John Paul

Malachi 4:6 New King James Version (NKJV)

John Paul Jackson passed away in March of (2015). I think in an effort to reach closure for myself I will write what’s on my heart. There’s a popular commercial that sarcastically says, “you can’t put anything that’s not true on the internet.” Right? Sadly, there are several untruths being passed off as truth on the internet. For instance, I recently saw a lady from somewhere had written an article called “The Death Of A False Prophet.” She was writing about the passing of John Paul Jackson, who had become MY spiritual father. When I saw the article I was tempted to confront her for her insensitivity to those of us grieving his loss…but neither Jesus nor John Paul would care for my doing that. The self appointed experts of His day called Jesus “a drunkard and a glutton” among other things but Peter knew Jesus was the Christ. As Jesus told him, the Father had revealed it to him. I knew John Paul was a prophet the same way. The Father showed me before I knew who he was and I will tell that story in a minute.

John Paul was the great, great grandson of the Civil War General, Thomas Stonewall Jackson. Before John Paul was born in 1950 the angel of the Lord appeared to his mother and announced his destiny. He was to be an 11th hour prophet to the nations. Even her pregnancy was to be a sign. His mother had an 11 month pregnancy! Some of you ladies may appreciate hearing that. When he got sick and died as a child his mother screamed to the heavens, “YOU PROMISED!!” Hearing his mother, God raised him from the dead…confounding the doctors. As he grew he had no intention of going in to the ministry. In fact, by age 30, he had already established himself in a highly successful business career. But that was the year he called in to a radio show and got his ministry direction from a lady from Israel. On November 11, 1980 he had an encounter with God that totally redirected his life. Encounters with God do that sort of thing. So, John Paul left the business world and answered the call to ministry.

It was about 1995 and I was seeing recurring visions of a man I did not know. It was really frustrating me that I had no idea who I was seeing repeatedly. I would simply pray for this unknown man. The vision was odd. Most are actually, but the details were the same each time. The man was seated on a tree stump and talking to children gathered around him. He had gray hair combed back and was wearing a long sleeve, red plaid shirt. While this was happening someone mentioned I should go hear this prophet named John Paul Jackson at Atlanta Vineyard that weekend. He was there Saturday and Sunday. I had never heard of him or seen a picture of him before. I went and when he was introduced to preach guess what? He had gray hair combed back and was wearing the red plaid shirt. I had my man! But why? His first message was on the “Elijah Spirit” how God was returning the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers. Remember what he was doing in the vision? He was talking to children. The second night he preached on how God delivered him from the fear of rejection. He said God cut down the tree of rejection in his life, that “it was actually more like a mighty sequoia!” Once again, remember the vision? He was sitting on a tree stump. He spoke for those two days and several people were going up afterwards to speak with him. I remember being pretty intimidated. He had fiery piercing eyes so I avoided it for then. But I pondered these things…

A couple of years later John Paul’s “Streams Ministries” was starting a school of ministry. It was specifically for prophetic training with a heavy emphasis on the foundation of Godly character. I signed up for the 101 class called, “The Art of Hearing God.” He flew in to Atlanta from Texas once a month to teach us for an entire year. His 201 class came next and covered mostly “dreams and visions.” Then we took his 202 class that delved deeply into “dream interpretation.” I assure you he was the best dream interpreter on the planet, eventually training countless students around the world.

I had started his school of ministry in about 1998. I became one of the children he taught from his tree stump. I became one of his sons. He said I had his spiritual DNA. I’m not going to candy coat the facts. John Paul had an intensity about him that was hard to be around at times. He didn’t just have fiery eyes. Much of the time he had a fiery disposition as well. And he was hard on me! But, fortunately I was not alone. He could be so unapproachable at times but just when you needed the encouragement to continue he would unexpectedly give it in spades. So, I loved the man and may have never had more respect for anyone in my life. I still have an unbreakable bond with some of those students I took his classes with. We were one of his first group of students. His ministry was still relatively unknown in the late 90’s but that changed in the following years. His School of supernatural ministry, as he called it, spread all over the world and was translated into other languages as the demand arose. You can watch videos of his teachings and prophetic words given over the years on U-Tube if you’re curious at all.

I’m now a part of Patria Ministries out of Birmingham, Alabama. Most of the ministries associated are former “Bridge” churches that were started by John Paul. He was scheduled to come to our family gathering in Birmingham in May. I was looking forward to talking with him again since I had only been communicating by email periodically over the last couple of years. As busy as he was he would still respond to emails. It meant a lot to me since I had not been involved with “Streams” for several years. He had a miraculous recovery from cancer in 2014. He was working on the 3rd season of his TV show “Dreams and Mysteries” on Daystar when the urgent prayer request for John Paul was sent out. His health was failing quickly. Surely God would heal him, again. If he died God would raise him from the dead, again. But his health quickly deteriorated and he was gone.

So, in the end, he had become the 11th hour prophet to the nations the angel announced to his mother 65 years ago. He had called in during the last hour of the radio show. He had become the 11th hour prophet to the nations. In March 2015 the Lord took him home. This brings me back to the lady who wrote the article “Death of A False Prophet”. I don’t remember her name. She was a offended former student. I’m sure God loves her. even though she spoke evil of one of God’s generals. Religious leaders can be so deceived, sadly. They spoke against John the Baptist. They even spoke against Jesus. And today they speak against all kinds of leaders in God’s Kingdom. Some of the best draw the most ruthless attacks. But God’s purposes are still carried out. No plan of God can be thwarted! His word never returns void. John Paul did graduate to heaven but not before  fulfilling his God ordained destiny. And further, not without reproducing in others all over the world what God had given him. For surely God had turned his heart to us and ours to him. He was a father in the Kingdom and now we, his sons and daughters, have to fill that vacuum. Well done, sir…