Bishop Harry Jackson Jr., senior pastor of Hope Christian Church in Beltsville, Maryland, and a prominent evangelical advisor to President Donald Trump has died his church announced Monday. He was 66.
“It is with a heavy heart that we notify you that our beloved Bishop Harry R. Jackson, Jr. has transitioned to be with the Lord on November 9, 2020. Information about the memorial service will be forthcoming. Please pray for the Jackson Family’s comfort and respect their right to privacy at this time,” church officials said in a brief statement on their website.
Officials did not announced a cause of death but Jackson previously battled esophageal cancer after being diagnosed in 2005 and suffered a stroke during treatment Religion News Service reported.
His death comes just two months after he wed his new wife Rosalind Lott, two years after the death of his first wife, Reverend Vivian Jackson.
Jackson is a leading researcher on the black church, is well-known as one of the chief conveners of The Reconciled Church: Healing the Racial Divide Movement and is also founder and chairman of the High Impact Leadership Coalition which seeks to promote healing in America by educating and empowering churches and community leaders to make grassroots improvements in their communities.
He also made several appearances at the White House with President Trump. In April, he offered the Easter blessing for the nation as the coronavirus pandemic began to sweep the nation.
“Lord, let the death angel pass over. Let there be a mitigation of this plague, this disease. Let medical science come forth. Lord, let us come out with a thriving economy. That silver and gold spoken of in that passage, let it be our portion,” he prayed.
“And then, God, as we face other challenges in the future, Lord cover us with a cloud by day and a fire by night. But in this great land that was set up to glorify your name, we want to break, we come against the spirit of division,” he said.
Jackson also recently joined a number of evangelical leaders at a White House ceremony where President Trump announced Associate Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett would fill the seat vacated by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. A number of persons who attended that event including the president and First Lady Melania Trump would later test positive for the coronavirus. Jackson did not test positive for the virus church officials told RNS.
Since the announcement of his death many prominent evangelical leaders who worked with Jackson, praised the life he led on social media.
“A great man of God has been called to Heaven—Bishop Harry R. Jackson, Jr., of Beltsville, MD. He was a man who stood for truth & he was a true friend of the Gospel. His voice will certainly be missed. Please pray for his wife, family, & loved ones,” said Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in a statement on Twitter.
“I am stunned and saddened to learn of the death of my friend and brother in Christ Bishop Harry Jackson. It was he whom my wife and I were squiring through the Antifa mob outside the White House just two months ago to find his Über. May the Lord comfort and bless his family,” wrote conservative radio host Eric Metaxas in a statement on Twitter.
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