So, I was reading a story the other day on ABCNews.com. The story can be found here. I have also posted the story here on braddena.com in case ABC takes it down at some point.
The title of the story was “Nobody Goes to Hell”: Minister Labeled a Heretic. Be sure and read the complete article.
First off, this is just a poorly written article and is biased. It starts off by saying that virtually every human culture in history has had some notion of a horrible afterlife. But, then it goes on to call hell a medieval vision. It also says that fire and brimstone are not preached as much in today’s age of reason. Ah, how smart we are? We are so brilliant today that we have outgrown those childish notions that those poor dumb people had in the past. Understand that I say this tongue in cheek.
Never mind the writing. Let’s get to the real point of this post.
Carlton Pearson, the subject of the article, is a pastor of a former mega-church. He is man-centered from start to finish. He is heavily influenced by the Charismatic Movement. This article is unbelievable. In one man’s life, we see the the last couple of centuries of church history run its course in one man. As I said, he is very man-centered, so his life starts off right where Calvinism (God-centered) was abandoned and Arminianism (man-centered) took over in the U.S.
He is very Charismatic, so he is very much caught up in experience and emotion over truth. He was fascinated with and trained by Oral Roberts. The article even states that Pearson’s stage presence is what makes him a huge success.
Then in Pearson’s life, he was met with a crisis of faith. He did not have truth to fall back on. His roots were in man-centered and Charismatic theology that emphasized experience and emotion. This caused him to begin to elevate his own reason above the revealed Word. Pearson clearly had a poor understanding of God’s holiness and man’s sinfulness.
Once Pearson was at this point, he quickly abandoned the inerrancy of Scripture. This is the first step toward liberal theology and the abandonment of God altogether. In fact Pearson even states that he now believes the Bible is not the word of God but a book by men about God. So, in Pearson’s short life, we have now seen the rise of man-centered theology, the influence of the Charismatic Movement, and then the rise of Liberalism. This sounds amazingly like church history in the U.S.
Pearson next states that God gave him a revelation that hell is not real but something created by man on Earth. Thankfully, the article states that most people left his church, which is what the Bible commands of Christians. Unfortunately, it sounds as if some Christians did not treat him with love and prayer but treated him harshly.
It is interesting that Pearson states he has asked God to show him if he is wrong. During this time, he lost basically his entire church and was diagnosed with cancer. One would think that he might at least give some consideration to if this is his “sign from God.”
The article ends with this quote from Pearson, which is basically a complete abandonment of God altogether. “My hope is that, that people will learn to love themselves, accept themselves and celebrate themselves. That’s pretty dramatic, but I think it’ll save the planet.”
The question is obviously raised, “if there is no hell, then what is the gospel (good news?” What kind of good news did we need? Why did Christ have to die? Why even bother being a pastor? Rarely do we see bad theology have such broad-sweeping consequences in one man’s life.
I have never seen these verses from the Apostle Paul and Apostle Peter so sadly illustrated in one life.
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. (2 Timothy 4:1-5; NIV)
But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping. (2 Peter 2:1-3; NIV)
So sad and a reminder that but by the Grace of God, there go I.