Recently, Christian hip-hop artist Lecrae posted a clip on Instagram of a pastor preaching from Deuteronomy 22:5 and telling the congregation that it is a sin for a woman to wear pants.
The video has since gone viral, racking up over 20,000 reactions and invoking over 2,400 comments. The pastor, who isn’t identified in the video or by Lecrae, may possibly be an Independent Fundamental Baptist preacher.
The preacher is using the King James Version of the Deuteronomy passage, which reads, “The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God.”
“A Christian lady wearing pants…Is it a sin? Ya,” the preacher says in the video clip. “A lot of ignorance today. She is sinning against God’s plan for civilization and she is not a part of the solution; she is a part of the problem. And a lot of Christian ladies are a part of the problem unknowingly.”
Lecrae wrote on his Instagram post: “This sermon was preached in 2021.” ChurchLeaders.com could not confirm when the pastor was speaking. Lecrae said, sarcasm evident: “Ladies, when you can’t find your size pants it may be because missionaries have been sent to the stores to save the world by buying them up.” The Grammy Award winning artist then told readers to go get their pastor because he was off to “get his wife a pantsuit,” mocking the pastor’s exegesis of the passage.
This interpretation regarding women’s attire seems not uncommon in the Independent Fundamental Baptist denomination. There are several similar sermon videos on YouTube and the internet offering a similar take.
Reactions to Lecrae’s Post
Christian hip-hop artist, author, and Bible teacher Jackie Hill Perry responded to Lecrae’s post with: “Oh darn. Now we gotta light our torches and start the britch hunt.”
Author, speaker, and television personality Jen Hatmaker said, “Sinning against God’s plan FOR CIVILIZATION?? Well, welcome to end times because these Joe Jeans cost me $165 and I d–n well wearing them.”
Social media influencer Chaz Smith posed a question: “Aight so obviously, dude is WILDIN, but my thing is this:
- People who don’t follow Jesus will see sermons and read scriptures like this and then (understandably) believe either the Bible is written by a bunch of old white dudes who just wanna control and suppress everybody, or that Christians are hypocrites for not following all the rules in the Bible they claim to live by.
- What’s an easy way to explain the context of Levitical law/verses like these?”
Another comment read: “Omgoodness! How much damage this guy is doing. I was ‘raised’ in that ‘manmade teaching’ crap. No ‘mixed bathing,’ no makeup, no cutting your hair, no shorts/pants, no coffee, no reading the funny paper, etc. I’m so thankful that God has blessed me and brought me out of that crap into a world of God is love and true meaning of the scriptures. Thank you, God. It was a world of DON’T and manmade laws. We are under Grace. Jesus died on the cross to get away with all the laws.”
Another comment said, “The kinda teaching that plagued my life for almost 20 years.”
Tell Us What You Think
Is this kind of preaching dangerous or valuable? Why?
Watch the entire clip below: