The Story of Carlton Pearson
You might remember this story about the charismatic pastor Carlton Pearson who got slain by the Holy Spirit one night and became a universalist.
I’m preaching on the free and responsible search for truth and meaning this Sunday and listening to his story on This American Life at Panera and trying not to cry. My sermon is called “The Free, Responsible (And Sometimes Shocking) Search for Truth and Meaning.”
I was doing okay not bawling until I hear a recording of Pearson reading some Scripture (I John, 2) to his congregation and when
he says, in a voice full of passionate intensity and love “Listen to this, babies,” I lose it.
Napkins! Napkins!
To think of being named an actual heretic in this day and age. Heart-wrenching.
(It’s a real shame that the reporter doesn’t seem to have the vaguest clue about Universalism — it’s a serious and seriously upsetting omission — […]