Dress Code
PROVERBS 23:21
21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags. Notice - that a man’s sin will eventually be revealed in his dress. A man’s wealth will clothe him in fine and rich clothing, but a man’s poverty will clothe him in rags – so the way that people dress is a reflection of something else.
GENESIS 38:13-15
13 And it was told Tamar, saying, Behold thy father in law goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep.
14 And she put her widow's garments off from her (notice that she changed her clothing), and covered her with a vail, and wrapped herself, and sat in an open place, which is by the way to Timnath; for she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not given unto him to wife.
This gentile woman Tamar knew about how that the way she dressed would send a message to others – there no difference in this day – clothing conveys a message, that is why the message of the hour is also connected to a dress code.
15 When Judah saw her (it first comes through the eyes before it comes into the mind – the same thing happened with Eve when she saw that the tree was pleasant to the eyes), he thought her to be an harlot; because she had covered her face.
Tamar wasn’t a harlot, but the way she dressed sent a clear message to Judah, because clothing and the way we dress conveys a message – it is connected to a message.
Dress Code
Many cultures have their own national styles of traditional dress code, or at least they used to. And you used to be able to tell quite easily what nationality people were from simply by the way they were dressed – their dress conveyed the message of what country they were from.
But now in the modern world of the great big melting pot of fashion magazines and the influence of Hollywood, it is almost like the whole world has become one dressed code of one standard – especially in the western influenced world.
Wikipedia:
Dress codes are written and, more often, unwritten rules with regard to clothing.
Clothing like other aspects of human physical appearance has a social significance, with different rules and expectations being valid depending on circumstance and occasion. Even within a single day an individual may need to navigate between two or more dress codes, at a minimum these are those that apply at their place of work and those at home, usually this ability is a result of cultural acclimatization. Different societies and cultures will have different dress norms, although Western styles are commonly accepted as valid.
The dress code has built into it rules or signals indicating the message being given by a person's clothing and how it is worn. This message may include indications of the person's gender, income, occupation and social class, political, ethnic and religious affiliation, attitude towards comfort, fashion, traditions, gender expression, marital status, sexual availability, and sexual orientation, etc.
We know that what happen in the Garden of Eden with the original sin was also directly connected to clothing – the two run parallel, because immediately after the sin takes place, the first thing that they were trying to do was to clothe themselves, because it is not normal for anything to be unclothed.
*Brother Branham tell us that the word religion means a covering
THE.CRUELTY.OF.SIN.AND.THE.PENALTY.THAT.IT.COST.TO.RID.SIN.FROM.OUR.LIVES_ JEFF.IN V-25 N-4 FRIDAY_ 53-0403
75 ... A word "religion" means "covering." It's like something covers. This coat is a--is a--a moral religion to me, because it covers my being. And your clothes is the same way. And it's a... It's a--a covering.
Now, notice then, when Adam, his fig leaves were all right as long as he didn't have to face God. But when he had to face God, he realized his fig leaves was no good.
Notice how that even in the natural, clothing and religion are connected together – look at the Catholic priest robes and all the different religions of the world of how they dress – they all have their own dress code, and so when Adam and Eve transgressed against the word of God, that was also directly connected to their natural clothing because one is showing the other in the natural realm. This is where we are to be taught by nature – a lion spirit on the inside is dressed by God by lion clothing on the outside.
I CORINTHIANS 11:13-15
13 Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered?
14 Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?
15 But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering. (Nature teaches us about being covered and clothing)
LUKE 12:27-28
27 Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
28 If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?
In the beginning, it was God that clothed everything. He clothed all botany life and all the animal life in a certain way, and their clothing was forever to reflect that portion of God’s glory in that reflection.
God clothed a leopard with a dress of spots, and he cannot change those spots. He clothed the zebra with at dress code of stipes, he dressed the Lillie of the field a certain way and with a certain glory, and the original way that God clothed them was his intension for them forever because he never changes his idea from his original thought of the way that he clothed it from the beginning.
God even clothed the heavens with the blackness of night.
ISAIAH 50:3
3 I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.
GENESIS 3:6-10
6 ¶ And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. (Sin always results in a change of dress, and Notice, they didn’t put shoes on their feet, or a hat on their head, or a shirt on their back, it was “Aprons” - they were trying to cover the area where the sin took place.)
8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. (You can only have confidence to face God when you are dressed correctly – you wouldn’t feel comfortable visiting the queen dressed in a bikini, because that is an inappropriate dress code, then how much more do we have to be dressed right when we have to face God)
9 ¶ And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. (Adam is very embarrassed to face God because he is now unclothed)
11 ¶ And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? (The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a person, and that person taught them, so it was education against the word that brought them into that condition, and that is why the more educated our society becomes the more naked they become – a change of garment comes by a change of teaching) Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
If eating from the tree of death produced a change of dress code – then so must eating from the tree of life in this day produce a change of dress code amongst the people that have had their hearts turned back to the true teaching of the word.
GENESIS 3:19-21
19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
20 ¶ And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
21 ¶ Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
God was showing in type that fig leaves was not according to the revelation of what God would cover man with, but it would require the death of a lamb, that is the only thing that God will accept.
Notice – from a condition of total nakedness, to being clothed with fig leaves (botany life clothing), then from botany life clothing to animal life clothing (sheep skins), but then there would have to come another stage to take us back to the original dress again before we could go back to that original clothing again of what brother Branham saw them clothed with beyond the curtain of time – God given supernatural clothing.
MATTHEW 27:27-28
27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers.
28 And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. Notice – a change of garment, Christ also became naked as man was made naked because of sin – he bore our shame.
LUKE 10:30
30 And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. (Notice that he went into a condition of nakedness just like Adam and Eve – but later he was clothed again)
LUKE 15:21-22 Parable of the prodigal son
21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: (This son had become naked by disobedience and sin, but when he had a change of heart and came back to his father’s house, his father clothed him again)
Down though the Bible we find that God required certain dress codes that had to be exactly according to what he had shown in order for certain people to be accepted by him. That is why in each church age it was the word for that age that dressed the people of God for that age – because outside of that dress code God would not accept the person as a part of the bride for that age.
ZECHARIAH 3:3-5
3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.
4 And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.
5 And I said, Let them set a fair mitre (turban - headdress) upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the LORD stood by.
We know that everything in the spirit world has an outworking in the natural world. And you can often tell a lot about a person’s spirit by the way they dress.
With almost every movement of man there was almost always a dress code connected with that movement.
Look and the hippy movement, look at the Art Deco period, look at the way rock stars dress, look at any gang or motorbike club - they all have their styles of dress codes, and you either comply with that code or you’re not fully accepted in that group.
***And so in the message of the hour, God has declared a dress code through the mouth of his vindicated prophet – and so there must be a change of garments in this age, because what is on the outside must correspond to the change of doctrine on the inside.
THY.LOVING.KINDNESS_ CHATTANOOGA.TN FRIDAY_ 58-0228
E-26 …Listen, lady, you wear these little old dirty clothes that they sell in these stores, sexy looking. You might be as pure as a lily to your husband. But if you dress like that, and get on the street, and a sinner looks at you, you are guilty of committing adultery with that sinner.
The clothing and the spirit go together – the clothing on the outside reveals the spirit that’s on the inside. Naked inside is revealed by being naked on the outside – but if you are clothed by the word on the inside, then you will be clothed in obedience to the word on the outside.
HEAR.YE.HIM_ KLAMATH.FALLS.OR TUESDAY_ 60-0712
E-42 I said that not long ago and a woman said to me; she said, "Listen...?... Brother Branham." She met me in the back of the building. She said, "Listen, Brother Branham, I don't wear shorts."
Well, I said, "That's very good."
She said, "I do wear slacks."
I said, "That's worse." That's right.
The Bible said it's an abomination for a woman to put on a garment that pertains to a man. God don't change. He made a man to look like a man and a woman to look like a woman. But today men are so sissified, they don't know how to dress. That's right. And women, God's daughters, smoking cigarettes, the greatest sabotage that the world ever had.
I'm not afraid of Russia whipping America. America's whipping herself. It ain't the robin that pecks on the apple that hurts it; it's the worm at the core that kills the apple. That's what's the matter with the churches and the nation today. It's sin at the core.
EXODUS 40:13-16
13 And thou shalt put upon Aaron the holy garments, and anoint him, and sanctify him; that he may minister unto me in the priest's office.
14 And thou shalt bring his sons, and clothe them with coats:
15 And thou shalt anoint them, as thou didst anoint their father, that they may minister unto me in the priest's office: for their anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations.
16 ¶ Thus did Moses: according to all that the LORD commanded him, so did he.
We see how that Moses (the first Exodus Prophet) received instruction from God of how to dress the priest with the correct garments of how that he would accept – any other form of dressing he would simply not accept.
ESTHER 2:13-17
13 Then thus came every maiden unto the king; whatsoever she desired was given her to go with her out of the house of the women unto the king's house.
14 In the evening she went, and on the morrow she returned into the second house of the women, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king's chamberlain, which kept the concubines: she came in unto the king no more, except the king delighted in her, and that she were called by name.
15 Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, was come to go in unto the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king's chamberlain, the keeper of the women, appointed (her dress was furnished by Hagai - a type of the messenger for this age). And Esther obtained favour in the sight of all them that looked upon her.
16 So Esther was taken unto king Ahasuerus into his house royal in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.
17 And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.
THE.RESTORATION.OF.THE.BRIDE.TREE_ JEFF.IN V-3 N-15 SUNDAY_ 62-0422
39-1 Notice now. Now, this little cankerworm begin to bore hisself into the bark. What did he do? He begin to take its religion, its covering, its doctrine away from it. Religion is a doctrine, a covering that covers anything. That's the reason that our religion is by blood, the Blood--the Life is in the Blood that covers the Word. And the life is the--is in the blood; the blood is the religion; and the Life in the Blood is what brings the results. Why, you see it? See?
When Eve believed in the false teaching of the serpent, the holy garment of the supernatural clothing of God left her.
Nakedness is exposure, and exposure makes you venerable.
**When God made the animals, they were created with clothing that came naturally from the inside out, when God made the plant life, He clothed it, and when God put Adam and Eve on the earth they were clothed with a supernatural garment veil, the word produced that veil, because one is the outworking of the other.
THE.INVISIBLE.UNION.OF.THE.BRIDE.OF.CHRIST_ SHP.LA V-2 N-15 THURSDAY_ 65-1125
95 Buildings are all right. Hospitals are all right. All these other things are all right. Educational programs, that's all right. We have to live here, have to read, write. That's one of the economies.
96 Like, we wasn't supposed to put on any clothes, at the beginning. I'll preach on that, later this week, the Lord willing. But we have to wear clothes because God gave us clothes (he’s referring to natural clothing, and because we don’t have our own original clothing anymore, we have to take the clothing that God gave to the animals and the plant life and put that upon ourselves to cover us). But, in the beginning, we didn't need them. We were veiled.
97 Now she is veiled to her sin. She don't even know she is sinning, see, as she was then. By the... Now she is veiled by the Devil; then she was veiled by God. The difference of it.
98 Now we find out that she has been given this sacred trust that she must not break: of womanhood, act, have her character, raise her children, be honorable to her husband.
99 Now days, they pay a bit more attention to it than nothing in the world.
**I am trying to show how that when we are truly restored to the word, then that has an outworking in our conduct and the way we dress.
PRESENT.STAGE.OF.MY.MINISTRY_ JEFF.IN V-11 N-2 SATURDAY_ 62-0908
120 Letter comes all the time. One come the other day, said, "Brother Branham, I had the greatest of confidence in you, but I heard you say that a certain denomination which I belong to was backsliding." Said, "I have no more confidence in you at all now, from now on." Said, "There's about twenty-five of the brethren of my denomination setting in one of your meetings"; said, "we just got--got right up and went off when you said that." (In other words, they refused to receive the correct clothing of the true teaching and doctrine of the word upon their souls – and that is why they would also go on to reflect that in their natural clothing of how their woman folk dressed, because it is the same spirit reflecting itself in the both realms.
So not only were they unclothed on the inside, they were also unclothed on the outside. And not only were they disobedient to the word on the inside, but they were disobedient to the word on the outside – you only reflect on the outside what you are on the inside.)
Well, all men has forsaken me, but there's one thing, He stood by me...?... one thing. I'm not... I wasn't disobedient to the heavenly vision that's happened down there on the river. I've stayed true to it. He's been true to me. I'm trusting in Him, someday; I don't know when, for a crowning of my ministry. I'll stay just as true as I could be. I don't know what it'll be; I don't know when it'll be. And I... But when He's ready, I am. Now, look here. I hope He'll crown my ministry with this, of letting me take the clothes of the Word and dress His Bride in the clothes of the Word and for His righteousness.