The POWER of a Woman's Uncut Hair: Lee Stoneking

[Music] And he has a word of God for us tonight. And he doesn't even really need an introduction. Brother Stone King, if you came and you never even said a word, just your presence would change the atmosphere. We love you so much. Thank you, Sister Haney. I think I'd like some more light in here so I could actually look at you as I'm speaking to you. I don't want to take advantage of you, but I would like for you to all stand again for a moment. There is a magnificent touch of God in this house. [Music] Just a magnificent touch of God. And in an atmosphere like this, anything can happen. Anything is possible in the presence of the Lord.

I have a very dear friend from the Midwest. His name is Steve. He's a great soul winner. He's a pastor at a Bible school. He's baptized many, many prisoners in the local prison in Jesus' name. But he is, they don't know what's wrong. They think he may have a nervous breakdown. I got word from his son last night, and I just called him before he came to this service. Uh, they're in the hospital. They think it may be a nervous breakdown. I talked to his wife and also to him. His first name is Steve. Because there is such power in this place, I feel like if you ladies will pray for him, God will send an angel and touch him, and he'll be all right. Would you just lift your hands? God knows exactly where he is, who he is. Let your voice out and just pray for my friend Steve in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. God, I pray for the angel of the Lord right now to go into his presence. So God, heal him emotionally, mentally, physically, spiritually. Oh God, take away this attack. I ask in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, by the authority of the word of God, by the power of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hallelujah Jesus. Hallelujah Jesus. Hallelujah Jesus. Blessed be the name of the Lord forever. In Jesus' name.

How many of you feel like the Lord has touched him? Can you feel that? Let's all clap our hands for just a moment and worship the Lord. Thank you so much for your prayers. I want to draw your attention to the Book of Proverbs, chapter 23. Here is a verse that I have pondered a great deal in my own walk with God. Here in Proverbs 23 and verse 23, the admonition, the instruction is, "Buy the truth and sell it not." Also, wisdom and instruction and understanding. By the truth and don't ever sell it. Don't ever let go of it. But with truth, also by wisdom and instruction and understanding.

If you look in the Gospel of John, chapter 8 and verse 32, Jesus made a very interesting statement. We misquote this a lot, but he said, "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." We quote it as "set you free." It doesn't say that. It says, "and it will make you free." In other words, the truth, when it comes to you, will make you free whether you want it or not. It's up to you to embrace it and to live it. I simply want to entitle this, "The Great Convictions of Truth."

Would you lift your hands and your voices once again, and would you pray with me before you are seated? Lord Jesus, I pray now for the spirit of revelation and understanding to come upon this marvelous congregation powerfully in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That you will anoint us both to hear and to speak. We will not fail to give you praise, glory, and honor. Anoint our minds to hear, to hearken. Our hearts to open wide, to embrace the truth. Help us to love your truth. In so doing, we are loving you. I'm asking that you will anoint these lips of clay and cause me to speak as an oracle of the Lord. We will not fail to give you praise, glory, and honor. We ask these things in the matchless, powerful name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And everyone said, amen.

Thank you for standing so long. You may be seated. I don't know how long you have been worshiping like this, but I know it takes a great deal of energy. If you have energy left and a voice left, would you clap rosly for a moment to the Lord? And would you just shout to him with a voice of victory because there is victory in this place and there is triumph in this place today?

There was a lawsuit in the state of Ohio back in about 1976 or 1977. And this lawsuit had to do with to know whether a pastor had a conviction or was it just a preference. And it went to court to the Supreme Court of the United States. And Dr. David Gibbs with the Christian Law Association represented this particular case. The Supreme Court ruled at that time on what a conviction was. Number one, that you would be willing to die for your conviction. If you were not willing to die for it, it was not a conviction, it was just a preference. Number two, that no amount of family pressure would cause you to change it. If it could be changed, then it really was not a conviction, it was just a preference. Number three, that no amount of peer pressure would cause you to change. If they could change you, it really was not a personal conviction, it was just a preference. Number five, that you would be willing to go to jail for it. If you were unwilling to go to jail for your "quote unquote" conviction, then it was not really a conviction, it was just a preference. These five things are what the Supreme Court of the United States of America said that a true conviction is. And was, because only convictions are covered by the First Amendment.

Truth will always be attacked. You do not have to defend truth. Just speak it. It will defend itself. Full identity, identity with truth will cause you to become prosperous because you'll never outgive God. The more you give to Him, it will come back to you, pressed down, heaped up, and running over. You will never see anyone stand at the white judgment at the end of the age and hear anyone say, "But Jesus, I gave more than you gave." It'll never happen. It will just never, ever happen. You will never outgive God.

In the days of Hezekiah, Isaiah, prophet, Syrian King sent two letters to Hezekiah. Hezekiah feared the threats of the Syrian King and he melted down the silver and the gold he had put in the temple and sent it to the King of Assyria to buy him off instead of trusting God. Hezekiah's son, Manasseh, became king when he was only 12 years old. Manasseh saw his father waiver. Manasseh had Isaiah the prophet executed. If your children do not see it in you, they will kill the men of God. In the end result, they will destroy the truth. We're living in a fearful, fearful hour, unlike anything I have seen in the 44 years I have been in this truth. It is passed from generation to generation. Each generation needs to see it from the past generation, else it will be lost. If our young people, our children, do not see it in us, they will not see it. J. Edgar Hoover said, "If you want to change the world, change one generation." It only takes one generation to lose the truth. It doesn't take two or three generations to lose the truth. And what is not preached is forgotten. And we're living at an hour when the devil seemingly wants us to forget everything that we have held so precious and so dear.

Lift your hands and just rebuke that spirit in the name of Jesus for a moment, because there is power in your prayer. Here, let your voice out. Don't worry about the person next to you and what they may think or hear. What we rebuke the spirit, oh God, the deceiving spirits that have come to steal and to destroy the great truth that has been given to us as an apostolic people.

Truth demands investigation, but a lie does not want close scrutiny. All you have to do is present it. God will prove it. But this world says, "Prove it now, believe it." God says, "Believe it now, prove it." It's a whole different concept. Amazing how God works. And how in the end result, He will have the last laugh. Both Isaiah, not Isaiah, but both Abraham and Sarah laughed at the promises of God. But Isaac was born. And the reason they named that boy Isaac, it's pronounced Yitzhak in Hebrew, is because Yitzhak means laughter. God will always get the last laugh. His word is sure. What He has promised will come to pass. And I'm talking to ladies here who have had visions and promises from God, but the devil has tried to steal that. Say, "But I haven't." Say, "I haven't." Say, "I have it." Say, "It will come to pass." [Applause] In Jesus' name. In Jesus' name.

In First Corinthians chapter 11, verses 10 through 16, Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, and he wrote these words. He said, "For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels. 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."

First Timothy 2:5-10 says, "For there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. Wherein I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not; a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity. I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; but which becometh women professing godliness with good works." In other words, men have something they are to do in obedience to the laws and the revelation and the insight of God. But women have something to do in the same perspective. And my position is here today, if men would do what they're supposed to do, and women would do what they're supposed to do, we could take our cities. Because there is nothing so powerful as simple obedience to the word of God and the laws of God.

And I've noticed, let's be honest, I'll be very transparent. I've been in this 44 years. For the most part, in all of my travels in this country through the years, in pastoring, etc., women have really carried the ball most of the time. They're, they're the worshipers, they do the dancing, they give the tongues and interpretation, they prophesy, they cry, they shake, and they tremble. And the husband stands back, holding the child, or no child, but just stands back. But something has happened in the last couple of years. Men are becoming aggressive toward God. I mean, men are beginning to come out of their corner, and they're dancing, they're leading victory marches, and they're lifting up holy hands. And God is beginning to move. Listen, people, revival is not coming. Revival is here. We're in the middle of the greatest move of God this world has ever seen, and nothing is going to be able to stop it.

With every great move of God, if you study through history, and I have, whether it was in Wales, England, America, whether it was Finney, Moody, Wesley, or whoever, there was always a great revival of holiness or separation from the world in that day that accompanied that move of God. If you're going to be a Muslim, you're going to have to read the Quran, memorize it, and apply that philosophy to everyday life. If you're going to be a Buddhist, you're going to have to read the writings of Buddha and apply that philosophy to everyday life and live it. But if you're going to be a Christian, you're going to have to read this book and do what's in this book, otherwise you do not really qualify as a Bible-believing Christian.

So now, let's get into it. When I, when I was a child, I've always liked to draw. And I had a cousin who was an artist, and he inspired me. And I've always been drawn to that type of thing. So I always wanted to be a commercial artist when I got out of high school. And that's what I was doing when you people found me and diverted me or detoured me from my path in life. And so now here I am. But in high school, I used to keep my homework done in the study halls. I would always have a pad and pencil and I'd sit there and I would sketch portraits, profiles of students around me, and then give it to them as a gift at the end of the study hall. And I was just involved in a lot of things like that. In fact, when I was in high school, I belonged to the National Thespian Society, and I was head makeup artist for the whole, um, high school theatrical productions and all of the dramas. Well, if you understand that, then you understand some of the things I'm going to say. I did a term paper on makeup. In fact, I dug it out not too long ago. I can't believe that I knew all those things way back there, but I did. And I had my own makeup kit. And if I had it here today, I could take any one of you and with the base, paint, and all the things I know how to do, I would, I would make you into someone that no one would recognize unless they heard your voice. In fact, the students in the high school, their parents, when they came to the dramas and the theatrical productions, didn't know who their child was until they heard the child's voice, you know, in the acting and throughout the course of the drama. I once talked my mother into letting me do it to her, and I turned her into a Chinese woman. She looked in the mirror and she just gasped. She didn't realize that this much could be done with something called makeup.

When I was in high school, Max Factor, that came out of Hollywood, California, was one of the great makeup industries and names at that material, particular period of time. But let me just get right into it. When a woman puts on makeup, she is putting on a mask. I've known women that I have pastored when I won them to God, they would not go out in the backyard to empty the garbage without putting makeup on for fear a neighbor would be looking out a window to see them without makeup. Now, let me ask you a question: Who's in bondage here? That's what I want to know. In other words, makeup is a mask, and a woman who uses lots of makeup basically, she doesn't think God made her good enough. She's got open resentment, many of them do, and rebellion against God. In essence, she's saying, "I'm going to fix it." And some of them can't fix it at all. It's really a bizarre. And I've watched women from among us when they, quote unquote, backslide, they put seven times more on than what they need. It's atrocious, actually, because most women don't really know how to put it on. And I can spot it because I know exactly what to look for. I don't say anything, but I see a lot of things that people don't know. I see. I've noticed, for example, older women. I've seen some of them, they look ghastly. And here's why: because as you get older, the skin begins to pale, and the pigment begins to become lighter. So what did they do? They put on dark black eyeliner and mascara and eye pencil for the eyebrows. It's amazing to me. Some women shave the eyebrows totally off and then paint them on with a, with a pencil. That's, I always thought that was weird or strange or unusual somehow. And then they dye their hair coal black, and the skin is so pale that the contrast, it looks like death. And then they put on this real dark lipstick, and from the distant look, they have a big hole in their mouth. In her head. If you're going to wear makeup as you get older, you wear the lighter pinks, the lighter shades. Your hair grow white. Don't make it dark because it blends. Nature has a way of making you attractive. But some women look scary because they don't understand what they're doing. But God said, "I will beautify the meek with holiness." There is a light in your face. There is a glory in your countenance that comes from the indwelling power of the Holy Ghost. In fact, if I were a woman, I'd be really angry at the cosmetic industry because who said that women need help and men are all right? That's what these makeup companies are saying. They're saying, "You ladies need help." Why don't you come to your feet and look at each other and say, "You don't need help. I don't need help. There's a light inside of us. There's something that comes out in you as women and children of God." [Applause] Amazing.

And I can go on like that with some very interesting details, but it's amusing just to watch people. In fact, I have a recipe. If you really get down on yourself, this will fix it. This will bring you out of it. Go to an airport, sit down, and watch people walk by for about 30 minutes. You'll get that "marked out" feeling, very good about yourself. I tell you, those people don't know where they are, they don't know where they were, they don't know where they're going. Thank God, I know where I was. You know where you were. We know where we are, and we know where we're going. That's why we can come to the house of God and shout and clap and dance and worship God and kick the devil in the face. It doesn't matter what he tries to put on us. It doesn't matter how dark the valley. We just come to the house of God and we just worship and run the aisles. It drives the devil crazy because there is no problem here today bigger than God. There is no problem here today bigger than Jesus. Everyone shout amen.

So now, I've talked about, uh, women for a moment here. Why doesn't a man have that problem? Because a man doesn't use makeup as an attractive additive to his personality. He does it. A woman is trying to attract a man. In nature, it is the male that tries to attract. But in the human species, it is the reverse. It's in a woman's nature to attract. In nature or creation, they do not attract for life. But there are exceptions. Geese mate for life, but there's no special coloring between them, differentiation. Eagles mate for life, but again, there is no special coloring. But those that do mate for life, they have to vie for the female's attention. Statistics from the motel and hotel bureau show that when charismatic groups come to town for their conventions, there are more pornographic movies rented in those hotel rooms than any other convention group that comes to the city. Why? Because they're appealing to the flesh. That's a staggering thing to know that charismatic groups rent more pornographic movies in hotels than any other convention that comes to town because they're big on love, fellowship, makeup, jewelry, and expensive clothes. They are in the animal kingdom. The animals that mate for life look very much alike. Those that do not, the male is decorated and he courts the female. But in the human race, it is the female that flirts with the male. Men are stimulated by what they see. We really have not addressed this the way I feel we should have addressed it, but we need to come to grips with this particular truth. That's why men are more likely to be into pornography than women, because men are attracted by what they see. A woman in slacks, for example, the body is accentuated. Makeup appeals to the eye. Men are attracted to that.

Before I was in the church and I received the Holy Ghost when I was 23 years old, I just turned 67 this July this year. But in these 44 years, I mean, it's amazing what I've learned and seen. But before all of that, the theater was my favorite form of entertainment. I used to go to the theater once or twice a week before I came into the church. So I have seen all of the really great Bible film productions that have ever been made. I've seen all of them at one time or another. And I can tell you that Hollywood knows something that we can't seem to get together. We can't seem to get the message here. If you've ever seen the film "Jesus of Nazareth," when you first see Mary Magdalene in that film, she's covered with makeup. Once she's been to the feet of Jesus and converted to Him, the very next scene when she is in the film, her face comes to the full screen, and there is not one speck of makeup anywhere. The contrast is so great, it is obvious she has had an experience with God. And Hollywood knows when you have become holy, you don't need all of that streetwalker attire and masquerade. Something happens. There's a purity, there is a cleanness. If Hollywood knows that when they try to portray someone that's been converted to Jesus in a film, my God in heaven, people, why should we not understand the simple laws of the Bible and what we have in our hearts and in our lives?

Clap your hands for a moment and let the Lord just move on you. In churches where our pastors have gone charismatic, the women are being exploited. In fact, we've asked questions to some, to even pastors, wise, "Why did you start doing this?" And the answer is basically been the same, "Well, our husband sort of wanted it." Yeah, men are allowing them to become central because they enjoy seeing it. They don't, they, they won't make or take any stand against it. And when there are no holiness standards in a church, you will find more pornographic material in their homes and in their relationships. Staggering. If you do any counseling at all in this hour, staggering. And yet God has wanted to deliver us totally from all of that. How many of you women here today honestly feel free? There's a freedom in you. A freedom in you. How many of you feel that, really feel that? It's obvious you do because of the way you worshiped. I sit over there on those steps and watched just purity, just flow over this whole group of women. There was something so magnificent that came forth that was emanated from you as you worship the way you do. You ladies are powerful, more powerful than you understand. You are. God has allowed you to do something that men cannot do. If you will do what you're supposed to do, we will shake our world. We will shake our world. I'm not sure you believe that. I'm not sure you believe it. But if you really believe it, clap with all of your might for just a moment. Jesus. Hallelujah Jesus. Hallelujah Jesus. Hallelujah Jesus. You can feel that anointing in this place. You can feel something stirring inside of you as a people in this audience here today. Hallelujah.

Luke 24:29 says, "Tarry ye in Jerusalem until ye be endued." That word "endued" means to be clothed with power from on high. First Peter 5:10 says, "But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you." Perfect comes from the Greek word which literally means to make tailor-made. In other words, to take it up until it fits. It comes from the Greek word *katartais*. If the foundation, Psalm 11:3 says, "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" The literal translation means, "What is the righteous going to do about it?" There are several things you can rebuild and remodel, but you cannot rebuild the foundation. Once you put the foundation down, it is permanent, and it must be built correctly. You can do all kinds of things to the structure, but the foundation is permanent.

Romans 8:15 says, "For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." Galatians 4:5 says, "To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." Ephesians 1:5 says, "Having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will." According to the ecclesiastical theological dictionary, in biblical times, when you were adopted, you had to change your name, address, and dress code because every family was known by the kind of clothing that was worn. Example, the kilts that the Scots wear in Scotland, each clan has its own design, its own color of fabric. So when we are adopted into the family of God, our names have become changed. I'm not just Lee Stoneking, I'm Lee Stoneking Jesus. That's who you are. Whatever your name is, Jesus is on it. It's your surname because He's coming for a people who are called by His name. He's not looking for your first name, your last name. He's looking for His name that you are called by. Everyone say Jesus. The name was changed. The address has changed. I don't belong here. I belong to a city that is above, and I will go to that New Jerusalem. I will go to that holy city in the end result. And my dress code has changed. We don't look like this world. We don't act like this world. We don't talk like this world. We don't walk like this. We're because we are not of this world. We are only passing through here. We're on our way to a place called heaven. And that's why we are dancing and shouting and worshiping because when we get over there, we'll do it forever and ever. And I'm never going to be tired again. Oh, happy day! It's gonna be a wonderful thing to just be able to worship like that, to worship like that, to worship like that, give to wave your hand, Sister Hating, like that, and never be tired again. So you might say, "We're just getting practiced up down here." If you don't know how to do it here, how are you ever going to do it over there? But we're going to give it everything we've got here because worship is the prerequisite to the miraculous. The Bible says, "The Spirit of the Lord inhabiteth the praises of His people." If you build a great big house of praise, He will come and live in that house in a great big way. So throw your hands in the air, your voices up, and just praise Him for a moment. Hallelujah Jesus. [Applause] [Music] Just cry out and shout that the word Hallelujah for a moment. Wonderful. Do it again. You can feel the air just shimmer because of human voices worshiping the Lord of Glory. [Applause]

Brother I'll be Giro, a very well-known figure among us, a great man of God, a tremendous Christian, called me one day. He said, "Brother Stone King, I want you to have this information." I said, "What's that?" He said, "At the at the University of Tennessee Medical School, University of Tennessee Medical School, there are strict requirements for dress code among women, and this lasts for the 22 months that they are there. Only a very select few women annually are eligible to even attend this university. But when they go, the women are not allowed while they're in that medical school to wear makeup, no excessive jewelry, only a wedding band. In classes, no pants can be worn, only dresses, and the hair has to be worn up." Isn't that amazing? That in a college that is the top of the field in training women, insist on these particular standards of self-presentation and personal conduct. If a medical institution can see the value of that, then we certainly should be able to see the value of that with what we have in the word of God. Everyone say amen. That means it is so.

In First Corinthians 11:15, the little translation for the Greek says, "But a woman, if she wears her hair long, a glory to her: it is because the long hair instead of a veil has been given her." This is some of the most interesting, fascinating information that I've ever, ever worked with. And I work with these things a lot because I'm fascinated by it. I don't know about you, but I want to know the answers. I want to know the reality of this thing. I want to know how it really is. I've always been like I'm that way about everything. I want to know how this really is and how it works. So in First Corinthians 11:10, "For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels." Now, there are three words that stand out there to me: "ought," "power," and "because." The word "ought" means to be indebted. The word "power" has to do with authority, rule. And "because" means through, by, or with. So if you read that then as it really is: "For this cause, indebted is the woman to have authority rule on her head through the angels." Powerful, powerful. Therefore, the woman is indebted or owes her authority in her head through, by, or with the angels. The word "power," the original meaning, ability to perform an act, the right, the authority, and I love this, and the permission conferred by a higher court. Look at your neighbor there beside you and say, "I am special." Look back, say, "So are you." Look back and say, "So let's act like it today. Now, always." Hallelujah.

For this cause, the woman is indebted or owes her power on her head because she has through, by, with the angels, which is conferred by a higher court. Power. This inward power, which has conferred her by a higher court. For this cause, the woman is owing or indebted to the inward power which is conferred upon her by a higher court through, with, or by the angels. And this is one of the most fascinating things about this. The word "power" comes from a Greek word, I think I'm pronouncing it correctly, not sure, *exousia*, which in the New Testament rests upon three foundations: one, the power to decide; two, reflects God's relationship; and three, as a divinely given authority to act. This *exousia* implies freedom for the whole community. Power that's on your head, ladies, because of your uncut hair, is conferred upon you by a higher court, and that power is for the good of the entire community, the whole church, your family. Oh, let your voice out. There is something you can feel. Revelation. You can feel revelation beginning to take hold. You can feel understanding beginning to rise among us here today. [Laughter] Hallelujah Jesus. Hallelujah Jesus. Hallelujah Jesus. I worship you so.

In view of what we are reading here from the word of God, a woman, if she wants to be free, she lets her hair grow. If she wants to be bound, she does not let her hair grow long. But if she allows her hair to go long, uncut, and we're going to deal with that in a few moments, in compliance with God's relationship to man, then the church community has a freedom in the spirit which does not exist without her compliance. And it's not the longer, the short of it, it's uncut. I work with two Greek scholars. The word for long comes from the Greek word which means uncut. It's not the long or the short of it, it's uncut. That's where the power is. It's amazing to me. I've been in all kinds of pastors' homes through the years, and there'll be some big problem, you know, that will rise from the church body, and he's up half the night, and he can't sleep, and he's praying and fasting, and his wife knows about it, and they've talked about it some. And I've been in the kitchen when this happened. And it's amazing to me. The Bible says, "For this cause of the woman to have power on her head because of the angels." And I've watched the husband walk in, the pastor sit down at the table with me, and all of a sudden, the wife just turned, and in the simplest language, gave an answer that was absolutely profound. It was like listening from the wisdom of God. It just came through her because she's got that connection because of uncut hair with angelic presences and beings. And men don't have that, but women have it. So lady, if you cut your hair, you're missing some of the greatest power in this entire thing. You're missing one of the greatest aspects of your walk with God. Oh, clap your hands and just do your own little personal rejoicing for a moment. Hallelujah Jesus. Hallelujah Jesus. Hallelujah Jesus.

Only eternity will reveal how many times angels have pulled back children from oncoming cars and traffic. How many times a husband has been spared an accident on the way to work because of the uncut hair in that home on that woman's head. Only time will reveal that. I remember when I first came in this, they told the story, Brother Sister Butcher's church in Des Moines, Iowa, how there was a, someone walking along the street, and it was a Pentecostal home, and the window upstairs had been left open, and the mother didn't know it. And that little boy had climbed, he climbed up on that window ledge, and the pastor by looked up just as that child fell off that window ledge. And the, the passerby on the street just cried out, not a believer at all, and he just closed his eyes in fear. When he opened his eyes, a man was standing on the ground that had not been there before he closed his eyes. Had caught the child in his arms. Power on your head because of the angels. It was stories like that that got me into this truth. Mr. Haney, I said, "If there's a Jesus like this, I'm not going to some, some, some lesser situation out there. I'm gonna go where there's that kind of power. If there's a Jesus like this, this is the Jesus I want to serve. If people have this kind of power, I want that kind of power. If I can have friends like you, I want these kinds of friends." Ah, say, "I'm so glad I'm in this."

Steve Richardson told the story. I met his mother before she passed on to her wonderful reward. She was a saint of God, long beautiful hair, always wore it up so nicely. And Steve Richardson was in a car driving on the circuitous highway around Indianapolis. And something happened. All of a sudden, it was a truck, and he went to pass this truck, this semi, and found himself head-on, heading straight for a head-on collision with a car that came over the hill. And he cried, "Jesus!" And when he did, he said, "Brother Stone King, when I came to, I found myself in my car ahead of the collision. The car had hit the truck and not me. My car was ahead of it, off the side of the road." And he said, "I was just sitting there in the car. The car was safe." He said, "The truck driver came out of the cab of the truck, came running up behind my car, pounded on the window." And he said, "I opened." He said, "I've never seen anything like this in all my life." He said, "Something picked my car up, carried it through the air, and set it down on the side of the road." It was an angel of God that did that because there was a mother who had never cut her hair. Are you getting a revelation of how powerful you are? Are you getting a revelation of the power that is in your hands for the church, for the whole community, not just you, but for the whole church? I can, I can walk in the churches, Pentecostal or UPC, I can tell you if the women are cutting their hair because there's a power missing, there's a depth missing. I can tell you that in homes that I walk into, it's not the same. It's what I call sloppy agape. It's a surface punch, nonsense, that the real power of God is not there. I don't want sloppy agape. I want the real thing. I want a church where the drug addict can be free, where AIDS can be healed, for people in immorality can be set free. I want a place where the drug addict and the alcoholic and the prostitute can be saved, can be redeemed, and can be changed by the touch of the Master's hand. That's the kind of church I want to be in. I want to be in a church where cancer disappears when the elders and the pastor pray. I want to be in a church where blind eyes see, where deaf ears hear, where the lame walk, the dead are raised to life again. That's the kind of church I want to be in. And that is the kind of church that Jesus died for. It is Apostolic Pentecostalism. I'm not a traditional Pentecostal. I am an Apostolic Pentecostal, and there is a difference. There is a difference. [Applause] Oh Jesus. [Music] Jesus. [Music] The Holy Ghost is powerfully moving upon a number of you right here because there's revelation, there is understanding here. Hallelujah Jesus. Hallelujah Jesus. [Music]

Okay, you may want to just reach up with your hand and touch someone there and pray with them. The Holy Ghost is on this lady right here. There's that woman is just wonderfully smiling right there because you can just see there's knowledge coming down on her. The young lady behind her is just moved by the power of the Holy Ghost, and there's people all through here. The Holy Ghost is just moving on us in this place. A while ago, you were, you were demonstrating, you were reaching for God, but now God is reaching for you. And there's a difference. God is reaching for you. Hallelujah Jesus. Hallelujah Jesus. Hallelujah. [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Jesus. I worship you Jesus. I worship you Jesus. [Applause] [Music] Hallelujah Jesus. Hallelujah Jesus.

Now that you've cried to Him for a mama, just worship Him for the answer because I believe that you have touched Him. I can feel that you have touched Him. Mother's prayers have touched Him. So now just worship Him for the touching, for the answer that is on its way. Hallelujah Jesus. [Music] Jesus. Hallelujah. This may sound like an unusual statement, but a boy gets his male identity from his mother, not his father. Her approval, her recognition, her affection develops his self-esteem, his identity that he is a male. I've watched teenage boys, and they'll be sort of begin to flirt with their mother a little bit. I've watched it, and they're not vulgar with this, it's just that this, this feeling, this newness in them. And a wise mother knows exactly what's going on. She knows just exactly how to respond and to give him her approval. It's amazing. If the mother is rebellious in these matters of divine order that we're talking about here, then she transmits her rebellion to her son, and the generation that he sires will be more rebellious than hers. That is what is so scary about all of this. She may be subtle in her expression of it, but he will be bold. It will become his lifestyle. And I've watched, and I've passed it three times, men who grew up and did not have a good relationship with their mother, they do not know how to treat their wives. There's all, there are all kinds of problems in the home because he doesn't understand how to treat a woman. It's really, really vital that we live the laws of this book and understand His wisdom and His knowledge and carry out the divine order of things. All you have to do is go to Roman history, and we see how the mothers of the Caesars manipulated their sons to become the most vile, cruel, corrupt specimens of humanity that has ever existed. For example, Claudius, he was fifth from Augustus Caesar. Great example of that. Even the Pharaohs of Egypt. People that are whole volumes written on this particular subject from the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament by Kittel and published by Eerdmans. Listen to this: In biblical times, when you entered Corinth, at the top of the hill was the Temple of Diana. The first sailor from the sea to to the top of the hill was given free access to the whole of the harlot harems of Diana. The prostitutes in the temple all had short hair. It had been given as a sacrifice to the Goddess Diana. I was fortunate because in a National Geographic magazine in June of 1972, page 774, I found a picture of an altar whereupon women in biblical times sacrificed their hair, found in the city of Aphrodisias, located in Southwest Turkey. The Temple of Aphrodite towers behind its blazing altar. Women entered to sacrifice their hair in annual mourning for the death of Aphrodite's lover, Adonis, a rite that they were able to capture from the ruins of that particular time. The cutting of the hair is the statement of our women for women's rights. It's filtering into the church. It's a sign of rebellion. Some people say that God has laid a greater responsibility, a burden upon our women than men. I've heard that. Every woman say it. But the truth of the matter is that God has placed a great deal of confidence in our women, and it is a tremendous compliment to them. Each woman is a picture of the church, the entire body of Christ. And husbands were to love their wives as Christ loved the church, to die for them if necessary. The Bible says, "Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignity." You'll find that in Jude, verse 8. The word "defile" from Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, meaning primarily to stain, tint, or dye with another color, as in the staining of glass. The Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament, in Greek, meaning to tinge, dye, stain, to pollute, defile. Hence, "if any man stained, tinted, or dyed of this diet, this body, him shall God destroy." I saw someone recently, I couldn't find a quarter square inch on their arms or there wasn't some kind of a tattoo. One guy had his, shaved his head and had his whole head dyed blue. And they think we're strange. I mean, it's sad, you know. You know, really, people aren't just lost anymore, they're terribly lost. When I was growing up and came into...

This people were lost. We talked about living, but now people are just terribly lost. It takes the power of God, power on your head, ladies, power on your heads, to bring the reality of God and break the chains and the darkness that surrounds them.

In Isaiah 66 and 4, God said, "I also will choose their delusions and will bring their fears upon them, because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear, but they did even before mine eyes and chose that in which I delighted not."

A hypocrite is someone who appears to be someone or something he is not. In Luke chapter 11, Jesus went after those Pharisees. The Pharisees were hypocrites because they appeared to be holy when they weren't. Jesus never abraded them for their outward appearance, but he did upgrade them because their outward appearance did not portray what they said they were on the inside. The publicans and sinners were never called hypocrites because they appeared on the outside what they were on the inside.

For those that say our holiness doesn't matter and claim to be holy on the inside, they are equally as hypocritical as the scribes and Pharisees in a reverse way because they appear to be what they say they are not. They dress like the world, they act like it, they look like it.

There are only two types of people who are not hypocrites: those that are not wholly on the outside and on the inside at the same time, and those that are holy on the inside and outside at the same time. These two groups are the hypocrites. Anyone that is not totally one way or the other is a hypocrite because they appear to be what they are not. That's why Jesus said, "I would that you were either hot or cold, but he can't stand that lukewarm business in between."

People who leave our wholeness, their big argument is, "Well, God looks at the heart." Man is what looks at the on the outside. People like that are fools. Tell them I said so. Don't they understand that because man cannot see my heart, only God can? Therefore, I have to express on the outside what God has done on the inside, otherwise nobody will ever see it.

And you work for some companies, there is a dress code, and you have got to keep it, or you do not hold the job. Say, "I'm not a hypocrite." I'm not sure you sound real positive about that. So say it like you're just real positive. [Applause] Now say it with a little anger in it. [Applause] Do it again and just pretend you're looking right into the devil's face. Yeah, that's more powerful. Ah, Hallelujah!

We need here today to look and to recognize the historical significance of hair. We need to investigate the associations involved with hair in human history. In doing so, we find that there was no issue at all for the first 5,900 years of recorded history. The widespread practice of women cutting their hair began in the United States in the Roaring Twenties, a decade defined by the spirit of frivolity, materialism, immorality, and rebellion. The world had survived World War I, but not without paying the price of great societal upheaval.

During the 1920s, no national issue aroused U.S. citizens like that of bobbed, what they call bobbed or cut hair. Marion Spitzer wrote an article entitled "The Erstwhile Crowning Glory" in the Saturday Evening Parish, June 27, 1925, and this is what she wrote: "There hasn't been a newspaper printed for the last two years that hasn't carried some sort of little story about women's hair. It used to be a woman's crowning glory, but now it's just hair." And Harding wrote an article entitled "Your Crowning Glory" in Ladies Home Journal, March of 1927. She said in her article, "The most radical change in the custom of women in our time has been the change in their hairstyles. Hair really is the crowning glory of a woman. Her hair still remains the most telling item of her appearance, and now short hair is considered chic. It is also the symbol of freedom for women."

The number of hair dressing shops quadrupled in four years. Some department stores and hospitals discharged all their female employees with cut hair. Many men divorced their wives. This is our own history, folks, right here in America. The 1920s, many men divorced their wives. A Missouri court in 1926 awarded custody of three children to private homes with Christian influences because the mother had cut her hair. God brought judgment upon the United States for this decade of open rebellion and immorality on October 24, 1929, when the stock market crashed on Black Tuesday. A coincidence? Hardly.

The angry decade of the 60s again brought rebellion against God with rioting, drug use, the hippie culture, unisex clothing, Eastern religions, atheism, rock and roll music, and free sex. Is it a coincidence that long hairstyles for men entered our culture during this period of time? Hardly. This hair revolution was started by The Beatles in the spring of 1964. According to one estimate, barber shops across America were forced to close at the rate of 100 a month as young men displayed the rebellion against the establishment through their shaggy, disheveled hair. It is worthy of note that nearly all subsequent rebellion in society has been identified with hairstyle: punk rockers, skinheads, or clothing. It is clearly ridiculous to claim there is no association.

This is from some of the historical significance of hair, but let's look at these spiritual significance of hair. If only Christians, say, "Christian, say that's me." Look at your neighbor. To that Jew. If only Christians knew what witches and New Agers know. There is power on the head because of what we do with our hair. That's what they teach. What God meant for good, the devil wants to use for evil.

In the Encyclopedia of Superstition, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, it says, "Women's hair is a most precious amulet and wards off a great many evils and diseases." Power, magic, secrets, and mysteries, ancient and modern. This book says hair has always been considered strong magic. Witches casting an evil spell needed a piece of hair from their victim to make it truly efficacious. The Women's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects says, "Women's hair carried heavy symbolic and spiritual significance in Oriental religions. Tantric sages proclaimed that the binding or unbinding of women's hair could control cosmic powers of creation and destruction." The Donning International Encyclopedia Psychic Dictionary says, "Hair has psycho powers that act as a protection from evil entities of the etheric world." Is it this cutting of the hair was done in a ritual to discontinue this protection? Now, if they understand that, then we should understand that uncut hair brings the power of angels into our homes, into our searches. If witchcraft understands these things, we ought to be running the aisles and shouting the victory for the glory of the truth that God has given to us as a people. [Applause]

It is symbolic of strength. It contributes to one's personality and is a mark of identification. To shave one's head is to remove one's self-image so one can begin a new self-image. From I like this from the Encyclopedia on Witches and Witchcraft, it says, "A witch's magical power is bound in her hair. By shaking her head in the wind, the power of a spell is doubled." I've often thought, what would happen if our Pentecostal women got out when the wind was blowing, let it down and just shook it? If witches can double the power, what could Apostolic Pentecostal women too, in the midst of the wind blowing? Oh, clap your hands, worship the Lord. Hallelujah, Jesus. Thank you for revelation. Thank you for understanding.

Here today from the Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, listen to this: "Hair has had an occult significance since ancient times. It has been regarded as a source of strength. The association of hair with sexual features of the body has given it remarkable force, and distinctions between male and female hair have emphasized sexual attraction. The unisex fashions of the permissive society and rock groups have tended to create sexual confusion and neurotic behavior."

I worked with a lot of hippies in the in the 1960s when I got out of Bible School pastoring my first church. I won one hippie to the Lord. He had long hair. He was a nice looking guy, but the moment we prayed him through the Holy Ghost, he got that haircut. When he walked back in, he looked so fine. And I said, "Tommy, you look great, man." He said, "Let me talk to you about the Stone King." He said, "I'm going to tell you something." He said, "I've been a hippie for several years." He said, "People don't understand this." He said, "But I knew my parents wanted me to cut my hair, and I'd never do it for them. It was rebellion." But when I came to this church, and you taught how that men should not have long hair, he said, "I went right out and cut it because I could do it for Jesus, not my mom and dad, but I could do it for Jesus, and it was in the word."

But then he told me this. He said, "Every hippie that wears his hair uncut for two years, at the end of two years, the battle begins. The spirit of homosexuality comes to him, and he has to fight and struggle and decide, will I remain straight or will I become a gay individual?" I said, "You're not serious." He said, "Brothers talking. It's the worst battle you can imagine." He said, "That spirit comes right against you. It comes right against you." He said, "Because it's so abnormal." Isn't that something? That's not my thinking. That's not from a book. That's from somebody who lived in that world and told. He said, "All of us have to fight that." He said, "But when you told how it is a shame for a man to have uncut hair, he said, I had a reason to do it. I did it for Jesus." And the day he pastors. Wonderful, wonderful.

Think of the classic image of a witch. It is a woman with long, scraggly, uncut hair. Why? Because the evil side of the supernatural realm knows there is power associated with hair. When I first went to Fiji to preach for brother and sister Carver, who are missionaries then, we had an incredible move of God. There were hundreds that got the Holy Ghost. There were miracles of healing. He said, "Brother Stone King, when we came to this nation and our women did not cut their hair, he said the news spread through the whole nation of Fiji that these Apostolic Christians, the women did not cut their hair." He said, "As a result, that practice has spread to the entire nation. The women, all the Fijian women in Fiji, stopped cutting their hair because of our testimony that went there to preach this glorious gospel." That is amazing. That is astounding.

I heard the testimony from a mother and father. Their son was involved in a very serious car accident, and he was going to die, supposed to die. But that mother had heard a message like this I had preached, and she went to God and took her hair down and she said, "Jesus, I've never cut my hair. There is power on my head because of angels. Raise my boy up." Within a week's time, that boy was out of the hospital. I was in church on that Sunday. [Applause]

I was in brother Nix's church in Ypsilanti, Michigan. There was a very lovely young woman in that church. Proverbs 18:19. She had something go wrong with her eyes, and the doctor said that she was going to go blind, she'd lose her sight. And they want her to cut her hair because they felt like the weight of the hair would maybe complicate the condition with the redness and all of that. But she wouldn't do it. She said, "No, I will not cut my hair." And so she didn't cut her hair. And the end result, I heard her stand and testify of this. The whole house was on its feet, worshiping. And the end result, her eyes were totally healed. And when they did a study on why, there was something about the weight of the hair that pulled the nerves inside the eyes and kept them from degenerating as the doctor had said they would.

My own mother, when she came to this truth, she she had heart disease, and she had the kind that there was a pain in this left arm all the time, especially when it got tired. And um, she I came home. I was just a brand new convert and and just about six months old, and I just got her in the church, and she had gone to church two or three times. And and she was trying to let her hair grow. And she said to me, she'd got to crying one day when I was home in the kitchen, and she said, she said, "Lee, she's the honey, I I can't, I can't go to this Pentecostal church." I said, "Mom, why?" She said, "I cannot let my hair grow. I can't." She said, "I don't have the strength of my left arm to work with that, so I can't hold my arm up to fix my hair." The spirit of God came on me, and I must have prophesied to her because I said, "Mom, if you let your hair grow long, God will heal your arm and give you a simple hairstyle that'll be very becoming to you, and you won't have to worry about that." That is exactly what happened. Her arm was healed. He gave her a simple hairstyle, and she never cut her hair all the years that she lived for God. [Music]

Wonderful. Lift your hands again and just praise the Lord. Hallelujah, Jesus. [Music] [Applause] [Music]

And I close with this. Brother Gary Gleason, he is the superintendent of the state of Oregon. He told me there was a woman in his church that came and received the Holy Ghost, lived for God, but her whole family made fun of her, always ridiculing her because of her uncut hair, no makeup, and all of this. But didn't change her. She was kept living for God. One Saturday morning, several years passed. One Saturday morning, she received a phone call from, I think was Oklahoma, and it was her mother. And she said, "If you want to ever see your father again alive, you better get better, get on a plane right now and come." She said, "Because he's not expected to live." And so she went straight to the airport, caught a flight, and went straight there. She went straight to the airport, went to the hospital, and walked right into the hospital room in front of her siblings, her brothers, sisters, her family, her mother. And there lay her father. The vital organs had already shut down. He only had a matter of hours to live. And without ever ever saying anything to them or any explanation, she went to her father's bedside, knelt down beside him, and began to take her hair down. And when her long hair fell down, she laid it across her father's body and she said, "God, I've never cut my hair. There is power on my head because of angels. Raise my daddy up that he will be able to receive this truth." He was out of the hospital in less than a week. Hallelujah, Jesus. Hallelujah, Jesus. Hallelujah, Jesus. Hallelujah, Jesus. Hallelujah, Jesus.

I have been eyewitness to some of these things in the last two or three years. I know of women that have gotten together over serious problems that have never cut their hair and let their hair down and begin to pray privately in homes and church buildings and pray, "God, do something. Do something. We've kept the laws of God." And there have been miracles of healing. People have not died that were supposed to die. People, we've got a hold of the greatest thing in this entire world. I'm not saying you should take your hair down here today, but I am saying you ought to be on your feet with your hands and your voices in the air rejoicing over the law of God, the laws of God that have brought you where you are. Because there are miracles in this sanctuary right here today. There are miracles in this sanctuary here today. If you feel like running, you ought to run. If you feel like dancing, you have to to dance. If you feel like shouting, you ought to shout. If you feel like getting a hold of somebody and praying for them, you want to do it here today. There is a power of revelation and understanding that is being unleashed in this sanctuary here today. That's it. That's it. That's it. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth. By the authority of the word of God. By the power of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. It's the name of Jesus. That's it. That's it. That's it. By the authority of the word of God, I set you free. If it have Jesus. If the name of Jesus. If the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Said there is something trying to get loose right through this area. There is something trying to get loose right through this area. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth. That's it. That's it. That's it. There is an anointing that is coming down upon you that's going to change your ministry in your local churches. For your there are pastors' wives here. Something powerful is coming upon pastor's wives that will enhance the ministry of your husband. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. That's it. That's it. That's it. By the authority of the word of God. By the power of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Such as I have. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. And the authority of the word of God. In the name of Jesus. That's it. I can feel it. I can feel that reaching for you. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Yes. Of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. There is a power upon you. There is an anointing upon you. Women here today, you ought to lay hands on each other. When you do, there will be healings. There will be deliverances unlike anything you've had to this present moment. Hallelujah, Jesus. I encourage you to reach over, get a hold of somebody and begin to pray for them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Yes. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. The healing virtue of God. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He thou healed in Jesus name. If Jesus name. In Jesus name. In Jesus name. Hallelujah. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. I worship you because you are God. Jesus. I worship you because you are God. If you feel like running to this altar today to just absolutely throw your hands in the air and say, "God, I want this like I've never had it before," I invite you to come. I just invite you to come. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] In the name of Jesus. That's it. That's it. There is a powerful anointing upon you, ladies. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. I can feel the brush of angels' wings in this place today. Hallelujah. [Applause] Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Jesus of God, we have gotten behind the veil. We have gotten behind the veil. Hear us, O Master of the Universe. Touch the Lord and make new and whole. In the name of the Lord Jesus. In the name of the Lord Jesus. In the name of the Lord Jesus. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Receive it. Receive it. In the name of Jesus. Receive it. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Yes. Hallelujah. [Laughter] [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] experience. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music]