The Jackson Camp: Difference between revisions
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Another defining difference between Jackson and other message sub-sects is that they gave William Branham a lower level of importance than other groups. Most people in the Jackson camp never listen to Branham tapes, and their preachers only quoted him on occasion. They believe the main imperative of "the message" was a command to go back to the Bible and restore the form of the early church, with apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, spiritual gifts, miracles, etc, and reject denominationalism and "creedalism". Whereas other groups define "the message" as the collective teachings of William Branham, the Jackson camp would differ in the very definition of what "the message" means. | Another defining difference between Jackson and other message sub-sects is that they gave William Branham a lower level of importance than other groups. Most people in the Jackson camp never listen to Branham tapes, and their preachers only quoted him on occasion. They believe the main imperative of "the message" was a command to go back to the Bible and restore the form of the early church, with apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, spiritual gifts, miracles, etc, and reject denominationalism and "creedalism". Whereas other groups define "the message" as the collective teachings of William Branham, the Jackson camp would differ in the very definition of what "the message" means. | ||
Relating specifically to the Godhead, they did not accept William Branham as Luke 17:30 like the other groups. They did not believe God was manifest in the flesh of William Branham. They rejected the "Manifested Sons of God" teaching in general. Instead, they said Luke 17:30 was William Branham bringing a correct revelation of who the son of man (Jesus) was. So their Godhead beliefs stemmed from their belief that William Branham had a special authority via Luke 17:30 to properly interpret the Godhead. Since it was new and never before know, it could not be Oneness or Trinitarian, because those predated Branham. As a result, their beliefs were quite similar to those of [[Vaylism|Lee Vayle | Relating specifically to the Godhead, they did not accept William Branham as Luke 17:30 like the other groups. They did not believe God was manifest in the flesh of William Branham. They rejected the "Manifested Sons of God" teaching in general. Instead, they said Luke 17:30 was William Branham bringing a correct revelation of who the son of man (Jesus) was. So their Godhead beliefs stemmed from their belief that William Branham had a special authority via Luke 17:30 to properly interpret the Godhead. Since it was new and never before know, it could not be Oneness or Trinitarian, because those predated Branham. As a result, their beliefs were quite similar to those of [[Vaylism|Lee Vayle]] - neither Oneness nor Trinitarian. Raymond Jackson never fully denied the deity of Christ as Lee Vayle did (although some in the Jackson camp would deny the deity of Christ). For most in the Jackson camp, Christ was divine and therefore worshiped and praised but he was seen as subordinate to and distinct from God the Father. They took what William Branham said about the spirit of God coming into Christ at his baptism, to say Jesus was born a perfect man without sin (as Adam was created) in whom God dwelled. The main focus of the Godhead teachings in the Jackson camp is really around how to "properly" divide the deity and the humanity of Christ. After Junior Jackson's death, the group has trended towards full denial of the deity of Christ. | ||
At their high point in the 1980s and 1990s, the Jackson fellowship included around 125 churches or groups globally. In 1992, Raymond Jackson started preaching that the week of Daniel would begin during or around 2005. That was probably his signature teaching in the final years of his life, until his death in December 2004. Unfortunately, the Week of Daniel did not begin in 2005 and that led to major divisions that largely destroyed the groups that followed him. Approximately half of the people in the Jackson camp left the group in the early 2000s. It is now just a shadow of what it once was. Those who remain are divided into about 6 different groups, the primary difference being how they sought to resolve the issues with Bro. Jackson's calculations around the start of the Week of Daniel. No group will concede that he was actually wrong. | At their high point in the 1980s and 1990s, the Jackson fellowship included around 125 churches or groups globally. In 1992, Raymond Jackson started preaching that the week of Daniel would begin during or around 2005. That was probably his signature teaching in the final years of his life, until his death in December 2004. Unfortunately, the Week of Daniel did not begin in 2005 and that led to major divisions that largely destroyed the groups that followed him. Approximately half of the people in the Jackson camp left the group in the early 2000s. It is now just a shadow of what it once was. Those who remain are divided into about 6 different groups, the primary difference being how they sought to resolve the issues with Bro. Jackson's calculations around the start of the Week of Daniel. No group will concede that he was actually wrong. | ||
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[[Category:The Message]] | [[Category:The Message]] | ||
Category:Unfinished articles | [[Category:Unfinished articles]] | ||
Latest revision as of 21:39, 23 November 2022
Raymond M. Jackson (or "Junior" Jackson) was the pastor of Faith Assembly Church in Clarksville, Indiana. He was a follower of William Branham but after William Branham's death was responsible for the founding of a major sub-sect within the "message". We refer to this sub-sect as the Jackson camp or group.
The Jackson group has diverged significantly from most of the other message sub-sects. The followers of Lee Vayle are probably their closest cousins in beliefs, but they differ from them a fair bit too. They actually started diverging from the "message" while William Branham was still alive. They probably rejected almost 50% of what William Branham preached, although they would never say that publicly because the average person in the movement does not realize how far they have diverged from William Branham's teachings and they want to maintain that ignorance.
Whereas most groups say the last years of Bro. Branham's ministry was his most anointed, the Jackson camp actually looks at it quite differently. They believe the sermons on the seals in March 1963 was the high point of his ministry, and everything he preached afterwards was more or less things he preached wrong on purpose to lead the people astray as a punishment for them trying to turn him into deity. For example, they do not believe or accept Marriage and Divorce, Heavenly Home, Church Order, etc. That is also why they hearken back to the his original position on the 7 year week of Daniel.
Many of Branham's followers use the message doctrine of Progressive Revelation to accept the last statement Bro. Branham made as the accurate one. However, Jackson's followers tend to do the opposite. They take the earlier statements as correct because of their belief that he was purposefully preaching wrong doctrine in his later ministry.
The issue here, of course, is that God cannot inspire someone to preach false teachings... But that is something the Jackson camp glosses over.
Junior Jackson promoted a teaching he referred to as "The fan is in his hand," using the prophecy of John the Baptist (Matt 3:12, Luke 3:17) to say that William Branham would purposefully preach false doctrine to separate the wheat and the chaff. The wheat would be able to discern what was false and be saved. But the chaff would be carried away by the winds of false doctrine (Eph 4:14). This allowed Junior Jackson and his followers to selectively reject significant portions of Branham's teachings. They retained William Branham as the fulfillment of Malachi 4:5-6 and Rev. 10:7. Most importantly, they believe the events around the seals in 1963 were supernatural events and the seals themselves were inspired revelation.
Another defining difference between Jackson and other message sub-sects is that they gave William Branham a lower level of importance than other groups. Most people in the Jackson camp never listen to Branham tapes, and their preachers only quoted him on occasion. They believe the main imperative of "the message" was a command to go back to the Bible and restore the form of the early church, with apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, spiritual gifts, miracles, etc, and reject denominationalism and "creedalism". Whereas other groups define "the message" as the collective teachings of William Branham, the Jackson camp would differ in the very definition of what "the message" means.
Relating specifically to the Godhead, they did not accept William Branham as Luke 17:30 like the other groups. They did not believe God was manifest in the flesh of William Branham. They rejected the "Manifested Sons of God" teaching in general. Instead, they said Luke 17:30 was William Branham bringing a correct revelation of who the son of man (Jesus) was. So their Godhead beliefs stemmed from their belief that William Branham had a special authority via Luke 17:30 to properly interpret the Godhead. Since it was new and never before know, it could not be Oneness or Trinitarian, because those predated Branham. As a result, their beliefs were quite similar to those of Lee Vayle - neither Oneness nor Trinitarian. Raymond Jackson never fully denied the deity of Christ as Lee Vayle did (although some in the Jackson camp would deny the deity of Christ). For most in the Jackson camp, Christ was divine and therefore worshiped and praised but he was seen as subordinate to and distinct from God the Father. They took what William Branham said about the spirit of God coming into Christ at his baptism, to say Jesus was born a perfect man without sin (as Adam was created) in whom God dwelled. The main focus of the Godhead teachings in the Jackson camp is really around how to "properly" divide the deity and the humanity of Christ. After Junior Jackson's death, the group has trended towards full denial of the deity of Christ.
At their high point in the 1980s and 1990s, the Jackson fellowship included around 125 churches or groups globally. In 1992, Raymond Jackson started preaching that the week of Daniel would begin during or around 2005. That was probably his signature teaching in the final years of his life, until his death in December 2004. Unfortunately, the Week of Daniel did not begin in 2005 and that led to major divisions that largely destroyed the groups that followed him. Approximately half of the people in the Jackson camp left the group in the early 2000s. It is now just a shadow of what it once was. Those who remain are divided into about 6 different groups, the primary difference being how they sought to resolve the issues with Bro. Jackson's calculations around the start of the Week of Daniel. No group will concede that he was actually wrong.
The Jackson camp very strongly believes that most other message believers are deceived and lost, and that God actually used William Branham to send them down that path, while at the same time using him to preach the truth to the "real" bride of Christ.