Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people [saints]. For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. (Jude 3,4)
Carlton D'metrius Pearson (b. 1953) was mentored by Oral Roberts (d. 2009) and sang with the World Action Singers. Oral called Pearson "his Black son."
You may have seen Pearson on TBN. Pearson's transformation into a hell denier is recounted in the Netflix film Come Sunday (2018). I've been to ORU and seen the praying hands. I went to HS in Tulsa for two months (East Central). My Mom took a course at ORU years ago.
The cast of Come Sunday includes:
Martin Sheen (Apocalypse Now) - Oral Roberts
Condola Rashad - Gina Pearson (Carlton's wife)
Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) - Carlton Pearson
Nic Starr - Terry Allen
Danny Glover (Life by the Numbers) - Quincy
YouTuber Prescribed Truth, a former Pentacostal who now adopts the 5 Solas (see below), has an superb review of Come Sunday. Verdell Wright, writing for Medium, details the time when Pearson decided to switch rather than fight (cf. 1 Tim. 6:12, 2 Tim. 4:7): "In the early 2000s, Pearson said that he doubted the existence of hell and the idea that God would reject some people from entering heaven. According to Pearson, this change in beliefs came after a series of personal experiences and revelations he attributes to God."
The candy coated gospel of TBN is not orthodox. Hank Hanegraaff, the Bible Answer Man, wrote this summary of TBN teaching in Christianity in Crisis:
God had pulled off the coup of the ages. Not only had He tricked Satan out of his lordship, using Jesus as the bait, but He had also caught Satan on a technicality through which Jesus could be born again. But that's not all! You see, because Jesus was re-created from a satanic being to an incarnation of God, you, roo, can become an incarnation - as much an incarnation as Jesus Christ of Nazareth! And, as an incarnation of God, you can have unlimited health and unlimited wealth - a palace like the Taj Mahal with a Rolls Royce in your driveway. And if I could shock you (and maybe I should), you, my friend, are a little messiah running around on earth! All it takes now is to recognize your own divinity. You, too, can harness the force of Faith. Never again will you have to pray, "Thy will be done." Rather, your word is God's command. By simply using your tongue, you can literally speak whatsoever you desire into existence; and then you can live happily ever after on this planet of prosperity.[1]
Consider this truth from Proverbs: "Humility is the fear of the Lord; its wages are riches and honor and life" (Pr. 22:4). Is the Lord promising me that next week a
2022 Genesis G90 will show up in my driveway? I think not. Although we appreciate the great research and documentation of Christianity in Crisis (especially the audio edition with its direct quotes from the prosperity teachers), we do not endorse the Eastern Orthodoxy which Hanegraaff is now a part of.
Dave Hunt & T.A. McMahon said in their blockbuster The Seduction of Christianity:
Most Christians are now in agreement that something was terribly wrong with Jim Jones [d. 1978]; yet until the mass suicide in Jonestown almost no one recognized that fact. Even those who had suspicions were unwilling to probe deeply enough to be certain. We now know that this attitude was an unfortunate mistake. It took the deaths of nearly a thousand well-meaning people to awaken consciences to the dangers of cults and cult leaders. There is now general agreement that "cultism" is dangerous, though definitions still differ. ...
[spiritual seduction within the Church] has already begun, and the reason is fairly obvious: Christians are quite comfortable in discussing cults existing outside the traditional church, such as the Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Science, or Hare Krishnas. The New Age movement, however, involves things that are firmly entrenched within the church, such as psychotherapy, visualization, meditation, biofeedback, Positive Confession, Positive or Possibility Thinking, hypnosis, Holistic medicine, and a whole spectrum of self-improvement and success/motivation techniques.[2]
Is the Bible clear about the doctrine of hell? I think so ...
Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. ... In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire. (Jude 5,7)
Do I have anything good to say about TBN (cf. Rev. 2:2,3,13,19 etc.)? The Heidelberg Catechism was once a TBN "love gift" (I have one). R.C. Sproul was once on "Praise the Lord" to plug his book, Reason to Believe (1982). If you want to see Carlton Pearson dancing at church go here (1990). Finally, I religiously watched Real Videos (Randy Stonehill, Michael Sweet, early Christian rap - "here we go now" ♫) every weekend. This Christian alternative to MTV (Empty Vee ☺) was hosted by Matt Crouch.
How to avoid the Quul-Ade the next time you visit a new church:
1) Ask one of the parishioners, "If you were to die tonight, are you sure that you're going to Heaven and if so, why?"
2) Ask them "Are you Born Again?" as explained in the Gospel of John 3:1-21.
3) Does the church hold to the 5 Solas (see below)?
5) How does this body of believers treat the traditional creeds (see below)?
4) How does this fellowship interpret the early chapters of Genesis (see below)?
Missional Wear has a great cap with the logo above. The Five Solas of the Reformation are Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone), Solus Christus (Christ alone), Sola Fide (faith alone), Sola Gratia (grace alone), and Soli Deo Gloria (glory to God alone).
But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear ... (Jude 20-23)
Here are the key doctrinal statements: Apostles' Creed, Nicene Creed, Athanasian Creed and the decrees of the Council of Chalcedon.
Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. (Acts 20:30-33)
Did you catch the TBN Creation Debate featuring Hugh Ross, Ken Ham, Sean McDowell, Eric Hovind and Ray Comfort? It was hosted by Matt Crouch and is well worth your time to watch. Jude, who wrote the book next to Revelation, was Jesus' half-brother. Jude's theme is warning against false brethren. What was Jude's take on the early chapters of Genesis?
Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” (Jude 14,15)
Some who hold to an old earth would say that there are gaps in the chronologies found in Genesis chapters five and eleven. Jude says that from Adam to Enoch you have seven generations, not 57 (sorry Heinz). Speaking of Father Adam, did he believe in hell?
Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. (Heb. 6:1,2)
Heresy Begets Heresy. The struggle of the Slippery Slope is real. Here we have it straight from Pearson's own website:
We believe that experience is not only what happens to you, but what you do with what happens to you. Faith is an action and fear is a reaction. ... Questions are answers in seed form. It takes talent to answer them, but genius to ask them. We don't seek to be a place where every question is answered, but a community of faith where you can feel safe asking them. We endeavor to not only answer questions, but question answers and continue our personal and collective ongoing evolution. We take the Bible seriously, just not always literally. We think it is more important what Jesus said about God than what the church tends to say about Jesus. We seek to help teach and remind people of their personal and powerful and often forgotten Divinity…Jesus said, “Ye are gods.” This Reality (God) manifests itself in and through all creation, but is not totally defined by or confined to it (to that creation). The manifest universe is the bodily expression of this Reality referred to by some as God, not so much as a Person, but as a Principle.
After you've trekked through Come Sunday, my recommendation for your next "flick nite" is The Love Bug (starring Dean Jones).
Notes:
1) Christianity In Crisis: The 21st Century by Hank Hanegraaff (Thomas Nelson, Nashville, TN, 2009), p. 6.
https://www.amazon.com/Christianity-Crisis-Century-Hank-Hanegraaff/dp/0849964598
2) The Seduction of Christianity: Spiritual Discernment in the Last Days by Dave Hunt and T.A. McMahon (Harvest House Pub., Eugene, OR, 1985), pp. 7,8.
**Note: kudos to Cultish for the graphics at the top.
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