The Gospel of Inclusion

I just listened to an audio clip on the Watchman Fellowship website of an interview with Bishop Pearson discussing his movement called the Gospel of Inclusion and how he interprets the Gospel of Christ. Click here to listen to the audio clip.

At first, Pearson sounds biblically correct, but as you listen on, his beliefs are revealed to be very far off track from evangelical Christianity. One part of the audio clip that really caught my attention was the following question and answer between the lady interviewer and Bishop Pearson.

Lady: "Are you saying that everyone is going to heaven, basically?"
Pearson: "Yes! Your religion, your dogma and doctrines, cannot dictate to God who He will love and redeem. He made us all. Why would He not redeem us all? Unless we think that God is prejudice and bigoted like we are. God is not. God loves everybody, and anything outside of love is outside His character, His moral character."

I would agree with Pearson that God is love and thus is merciful and gracious; but God is also just (moral character). If He were not just, He would not be a holy, righteous Judge. God despises sin and will punish those who have sinned. Yes, it is true that when Christ died on the cross, His sacrifice was for the world, but only for those that put their faith and trust in Him.

Jesus declared in John 3:3 "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." As well as John 11:25-26, "Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?'" Jesus is clearly stating that His salvation must be accepted by the individual. We are not just saved by accident or without our knowledge. Every individual, in order to be saved, must accept Jesus Christ's free gift of grace and thus become born again.
However, Pearson (who is a universalist ) believes that Jesus' sacrifice gave everyone a "get-out-of-hell-free card." So, every religion: Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Mormon, Buddhist, etc. are all "saved" and are all going to heaven. He even tries to justify his view by quoting 1 Tim. 2:5 that says "there is one God and there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus." And thus, all religions are saved because Jesus is our mediator. However, many religions would strongly object with that statement. Hindus would not agree because they are polytheistic and believe in thousands of gods as well as reincarnation as the vehicle for salvation. There are also Atheists who neither believe in any god nor in an afterlife.

Another comment that disturbed me was Pearson speaking about Jesus in 1 Tim. 2:5. He said, "Most Christians worship the mediator. They don't really worship God." After hearing that, I had to ask myself, "So, who does Pearson think Jesus is?" Jesus made very clear in Scripture that He is God (John 13:19) and He even received worship (Matt. 28:17). But apparently, Parsons does not believe that Jesus is God since he thinks worshiping Jesus doesn't mean you're worshiping God.

Here's a link if you'd like to learn more about Bishop Pearson and his Gospel of Inclusion or hear any of the other audio clip interviews. I also found a video of an NBC interview with Pearson.