Before his peers would label him a heretic, the late Bishop Carlton D. Pearson was once one of the best known preachers in the nation.His skilled biblical oration, steeped in the Black Pentecostal tradition and melded with white evangelicalism, helped swell the membership of the storefront church he started in 1981 in Jenks, Oklahoma, to a full-service, multiracial congregation of more than 5,000.
But things changed dramatically in the 2000s. Pearson underwent a cataclysmic theological shift that altered the course of his life – and his legacy among the canon of American Christian leaders. Pearson, 70, died Nov. 19 after a brief battle with cancer.
His splintered influence was underscored this week as different factions paid tribute to Pearson at various memorial services that have raised questions — and objections — about how best to remember him.
During the apex of his career as leader of Higher Dimensions Evangelistic Center, Pearson said he heard a message from God that led him to reject hell’s existence and declare that salvation was for everyone, not just Christians. This “Gospel of Inclusion” doctrine gained him new followers but led thousands to desert him. He was excommunicated and Higher Dimensions was ultimately shuttered.
On Friday, a faction that parted ways with the post-hell-believing Pearson gave him a memorial send-off in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Transformation Church, a pre-shift spiritual progeny of Higher Dimensions, held a service where Pastor Mike Todd …
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But things changed dramatically in the 2000s. Pearson underwent a cataclysmic theological shift that altered the course of his life – and his legacy among the canon of American Christian leaders. Pearson, 70, died Nov. 19 after a brief battle with cancer.
His splintered influence was underscored this week as different factions paid tribute to Pearson at various memorial services that have raised questions — and objections — about how best to remember him.
During the apex of his career as leader of Higher Dimensions Evangelistic Center, Pearson said he heard a message from God that led him to reject hell’s existence and declare that salvation was for everyone, not just Christians. This “Gospel of Inclusion” doctrine gained him new followers but led thousands to desert him. He was excommunicated and Higher Dimensions was ultimately shuttered.
On Friday, a faction that parted ways with the post-hell-believing Pearson gave him a memorial send-off in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Transformation Church, a pre-shift spiritual progeny of Higher Dimensions, held a service where Pastor Mike Todd …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]