"to hell & back" preacher scandal

Here is an interesting story that I saw on dateline NBC in summer of 07. I saw it once again on you tube.

It's about a preacher who lost his whole church but it was not because he cheated on his wife nor because he did illegal activities nor because he did drugs.

It was because he started preaching that there is no hell and that everybody goes to heaven. There's 2 parts to this:

I've sent Carlton Pearson an e-mail thanking him and commending him for his boldness. I think it was rather cruel what the evangelical community did to him.

I hope to correspond with him one on one in the future. I've read a good part of his book "the gospel of inclusion."

Carlton Pearson is such a kind man. I really believe he has a heart for the Lord. I am listening to him now on the glenn klien show. Glenn Klien & Mike Williams had Carlton on there as a guest speaker.

Mike Williams said something that has really stuck with me lately. He said that when your heart is kinder than your doctrine then it's time to change your doctrine.

I think Carlton Pearson and myself and others have gotten to that point where we had to change our doctrines because our hearts were kinder. There was once a time when I believed in hell. I got to the point where I realized my heart was kinder than my doctrine. Plus I did my homework in the scriptures for myself. The old testament is silent about this hell that is being preached in mainstream christianity.

I just don't believe that a loving God would send or allow anyone to be tormented or annihilated in hell. It is consistent that a loving God would see to it to save all of His creation.

I want to see everybody in heaven and I believe I will. Even people who have betrayed me in my past whether it's friends, or ex girlfriends, or whoever I want to see them in heaven too. How much more will God want them there?

There's no way that God would allow me to have a greater love for people who did me wrong than He has for them. It's impossible.

I believe everybody is going to heaven for sure! Whether you are a christian, agnostic, atheist, satanist, buddist, hindu, wiccan, etc. you are going to heaven. Whether you have faith or no faith. I have to give wiccans credit because they certainly do a better job of recognizing our oneness with God & with the rest of creation than many professing christians do.

Whether you have good works or not. Whether you are straight or gay. Whether you like sex from behind or vaginally or orally you are going sometime or another you are good to go to heaven! Whether you like sex upwards, downwards, upside down, backwards, standing up or sitting down!

Even the terrorists and psychopaths and serial killers are going to make it. We're all going to heaven sometime or another! We all make mistakes and do wrong things from time to time and we have to reap the consequences of our actions on this earth but at the end of the day God still loves everyone the same & will welcome everyone into heaven.

The gospel is good news. It's a revelation about what's right with you NOT what's wrong with you. There is no bad news in the good news.

If there is any bad news in the gospel then it is a peverted gospel message! If the message sounds too good to be true then it could very well be the true gospel message that you are hearing.

The average gospel being preached in mainstream churchianity today is this: "Good News. God loves you unconditionally but if you don't believe in Jesus and/or get your morality in order then you will die and spend eternity in hell."

If that is not doubletalk then I don't know what is. This does not sound like good news to me. It sounds more like a message of probation! Mainstream legalism portrays God as nothing more than a probation officer that we must report to every night (or in my case it would be every 5 minutes since I can't go even that long without sinning in word, thought, or deed) to make sure we get all our sins confessed before we go to sleep and then pray we don't have a wet dream!

Carlton Pearson used to be a hellfire & brimestone preacher. He is a 4th generation pentecostal preacher. He preached a hotter hell than most denominations preach.

So it's quite courageous on his part to change his position & admit that he preached all wrong concerning hell! I have great respect for this man.

Even though Carlton lost everything he found himself! He says in another you tube video about his book "the gospel of inclusion" that discovering his real self was the most important thing he could ever accomplish in his life. What would it profit him to gain the whole world & not be true to himself & lose himself in the process?

Once again if there is any bad news in the gospel then it's not the gospel. Good news. God has reconciled the entire human race into Himself through Christ & He's not holding anything against anyone. Enjoy this reconciliation for it is already yours!

I do NOT believe humans are inherently evil. I believe humans are inherently good! Whatsoever is born of God is good! Having said all of that I don't know what God has in store for the future of this planet but I am hopeful that this world will get better. But that can only happen if we get enough people change their negative perceptions of God and of themselves and one another!

I was in borders bookstore not too long ago and I saw a book titled "hell under fire." It showed pictures of flames on the front cover.

Anyway I read the back of the book and one of the things that I found hilarious was when the author said "the doctrine of universal salvation has creeped into churches & more preachers are abandoning the subject of hell. The doctrine of universal salvation cheapens the finished work of Christ on the cross."

Now it was that last sentence that got me laughing because it was just ridiculous. Wow! You've got this author saying that it cheapens the work of the cross to teach that all are saved!! That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

I say just the opposite. If not everyone is saved then Christ died in vain. Teaching that not everyone will be saved is what cheapens the work of the cross!

Universal salvation glorifies the work of the cross! Why? because I believe the cross was powerful enough to save ALL people. I am believing that Christ is victorious! The God of universalism is the only God I can trust! He does not lose one single soul that He created!

So I believe in the power of the cross more than most christians. Most christians believe the cross was effective enough only to save a few. I believe the cross was powerful enough & effective enough to save ALL!

If the death, burial & resurrection of Christ was not sufficient enough to restore the human race back to God then nothing else will work! I do not believe the effects of Adam's sin on the human race were greater than the effects of Christ's obedience on the human race. I do NOT believe that Satan's deception is greater than God's grace!

So if it's true that not everyone is saved especially if most are not saved then Satan's deception has been given more credit than the saving work of God!

Did you know that for the first 400 years after Jesus Christ ascended back to heaven that universalism was the dominant teaching among the church fathers?

That's right. The early church fathers taught that Jesus is the Savior of all and that everyone is saved or will be saved. Somewhere along the line after those 400 years apostasy crept in and the doctrine of hell slipped in.

So the early christians were universalists. God's love never fails. He has overcome the world through His Son Jesus Christ.

In John chapter 16 Jesus said that in this present world we will have trials and tribulations but fear NOT because He has overcome the world. I believe that means everybody's going to be saved. Good news.

If the gospel you are hearing sounds too good to be true then it's probably the true gospel.

I sleep better at night ever since I became convinced that there is no hell. Actually the biblical word hell comes from the hebrew word sheol & greek word hades which means "the grave" or "the realm of the dead."

But from my understanding of the jewish scriptures, which was the old testament writings, nobody was being tortured or burned alive in this realm of the dead. They're all sleeping.

So the real hell that Jesus came to save us from was the grave NOT eternal torment. Death and the grave were destroyed at His resurrection. When He rose from the dead all humanity rose from the dead. Even though our bodies die our spirits live on forever in the presense of the Lord. For just as in Adam ALL die, even so in Christ ALL are made alive. (1st Corinthians 15:22).

Gehenna is another greek word for hellfire in the scriptures which simply means the fires of the valley of hinnon. In Jesus' day there was a valley in the southwestern part of Jerusalem which was basically the city dump at that time.

This city dump was a dark valley and the fire was kept burning there day & night. Bodies of dead crimminals and dead animals were thrown into this burning city dump. Today this city dump is nothing but a garden.

So none of the words for hell in the bible have anything to do with a torture chamber in the underworld. It's interesting that the concept of hell is not mentioned in the Genesis account like when Adam & Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. It was not mentioned when Cain murdered his brother Abel.

It seems to me that if hell as a place of eternal conscious torment was real then God would have made it clear to Adam and Eve at the very beginning. It would not be left open to interpretation.

But the consequence for eating from the tree of knowledge was DEATH not eternal life in torment. In Genesis 3 after they ate of the tree of knowledge it was recorded that Adam and Eve would return to the dust since they came from the dust.

When Cain murdered Abel God had warned him of the earthly consequences of his actions - that he would be a homeless fugitive roaming the earth. Nothing about his afterlife destination. One would have to force their preconceived ideas into the Genesis account and add something that God never put there.

As a matter of fact when Adam and Eve left the garden of eden an angel with a flaming sword guarded the way to the tree of life so that Adam and Eve would not partake of it and end up living forever in their sins. So if hell is eternal torment then that would mean man would live forever in their sins.

From time to time I will watch the history channel on "mysteries of the bible". It's very interesting stuff.

They have like different religious leaders, theologians, apologists, professors, jewish rabbis, priests etc being interviewed with their varying viewpoints.

I recently saw one on heaven and hell and another about the history behind satan.