KJV

No Black in Heaven!

By Helen Jesze, 18^th September 2020

“You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy,”

Psalm 30, 11 NLT

Two days ago, I tied the silky scarf loosely round my neck, with its cascade of bright but tasteful colours – violet, lilac, blue, jade green, black and white. As always when I look at this scarf, I rejoiced again that I am able to see and recognise colour – this wonderful, uplifting blessing God has given us. Suddenly I remembered the situation when we had not been living and ministering in Germany very long, how women used to go into mourning and wear black, when a family member died. It lasted some months, even up to a year, before they could put away these certain clothes.

Sometimes women came to me for counselling, and it turned out that their depression and heavy burden of oppression was brought on every time they opened that certain drawer. The sight of these clothes brought back painful memories and they relived each death again. Women, whom God has made to respond to colour, design, beauty, sensitivity, creativity – these were the very ones whom tradition – even the traditions of some church denominations – required to clothe themselves with garments of mourning; some countries required that even their underwear must be black.

It was clear that this was another ploy of Satan, to trap and enslave women, and they needed to look closely at this and recognise it for what it was, and make the decision not to give him the chance to bind them in this way. I knew a pastor’s wife who committed suicide, and another who was about to throw her children down the stairs and then kill herself, too. But Jesus stepped in and prevented this. He showed her the door she had left open, spiritually and mentally, which had given depression free rein with her thoughts. I am not inferring that in these cases the depression came from wearing mourning clothes, but just showing that even born-again Christian men and women can be tormented with this, and Jesus wants to set us free, and hinder it developing in the first place.

My husband, George, died in April this year. Although I grieve for him, I do not wear black, but wear normal clothes and colours. If a woman decides to wear black, either in mourning or just anyway, black can look very elegant and not be depressing if teamed with the right colours or accessories, but that is a different matter, and her choice, not something she is being forced into.

A late friend of ours, Yorrie, a fiery Welsh preacher and singer, drifted in and out of consciousness a few days before he died. Elaine, his daughter, told me how that one time when he came back and was able to speak to her, Yorrie was describing what he had seen in heaven. He said: “Oohh! The colours! The colours! There is no black in Heaven, ‘Lainey!” I have heard testimonies of Christians who died and were brought back to life by Jesus, that there were amazing flowers of vibrant colours in Heaven, colours they could not describe because they were not like ones we have here on Earth. It was Yorrie’s wish that people should wear Hawaiian shirts at his funeral, and give praise to God for all He had done! He was also buried in his own Hawaiian shirt, and at the funeral, the guests already had their dress code given them! Now that was Yorrie’s and the family’s choice; I’m not recommending this should be at every funeral!

Satan seeks to oppress men and women, boys and girls in various ways and cause them to wear ‘sackcloth’ or clothes of mourning. Jesus said that this happened because he is the destroyer, a killer. But He, JESUS, is come that we might have LIFE abundantly! Sometimes we have grown so used to our spiritual and mental mourning clothes that we no longer realise how bound we are. It’s time to throw them off, and put on the Garment of Praise for the spirit of heaviness, and dance in the Presence of our Mighty Glorious Lord, bringing freedom to ourselves and glory to His Name!