REV. Carlton Pearson, the interim leader of Christ Universal Temple, has stepped down to make room for someone new to lead one of the largest congregations in Chicago, US.
Pearson, who was considered to be one of the most promising Pentecostal preachers, stirred a hornet’s nest when he assumed leadership of the megachurch in 2009.
He was ousted from his megachurch in Tulsa, Okla., for saying that Muslims, Buddhists and homosexuals will go to heaven. He was declared a heretic by his contemporaries in 2004. Ever since, he has rapidly been losing his influence in ministry with the Joint College of African-American Pentecostal Bishops.
After the sack, he joined the New Thought movement and was selected to lead Christ Universal Temple.
At this place, he was faced with opposition from the congregation members who said he lacked theological training to lead a New Thought church. The movement uses a metaphysical interpretation of the Bible and focuses on healing, meditation and thinking positive thoughts to improve one’s life.
The Christ Universal Temple (CUT) was founded in 1956 by Rev. Johnnie Colemon. Later, she formed her own denomination, the Universal Foundation for Better Living, in 1974.In 2006, Colemon died without naming a successor. By then, she had built a $10 million religious empire.
When he took charge, Pearson claimed he expanded the empire by launching a $3.2 million campaign that included prime-time television broadcast and a live web stream of services of the CUT.
The CUT openly welcomes and accepts LGBT members.
Pearson still stands by his controversial ‘gospel of inclusion’ – the belief that everyone will go to heaven regardless of his or her actions on earth. He preaches (wrongly and with no Biblical basis) that the gates of heaven are open to everyone, even, theoretically to Satan.
At one time, he was at the top of the evangelical heap. A onetime protégé of Oral Roberts, he led the Higher Dimensions Family Church of Tulsa that had a multiracial membership of 5,000 and boasted weekly offerings of $50,000.
In an interview with the Dallas Morning News in 2000, he said he had been having second thoughts for years about whether one needed to accept Jesus in order to be saved. | What must you do to be saved! |
