The Gospel of Inclusion: Reaching Beyond Religious Fundamentalism to the True Love of God [Hardcover]

Bishop Carlton Pearson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 30, 2007

Speak the name "Carlton Pearson" and you will get one of two reactions: "heretic" or "prophet." Pearson was a Christian mega-star, host of his own TV show, traveling in private jets to speak at evangelical Christian gatherings. His church, Higher Dimensions, drew 5,000 people every Sunday. He was Oral Roberts' beloved protege.

Then, Pearson watched everything he had built crumble due to scandal. He didn't have an affair. He didn't embezzle church funds. He stopped believing in Hell. Following a revelation, he began to preach that a loving God would not condemn most of the human race to burn in the fires of Hell for eternity. Shocked, the Pentecostal community made him an outcast.

This book is the story of one man's turning his back on fifty-plus years of religious teachings and on a "family" of millions to preach a new truth-The Gospel of Inclusion. In this book, Pearson shows that all of God's children are already saved by the sacrifice of Christ-gays, Muslims, Jews, atheists, everyone. Weaving theology, biblical scholarship and cultural history, Pearson asserts that the dogma of Hell is nothing more than a device to control the faithful, that authoritarian religion is at the heart of the world's troubles, that God is not a Christian, but indeed belongs to all humankind.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Advance Praise for The Gospel of Inclusion

"A refreshing look at a religion that is at the center of the current International conflict. I salute Bishop Pearson for having taken a bold step in the right direction. A book for all sane people to read and digest. Gripping and outstanding!!" -- Arun Gandhi, President of the Mahatma K. Ghandi Institute for Nonviolence

"Carlton Pearson's book, The Gospel of Inclusion presents a powerful new voice that is emerging in Pentecostal circles. The God Bishop Pearson is serving is a God of love not judgment, a God of universalism not sectarianism, a God of expansion not control. It is intriguing, provocative and hopeful, a surprising twist in our ancient faith story." -- John Shelby Spong, author of Why Christianity Must Change or Die and The Sins of Scripture: Exposing the Bible's Tenor of Hate to Reveal the God of Love

"I love the spirit of Bishop Carlton Pearson's book, The Gospel of Inclusion. It arrives to a generation whose fear of deception is often greater than its faith...Bishop Pearson has nailed a thesis to our church door and demanded reformation. He comes with the spirit of Elijah and the courage of John the Baptist and Paul the Apostle." -- Dr. Mark Hanby, Mark Hanby Ministries

"If you are ready to meet God, read my friend Bishop Carlton's wisely, insightful and instantly life changing book. You will be stimulated to share these ideas with all that you love. I did, and I am glad I did." -- Mark Victor Hansen, author of Chicken Soup for the Soul

About the Author

Bishop Carlton Pearson is currently pastor of New Dimensions Worship Center in Tulsa, and has recently been accepted for ministry in the United Church of Christ (UCC).

Carlton Pearson says there were two kinds of people in his family, preachers and convicts. He grew up in a ghetto in San Diego, in a strict Pentecostal home. His father and grandfather were ministers and at 5 years old, Carlton was preaching in the backyard with a box for a pulpit. By 1971 he was a student at Oral Roberts University, where he sang with the World Action Singers and appeared before 40 million people on Roberts' NBC special. Later, he was appointed to the Board of Regents at ORU and made bishop by the International Communion of Charismatic Churches. He started a modern-day evangelical revival, called AZUSA, dined at the White House, and was an evangelical advisor and major influence in the charismatic Christian word.

Carlton Pearson built his highly successful ministry from the ground up; he founded and pastored Higher Dimensions church in Tulsa, reaching a weekly attendance of over 5,000, and was an internationally known superstar of the religious right. Then, in 1996, a profound experience transformed his worldview. He stopped preaching hellfire and damnation and began preaching that Hell was a myth and all of humanity is saved. Subsequently branded a heretic and attacked in the media of the religious right, Pearson saw the thousands who had flocked to his church and annual AZUSA revivals turn their backs on him. By the end of 2005, he had lost his seat on the Oral Roberts University Board of Regents, lost Higher Dimensions Church and AZUSA, and been shunned by televangelists and ministers he had mentored.

Bishop Pearson started over, forming New Dimensions Worship Center, where he is rebuilding his ministry around the revelation of a loving God.

Pearson is also a gospel vocalist who has won two Stellar Awards and was nominated for a Dove Award. His music CDs have sold more than 750,000 copies.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 244 pages
• Publisher: Azusa Press/ Council Oak Books (April 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0979168902
• ISBN-13: 978-0979168901
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,162,875 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Imagine a God of love and nothing less, June 26, 2007

By 

Uber Duck "Life's Graven Image" (The September 11th Hijackers Heard God's Word Too) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gospel of Inclusion: Reaching Beyond Religious Fundamentalism to the True Love of God (Hardcover)

Imagine having an epiphany. Suddenly, the ministry you'd preached for so long, being one of the most popular and charismatic ministers in the church and of the flock entrusted to your care, had changed. No longer was your mission to teach the gospel of exclusion. Where God's love is conditional and some of his children are doomed. Instead, you now know God is love. For everyone, everywhere. They're saved by that grace of truth even if they don't know Jesus. God is simply love.

This minister did have that revelation. And when he sought to teach his flock that truth he was shunned. And his ministry, his church, were ripped from him. A ministry he'd helped to build and to prosper in the light of Christ was no longer his to care for.

Why? Because he was branded a heretic for daring to say God does not hate! By those that insist on believing God does hate. And isn't it interesting and pathetic that that happens to be in concert with everyone they hate too!?

This book will change lives! This book promises that if all ministers of the word could see God and teach of him and Jesus in this way the world would find peace and we would truly know , in our hearts, what it means when Jesus said; love your neighbor as yourself.

This is the first commandment above all and this title and this man is on his way to relating that message for all it's worth. It provides an opportunity, page after page, to realize God loves us. Each and everyone. And for those that have had their hearts broken by the viciousness of exclusivist Christianity this book will help them to love God back. What a blessing this title is for everyone that happens to find it.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible courage!, May 8, 2007

By 

Joe P. (Humboldt County, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gospel of Inclusion: Reaching Beyond Religious Fundamentalism to the True Love of God (Hardcover)

I'm not a religious man, but I have a feeling I could become one if I spent time with Bishop Pearson. He's a man of unbelievable courage. It takes great strength to question one's own beliefs, but even greater fortitude to then defy one's community and risk losing everything for one's new world view (which he has done, based on the This American Life program I heard about him).

I rejected religion and God based mostly on the divisive, fear-based manipulation of organized religions that he spends much of this book railing against. But even better is his positive message that God is much more than we can understand, and fundamentally inherent in us all. This is a work of tremendous faith, intellectual rigor, scholarship, love and bravery by a great man of our time. The writing is a little bit repetitive, but that does not detract from the passion and vision. This book may anger you, but it's worth it.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Spiritual Classic & Truly Good News, December 28, 2007

By 

O. Brown "Ms. O. Khannah-Brown" (Twopeas, WA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Gospel of Inclusion: Reaching Beyond Religious Fundamentalism to the True Love of God (Hardcover)

*****
This book is about a way to be a Christian that is loving and caring, living in the spirit of Jesus rather than by church doctrine and man-made rules based upon hatred and fear. The author uses many quotes from the Bible as well as quotes by theologians and other thinkers to make his case in diagnosing the problems with Christianity today and in arguing that there is a better way, a way that was practiced by the first-century church and beyond for almost 500 years. If you are someone who loves God and who desperately wants to follow Jesus, yet can't bear to call yourself a Christian because you are uninterested in the orthodox evangelical or fundamentalist churches...this is the book for you.

The author presents God as love at great personal cost. He has been attacked and vilified by evangelical and fundamentalist leaders, and has lost his lucrative ministry, and in some ways his life's work. However, the same could have been said about Paul (author of some of the New Testament), who also did an about-face and preached the real message of Christ. In my opinion, it is the author's life's work that led him just to this point, and that gives his message the sincerity and the purity it has.

I have to admit that before I read this book I was considering leaving Christianity for good. I still loved Jesus, but didn't know how to live as a Christian in today's dogma-based, money-based, and fear-based churches. "The Gospel of Inclusion" is genuinely good news, and has given me a way to follow Christ without being a part of what I frankly am repulsed by in the institutionalized and religion-based so-called "Christian" churches. Rev. Pearson has found a spiritual home and a message and a way to follow Jesus that is good news for all people, and I know that I will too.

I consider this book a spiritual classic that will inspire many, and perhaps comfort you if you need a soft place to fall.

Highly recommended.
*****