I was riding along today and tuning the radio in my truck when I ran across a radio preacher. You know the old school kind. The ones who nearly shout with every word and sound as if their mouth were filled with something wet. One of those type preachers who put an “ah” sound at the end of every sentence. I’m not making fun here just trying to set the stage clearly.

I listened for a few minutes as he “went off” on men with long hair. He told how it was unholy to have long hair and how it was an abomination in the eyes of God. His message was filled with harsh words bordering on hate.

I guess he never saw a picture of Jesus and other men of the Bible.

Condemned by hair style.

Never once in the 10 minutes I listened did he tell of Gods love for mankind. How Jesus gave his life so that ALL might be saved. At no time did he offer any hope for his audience. It is so sad.

Hair styles are a product of man, not God. In some places maybe long hair is not the style. In other worlds short hair is a weird look.

I worry about the potential harm a sermon like this could do. How many radio listeners were turned away or caused to harden their hearts? I don’t believe in tolerance to all things or all behaviors, but I do believe in Christian love for ALL people. And shouldn’t those people, the outcast, down trodden, the nobodies be the ones we welcome with “Arms Wide Open”? . Casting Crowns has a song that’s addressing this subject well. It speaks of a woman who is an out cast because of her life, her fashion or her past and made to feel unwelcome in church. How many people are lost and dying without Jesus within the “Shadow of Our Steeple”? Those “secondhand people”. A newspaper once ran a headline, Local Church Filled with Sinners. Imagine that.

John 3:16 says “whosoever”. That means everyone. Drunks, Junkies, Prostitutes, people of any color and every past …EVERYONE!! Even Long Haired men.