The Gospel of Inclusion part 1

I sat and watched someone try and convert a person today. They tried to convert this person to the Gospel. Unfortunately it was the gospel of inclusion. The conversation went something like this:

"There was this charismatic evangelist named Carlton Pearson who went to do some mission work in Africa. While there, a young American boy saw a native African child who no one had ever taught the gospel to. The American child looked to Carlton and asked 'why does that boy have to go to hell?' This caused this once well thought of and highly influential minister to rethink what he had been taught and what he had been teaching. He then decided to invent a new theological thought. One of inclusion."

I was eating my lunch while I was listening to this conversation unfold in front of me and I almost choked as I sat and listened. The man delivering this message must have noticed that I was turning green with disgust as he said, "I knew you wouldn't like this." I will post my response to that comment at a later time. For now, let's take a closer look at this line of thought named Inclusion Theology.

Allow me to preface any further writing with the fact that by no means am I judging Mr. Pearson or his followers. As many in several religious communities have called him and his theology "heretical," I feel that doing so would not show any graciousness but only exacerbate the problem that I do believe Pearson was attempting to address when he set out on this mission. My hope is that someone will read this planned series of postings and either choose to avoid or remove themselves from what does not line up with the One Truth we are promised in scripture.

So what is this controversial theology? What is the problem? Why is an older white male in rural Northwest, AL attempting to convert people in this area to this line of thinking? Hopefully we can find the answers together.

For today, allow me to just lay out the basic points of Pearson's Gospel of Inclusion. In the following days we will break down each point and find if and where the flaw lies and why this may be dangerous. Carlton Pearson's Gospel of Inclusion teaches:

1. Christ's death and resurrection made it possible for all of humanity to share in an eternal heavenly glory but that there is no necessity to man to repent of their sins and follow any plan of salvation.
2. Know it or now, like it or not, all of mankind's destiny ends in heaven.
3. The is no need to believe in Jesus Christ in order to spend eternity with Him. Due to God's grace there are no conditions to salvation.
4. Only willful sinners who have been saved already and then intentionally reject Christ will be separated from God in eternity.
5. There is some type of hell that is helpful to ministry teachings but we don't need to teach it because we don't want God to seem intolerant or angry.

This is what I came up against today and what caused me to thirst for truth that could only be quenched by God's Holy Word and time in prayer. In the next post on this matter I will take a closer look at the first point above and hopefully assist you in arming yourself with Scripture to fend off this relatively new doctrine.

Pilgrim's Map of the Day

*This is a great mash-up of The Dark Knight and Toy Story. I thought of my friend's son Tyler when I watched this.





*Take time to read Jim Martin's brief writing on steps to living a gracious life.



* Make sure you watch this video regarding Obama's ties to the Kenyan governement and his Muslim radical relative who has allowed and supported genocide in the country. The end poses a very serious question that should be answered before anyone votes for Obama.



*Finally, make sure you read this article about perception over at Stoned-Campbell Disciple. Warning: do not look at the picture below the title for too long or your head will explode as minde did.

"I'm Taking My Ball and Going Home :("

Have you ever seen someone do something so ridiculous that while they are doing it you are left speechless. I think the medical term for this is stupitongue displacia. This happened to me last night.
I have the privilege of coaching a group of 6-9 year old boys and girls in soccer and last night was our next to last game of the season. Our team only has one loss all year so yes, we are really good. I have nothing to do with that by the way. Our opponent last night was a group of kids from a nearby town called Winfield, AL. This team was pretty good but to say the least they were way over coached.
To make a long story short, there was a disagreement about one of the rules and as soon as I voiced my concern over what was going on, one of the coaches for the other team grabbed his ball, his child, and walked away from the field. He was not seen again the rest of the night so I am assuming he literally took his ball and went home. Now this guy was probably in his mid-40's but he literally took his ball and went home because he did not get his way.
I felt so bad for the kids on the opposite team as well as my own team. Here we are at an event meant to be for the children and the adults are imposing their will on the activity. Further, what was this man teaching these kids? He was telling his son and the kids on that team that when you don't get your way or you don't like what is going on in life, you just quit. I voiced this to the remaining coach of the opposite team after the game was over and he agreed that the man should watch his actions and maybe avoid children's sporting events all together.
Regardless, our team WHACKED the other team after this happened and the final was 8-1. Also, I was able to use the incident as a teaching tool for the our team and pointed out to them that no matter what problems or worries we are having we don't want to be quitters.
Let me also make one last comment here. I am so proud of the way the kids on our team conduct themselves. I think it would not be bragging to state that of all the teams we have played this year that our team is the best. Minus one game where our kids walked around (my fault because I warmed them up too hard) we have beaten the socks off of every team we have played this year. This fact has led to animosity by kids on the other teams despite the fact that our kids don't gloat, brag, or rub the huge victories in the opponents face. My team has been pushed, pulled, kicked, spit on, and called names (especially the minority child on my team, nice going parents). Through all this my team has not reciprocated but rather heeded my advice and let their game talk for them and used the other kid's disgusting behavior to fuel their desire play the game the right way and have fun doing it. These kids are an example for all of us and especially us as Christians. When we are shocked by the ways of the world let us not react in kind but rather use it to fuel the fire of our call to discipleship and have fun doing it.

Pilgrim's Map of the Day

Hello all. I hope that you find something informative, funny, or uplifting to point you in the right direction today.
* First off, LISTEN CAREFULLY!!! This video contain one Samantha Power. She has been one of Obama's chief foreign policy advisers and will be an important part of an Obama administration. In this video she is calling for the destruction of Israel. If you are Jewish or believe that the Jews are still God's chosen people you would have to be beyond foolish to cast a vote for Obama.


* No, I am not a fan of Ole Miss but videos like the one below remind me of how happy I am to be from the south. C'mon, Elvis and SEC football....it doesn't get much better.

Check Your Inventory

We had an interesting conversation yesterday in Sunday school regarding remembering to confess our sins. Basically a question was asked regarding not remembering all the sins you commit during a day and never asking forgiveness of God for those sins. If you are having this problem, the solution is quite simple. We should never carry around an inventory of sin. As Christians we are commanded to pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17). If we are doing this, we should never fail to confess our sins to God. We should immediately know when we sin and immediately ask God's forgiveness for each particular sin. If you say a word you should not say, STOP, and pray for forgiveness. If you have a thought or look at a member of the opposite sex in a lustful way, STOP, and ask for God's forgiveness. If you catch yourself gossiping or slandering someone, STOP, and ask forgiveness of this sin. If we do this and apply this to our lives we will not be able to build up a sin inventory and we can rest easily knowing that we have shown God our recognition that he is God and we are merely flawed humans.
In Psalm 32 David speaks of the burden of unconfessed sins. David reveals in his prayer that when he failed to ask forgiveness that he felt older, he moped and complained about the burden, and that God's hand caused him to have less energy. This may be the self-diagnosis of depression in the Bible but that's a new discussion all together. As I read that chapter I can think of times in my life when I have naively attempted to hide or mask sin in my life. Perhaps you can think of sins in your life that you have failed to confess to God and can relate to David's writing here. If so, drop to your knees and pray for God's forgiveness. Begin repairing that relationship with God. Perhaps many of us need to have a fire sale of our sin inventory in order to avoid the eternal fire that unconfessed sin is promised.