Headscarves in Hades

!Warning: The following article contains discussion of a deviant sexual practice and may be offensive to some readers. Reader discretion is advised.

Lisa M. has worked very hard to maintain a growing database about the practice of headcovering. Her site is comprehensive in that it addresses headcovering from various religious perspectives, not just Christian. One of the things in particular about Lisa's collection of headcovering resources that strikes me as fascinating is that there seems to be a never-ending list of stories about headcovering in the news -- stories in which headcovering is seen as a negative thing; as though the world is becoming more and more hostile to the tradition of headcovering and the women who elect to participate in it. Looking through some of the articles Lisa has on her site almost feels at times as if there is an all-out global attack on headcovering. This is not a coincidence.

Satan hates God's creation. He has always sought to distort what God has made, but through the ages, he has taken a particular interest in women. In the Garden of Eden, Satan sought to pervert God's order for the sexes. He approached Eve, asking her, "Has God really said...?" and caused her to doubt her Creator. He told her that God had lied to her, that Lord had not been 100% truthful with her concerning the tree of life because He had alterior motives. Satan targeted the woman in the garden, and he's been targeting women ever since. He has millions of women deceived into thinking that Christianity is oppressive. The simple manner in which he does this is by confusing submission with oppression.

God has commanded women to submit. Satan lies to women and tempts us to rebel by telling us that God has commanded men to oppress. The Bible tells us that Satan is the god of this world. His loyal subjects are continually being raised to power in various governments that force women to cover their hair, face, neck, and shoulders. They declare women second class citizens who are blamed for the fall of man, and their punishment is to be covered. God's way reflects perfect balance that is centered in orderliness. Satan's way reflects violent deviations from this. Satan twists things to extremes: submission becomes oppression, and leadership becomes domination. God's use of the headscarf is symbolic. Did you know that Satan has a symbolic use for the headscarf as well?

There is a whole underworld of perversion known as BDSM. Wikipedia* tells us: "Many activities can be found under the umbrella of BDSM, which include - but are not limited to - forms of social dominance, submission, discipline, punishment, bondage, sexual roleplaying, sexual fetishism, sadomasochism, and power exchange, as well as the full spectrum of mainstream personal and sexual interactions." Within this deviant sexual culture is a subculture that takes pleasure in the use of simple, ordinary headscarves as their preferred "sexual aid".

I first became aware of this perversion a few months ago when I was researching the godly practice of headcovering for myself. I had just completed writing my first headcovering post and was looking for some images to post on my blog, when suddenly, I stumbled upon some images of women that were bound and gagged with headscarves. Interestingly, I did not happen to see any men in these photographs, unless they were playing the role of "captor." Women were the primary focus of these scenes.

My first reaction was typical - "This is obscene." But I suddenly realized that this was perhaps a much deeper perversion than anything else I had ever seen or heard about, because it was symbolic. God has told women to be silent; Satan has them gagged. God has told women to submit, Satan has them bound. And he has bound and gagged them with the very symbol of authority that pleases God! If this isn't a blatant defiance of God Almighty, I don't know what is. As I considered the parallels between the obscene pictures and the scriptures, two verses came to mind:

And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day? (Luke 13:16)

And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years . . .(Revelation 20:2)

A chill came over me. I suddenly realized my choice to start covering my head is so much bigger than me, so much more meaningful than I will ever understand in this life. This is more than just perversion. This is the giant iceberg lying underneath the the global hostility toward headcoverings in almost every society today. The headcovering has meaning to Satan. What exactly? I don't know. But I truly believe the headcovering has a very, very deep significance to him:

For this reason she should be covered: because of the angels. (1 Corinthians 11:10)

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6:11-12)

And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. (Revelation 12:7)**

Some feel that the practice of headcovering is not for today. Yet there is a war going on for our souls right now. Even those of us who have been redeemed are constantly fighting a battle we cannot see with our eyes, but we know it's real. I will put on the full armor of God. I will wear the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, and have my feet fitted with the gospel of peace. I will take up my shield of faith and extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one as I wield the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. I will also put on the helmet of salvation. But as for me, I have chosen also to wear the headscarf of submission underneath!


*Due to the extreme graphic nature of this topic, I chose not to link back to any references that contained photographs, regardless of how "mild" the pictures were.

**Revelation 12 depicts the dragon waging war with a woman. The woman is not a literal woman, but a figurative expression of the nation of Israel. It is not to be confused with my assertion that Satan wages war on women. He makes war with all the saints, male and female alike.