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

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.

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.