Carlton Pearson, once regarded as one of the nation’s most influential Pentecostal preachers, was denounced as a heretic for his teaching that everyone goes to heaven: Muslims, Buddhists, gays, even the devil.
Now Pearson faces a different battle, as members of a New Thought church in Chicago are protesting his appointment as senior minister.
Carlton Pearson has decided to reject one of the essential doctrines of the Christian faith, making him a heretic.
Saying there’s no such place as hell has cost one of the most prominent spiritual leaders in the country his job, church and place on Christian radio. What would make Bishop Carlton Pearson of Tulsa, Okla., who was mentored by Oral Roberts and greeted by presidents at the White House, also proclaim that Jesus isn’t coming back just for Christians — but also Muslims, Jews and atheists? From the Sunday morning pulpits of most Christian houses of worship, the message is you have to accept Christ to be eligible for heaven. And then there are certain things you have to
Carlton Pearson says something amazing happened: God gave him an inspiring message. He wanted to share it with everyone. And as Keith Morrison tells us, that’s when the trouble started This report aired Dateline Sunday, Aug. 13 Hell: It’s a dreadful thought — horrific frightening place to which many of us may well be bound. Or is it a place at all? You’re about to meet a man who came face to face with his own hell and though he lived to tell his tale. His name is Carlton Pearson — an American success story if there ever was one.
Followers, media spotlight are returning to outcast preacher TULSA, Okla. — Carlton Pearson has still got it. The dapper clothes. The voluminous vocabulary. The toothy smile. And, perhaps most important, Mr. Pearson still has an unshakable conviction in his controversial “gospel of inclusion” — the belief that everyone will go to heaven, regardless of his or her actions on earth. The high-profile pastor lost followers, his church building, money and prestige — especially among conservatives — after he started preaching a few years ago that the gates of heaven are open to everyone, even, theoretically, to Satan. Carlton Pearson is
Some say religious inclusivity is necessary in a shrinking world, but those who practice it sometimes pay a steep price Bishop Carlton Pearson said something during a sermon four years ago that would virtually destroy his personal and professional life. Before that moment, he was an evangelical superstar. President Bush invited him to the White House. He was a regular on Trinity Broadcasting Network, a national evangelical cable channel. He routinely appeared in national Christian magazines like Charisma. Today Pearson says “90 percent” of his 5,000-member congregation in Tulsa, Okla., has left him. His church, Higher Dimensions Family Church, is