Raymond 'Junior' Jackson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1 Early life
2 Contact with William Branham
3 Ministry
4 The Contender
5 Death
6 Followers
7 References

[edit] Early life

Raymond M. 'Junior' Jackson was born to Raymond Sr. and Esther Jackson in the town of Borden Indiana in 1924. He attended the Borden public school leaving in the ninth grade to help his father, who suffered from tuberculosis of the spine, attend their farm. He was drafted into World War II at the age of 18 and served in the Pacific theatre during the war. After returning from the War he became involved in the Methodist Church eventually becoming traveling pastor of several Methodist Churches in the Elizabeth Indiana area, where he settled in 1951.

[edit] Contact with William Branham

In 1952 Jackson was introduced to William Branham by his wife's cousin, Glen Funk, while the two hunted on his farm in Elizabeth Indiana. Between 1952 and 1955 he became a close follower of William Branham's teachings and is often mentioned as 'Junior' Jackson throughout Branham's sermons as a good friend and fellow minister. Overall, William Branham would have the single greatest influence on the ministry and teachings of Jackson.

[edit] Ministry

In April 1955, after leaving the Methodist Church over differences in doctrine, Jackson first began his home church, Faith Assembly Church. He slowly became somewhat ostracized from the Branham Movement, or 'The Message' churches, by refusing to enact Branham's 'Church Order' which Branham established to quell the riotous nature of some of the later Branham meetings. Following the death of Branham in 1967, Jackson's ministry and his followers began to diverge from the core of Branham's followers.

Beginning in 1969, after his own assembly was well established, Jackson began to travel extensively to do missionary works around the world. Several concentrations of his followers began to appear around the focal points of his missions in Canada, Mexico, Europe (mainly Norway and Germany), Africa (South Africa and Nigeria), The Philippines, India, Singapore, and throughout the United States, but his followers can be found in most countries.

His doctrines differed from the other sects of the Branham movement, 'The Message', in that his philosophy was to 'build' upon the Branham's teachings rather than hold only to them for doctrine.

[edit] The Contender

Starting in 1969 Jackson began publishing his sermons in a magazine titled The Contender. The paper was named after Jude 1:3. All of his major doctorine are written there and many of them can be found online at The Home of the Contender. The Contender is still in print today which is done by O'Bannon Publishing in Corydon, Indiana.

[edit] Death

Jackson was hospitalized with pnuemonia December 2, 2004 and died shortly thereafter at age 80, on December 4, 2004 after his health rapidly deteriorated. His funeral, held December 8, 2004, was attended by the heads of all the major assemblies following his teachings, as well as nearly one thousand of his followers.

[edit] Followers

Jackson's followers are located around the world but concentrated in the areas where his missions went. The largest concentration is in the United States where there are around 30 churches which hold to his teaching and interpretaions of Branham's ministry. The largest assembly being his own in Jeffersonville Indiana.