Slacks & Women - Glenn Conjurske

Slacks & Women

A sermon preached on July 24, 1991; recorded and transcribed; revised and abridged by the author.

Turn with me to Romans, chapter 12. I’m going to speak to you tonight on women and slacks. Before I get into that, however, I am going to talk to you about some general principles. In fact, I’m going to talk about some general principles for a long time before I get into the subject of women and slacks, because I think if you understand the general principles, you’ll understand the details. If you don’t understand the principles, you won’t understand the details.

Romans chapter 12, verse 2, says, “And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” There are two words in the Bible which are translated “world.” (Actually, there are more than two, but two that I’m going to talk about.) One is the word kosmos, which means order, or system. This is the ordinary word that is translated “world.” The other is the word aion, which may also be translated “age.” I believe they both refer to the same Satanic system, kosmos perhaps more under the idea of the order or the system of the thing, and aion more from the standpoint of time. He says, Be not conformed to it.

Now I have no objection at all if you want to translate that “Be not conformed to this age.” I think it’s a good translation. You see, the world is not a static thing. The world does not stay stationary, but is moving. It does not stay the same. It’s not getting better, of course. It’s getting worse, always coming closer and closer to the fulfillment and the realization of all the devil’s designs in it. There’s one verse in Ephesians 2:2 where these two words, aion and kosmos, are used together, and this may give a little bit of understanding concerning the exact sense of this word aion, or “age.” It says, “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world.” The word “course” here is aion. The world is not a static or stationary thing. It’s moving toward a goal. It’s moving along certain well-defined lines, toward a very well defined goal—-of course all under the direction of Satan, as it goes on to say, “according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.”

It says you walked according to the course of this world, you followed the pattern, the course, the progression that the world is taking, according to the prince of the power of the air, that is, the devil, who is the ruler who has the authority of this system—-the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience. “NOW.” He is now working, and he’s not working haphazardly. The Bible says that the mystery of iniquity doth already work, and that mystery of iniquity has a very well defined goal before it. That goal is that the devil is going to bring on the scene his man, the man of sin, and bring together the whole world under one government, under one religious system, all worshipping the antichrist. That’s the devil’s end. He’s not working haphazardly. He’s not merely going around with a pop gun taking pot shots at folks to stir up trouble. He does stir up trouble, but he’s working toward an end.

Now we’re going to look a little at the character of the devil. Revelation chapter 9, verse 11: “They had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.” “Apollyon” means “a destroyer.” The devil is a destroyer. What does he destroy? You say, the souls of men. Of course he does, but that’s not all. It is the devil’s purpose to destroy everything that comes from God. Everything that God sanctions, everything that God puts his stamp of approval on, the devil is out to destroy. Specifically, throughout history there have been certain things that the devil has directed all of his animosity against, and endeavored to destroy them. Can anybody tell me what those things are? Quickly, a word or two.

“The Jews.” The Jews! is the first one.

“The Church.” The Church! Any more?

“The home.” The home!

“The Bible.” The Bible! All right, you folks know pretty well what the devil is out to do. Now I want to talk a little about those things. First of all, the Jews. There is a thing in the world called antisemitism, which is translated into English, hatred of the Jews. Where did that come from? It comes from the devil. If the devil could destroy the Jews, he would win a great victory over God. There have been various times in the history of the world, especially since the death of Christ, when the Jews have been as God said they would be, scattered and peeled. Various efforts have been made to exterminate them. One you’re all familiar with is the holocaust in modern Germany, where six million Jews were killed. What did Hitler have against the Jews? I don’t know what Hitler had against the Jews, but I know he was animated by Satan, and Satan’s purpose is to destroy the Jews. The devil is at work in the world right now to gather together the whole world against Israel. It’s his purpose to destroy Israel. Why? Because Israel is chosen of God. If Israel were not the chosen of God, the devil wouldn’t have any more against Israel than he has against Cuba. He’s against it because of God’s purposes for Israel.

He has wrought the same way with the Bible. There was a time in Old Testament history when all there was left of the Bible was one forgotten copy hidden in the rubble in the temple. And all through the dark ages the Bible shared about the same fate. Bibles were chained in monasteries where people didn’t have any access to them. It was a crime to read the Bible. Scores were burned at the stake for reading the Bible. They were burned at the stake for possessing a Bible, burned at the stake for translating the Bible, and the Bibles themselves were burned when the authorities could get their hands on them.

Of course the Church is another thing the devil has sought to destroy. For the first several centuries that the church existed the devil’s animosity was stirred up against it in such a way as to drive the Christians into the catacombs, and into the deserts and dens and caves of the earth, and they were massacred by the thousands. They were dipped in pitch and put up on a pole and lit on fire to create light for the Gentiles to watch lions eat the other Christians. The devil has labored to destroy the Church ever since the Church has existed.

Now if you’ll turn with me to the twelfth chapter of the book of Revelation, you will see how the devil operates. This chapter is not a chronological account of anything. This chapter gives the character of things, and in this chapter is set forth the character of the devil and the character of his work. And so it says, “There appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. And she being great with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.” (Rev. 12:1-4). The dragon is the devil, as it tells you in the ninth verse. The child of course is Christ. Why would the dragon want to devour him as soon as he was born? Because he came from God. The only reason that the devil needs to oppose anything is that it is of God, and that is the main point I want to make tonight. I want you to get a hold of this. The reason that the devil is against what he is against is because it’s of God. That’s the only reason he needs, and anything that is of God he will put forth all his powers to belittle, to ridicule, and to destroy.

Well, he was unsuccessful: he did not destroy the man child when it was born. But it says in verse 13, “And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child,” and in verse 17, “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Here you see the inveterate opposition of the devil to Israel, and especially to the remnant of her seed in the latter days who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. And of course his endeavor is to destroy them.

Now the Bible speaks of the “course of this world.” As I said, the world does not stay the same. It never changes in its evil character, but it comes closer and closer to the realization of the devil’s ultimate designs. The Bible speaks of the grapes of the vine of the earth becoming fully ripe. What does that mean? It means when the purposes of the devil have been fulfilled, when the mystery of iniquity is come to its full fruition, and the devil has gained all of his points and has established all of his purposes. When all of the iniquity which is in the heart of Satan has actually been accomplished in that system which is called the world, then God is going to put in his sickle and cut it down. (Rev. 14:14-20). That hasn’t happened yet. But while the mystery of iniquity works, and while the vine of the earth is not yet ripe, there is a progression always moving closer and closer to the ultimate goal of Satan.

Now in our times we see as never before in history the maturing of Satan’s goals. He has opposed the Jews ever since there have been Jews. He has opposed the book of God ever since there has been a book of God. He has opposed the Church and endeavored to destroy it ever since there has been a Church. But in our day we see the devil as it were getting more desperate, and he is opposing, and quite successfully opposing, many of those things which he has perhaps not dared to oppose in the past history of all the world. One of those things is the family. It’s only in the past few generations that the devil’s animosity towards and opposition to the family has become really apparent in the world. Now you see, he begins, as I do believe, in subtle ways—-with the industrial revolution and the technological revolution, by which he succeeded in taking the fathers out of their homes a good share of the time. Then the public school system, by which he succeeds in taking the children out of the homes; and finally the modern feminist movement, by which he succeeds in taking the women out of the homes also, so that the family for many people exists only in name. There is no family life left.

And by the way, the liberal political machine is the tool of the devil—-never has been anything else—-and the liberal political machine is pressing hard to get the children out of the home at a younger age, starting with day care centers, then government-financed day care centers, and the next thing will be mandatory day care centers from the age of three. Why? Because the devil is out to destroy the family.

One other thing that the devil has been very successful at destroying in our past generation is marriage. How does he do it? Well, first of all by making divorce acceptable. That’s the first thing. Divorce rates have been on the rise year after year, until now over half the marriages that are ever formed end in divorce. The next step is to say, Why get married in the first place? Marriage, as you know by your own experience and observations, is one of the most universal and strongest desires of the whole human race. How then does the devil go about destroying marriage? By destroying the morality which makes marriage what it is—-by teaching alternate life styles—-and this of course is what is taught in the public schools of this land every day under the patronage of the liberal political machine, which is the devil’s tool. It’s the devil that’s behind all of this. It is not mere human beings. It’s the devil that’s behind it.

As I said, the fact that all of these things are coming to fruition in our generation only indicates that the devil is being successful in our generation to bring to accomplishment the things that have been his purpose from the beginning. The mystery of iniquity has been working all these years, but God has been hindering. But God will yet remove the restraint, and allow the devil to gain his ends. As Revelation 13 plainly tells you, the devil is going to come to the place of absolute power and authority over the whole world, so that he holds the whole world in the palm of his hand, and is worshipped by the whole world, and everything which is of God is destroyed, as far as the devil can destroy it. The success which the devil has had in just the past generation or two in destroying the family is amazing, and he’s not done yet.

When I was in high school I read a book called Brave New World, by Aldus Huxley. The book was written in 1932. I read it because I was given to understand that it was a bad book. I was in the business of reading bad books in those days. At the time I had little ability to understand what the point was, but once I came to understand the Bible and understand what the devil’s purpose is, then all the things in that book which I read and didn’t understand made perfect sense to me. The Bible says the devil is the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience. Huxley was obviously a son of disobedience. He was a piece of clay in the devil’s hands. The things that his book set forth very clearly were all of the things which make up the devil’s purpose to destroy everything on this earth which comes from God, or has God’s sanction upon it. Now some of the things that I remember in that book (speaking purely from memory now, after the lapse of about thirty years) are these: all the church buildings were converted to museums or something of that sort. Why? Because the church is something that is of God, and the devil and his ilk want to get rid of it. By the way, the title of that book is very significant: BRAVE NEW WORLD. It’s exactly the spirit of the second Psalm, which says, “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.” It’s something of God, so we’re going to get rid of it.

Anyway, the churches were all eliminated. The next thing is the family. Another thing I remember about that book is that all babies were produced in the laboratory. “Mother” and “Father” were swear words in this brave new world. The family destroyed, obliterated. Morality destroyed. Why? Why destroy morality? Because it’s something from God. The blueprint laid down by the devil in Huxley’s brave new world was that contraceptives were given to all the children in school. It’s happening today. Your tax money pays for it.

Now in this you see the purpose of the devil to destroy, overthrow, ridicule, get rid of, by fair means or foul, everything that is of God, and everything that has God’s sanction: morality, the Church, the Bible, the family—-and the family is one of the main objects of the devil’s attack at the present time. And the world, by the way, has taken up Huxley’s book and turned it into a classic. It’s still being pushed in high schools and colleges all over this land, long after his other books have been forgotten. It was a novel when he wrote it, but the world, especially the educational world, takes it seriously, for it answers so well to their heart.

Now there’s another thing—-you can turn with me to the first chapter of Genesis—-there’s another thing which the devil just in our day, in our life time, has directed all of his powers against, and that is the distinction between the sexes. In Genesis l:27 we read, “ So God created man in his own image; in the image of God created he him: MALE AND FEMALE created he them.” This is something that comes from God, the distinction between the sexes. God didn’t create man as the “unisex” which modern liberals are trying to create. He created two sexes, male and female. He created them to be different, and the devil is bending all of his powers in our day against that difference. Why? Because it’s of God, and that’s the only reason the devil needs. I’m not telling you that the devil has just started doing this in our generation, but he has been very largely successful in our generation, and is working hard on it.

Now the way that the devil has done this is very interesting. He started with women, with the feminist movement, which is now more than a hundred years old. He did this the same way he worked when he tempted Eve in the garden. He said, “Ye shall be as God.” You see, he had a bait on the hook. He had something to offer to the woman: “Ye shall be as God.” The devil has used precisely the same strategy in destroying the distinction between the sexes. He came to the woman first, and said, “You can be as the man is.” The man has by creation and by God’s authority a higher position than the woman. I’m not saying he’s any more human, or any better, or any more intelligent, or anything of the sort, but he has a higher position. He has something that the devil could hold out to the woman as a bait, and say, “Why shouldn’t you be able to have the same place that the MAN has? Why shouldn’t you be able to do the same things that the MAN does?” This is the foundation of the feminist movement, from its beginning to this very moment.

So the devil put this juicy bait on the hook. Do you think the devil cared anything about the woman—-to exalt women? He doesn’t care any more about the woman than he does about the man. He doesn’t care anything at all about anybody. He hates us all, and he hates everything that comes from God. The devil is not working to exalt the woman, or to give her equality, or to redress her wrongs, or any such thing. He’s just giving her a bait on the hook, and his ultimate purpose is to destroy the distinction between the sexes, because God created it.

Now I tell you, I can sympathize with the feminist movement. I can understand it. When a woman takes that hook from the devil, at least it’s got a bait on it. At least she’s got something to gain by it—-to rise to the position which the man has. But you know when these men take that hook from the devil, they’re taking a bare hook. There isn’t any bait on it. These men that are trying to be like women—-there isn’t even any bait on the hook. They’ve got nothing to gain.

How does the devil destroy the distinction between the sexes? Well, whatever there is in society which tends to maintain that distinction the devil opposes and endeavors to destroy. Now there are a number of things which maintain that distinction. Hair for one thing, and this is a distinction which God himself has made. The devil has labored to destroy that distinction, and my! he’s done a good job of it! You see a couple walking down the street today holding hands, and you don’t know if you’ve got two men, or two women, or one of each. And if you’ve got one of each, you don’t know which is which.

Another thing which distinguishes men from women is their clothes. Well, you may say, “God never made pants for the man, and God never made a dress for the woman: he made coats for both of them.” May be, but God did make a distinction between male and female, and God does design that that distinction should be maintained, and he does design that that distinction should be maintained in their dress. It says in Deut. 22:5 that it’s an abomination for a man to put on a woman’s garment, and it’s an abomination for a woman to put on that which pertains to a man. That distinction came from God, and that’s why the devil is against it.

How did the devil destroy it? Well, you go back into the history of the Church a hundred years ago, and there were some very godly women who were exercised that perhaps since God made coats for both Adam and Eve, perhaps the women shouldn’t be wearing dresses and the men wearing pants. And therefore they determined, “We’re going to wear the same garment that the men wear, because God made coats for both Adam and Eve.”

Is that what happened? NO!!! It was the ungodly, and you know it was—-and not only the ungodly, but the vocal ungodly, the feminist movement, which I know you ladies wouldn’t have anything to do with, which said, “We’re going to wear the men’s clothes, and not only that, we’re going to cut our hair like the men cut theirs. We don’t have to wear long hair, and we don’t have to wear long dresses. We’re going to be on the same level as the men, and not only that, but we’re going to work on the same jobs as the men do.” That’s something that came a little later. When this movement started they weren’t looking for that. They wanted a symbolic equality, but they weren’t thinking about digging ditches outside alongside the men. But you see, once this thing became entrenched among feminists as a religion, they cannot be satisfied until they are out digging ditches with the shovel beside the men at the construction sites, and until they’re fighting beside the men in the army, and until they’re drafted, too. It’s the devil that initiated all that, and its the devil that is carrying it forward. Why? Because God created them male and female!!—-and therefore the devil is against it.

The liberal political machine, of course, is doing the devil’s work in this as in everything else, and one of the big issues of our day is what’s called “sex discrimination.” It’s been made against the law to discriminate against people on the basis of sex. Why? Because the devil is out to destroy the discrimination which God created into the human race when he made them male and female. The devil is the prime mover in all of this, and his purpose is to destroy and obliterate everything that’s of God, and the distinction between the sexes is something that God created.

Now for 500 years men have worn pants and women have worn dresses. That was one thing that distinguished them by outward appearance. Everybody knows it. If someone says the woman wears the pants in the family, everybody knows that means she takes the man’s place. It’s an old proverb, and a more ancient form of it, which comes I suppose from before the word “pants” was invented, says, “She wears the breeches.” It was the feminist movement that broke down that distinction, and it’s the devil that’s behind it. These poor feminists are just pawns in the devil’s hand.

Now what does that have to do with us? You may say, “I’m not sure that when it says in Deuteronomy that a woman should not put on that which pertains to a man, I’m not absolutely sure that that means that it is always wrong, in every place and age and circumstance, for a woman to wear a pair of slacks.” And you know what? Neither am I! But I am sure that women wearing slacks in our day has been brought about by the working of Satan to destroy the distinction between the sexes, and I will have nothing to do with it. I want to be on the safe side, and I think if we’re going to stand for that which is of God, and stand for Bible Christianity, we’d better get off the world’s side, and get off the world’s side all the way. With me it’s a simple matter of keeping ourselves unspotted from the world. I know where this stuff came from. I know where women wearing slacks came from. It came from exactly the same place as gay pride. It came from the devil. It came from exactly the same place as women wearing short hair. It came from exactly the same place as women demanding equality with the man. It came from exactly the same place as this modern movement which destroys marriage and teaches alternate life styles. It came from the devil.

Now the fact that you grew up wearing slacks is all beside the point. You might have grown up in a home where divorce was acceptable too, but it’s not acceptable to God. You may have grown up in a home where the parents weren’t even married. That’s beside the point. It’s not acceptable to God. It’s of the devil. It’s part of the devil’s over-all purpose to destroy everything that comes from God. It’s just one small facet of that purpose. With me it’s a simple matter of being on the safe side. I know where this feminist movement comes from, I know what its goal is, and I know who the spirit is that energizes the movement. I know that his reason for it is to destroy and oppose everything that comes from God, and his primary purpose in getting women to wear slacks is to destroy the distinction between male and female, because it’s something that God created.

You say, “Well, I’m not sure of that.” Don’t worry about being sure of it, but take this ground: say, “I would rather give up too much for Christ’s sake than not enough.” We have got a testimony that we need to stand for. The times in which we live are desperately wicked, and the need is desperately urgent, and we had better give up too much for Christ rather than not enough. It isn’t going to hurt you to give up slacks. It isn’t going to hurt the testimony of the church. But it might hurt you to keep them. It might hurt the testimony of the church. This business of women wearing slacks is only one small facet of the devil’s over-all program and purpose, and if you don’t view it that way, then you don’t see it in its true light. You may think that it’s not an evil thing. You grew up wearing slacks, and you didn’t intend any evil by it—-but the devil did.

And you know, the devil isn’t done yet. He’s got a great deal more to do on this than he’s done yet. I’m not a prophet, but if I were a betting man I might be willing to bet that before long you’re going to see men wearing skirts. You already see them wearing necklaces and earrings. You already see men with long hair, and it wasn’t very long ago when no red-blooded man would have been caught dead with earrings or long hair. They don’t have anything to gain by it. They’re biting on the devil’s bare hook. Women had something to gain by it, and therefore they did it first, a long time ago. And therefore because women have been wearing slacks for 80 or 100 years already, you grew up with it, and because you’re familiar with it, and it’s not something new like men wearing skirts, therefore you’re comfortable with it. But I’ll tell you, if you had lived a hundred years ago, and you had seen the first woman that wore slacks, you would have been just as offended by that, and it would have been just as revolting to you, as it would be now for you to see a man wearing a skirt.

By the way, what’s the difference between a man wearing a skirt and a woman wearing slacks? There isn’t any difference at all! When women started wearing slacks it was inspired by the devil—-it was to undermine and destroy something that God created, the difference between male and female. When women started cutting their hair short it was exactly the same thing, inspired by the same devil, and for the same purpose. And when men started wearing their hair long, which is in my memory, it was inspired by the same devil. When men started wearing earrings and necklaces, it was inspired by the same devil, and when men start wearing skirts, it will be inspired by the same devil, and it will be part of the same purpose and program of the devil that put slacks on women. Of course when it happens you’ll be offended. You’ll be revolted by it. You’ll say it’s of the devil. Then it’s of the devil for women to wear slacks, too.

Of course the devil started putting slacks on women long before he could even dream of putting skirts on men, for the simple reason that he had a bait to give to the woman. He had something to offer her so that she would take a bait and follow out his program. He doesn’t have anything to offer to a man. When a man starts wearing long hair or earrings and necklaces or skirts, he’s biting on the devil’s bare hook. The devil had nothing to offer him. Therefore of course he started with the woman—-started making the woman like the man first, before he could dare to make the man like the woman. But it’s all part of the same program.

Now you may contend that slacks as such and dresses as such have no divine sanction—-it’s just a matter of culture—-and I won’t even argue that point with you. But listen: slacks on men and dresses on women are one of the most obvious distinctions between men and women, and have been for hundreds of years, recognized by the whole world. I mean in our society now; I’m not talking about China or Turkey or some place. I don’t know what they wear over there, but in our society this is a distinction that’s recognized by the whole world. If you go today to the most liberal place in the state of Wisconsin (I’m talking about the University of Wisconsin), you can find there on the bathroom doors a little figure of a human being wearing a dress on the women’s bathroom, and a little figure of a human being wearing pants on the men’s bathroom. No words—-doesn’t say “men” or “women”—-just a little figure wearing a dress or a little figure wearing pants, and everybody knows that DRESS means WOMAN and PANTS means MAN. The devil is determined to suppress and break down and destroy and obliterate the distinction between the sexes, and this distinction in clothing, this distinction between pants and dresses, is one of the most obvious distinctions, one of the things that appears to the eye at first glance, and we would be FOOLS to contribute to the devil’s purpose in that. We’ve got a business to do for God here, and we had better be on the safe side, and keep altogether away from anything the devil has a hand in. Give up too much for Christ rather than too little. Stay too far away from the devil’s purpose and program rather than getting too close to it. Keep yourselves unspotted from the world!

Glenn Conjurske