Of Dreams and Visions II

PRELUDE TO HORSE DREAM

The next dream that I will tell, is one that many of you know about also, but I want it in this message, for I give it in defense of why I feel that God has enabled us to teach some things that we have taught. It is the horse dream that I had in December 1964. On this particular night, I was awakened by a telephone call. It was sister Wright calling. She said Bro. Junie, (that is what they always called me), little Edith has just passed away, and she had requested that you preach her funeral. Brothers and sisters; as I went back to bed, I said to my wife, Honey, this fulfills a dream that I had exactly seven years ago to the month.

In December 1957, my wife and I took our little children and went to Cuba. While we were on that trip, I saw myself in a dream one night, looking and seeing Bro. Branham standing with Sister Wright on one side of him, and Sister Hattie Wright on the other side, and Bro. Branham was praying for little Edith. He was lifting her up to God in prayer, and in the dream, I was watching this scene. As I continued to watch, I could see that Bro. Branham was praying with such a great burden upon his soul as he lifted her up to God. He was asking God to be gracious to this crippled girl and heal her. Sister Wright, and Sister Hattie, were the two women of the house that had taken care of little Edith, and ministered to her needs through the years. Here they stood, one on each side of Bro. Branham, with me watching, but then the scene changed.

The next thing that I saw was a scene of me walking into a funeral parlor. I saw a casket sitting in one corner, and there was no one except me, in there. I saw myself walk over to the casket; the lid was closed, but there was a little card laying on the lid of the casket, which read, funeral services will be conducted at such and such a place, on such and such a date, by Rev. Raymond Jackson. Having had that dream in December 1957, seven years before it came to pass, naturally, Bro. Branham still lived in this area at that time. I came back from Cuba, and all through the following years, I thought, that just cannot be, for Bro. Branham's life has been very closely associated with the George Wright family all through the years. If anything should happen to that crippled girl, he would fly around the world to come to her. But, do you know, brothers and sisters, the Lord did not take Sister Edith while Bro. Branham still lived in this area. He waited until he had moved to Arizona, and was in a meeting so that he was unable to come here for the funeral. Then Sister Edith became very ill, and she died. That very day, as I went to the Swarens Funeral Home at Ramsey and walked in that place, it was just exactly like I had seen it in the dream; while in Cuba, seven years to the month, before it happened; not one detail different.

THE HORSE DREAM

When I went back to bed that night, after receiving the call, I briefly discussed the dream with my wife, and then I fell asleep. That is when I had the HORSE DREAM. I saw myself, and my wife in the car, traveling down the highway. I was going somewhere to a meeting that I had never been before. Just then I saw a speck in the sky. My wife was driving, and I was sitting on the right side, relaxing. I kept watching that speck as it seemed to be moving toward me. As it got closer, I saw that it was a man on a horse. Can you imagine what you would feel like, if you saw a man riding a horse in the sky? You would probably feel like I did. You would wonder if you were really seeing what it looked like you were seeing. I thought, I must be crazy, so I turned my head. Then, after a little while, I thought, I will take another look. When I did, I saw that the horse was coming very fast, right toward us. I knew that it was coming right to a place where it would intersect us. I thought, I surely must be seeing things, then I said to my wife, Honey, pull off the road and stop. I want to watch this. There is a man on a horse in the sky. I wouldn't even look again until she got the car off the road and stopped. That was my human reaction to such a thing. Then when she had pulled the car off and brought it to a stop, I turned to look again, and the horse was already on the ground, just a few feet in front of the car, a little further off of the road. I immediately recognized the rider. He was dressed like a government range rider. I have seen them in the west.

The rider was non other than Bro. Branham. This magnificent white horse was standing at attention, much like a Calvary horse would. The rider just turned a half turn in the saddle and pointed his finger toward me, and said, YOU, GET READY, THERE IS A JOB FOR YOU TO DO, and again he raised his hand and pointed to me, and said, PREPARE YOURSELF FOR THE WORK WHEREIN YOU HAVE BEEN CALLED TO FULFILL, the third time he raised his hand and pointed to me, he said, IF YOU WILL BELIEVE THESE WORDS, A POWERFUL HORSE WILL BE GIVEN TO YOU TO CARRY YOU IN THE CALLING WHEREUNTO YOU HAVE BEEN CALLED. With that he touched the reins and that horse turned and took to the sky. I sat there in the car and watched as he rode that horse right into the sun. After he was completely out of sight, I looked back and right in the same spot, stood another horse exactly like the first one, but it was smaller. BROTHER! IT WAS SMALLER. Therefore, I know that there is no way that Raymond Jackson can be bigger. When my critics say, he is just trying to outrun the prophet, you are wrong! My horse was smaller, BUT, BROTHER! I AM GOING TO RIDE THAT HORSE. He was a little smaller, but I could tell that he was of the same breed as the one that Bro. Branham was on, and I knew that it had come from the same place, and had been trained, the same as the other one. I noticed that he was already saddled, and bridled, so I said to my wife, Honey, I am going to try him out. At that, I went over to where the horse was standing at attention. I stepped up into the saddle, and immediately noticed that the stirrups were already adjusted for me! I just touched the reins and that little animal made a turn and headed to the sky.

As I sat there in the saddle, I looked upon the head of that little animal, which was running with such ease, and said to myself, This animal runs with such ease, there seems to be no labor to his body. As I said these words, I realized that we were lifting higher, and seemed to be getting faster, and the thought came to me, There is no end to where this horse will take me if I but let him go, but he will do whatsoever I ask him. With that thought still fresh in my mind, I said to myself, But I am only trying him out, I must go back, I barely touched the reins to give the direction to the little animal, and he turned in the sky and brought me right back to the same spot where he started from. As I dismounted and got back in the car, the door slammed and I awoke from the dream. The dream was quite an unusual one. You just do not see men riding horses in the sky. For a long time, I treated it as nothing. Time marched on until July of 1965 when I received a call from a place in North Carolina, asking me to come for a meeting, a place I had never been before. When I received the call, I immediately thought of the horse dream, and wondered if this could have anything to do with that? Could this be the beginning of the fulfillment of that dream? After praying about it, I later called the party, and said, the Lord willing, I will be there.

DREAM TOLD TO BRO. BRANHAM

In the light of these developments, I felt that I wanted to talk to Bro. Branham about the dream, mainly because it was such an unusual one, and because it involved him. I phoned to ask permission for an interview with him, and arrangements were made for me to have the interview, on Sunday morning, August 1, 1965. On that certain Sunday morning, with my wife present, I told Bro. Branham the dream. When I had finished telling it to him, he looked at me and said these words, Bro. Jackson, something is about to happen, and when it does, you will have a work to do. I do not know what it is, he said, but this I do know, THE HORSE IS THE POWER OF THE WORD. Then he picked up his bible, and pointed to it, saying to me, "STICK WITH THE WORD". I said, "Bro. Branham, I will do my utmost to do that". Then he repeated himself, saying again, "Bro. Jackson, something is about to happen, I do not know what it is, but when it does, you will have a work to do, Bro. Jackson, STICK WITH THE WORD! I KNOW WHAT THAT HORSE IS, HE SAID, IT IS THE POWER OF THE WORD. After hearing him say that, I left the room, that morning, feeling confident in my heart, that when all of this began to take place, THE HORSE WOULD BE THE POWER OF THE WORD". I knew that the word, power, did not mean explosive, or forceful, it meant authority. In this case, it meant, the authority to handle the word of God.

There was still a big question in my mind, as I left there that day. He had told me what the horse was, but he did not tell me what my job would be. You know, brothers and sisters; I prayed and sought the Lord about that in the days that followed, for I knew that if I had a job to do, that encompassed the authority of the word, it would have to be a job that would line up with the scripture. It would have to fit within the age of grace that we are living in. Therefore, I began to search the scriptures, thinking to myself, to have any authority over the word, it would have to be something to do with the five fold ministry. I firmly believed, and had been preaching in my own ministry, that the true church of the living God, (the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ), would have to have, somewhere in her midst, that five fold ministries of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, before she could ever be restored back to the image of the church that we read about in the book of Acts.

Now, I would like to say, to all of you who will read this article, I knew that there could never be a five fold ministry on the scene, until after something had happened to get the church in shape for such a ministry. Something would have to happen, that would restore back to the true church, the true word, that the early church was founded on. That would present an opportunity, and a platform, by which such a ministry could pick it up and have something to stand for, right on out to the very end. Over the weeks and months that followed, as I continued to seek the Lord about this, I received many invitations to come to various places for meetings. I accepted many of them as the Lord led me to do so, for my decision, in the face of much criticism, was to press on in the ministry that I had been called to.