Post by And Such Were Some Of You on Jul 22, 2006 17:38:21 GMT -5
Heresy In The Cathedral
Carlton Pearson’s ‘gospel of inclusion’ is now headed to a prominent pulpit in Atlanta
Since he became a Universalist in the late 1990s, Carlton Pearson has lost almost all the support he once enjoyed among charismatics and Pentecostals in this country. His 5,000-member church in Tulsa, Okla., has shrunk to a few hundred, forcing his building into foreclosure. But that hasn’t stopped the discredited preacher from spreading his quirky “everybody is saved” doctrine on secular television programs, including National Public Radio, Fox News and the National Geographic Channel.
And now Pearson has announced that his next major theological summit—called Inclusion 2006—will be held in October at Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, a charismatic church founded by Bishop Earl Paulk in the Atlanta suburb of Decatur.
Pearson believes he is on a mission to convert us all to his beliefs. “Within the next five years, everyone will be preaching inclusionism,” he said in one recent interview.
“Inclusionism,” in case the term is new to you, is the idea that God does not exclude anyone from heaven. It is ultimate extreme in liberal heresy. If Jesus died for all, then all automatically receive eternal life. No matter how people choose to live their lives on Earth, or whether they respond to Christ through repentance and faith, they get free admission into a glorious afterlife.
In other words, you can live any way you want to. There is no hell. The worst sinners—and maybe even the devil himself—will wind up in heaven.
Pearson actually believes the concept of hell is rooted in pagan beliefs. “My ministry will be inclusive, not exclusive. I’m no longer preaching and living under that fear-based gospel,” Pearson told the Dallas Morning News in March.
On his Web site, Pearson announces that he is releasing his most important book this year, God Is Not a Christian . He also tells his Web site visitors to prepare for an international theological reformation based on his “revelation.”
“Don’t miss out on the newest shift in religious sensibility!” Pearson’s Web site announces.
It was one thing for Pearson to preach his heresies to a small and dwindling crowd at his Higher Dimensions Family Church in Tulsa, which meets in a borrowed Episcopal sanctuary. It is another thing for him to take his message on the road and preach it at Paulk’s church, which was at one time the most prominent charismatic congregation in the Southeast.
Today most of the Cathedral’s seats are empty. The congregation has been losing members steadily, especially in the last year after former church employees Bobby and Mona Brewer filed a lawsuit alleging that Paulk lured Mona into an ongoing adulterous affair.
Why is Paulk allowing Pearson in his pulpit? Why is he going so far as to host this heretical gathering in his neo-Gothic cathedral?
It’s no secret that Pearson has already preached in the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit at least twice since he was officially labeled a heretic by a group of African-American bishops in 2004. It appears that Paulk has thrown his hat in the ring with his Universalist friend. Deception has spread its web.
You might be tempted to say, “Paulk and Pearson have just gone off the deep end. No one is going to listen to them.” I’m not expecting long lines at the Inclusion 2006 event, but don’t underestimate the spiritual forces behind this deception. There are lots of people in the ranks of charismatic churches today who are dangerously close to embracing the idea of a God who can’t or won’t send an unrepentant sinner to hell.
One of Pearson’s supporters, in showing his support for inclusionism, writes on Pearson’s Web site: “Any God who would cast away the majority of mankind, as your critics insist, is not deserving of anyone’s worship or praise.”
In other words: We don’t like the God of the Bible. We want to fashion a new god in our own image.
What a sad day for our movement. I’m originally from Atlanta, and I remember the glory days in the mid-1970s when crowds discovered lively worship and spiritual renewal at Paulk’s church—then known as Chapel Hill Harvester. Today, after a long series of public scandals, the crowds have vanished, many staff members have fled and hundreds of once-dedicated church members are disillusioned and hurt.
A church that was once known for spreading the message of the Holy Spirit’s power is now aligning itself with the most blatant form of blasphemy. Let’s pray that the infection will be contained rather than spreading to other parts of the body of Christ.
J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma .
Carlton Pearson’s ‘gospel of inclusion’ is now headed to a prominent pulpit in Atlanta
Since he became a Universalist in the late 1990s, Carlton Pearson has lost almost all the support he once enjoyed among charismatics and Pentecostals in this country. His 5,000-member church in Tulsa, Okla., has shrunk to a few hundred, forcing his building into foreclosure. But that hasn’t stopped the discredited preacher from spreading his quirky “everybody is saved” doctrine on secular television programs, including National Public Radio, Fox News and the National Geographic Channel.
And now Pearson has announced that his next major theological summit—called Inclusion 2006—will be held in October at Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, a charismatic church founded by Bishop Earl Paulk in the Atlanta suburb of Decatur.
Pearson believes he is on a mission to convert us all to his beliefs. “Within the next five years, everyone will be preaching inclusionism,” he said in one recent interview.
“Inclusionism,” in case the term is new to you, is the idea that God does not exclude anyone from heaven. It is ultimate extreme in liberal heresy. If Jesus died for all, then all automatically receive eternal life. No matter how people choose to live their lives on Earth, or whether they respond to Christ through repentance and faith, they get free admission into a glorious afterlife.
In other words, you can live any way you want to. There is no hell. The worst sinners—and maybe even the devil himself—will wind up in heaven.
Pearson actually believes the concept of hell is rooted in pagan beliefs. “My ministry will be inclusive, not exclusive. I’m no longer preaching and living under that fear-based gospel,” Pearson told the Dallas Morning News in March.
On his Web site, Pearson announces that he is releasing his most important book this year, God Is Not a Christian . He also tells his Web site visitors to prepare for an international theological reformation based on his “revelation.”
“Don’t miss out on the newest shift in religious sensibility!” Pearson’s Web site announces.
It was one thing for Pearson to preach his heresies to a small and dwindling crowd at his Higher Dimensions Family Church in Tulsa, which meets in a borrowed Episcopal sanctuary. It is another thing for him to take his message on the road and preach it at Paulk’s church, which was at one time the most prominent charismatic congregation in the Southeast.
Today most of the Cathedral’s seats are empty. The congregation has been losing members steadily, especially in the last year after former church employees Bobby and Mona Brewer filed a lawsuit alleging that Paulk lured Mona into an ongoing adulterous affair.
Why is Paulk allowing Pearson in his pulpit? Why is he going so far as to host this heretical gathering in his neo-Gothic cathedral?
It’s no secret that Pearson has already preached in the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit at least twice since he was officially labeled a heretic by a group of African-American bishops in 2004. It appears that Paulk has thrown his hat in the ring with his Universalist friend. Deception has spread its web.
You might be tempted to say, “Paulk and Pearson have just gone off the deep end. No one is going to listen to them.” I’m not expecting long lines at the Inclusion 2006 event, but don’t underestimate the spiritual forces behind this deception. There are lots of people in the ranks of charismatic churches today who are dangerously close to embracing the idea of a God who can’t or won’t send an unrepentant sinner to hell.
One of Pearson’s supporters, in showing his support for inclusionism, writes on Pearson’s Web site: “Any God who would cast away the majority of mankind, as your critics insist, is not deserving of anyone’s worship or praise.”
In other words: We don’t like the God of the Bible. We want to fashion a new god in our own image.
What a sad day for our movement. I’m originally from Atlanta, and I remember the glory days in the mid-1970s when crowds discovered lively worship and spiritual renewal at Paulk’s church—then known as Chapel Hill Harvester. Today, after a long series of public scandals, the crowds have vanished, many staff members have fled and hundreds of once-dedicated church members are disillusioned and hurt.
A church that was once known for spreading the message of the Holy Spirit’s power is now aligning itself with the most blatant form of blasphemy. Let’s pray that the infection will be contained rather than spreading to other parts of the body of Christ.
J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma .
