NONSENSICAL FASHIONS AND FASHIONS' NONSENSICALITIES – Men in earrings …..ladies in 'aware' dresses.

A very strange heading today?  Very confusing? Oh, no. Just take it easy.  It's all about the ongoing turns and twists of fashions in our society, like: men wearing earrings; men plaiting the hair into colo-style finger-like rolls, old-time pompadour, modern weave-on, Lagos hair ridges, wigs; men in ladies necklaces, ladies bangles, eye-lashes and what have you.

Soon men will be seen dusting ponds in their faces, showing red lipsticks on their heavy lips and wearing brassieres on their flat breasts and ladies shoes on their muscular feet, dangling ladies arm-bags as they move their arms forward and backward like village women carrying baskets of meal to their husbands' houses  How do you call such men? Men ladies?  Womanish men? That's how the Devil, 'the prince of this world'' (John 16:11) is pushing people to do what God doesn't like, and thus make them be condemned to hell!  I shall soon explain this further.  Do you know this head-shaving fashion was secretly contrived by Satan to make men break God's command in Ezekiel 44:20 saying 'They (men) must not shave their heads or let the hair grow long, but they are to keep the hair of their heads trimmed'.  If you are a man who actually believes in God, why should you allow Satan to deceive you to shave your head in the name of fashion?

Ask any man who has plaited his hair, or worn an earring or has shaved his hair, and he will quickly contrive some sweet reasons for his action.  Tell him to stop it, and the Devil will quickly work anger in him to rather condemn your salvational counselling or to push that suggestion away.  Those of us who are several times in the Spirit know exactly how the Devil is operating to get people to break God's commandments and commands.  I have already written about Satan's mechanisms, and will continue to expose his ways!    Unfortunately, when the truth is told, the Devil quickly suggests secretly to some people's souls and tells them: Don't believe it.  Don't mind him.  He doesn't know what he is saying.  Go on to shave your head.  It's good. Don't you feel fresh air wafting over your empty head to make you cool?  That's it.  That's good fashion.  That's the current style in the world.  Don't mind that pastor who always writes on controversial issues for jokes….!'  But reader, the plain Truth is that Satan is rather misleading some people to break God's commands so to sin and go to hell!

Such fashions as: men wearing earrings, or plaiting the hair, or women doing down-cut hair, or ladies wearing jeans to show their underpants and some nasty beads, ladies wearing blouses so fashioned as to show half of their breasts possibly to entice men - all these are types of Nonsensical Fashions .  Does it make sense for a man to wear earrings, when putting on earrings is the exclusive preserve of women?  Does it make sense for a lady to fashion her head as a man does, especially in down cut style?  God hates all this.  In Deuteronomy 22:5 God says: 'A woman must not wear men's clothing, nor a man wear women's clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this' It's really sinful and condemnable to practice transvestism (wearing of the dress of the opposite sex or the fashioning of one's dress or hair style to look like that of the opposite sex) which God clearly proclaims to be abhorrent to Him.

There are some people who argue that the Old Testament laws are not used by Christians, thus the Deuteronomy quotation is out-of-date and unchristian.  This is a pitiable argument.  Fact is, Christ did not come to destroy the laws of the preceding prophets from Moses to Malachi, but only came to fulfil them. (Matthew 5:17)  Where some of them had become disused or misused, had gained unnecessary accretions or were misapplied, and were therefore not socially and spiritually effectual or self-fulfilling, He Christ, set them aside (as outdated), or pruned them into good spiritual directives or transformed them to be more spiritually operational.  The rest of the Old Testament laws were never touched.  The transvestism law quoted above to the effect that men should not wear women's apparels or embroideries, and women should also not do the same, was one of those divine directives which was not changed by Christ.  If Christ is seen to have endorsed or appreciated 'those who wear fine clothes' as being in King's palaces (Matthew 11:8), he is furtively disapproving transvertism and encouraging the wearing of correct vesture.

Since ancient times, earrings ('nezem' in Hebrew) have been worn by women to make onlookers identify them as women.  Ghanaian cultural teachings have been very much explicit on this, therefore a man wearing an earring is considered to be insane or mad or abnormal.  Nowadays, some boys, usually 'wee-smokers' who call themselves 'guy men', and some musicians, some actors, and some footballers wear earrings.  When you approach them and ask why they have worn earrings, they usually reply: 'You don't know?  Hi, it's for fashion…..yeah…..modern fashion.'  But such answer has no sense in it.  There is no good reason behind what is being done.  Ask a lady why she has let down the waist of her jeans just to show her underpants to male onlookers, and she answers: 'I'm aware!' This means that she is intentionally doing that to attract men, and she is aware that her underpants are showing at the waist.  Is that a satisfying answer?

What these 'I'm aware' ladies are ironically not aware of is that they are telling the world that they are prostitutes (jantra) people who are enticing men.  Don't you think some of the rape cases are the direct causes of some of our 'aware' ladies?  The reasons the ear- ring boys, the down-cut ladies, the 'I am aware' ladies, the hair-do boys and so on give to explain their strange actions are all childish and funny.  In fact, they are 'fashions' nonsensicalities'.  Where the reasons for adopting some particular fashions sound nonsensical, we call them FASHIONS' NONSENSICALITIES.  And we have fashions' nonsensicalities being woven around some nonsensical fashions such as men plaiting the hair, men in earrings etc. women with long nails on the finger, ladies with large 'octopus' earrings and show-the-breasts blouses, and  nowadays ladies with painted eyelids, looking  like Xmas- time fancy -dress people.   It's a SHAME.  A big SHAME unto such boys and ladies.

How did the fashion of men wearing earrings come into being?  It all started from the United States where gays who want their 'female wives' appear feminine buy them earrings to wear.  So in California for example, when you see two boys or men walking together, and one is wearing some earrings, he is telling you that he .is a 'wife' of the gay partner.  In short, an 'earring boy' is a gay.  Doesn't that mean that our musicians, actors, footballers who wear earrings are also gays?  If they are not gays, let them remove those earrings from their manly ears!  Wearing earrings gives people the idea of that person being a gay!  Reports are that in the United States, those 'gay wives' (those boys who regard themselves as wives of their gay partners) are always ready to defend why they wear earrings on the bored lopes of their ears.  And you can imagine their explanation - just sheer fashions' nonsensicalities!

On the other hand, lesbian 'husbands (ladies who play husbands to their lady partners) do the down-cut style of their hair to appear as men.  Ask them why, and all that you will hear will be utter fashions' nonsensicalities

RASTAFARIANS
A few weeks ago, someone asked me whether the Rastafarian hair style which maintains uncombed, disordered and dishevelled hair is normal or Godly.  Two Rastafarians I have met gave reasons which, as I expected, were plainly fashions' nonsensicalities.  One told me rather bluntly; 'Hey man, I love the style.  No reason'.  Another replied; 'I do it for Jah's sake……' But several others give their ruffled hair-do a religious interpretation, tending to explain that it is the will of Jah to identify themselves as such to show that they are his free followers.  Pressed to explain who that 'Jah' is, they quickly refer to the Christian Hebrew holy name 'Jehovah' as having been abbreviated as Jah.  Where, as a pastor and theologian, I unreservedly disagree with the Rastafarians is the frequent mentioning of the name of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia as founder of Rastafarian religion. Haile Selassie was Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah's political contemporary.  I knew Emperor Haile Selassie very well.  He and Dr. Kwame Nkrumah were close friends, and in one of their interactions in Ethiopia, and two in Ghana, I was in Nkrumah's entourage.  The Emperor often sounded Biblical though, and one could take him as belonging to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.  Haile Selassie was not, I repeat, was NOT a Rastafarian.  And his hair do was normal - never dishevelled in anyway. So I don't know why Rastafarians want to weave a fanciful religion on Haile Selassie's stature. I challenge Rastafarians to produce a book Haile Selassie wrote which claims that he was the founder of Rastafarian religion. Otherwise, their reason for their ('mpensempense') ruffled hair style is fabricated, false and one of those fashions' nonsensicalities we hear in our society.

MIKE ATSUTES'S DEATH
News that Hon Mike  Atsuitse, former deputy editor of the Ghanaian Times, is dead really pains me Mike was a close friend of mine at the Ghanaian  Times, when he was at the news desk and l was at the features table from 1974- 76, until the Lord mysteriously called me to do his work.

Even thereafter, we still remained good friends, and when he came over to work at the Daily Guild not long ago, our relationship gained momentum. He was very punctual at work, and really hardworking, ever-smiling personality, who was very accommodating. And l am sadly grieving over his death. I hope to poetically lament his departure when the time for his funeral is made known. Meanwhile, condolences to his wife, children and the larger family.

 By Apostle Kwamena Ahinful