week.
Because you know, people, some people have just never even heard this.
Some people are like, well Jesus had long hair, if I'm going to be Christ-like I'm going
to grow my hair nice and long like Jesus.
Of course, Jesus didn't have long hair, there's nothing in the Bible that even comes close
to teaching that he did.
You got that from a painting or a picture, you know, painted about 1500 years after Jesus
Christ walked on this earth.
Okay.
And so we need to understand that just as wrong as it is for a man to have long hair,
it is also wrong for a woman not to have long hair.
Now the question inevitably comes up and they'll say this, well what's long?
Or the other question comes up, well what's short?
Now let's say God gave us an exact measurement, okay, let's just pretend for a second.
Let's just pretend that God gave us an exact measurement and let's say that measurement
was you know, 10 inches.
You know, I'm just picking a random round number.
Let's say God said, you know what, 10 inches is long hair.
You say, well that would have been easier, Pastor Anderson, because then we'd know where
he draws the line, 10 inches.
But let me tell you why God did not say 10 inches.
Because if God said 10 inches, you know what that would mean?
That would mean that I could have my hair 9 and 3 quarter inches and my wife could have
her hair 10 and a quarter inches and we'd both be in compliance, would we not?
Hers is 10 and a quarter, she's in the long range, mine's 9 and 3 quarter, I'm in the
short range.
And you know what, would there really be a discernible difference in our hair?
Could you really notice that half inch difference?
No.
So what would that mean?
Women would be having the same hair.
So here's how I interpret this.
That there are basically three kinds of hair.
This is my opinion.
There's long hair, right, that's just clearly long hair, no question about it.
Then there's short hair, which is clearly short hair, no question about it.
And then there is in-between hair, where we wonder about it, okay?
So my belief is this.
Men should have short hair, women should have long hair, and we should both stay away from
in-between hair.
I mean doesn't that make sense?
Just to avoid confusion, because if we're in the in-between zone, we're going to start
looking like each other.
We're going to start having similar hairdos.
And I want there to be a distinct difference.
So here's my thing.
When I think about my wife's hair, it's just like, well how long can we go with it?
Before it gets too many split ends, and she's telling me she has to get it trimmed.
I like it to be as long as possible.
And I'm like, yeah, grow it longer, longer, longer, you know, but then she's like, I got
to get it trimmed, the split ends, you know.
And so different, now some ladies can grow it down to their ankles.
I think that's cool, you know.
Some ladies grow it down to their waist, you know.
Some ladies grow it halfway down their back, some it grows to the shoulder and the ends
start to split.
Some of it has to do, it seems like, and I'm not an expert on hair, but it seems like sometimes
darker hair is usually more robust and it usually can grow longer.
Sometimes lighter hair seems a little thinner, doesn't really grow as long.
Because whenever I'm out and about and I see women with super long hair, it seems like
it's usually darker in color.
But there's just a difference.
So obviously there are different lengths of hair.
But you know what, when ladies have their hair long, I'm not saying it has to be down
to their ankles, I'm not saying that they have to pick it up when they walk so that
they don't trip over it.
I'm not saying that it has to go to their waist or even halfway down their back.
I'm not even giving any indication, because the Bible's not giving any indication, I just
think people should just look at it and just consider it, that's long hair.
And I think women should wear their hair in such a way that if a man had it, we'd be like,
that guy has long hair.
Does everybody understand?
All women should have their hair in a way where if we looked at a man with that exact
hair, we would look at that and say, man, that guy's got long hair.
See what I'm saying?
Because there should just be a difference.
So I'm not trying to see how long I can grow my hair to just be right there on that borderline.
I want to have a haircut.
And look, I do not think that all men need to have a haircut like mine.
I think you could have several inches more than this.
I'm not saying everybody needs a buzz cut.
But look, for example, look at Alvin's hair.
Alvin's got a lot more hair on his head than I do, but would anybody make the argument
that Alvin has long hair?
No.
So you see what I'm saying?
And so what I'm saying is it should just be, your hair's not long, you know, and you say,
what does that mean?
Well, if you can't figure that out, how are you going to understand the rest of the Bible?
If you can't figure out what the word long means, and you can't figure out what the word
short means, how are you going to find out, how are you going to figure out what the word
propitiation means?
You know, you need to get some smarts, man.
That's all I can say to that.
And you know, that's all we have time for tonight.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for this passage, dear God, and I pray that you would help us
to take these things to heart and realize that, you know what, it's the inside that
matters the most, but the outside also matters.
Help us to get our inside and outside right.
Help us not to fall into this society that we live in where there's no difference between
men and women, they have the same authority, they live the same lifestyle, they have the
same hair, same clothes.
Help us not to be deceived, Lord.
Help us to stand strong for distinction between men and women in hair, in clothing, in lifestyle,
in authority, and you know, the world, even non-Christians are begging for it.
God help us not to fail them, help us to show them the truth so that they can also believe
in the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ when they see the truth, when they behold the chaste
conversation of the women coupled with fear, let them also be drawn to the gospel of Jesus
Christ as a result.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Alright, let's go ahead and sing one more song.