I’m a woman and I love beauty; it’s an expression of my feminity.
When I moved to the mountains a few years ago, ditched my tv, quit social media and started prepping for the prophetic End Times, I needed a real hobby. I was drawn to handicraft because I love the creative process of making things beautiful so I started nature embroidery. The spiritual connection is clear. Beauty is a form of godliness because it expresses the Creator. We serve a God of beauty, look around you and see His artistic power in His handiwork. We are created in His image and we reflect Him and show the world the beauty-loving God we serve (both Genesis 1 and Revelation 1 detail the meticulous care that our Creator takes with His own creation and Himself). This brings us to fashion and God has a lot to say about it.
First, we see fashion in the Old Testament in the craftsmanship of the sanctuary (Exodus 35:31-33). The plans were given by God to Moses (Exodus 35:1,4) and then Holy Spirit selected two men – Bezaleel and Aholiab – to be the artistic directors called specifically by name to execute God’s plans (Exodus 36:1 & Exodus 38:22,23). Did you know that art is a gift of the Holy Spirit? To create art that is acceptable to God one must be filled by the Holy Spirit (Exodus 35:31-33).
Fast forward to prophecy, in Zechariah we are given a beautiful metaphor of Righteousness by Faith, our most precious doctrine, when the High Priest adorns the penitent one with white raiment and mitre (Zechariah 3:4,5), a visible representation of God’s grace for the sinner.
Fast forward to the New Testament and my favorite parable of the Prodigal Son. Yet again, the penitent son returns home and is adorned by his father with a rich robe (Luke 15:22), a testament of forgiveness and restoration. We end in Revelation and the redeemed are clothed in white robes (Revelation 7:13-14) and fine linen (Revelation 19:7-8). So much fashion with so much meaning.
The Ephod
The highest fashion was worn by the High Priest, who wore the Ephod as a sign of authority, to show that He is the only Representative of humanity to divinity (Hebrews 2:17, 3:1, 4:14-16). The dazzling showpiece of the High Priest’s Ephod is covered in precious stones (Exodus 39:2-21) expressing how close to God’s heart are His beloved children.
The Ephod was so highly honored that King David sought it out when he prayed to God in his distress (1 Samuel 30:6-8). Another example of powerful clothing is in Jesus’ ministry, remember the woman with the issue of blood? She said if I but touch the hem of his garment; she didn’t touch his body, his garment alone would suffice to release divine healing, and she was right (Matthew 9:20,21 & Luke 8:43-48).
Another example of powerful clothing is in Paul’s ministry, where reports that even his handkerchief exuded the Holy Spirit’s power (Acts 19:11,12). How does it work, that the divine omnipotence of God’s power rests in fabric and released into the lives of others, from the spiritual to the material? (Read: The Acts of the Apostles, pg. 286). Not forgetting the most powerful clothing available to us in the Full Armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18).
Furthermore, Jesus gave a parable of the wedding feast; apparently the gatecrasher was identified solely by wearing the wrong garment and was thrown out (Matthew 22: 11-13). This is illustrated further when God points out that our self-righteousness is filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6), a reiteration of Adam and Eve’s attempt to sow their own fig leaves to cover their sin (Genesis 3:7,21). The last fashion statement on this earth is before the battle of Armageddon and it warns, “Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments” (Revelation 16:15). Fashion is an expression of spirituality in the most profound way.
I have one question for you.
Why are the top luxury fashion brands in the world Italian (and French as an extension of Italy)? Versace, Hermes, Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Gucci, Prada, Dior, Cartier, Balmain, Roberto Cavalli, Valentino, Balenciaga, Givenchy, Armani, Lanvin, Fendi, Dolce & Gabbana, Luis Vuitton, Missoni, Bottega Veneta, Ermenegildo Zegna, Brioni, Canali, Luca Faloni and Brunello Cucinelli. The superficial answer would be that only Italians have a fashion sense, but that would be racist to say in this day and age. There are fabulous fashion designers all around the world but why is high fashion dominated by Rome?
In the book The Great Controversy, we study the metamorphosis of Rome from a pagan power into papal power (Chapters 2-3). In Revelation 18 we see Rome’s power extends to the merchants and craftsmen of the world who all pay homage to Rome (Revelation 18:3,12).
In the SDA Commentary Volume 7 there is a chart that summarizes Revelation 18 and explains Rome’s agenda, her strategy, her accomplices and her fate. Her ambition is clear “to rule the world,” and she utilizes superstition, spiritualism and demonic spirits to accomplish her end (Revelation 18:2). Furthermore, Revelation 17’s metaphor of Rome as a richly clad woman covered in jewels is not without a literal interpretation. Rome is richly covered because she controls the fashion industry; high fashion luxury brands are a visual presentation of Rome’s power. But what is the implication of this? Let’s go back to Black music.
Remember several articles ago when I talked about Black music? Let’s investigate Black music videos.
The Danger of Hip Hop Music
Pick any Rap/Hip Hop hit song released in the past few decades, back when music videos were a thing. Rap/Hip Hop evolved from urban angst to materialism almost overnight and you could hear it in the lyrics and see it in the music videos: sports cars, champagne bottles and yes, high fashion brands. The reality is this. Most rap artists were struggling musicians trying to come up with rent money but now boasting about their multimillion dollar beach houses. What changed? Rome.
What rapper stars wore, high fashion brands displays to whom they sold their souls to. Many social media influencers publicly flaunt being paid for promoting these brands to their millions of followers: it’s a barter system, money for influence. In this case, musicians are paid so that Rome extends her influence in the world, such as in the Black community. Think of how many men and women live beyond their means to spend thousands of dollars wearing high fashion brands to increase their social value when in reality they are just a pawn in the game of Rome. It’s not just economic enslavement, it’s racial and spiritual enslavement. Is the solution Black-owned fashion? Let’s get to solutions next.
God’s warning to His children is clear, “come out of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” (Revelation 18:4). Not too long ago, a Black music video came out called “Entrepreneur” by rapper Pharrell Williams encouraging Black people to get into entrepreneurship. The idea was to create a financial parallel economy outside of the White Western World. The Black brands promoted in his music video fell into three categories of financial separatism:
1) back to African-Tribal/Black Spiritualism roots promoting traditional-Afro-centrism,
2) create a Black copycat, in this case a Black version of what already exists, or
3) promote Black modernity, futurism, humanism and urbanism.
I use Black music as an example of how counter-cultures work. In essence, the call to come out of Rome is to go against the culture and be completely separate (2 Corinthians 6:17). While I have clearly stated I am against racial separatism because it destroys the Everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ (Revelation 14:6), I am completely advocating for spiritual separatism. We are called not the conform to the patterns of this world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2). When we have new minds, we have new fashion.
But what does that look like practically? We need to aggressively support our own Christian fashion businesses, seamstresses, tailors, designers and artisans; encourage our people to create clothing that embodies true art and our Christian values, and promote them by wearing them. This is not superficiality, it’s spiritual warfare. Remember soon we will neither buy nor sell (Revelation 13:16-18), and we are running out of time to get our own ventures in the works now.
In the home, we need to pass on these values: exposing Rome’s agenda, reinforcing our spiritual identity as God’s children, and tying the spiritual with the material. We need to encourage our youth not to be concerned about wearing other people’s brands but to have the ingenuity to create their own. We need to teach our youth self-respect comes from their spirituality and character not worldly metrics of social worth. We need to teach our youth that a strong relationship with God will preserve them from peer pressure and the allurements of the media, and how to guard the avenues of the soul. Most importantly we need to teach them that they are beautiful because God created them so (Psalm 139:14).
True Beauty
Why does beauty matter? Because it is under attack by the aggressive tidal waves of feminism and an anti-God, anti-creation, anti-beauty culture. If you remember the supermodels of yesteryear – Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Claudia Schiffer, Cindy Crawford and Linda Evangelista – beauty in all colors was honored.
Fast forward to today, the modelling industry, a close relative to the fashion industry, has been criticized for the growing cases of eating disorders, mental health crisis, infertility, surgeries, and suicide within the beauty industry and across the population of women trying to keep up with the shifting standards of beauty.
Recently, the former Miss USA, Cheslie Kryst, was found dead after a short-lived sad life of fame and fortune. I asked my dear friend, a former model now in her 70s, who still is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met, “What’s it like to be so beautiful?” She started to weep. After hours of relating all the back-stabbing, betrayals, bullying, mistreatment, loneliness, harassment and sexual abuse she suffered, and the woman she worked for who greeted her every day with: I hate you! She confessed to me, “No one wants to be this beautiful, trust me.” Even the most beautiful ones cry silent tears.
Back to church, I recently I heard a children’s story that my African mother told me as a child. Once upon a time in Africa, there was an African mother who had a baby boy. One day there was a fire in their village while she was out working in the fields. She ran to her house that was burning to the ground and remembered her baby boy was inside sleeping. Without a thought she ran into the burning house and rescued her baby boy from the fire. The boy survived unhurt but the mother was badly scarred, her face totally deformed. Years later, her boy went to school and one day while he was playing with the other children, they began to tease him about his ‘ugly mother.’ The boy ran home and cried on his bed. His mother heard him crying and asked him what was wrong. The boy told her everything. She got up went to her bedroom and took out a picture and showed it to her boy. It was a picture of her before the fire, she was a very beautiful woman, and then told him the story of the fire. Losing her beauty was worth the life of her boy.
This is the Ministry of Beauty: bringing out what’s on the inside. In fashion, it’s a visual representation of a beautiful character tried by the furnace of affliction. We are all called to show the beautiful love of our Lord Jesus Christ and we can do it today in how we dress, how we treat others, how we speak to each other and all the other Christ-like graces that are the sweet fragrance of a godly life (2 Corinthians 2:14,15.
Beauty, is in the eyes of the beholder. If we seek it from the world, we will never measure up as we are called to be different. If we seek it from ourselves, we will never be enough projecting our self-esteem. But if we seek beauty from God our Creator we are secure in His faithful love.
“To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.” -Isaiah 61:3
Until next time, see you at the next rodeo!
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Liza Ngenye is a third generation Adventist living in Southern California. Her personal writing ministry primarily focuses on issues of racism and sexuality. You can contact her by email: lizangenye@gmail.com